This and That heading into a long weekend

A new city council member in West Lafayette ... and other notes.

Aug 29, 2025

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A few notes heading into a long weekend …

WEST LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL VACANCY FILLED: Rabita Rajkarnikar is scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday as a West Lafayette City Council member. Democratic precinct committeemen from the council’s District 2 voted 3-1 in a caucus Wednesday for Rajkarnikar over Katy Bunder, according to Ken Jones, Tippecanoe County Democratic Party chair. The two were the only candidates nominated to fill the four-year term of former council member Michelle Dennis, who resigned Aug. 4 due scheduling conflicts connected to plans to attend law school. Rajkarnikar is a senior internship program manager and lecturer in Purdue’s Lyle School of Civil and Construction Engineering. She also serves on the Area Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. District 2 covers neighborhoods east of Purdue’s campus, including the New Chauncey Neighborhood. Rajkarnikar joins the nine-member city council during its monthly meeting, starting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at city hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.

COUNTY LOOKS TO EXTEND MORATORIUM LOOKING TO BLOCK POTENTIAL OF LEAP PIPELINE: Tippecanoe County commissioners next week will consider adding another year to a moratorium on large water transfers and high-volume radial collector wells in the county, first passed in 2023. When first approved amid massive local outcry, the moratorium was meant as a roadblock, or at least to slow, an Indiana Economic Development Corp. plan for a pipeline from aquifers along the Wabash River in western Tippecanoe County to feed large, water-intensive developments contemplated for the 9,000-acre LEAP district in Boone County.

Since then, the Indiana General Assembly has put up a few guardrails that would protect against a LEAP pipeline concept, once aimed at tapping and taking up to 100 million gallons a day from groundwater in the Granville area, about seven miles downstream from downtown Lafayette. And Gov. Mike Braun told an audience at a town hall in February at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds he wouldn’t be in favor of resurrecting a plan “for moving water from one watershed to another, because that means you're robbing from an area.”

Tippecanoe County Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said there were no new concerns about a LEAP pipeline-like development. But she said there was “just no real reason to not have (the moratorium) in place.”

The moratorium, first approved in December 2023, was extended until Sept. 3, 2025, a year ago. The new extension would run for one more year.

The measure:

Sets a moratorium on exporting “high volumes of water” – defined as 5 million gallons a day – outside Tippecanoe County.
And blocks the installation of new high-volume radial collector wells, capable of pumping more than 1 million gallons of water a day. Radial collector wells send screens out horizontally to collect water from a broader area and were part of the high-volume pumping plan being considered for the LEAP pipeline.

Tippecanoe County commissioners will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette.

WEST SIDE ASKS FOR YOUR TAKE ON HAPPY HOLLOW PROPERTY: What’s next for Happy Hollow Elementary? West Lafayette Community School Corp. is asking about that in a new survey, ahead of the district’s discussions about what to do with the former elementary school at 1200 N. Salisbury St. A memo from the district says: “Your survey responses will help shape questions for upcoming stakeholder focus groups, which will be held both in-person and virtually.” Happy Hollow closed after West Lafayette opened West Lafayette Intermediate School, less than a mile north on Salisbury Street. The district leased Happy Hollow to the city for two years as a temporary West Lafayette City Hall. After the city moved back to the former Morton Community Center in 2021, the school district has used Happy Hollow for various clubs, school board meetings and events, as it contemplates what’s next for the property. To take the survey, start with the notice on West Side’s Facebook page or go directly to the survey form here. The survey will close at 9 a.m. Sept. 10.

SO MANY FRESH FACES FOR THE BARRY ODOM ERA AT ROSS-ADE: Mike Carmin, writing in his Greater Lafayette Sports Report on Substack, had this amazing tidbit in a season preview for Purdue football, as it opens the season at noon Saturday against Ball State under new coach Barry Odom: “It’s still hard to wrap your mind around the number of transfers Odom brought in. It’s not a surprise, based on what Odom did at UNLV, but adding 54 players from the portal is difficult to comprehend. But that’s the new reality. Counting Ball State’s transfers, Saturday’s game features 87 portal players.” Welcome to it. Read more from Carm here: “First and 10: Purdue season preview.”

SPEAKING OF PURDUE SPORTS …: This story from Indianapolis Star reporter Nathan Baird, on the Boilermaker memorabilia collected by Chris Pate, is worth it just to check out the Top 10 list of the pieces on the Purdue grad’s shelves and walls. Read it here: “Why world's greatest collection of Purdue sports memorabilia is 20 miles from IU's Assembly Hall.”

LABOR’S DAY AT THE PARK: Local unions will host the 44^th Labor’s Family Day Picnic from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at Lafayette’s Columbian Park. The day will feature free admission to the Columbian Park Zoo, train rides and paddle boats, a car show, games and music. Admission is free.

ICYMI, IT’S TIM’S PICKS: Looking for things to do this week – including Saturday’s lineup for the final Mosey Down Main Street of the season – BiL’s man Tim Brouk can get you started. Here’s a replay of this week’s Tim’s Picks.