Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

To:	Dave Corliss Interim City Manager
From:	Debbie Van Saun Asst. City Manager
cc:	Management Team Craig Weinaug, County Administrator
Date:	March 29, 2006
Re:	Agenda item

Please place the following item on the City Commission consent agenda for consideration at their April 4, 2006 meeting:

Development Process Review Project – Contract

Project Description:  The project involves a review and analysis by an outside consultant of the City’s development process.  This is a project that was submitted with the Planning Department’s 2006 budget proposal and approved by the City Commission.

Project Status:  Staff has reviewed the detailed work plan and proposed budget and finds them to be reasonable in meeting the project goals.  The scope of services provided in the work plan includes:

§ Stakeholder (elected officials, Planning Commission) and staff interviews

§ Preparation of a development process profile documenting current practices

§ Conduct focus groups to assess customer satisfaction and provide opportunities for input

§ Benchmark existing process in a comparative survey and against best practices

§ Evaluate and analyze development process to identify opportunities to streamline and more proactively manage the processes

§ Evaluate staff utilization, work practices, staffing and service levels

§ Document recommendations in a final report and provide a detailed implementation plan

All phases of the development process will be studied and reviewed, from the initial contact at the planning level through the building permit process.

Project Funding:  This project was originally budgeted in the Planning Department’s 2006 operating budget.  Since this budget has financial contributions from Douglas County (one-sixth of the Planning Department budget is paid for by the County), some review of the County development process is part of the project scope.

Commission Action.  Staff is recommending that the City Commission authorize the Interim City Manager to enter into a contract with Matrix Consulting Group for $85,000 to complete a review of the City of Lawrence development process, as well as some portion of the Douglas County development process.