Schenkel, former WL library director, lone candidate for WL City Council vacancy
Democrats will hold caucus Saturday to fill District 1 seat on city council. Plus, WBAA in an era of public media cuts. And nominations open for Lafayette Jeff Performing Arts Hall of Fame
Nick Schenkel, former director of the West Lafayette Public Library, is the likely choice for a vacant seat on the West Lafayette City Council.
Schenkel was the lone nomination for the District 1 seat by the 12:45 p.m. Wednesday deadline, ahead of a Saturday afternoon Democratic Party caucus, Ken Jones, the county party chair, said.
Laila Veidemanis stepped down June 4 as a West Lafayette City Council member. Veidemanis, a Democrat who graduated from Purdue in May and is moving from the city, was elected in November 2023 and had more than two years remaining on her four-year term. Her final meeting as a city council member was June 2, when her pending departure was announced.
She represented the city council’s District 1, which includes the Levee and the Village areas along State Street, east of Purdue’s campus.
Schenkel retired in 2023 after 41 years as director of the West Lafayette Public Library. He’s on the boards of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association and the West Lafayette Public Library Foundation.
He said Thursday that he’d been asked to consider the position.
“I think I have a lot to offer,” Schenkel said. “I've had a passion for West Lafayette history for at least two or three decades now. So, being able to be a part of the larger development of that history … just makes sense to me. Here’s an opportunity to help the city move forward. I have the time, I have the interest, so I think it’s a worthwhile opportunity that I should take advantage of.”
District 1 includes a rapidly developing part of the city, both up the State Street hill in the Chauncey area and in the Levee area.
“West Lafayette is really at a point – or has been at a point, I guess – of really growing and developing and trying to figure out what West Lafayette wants to be in the next decade or so,” Schenkel said. “A lot of the decisions being made now are going to ripple out for many years to come.”
A caucus of precinct committee members is scheduled to replace Veidemanis at 1 p.m. June 28 at the West Lafayette Public Library. Jones said District 1 has two precinct committee members. If either of them isn’t present to vote Saturday, the caucus won’t have a quorum. In which case, Jones said he would move as the party chair to make a direct appointment of Schenkel to the city council.
“I don't expect much intrigue on this one,” Jones said.
For more on Schenkel’s career at the library, this profile is from 2023: “An exit interview with Nick Schenkel, after four decades as West Lafayette library director.”
WBAA IN THE AGE OF PUBLIC MEDIA CUTS
Indianapolis Star reporter Cate Charron had a good look this week at the stakes for Indiana’s public radio and television stations after state cuts in the new two-year budget, along with a pending defunding effort being considered in Congress’ new spending bill.
From her account, published Wednesday: “Some Hoosier public radio and television stations could be forced to shutter if President Donald Trump's administration is successful in its most recent attempt to defund NPR and PBS. Indiana's 17 stations are already grappling with the loss of millions of dollars from the state, which is forcing tighter budgeting, consolidation efforts and layoffs in at least one case. ‘The state funding cut was a gut punch,’ said Mark Newman, executive director of Indiana's network of public broadcasting stations. Without the federal money ‘they could be done.’ … Nearly a third of Indiana Public Broadcasting's total budget — about $13 million — comes from the state and federal governments, according to a WFYI analysis. Without that financial support, smaller and more rural stations will be most at risk for closure or dramatic cuts. State and federal money accounts for more than 50% of some of their budgets.” (Read Charron’s full report in the IndyStar here: “Federal NPR, PBS cuts could shut down some Indiana public media stations, leader says.”)
Hearings continued Wednesday in a Senate committee, where Russell Vought, the White House budget director, pushed to maintain cuts to NPR and PBS included in a U.S. House-approved measure, calling the public outlets “radical far-left networks” saying that “there is no longer any excuse for tax dollars to subsidize” them. (For more coverage, this is from Politico: “Vought pitches reluctant senators on $9.4B in clawbacks to NPR, PBS, foreign aid.”)
The assessment was no more rosy Wednesday evening, when Greg Petrowich, president and CEO of WFYI Public Media in Indianapolis, met with listeners of WBAA, a public radio station that launched at Purdue in 1922. Purdue transferred control of WBAA to Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media – the parent company of stations that include WFYI radio and television stations in Indianapolis – in 2021.
Petrowich told listeners during a session at MatchBOX Studio in downtown Lafayette the proposed federal cuts would amount to $1.5 million a year – roughly 11% of WFYI’s budget – if approved. The state funding cuts added up to $590,000 a year for WFYI, he said.
He was asked whether WFYI was making contingency plans now and if that included any chance of losing – or dumping – WBAA.
“We don't want to consider doing without the money, but when I say we won't go away, we won't go away,” Petrowich said.
He said programming could change, and public stations across the state would likely work together to find ways to weather the cuts. Petrowich said the goal, if the stations get past funding cuts, was to invest in local reporting in stations, including in West Lafayette. (WBAA’s reporting positions dissolved within a couple of years of Purdue offloading the station to WFYI’s parent company.)
“We definitely want to do that,” Petrowich said. “We’re kind of sidetracked right now with somebody trying to hold our head underwater and we’re trying to get back to the top. But once we get back to the top, that’s certainly something that’s in everybody’s best interest.”
LAFAYETTE JEFF TAKING NOMINATIONS FOR FIRST PERFORMING ARTS HALL OF FAME CLASS
Nominations are open for the first class in Lafayette Jefferson High School’s Performing Arts Hall of Fame.
The hall of fame has been in the works for the past 10 months, with nominations accepted until Aug. 15, Tyler Long, director of bands and the Performing Arts Department chair at Lafayette Jeff.
The inaugural class of inductees will be recognized during a ceremony Nov. 15, ahead of an evening performance of “The Wizard of Oz.”
“We are not aiming for a set number,” Long said. “It may fluctuate year to year. Anyone that is not selected from the nominated list will remain in the hopper for future inductions.”
The Performing Arts Hall of Fame will honor graduates who have gone on to make significant contributions to the performing arts after their time at Lafayette Jeff.
“This is a chance to showcase to our students, school leaders and the Lafayette community just how powerful a foundation in the arts can be,” Long said. “We want our current performers to see what’s possible, and to celebrate the accomplishments of those who came before them.”
Nomination forms and eligibility details are available at: www.jeffbands.org.
A committee of educators, alumni and community members will review the nominations.
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Could not have a better candidate. Nick is a West Lafayette treasure.
I look forward to working with Nick as the representative of District 1 and the residents of West Lafayette.