Lafayette shows off new $21.5M public works campus

Things were spotless everywhere Wednesday, as the mayor cut a ribbon and Lafayette Street and Sanitation crews led tours through a sprawling, $21.5 million public works facility on the south side of McCarty Lanes.

What’s it going to be once sanitation, plows and other equipment start to move in next Tuesday and it’s lived in a bit?

“This changes the game for us,” Dan Crowell, Lafayette Street and Sanitation superintendent, said. “It’s going to be less labor-intensive having all the departments in one spot. … It’s unbelievable, really. You’re looking at it, but it’s hard to tell you just how much better this is going to be for everybody.”

Planning for the facility started when the city bought the 11 acres tucked away at 3601 McCarty Lane a dozen years ago. The concept was to consolidate the city’s public works operations in a more centralized part of the city, in the process replacing a hodge-podge of service bays, storage, offices and parking lots assembled in the 1950s for street and sanitation department along South Third Street, just south of downtown, and a fleet maintenance facility on North Ninth Street. The city built a 4,000-ton salt barn first. Work on the rest of the facility started in 2022.

“It was part of a master plan, really, that we put together 21 years ago that involved downtown buildings and the public safety building and all the infrastructure that we’ve done, and this was on the list,” Mayor Tony Roswarski said Wednesday. “We knew we needed to get it done. It took a while. But we got there.”

Among the features:

• The main building has 117,000 square feet, with the street department and fleet maintenance taking 92,000 square feet of that. Crowell said the space will allow the city to store vehicles inside, preserving them from the accumulated wear and tear from outdoor conditions.

• The sanitation department has a 16,000-square-foot, standalone building to store up to 18 trash trucks. (The city has 16 now.)

• The fleet maintenance space is roughly three times the size of current facilities, with 24 service bays for city-owned vehicles. The space is equipped with a lift large enough and a ceiling high enough to service a Lafayette Fire Department aerial truck.

• The campus has a 2,800-square-foot vehicle washing building for city-owned vehicles.

• The facility has locker rooms for crews, a fitness room, offices and share conference space.

The city also has an additional 15 acres next door, picked up in 2024 in a land swap for property once targeted as a potential well field near the former Aretz Airport, along the Hoosier Heartland Highway.

“That’s space we can grow into if we ever need to,” Roswarski said. “It gives us ample opportunities, not only for these guys, but if there’s another city department that needs to be more centrally located, we’ll have the ground well into the future.”

On Wednesday, the city also announced plans to add two new EV trash and recycling trucks to its sanitation fleet – a move touted as a first for an Indiana city. According to the city, the EV, automated side loader trucks were purchased with help from a $1.025 million grant from the Volkswagen Settlement Allocation through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The vehicles are designed so a driver can collect a route without leaving the truck.

THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …

WL LAUNCHES PROBLEM REPORTING APP: West Lafayette launched an app this week that allows residents to report potholes and other issues online or via a phone. The SeeClickFix app, already in use in Lafayette, is branded as West Lafayette Report It. It’s available on Apple or Android devices, as well as through a browser. West Lafayette Report It is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store or by going to www.westlafayette.in.gov/services/report-an-issue.

GOV. BRAUN TAKES DOWN DEI, REMOTE WORK IN EXECUTIVE ORDERS: Gov. Mike Braun, three days on the job, signed a series of executive orders Wednesday, ordering a plan to bring state workers back to the office rather than working remotely; eliminating “diversity, equity and inclusion” in government policies in favor of “merit, excellence and innovation;” a directive to cut a quarter of government regulations. For a full list, here’s a link. Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith had a look the orders and more from Braun: “New executive orders seek to ‘deregulate’ Indiana agencies, force state workers back to offices.”

In other action Wednesday, Braun directed flags to be flowing at full-staff Monday, Jan. 20, for the inauguration of Donald Trump. Braun’s order said flags would return to half-staff for the remainder of January in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29.

INDIANA ILLIN’?: As some downstate counties in Illinois start making noise about separating themselves from a Chicagoland influence by somehow leaving Illinois, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston put his weight behind a proposal that would set up a commission to consider welcoming those neighboring counties into the Hoosier state. No, really. Indianapolis Star reporters Hayleigh Colombo and Kayla Dwyer had details about a bill being lined up for the 2025 session to do that. Here it is: “Should Illinois counties be able to secede and join Indiana? Indiana speaker says yes.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker fired back Wednesday, calling the Indiana move stunt that’s “not going to happen” and taking a few shots at Indiana’s claim of being a more attractive place to live. Indianapolis Star reporter Brittany Carloni had this: ‘A low-wage state:’ How Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responded to Indiana’s secession bill.”

PURDUE POSITIONING IN INDY: Indianapolis Business Journal reporter Mickey Shuey picked up a bit of real estate news, as Purdue Research Foundation bought a 29,500-square-foot building that was the former American College of Sports Medicine along the Downtown Canal Walk in mid-December near the university’s Indianapolis campus, still in its first year since the split-up of IUPUI. Here’s more: “Purdue buys canal-front property downtown as part of Indy expansion.”

This week, Purdue also revealed a rendering of its planned Academic Success Building, a 15-floor, 248,000-square-foot red brick building at West and Michigan streets in Indianapolis. The project, expected to break ground in April 2025 and be done in May 2027, would a first for Purdue on the Indianapolis campus since the IUPUI split. Purdue trustees signed off on the project in June 2024, expecting to spend $187 million on the combo residence hall and classroom space. Presented in June, the project was expected to have roughly 500 beds and a dining facility with 400 seats. Of the cost, $60 million came from the Indiana General Assembly to construct academic facilities on the Indianapolis campus. The site, now a surface parking lot, is part of the 28 acres Purdue has from the IUPUI split with Indiana University.

YOUNG WILL BACK HEGSETH NOMINATION: Adam Wren, writing for Politico, had Sen. Todd Young saying he will support Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of Defense. Young has had his differences with Trump, but called this a confirmation vote for “innovative thinking and a break from the status quo.” Here’s more from Wren’s note in Politico.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.