September 19, 2006
The Board of Commissioners of the City of Lawrence met in regular session at 6:35 p.m., in the City Commission Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Amyx presiding and members Highberger, Hack, Rundle, and Schauner present.
RECOGNITION/PROCLAMATION/PRESENTATION:
With Commission approval Mayor Amyx introduced Lawrence’s Sister City, Eutin, Germany high school delegation; and presented a Foundation Award to Affinitas.
CONSENT AGENDA
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve the City Commission meeting minutes from September 5, 2006. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to receive minutes from the Public Health Board meeting of June 19, 2006; and Sister Cities Advisory Board meetings of July 12, 2006, and August 9, 2006. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve claims to 369 vendors in the amount of $2,254,415.88 and payroll from September 3, 2006 to September 16, 2006 in the amount of $1,707,574.23. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve the Drinking Establishment License for Margaritas, 815 New Hampshire; and the Retail Liquor License to Wine Cellar, 2100 A West 25th Street. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to authorize the City Manager to enter into a license agreement with Kansas University for the use of a portion of Burcham Park for the storage of boats and rowing equipment by KU. Motion carried unanimously. (1)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve as signs of community interest, a request from the Lawrence Home Builders Association, to place directional signs in various rights-of-way throughout the tour route on September 30 – October 1 and October 7 – October 8. Motion carried unanimously. (2)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to place on first reading, Ordinance No. 8038, allowing the temporary sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic liquor at Burcham Park from noon to 10:00 p.m. on September 30th, 2006. Motion carried unanimously. (3)
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:
During the City Manager’s Report, David Corliss, Interim City Manager/Legal Services Director, said the flow monitoring work staff was conducting in the Utility Department was some of the City’s enhanced interest in the sanitary sewer system. He said when briefed on this project, he indicated to proceed with the project. It was a valuable tool not only from the planning process, but also as a day to day monitoring activity.
Also, a major project map of public and private construction projects was created and could be located on the City’s website. He said the map would be a valuable tool not only to show all City activities, but also the school district activities.
Corliss also said that he was excited to hear that Jonathan Douglas, the City’s Management Analyst, was the announced winner of the KUCIMAT Intern Excellence Award during the International City/County Management Association Conference, for his internship work in the City Manager’s Office.
Finally, during the City Manager’s Report, Mark Bradford, Director of Fire/Medical, reported on the fire that took place that weekend. He said scene operations, from the time of the call until Fire/Medical departed, was slightly over 40 hours of work and was continuing through the investigative phase of the incident and anticipated wrapping up that phase in the next 7 to 14 days. The investigation was being conducted by the Fire/Medical Department investigators along with assistance from the Lawrence Police Department. He said he had seen again through disaster type situations or tragedies where both of those departments were working extremely well together, with a very strong team approach, ensuring every piece of information was uncovered in the investigation which made them a quality type of team.
He said the scene operations were extremely dangerous. Anytime there was an interior fire, it took a lot of staff for firefighting and combat rescue. All on duty personnel were present along with off duty personnel to assist in other emergency situations in the City at the same time.
He said two people were rescued from the dwelling by fire fighters on the interior search, both were transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, but they did not survive which totaled five deaths. The other bodies were recovered at various times during the following 12 to 14 hours of the incident. Those individuals were removed and a short visitation was provided to the family, on scene, before those individuals were transported to the coroner’s office.
He said Fire/Medical staff was assisted on the scene investigation by the Lawrence Police Department along with Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, a federal agency, who also assisted staff in the Boardwalk fire. The purpose of the ATF assistance was mainly technical in nature and they also provided staff with additional resources that were not available locally. Topeka Fire Department also assisted, predominantly through their Department of Prevention, who brought their canine dog that was used for accelerant determination and they also had assistance through the Sherriff’s Department which was a regional concept of the investigation.
Behind the scene was an excellent resource, Lisa Patterson, Communications Coordinator, who was involved in helping Division Chief Rich Barr with media types of issues which was an invaluable item and was a definite necessity to assist staff in that development of releases in managing the media.
He said outside of emergency response, what was continually seen time and time again, was the response from the community in bringing food and materials. He said he knew there would be a tremendous outpouring for those families from schools, churches, and the community, which was extremely nice to see in this community.
Commissioner Schauner said this was an opportune moment to have public discussion about the need to check batteries in smoke detectors. He suggested the fall time change was a good time to schedule the changing of those smoke detector batteries. He said this was a tremendous public tragedy and what could be hopefully learned was that some additional fire protection in our homes was a good investment.
He said the Topeka, Kansas City, and Lawrence Newspaper indicated the Lawrence Fire/Medical Department had showed good quality in their work and he thanked staff.
Bradford said staff was looking at a City wide campaign, which was in the developmental process before this incident, in the month of October, for smoke alarm use, how to test those alarms, and what those alarms meant. He said approximately 75% of this community’s smoke detectors did not work.
Commissioner Rundle said it would honor the lives lost if people would go out of their way to check on their neighbors and elderly neighbors to help them make sure they were protected.
Mayor Amyx thanked Bradford and his staff specifically Rich Barr and Jerry Karr along with everyone that assisted in that tragic event.
Corliss said he expressed his appreciation to Bradford and others that had been involved in this event and staff was also paying attention to their moral support in the past few days. He said staff would continue to help make sure staff had the right resources. (4)
REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
Consider UPR-05-07-06: Use Permitted upon Review request for a retirement community, located at 24th Place between Crossgate Drive and Inverness Drive.
Lisa Pool, Planner, presented the staff report. The applicant was proposing to develop a retirement community on 22 acres which included independent living apartments, assisted living/dementia units, villas, common areas, and a skilled nursing facility.
The City Commission approved a similar UPR application in 2004. The conditions of approval were not met within a one year timeframe and therefore, that application became invalid. The previous plan differed from the subject plan in that it included an underground parking area and a revised layout. This plan was essentially the same plan that was proposed before, but had a different layout.
On August 23rd the Planning Commission recommended approval of the UPR with a 9-1 vote, subject to the following condition of one minor revision to the site plan.
Commissioner Highberger said it was not entirely clear from the Planning Commission minutes as to the dissenting vote against the plan.
Pool said Planning Commissioner Burress voted against the request because he had requested that benches be placed outside the project, along the public sidewalk, at the corners of this project so that someone walking out of the project could have a seat as they were walking somewhere else.
Commissioner Highberger asked if that was the only basis for Planning Commissioner Burress’ dissenting vote.
Pool said essentially yes. She said Planning Commissioner Burress was mostly dissatisfied with the number of pedestrian connections to the outside of the property. She said as the applicant could explain, it was more of a security concern for a project such as a retirement community. She said the previous plan also had that one access point. She said to the north was Clinton Parkway which had a pretty good grade that prohibited pedestrian connection to Clinton Parkway.
Commissioner Schauner asked if the Fire/Medical Department expressed concern about the limited ingress/egress to the development.
Pool said the Fire/Medical Department did not express concern. She said she knew there was some fire code language that was being developed, but had not been approved for a number of units and access points.
Commissioner Schauner asked Tim Herndon, LandPlan Engineering, on behalf of the applicant, if he believed the benches fit into the general scheme of providing pedestrian and residential use or was that something he did not want to do for some other reason.
Herndon said the Planning Commission minutes did not capture the extent of the discussion. He said with regard specifically to the benches, he said Burress had asked if they would be willing to place benches along 24th Terrace which they were not necessarily unwilling to place at that location, but 24th Terrace was not their domain. They were, as part of this project, constructing approximately a full quarter mile of public sidewalk, so there would be one bench on the north side of 24th Terrace, although technically there was not one required within the public right-of-way as part of public improvement plans.
He said then Planning Commissioner Burress had made a motion during the Planning Commission hearing to place two benches within the project after some questioning about the distance from one end of the site to the other, etc. He said he had told Burress they were not unwilling to place those two benches within that project, but the motion that was brought forward by that Planning Commissioner failed.
He said as a footnote, to answer the City Commission’s question regarding Four Seasons, that 22 acre, multi-use expansive progressive retirement facility, he had every expectation they would provide a facility necessary to make their inhabitants comfortable and to make those residences attractive to potential tenants. He said that aspect was worthy of consideration.
Commissioner Highberger asked if the entrance was gated.
Herndon said the entrance was not gated.
Herndon said as to the question regarding Fire/Medical Department’s comment about safety, he said he personally met with Russ Brickell and Rich Barr, Fire/Medical, on two separate occasions and exchanged several telephone conversations. He said they did alter the site to provide temporary fire access during the phased construction of the development as well as specifically locate hydrants and what not. He said the single entrance into the development was divided which was a method they often implemented so that in case one lane was blocked, there was a separate separated lane to use.
Mayor Amyx called for public comment.
Commissioner Schauner asked staff, as he read the minutes of the Planning Commission, if there was some discussion or concern about the opposing nature of the entrance on 24th Street to an entrance to the apartments on the south, but his question was if there was planning in progress that would change or amend the ability to have opposing driveways. He said he thought the concern was they had students, on one hand, on the south side and people who were older than students on the north side and whatever possible difficulty that might create. He said he was curious about whether they had some changes in their code that were pending.
Sheila Stogsdill, Acting Planning Director, said there were no changes pending. She said there was some discussion about having driveways offset or aligned along with code language that talked about having public streets offset as opposing to aligned, but there was no current language about driveways. She said the Public Work’s staff identified that as a potential issue because there could be more conflict points. She said she thought it was less of an issue when looking at driveways as opposed to street intersections because there was not a constant flow of traffic out of those driveways.
Commissioner Highberger said he appreciated the sidewalk placed at 24th Terrace, but for the record, he did not like the street layout. He said he understood there were security concerns, but he was not sure they should let those drive the public layout of the city.
Commissioner Rundle said this issue was before the City Commission, the last time there was discussion on whether there should be sidewalks on both sides. He said subsequent to that time, it was in hindsight that it was a long standing issue and one of the key things the Access Task Force identified was the clear need particularly if this was for a retirement community. He said it was a disservice not to have sidewalks on both sides, but he thought that issue was covered in the Planning Commission meeting.
Commissioner Schauner asked if there were variances requested for the last plan.
Herndon said yes.
Commissioner Schauner asked if variances were anticipated for this plan.
Herndon said yes. He said identical variances were needed for this project as were granted in early 2005. He said because of staff’s interpretation, the revisions to the plan were significant enough and because of the retooling of this plan, the previous plan was no longer valid. He said they re-requested those variances and they were granted in July.
Commissioner Schauner asked, with a lack of the underground parking, would there be fewer parking places per bedroom, in this plan, than there were in the prior plan.
Herndon said no, there would be more and the variance that was requested for parking related to an idiosyncrasy in the old code which did not define or separate assisted living facilities from a typical apartment complex and so they had significant history, for instance, Brandon Woods and Presbyterian Manor, that showed a ratio that differed from the minimum code requirement in the old code. He said that was a variance request that had been requested and granted on those projects as well.
It was moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner to concur with the Planning Commission recommendations to adopt the findings of fact and approve the UPR (UPR-05-07-06) for a retirement, located at 24th Place between Crossgate Drive and Inverness Drive, subject to the following conditions:
1. Submittal of a Site Plan Performance Agreement.
2. Recordation at the Register of Deeds Office of a final plat.
3. Revision of the site plan to include the following:
a.) The addition of the native grasses to be planted along the west bank of the drainage channel to the “Plant Schedule”.
Aye: Amyx, Hack, Highberger, Schauner. Nay: Rundle. Motion carried. (5)
Receive staff report concerning proposed amendments to the public offense sections to the City code.
Scott Miller, Staff Attorney, presented the staff report. He said rather than going through each of the 17 City Code sections that he was proposing be altered, amended, or repealed, his plan was to stand for any questioning the City Commission had regarding the ordinance that was before the City Commission.
Commissioner Rundle said as a general question, where Miller talked about City ordinances being in conflict with state statutes, he asked if it actually came to an actual head in any case or was it something that existed separately.
Miller said it had come to a head before. He said he thought one of the cases that cited materials was the City of Junction City v. Cateray which involved a 3rd time D.U.I. prosecution. The City of Junction City was in the habit of prosecuting what would be felony D.U.I.’s under state law in their Municipal Court and imposing those exact same penalties. He said as a result of a challenge to their ordinance, the Kansas Supreme Court did rule that was an illegal conflict between the state statute and the City ordinance. He said while it did not happen regularly, it had happened before.
Commissioner Rundle asked if it was covered in state statute, did it need to be prosecuted in a different venue.
Miller said no. He said the Municipal Court and District Courts had concurrent jurisdiction over misdemeanor offenses, but not over felony offenses. He said misdemeanors could be tried again in municipal court, but felonies could not. He said the problem or conflict was whenever a City tried to punish something less seriously than the concurrent prosecution in District Court would and that was one of the things several of the sections in the current ordinance did not do effectively. He said, for example, under the City’s current ordinance, there was no penalty provision cited for theft, so it had to default to the general penalty provisions which were less than that of a Class A Misdemeanor. He said in Kansas, theft would be punished by a fine up to $2500 and up to a year in jail. He said if it was prosecuted in District Court, as it existed and in Municipal Court, the punishment was not quite to that level. He said a lot of what the ordinance was about was trying to square those provisions in state law and City Code to make certain they were legal.
Mayor Amyx asked if those amendments gave the City an opportunity to be ahead of the game before things came on board.
Miller said most of those challenges addressed problems that had not occurred. He said obviously, if a problem occurred, staff would fix those problems immediately. He said this effort was a proactive effort. He said staff was taking a look at the ordinances and attempting to identify problems that could potentially occur, and fix those problems before they occurred.
Commissioner Rundle said he recalled it had been interpreted that a second offense of trespass would need to occur before a citation was issued. He asked if that was something that was written to the statute and/or the city ordinance or was it an interpretation.
Miller said it would need to be the second entry under property that constituted trespassing. He said in some circumstances, for example, if a person was under a restraining order that was issued by a court in which they entered property in violation of that restraining order, the first offense would be enough for prosecution. He said one of the provisions of a trespass ordinance made it illegal to enter or remain upon property after the owner or authorized person told a person to leave. He said in that circumstance, if that person came onto the property and the owner told that person to leave and that person did not leave or left and came back, only then would a violation occur. He said from a common sense view of trespassing, in most circumstances, it would take two incidents, but regarding some parts of the trespass ordinance, such as the roof trespass ordinance the City Commission passed last year, it only took one offense.
Mayor Amyx called for public comment.
There was no public comment.
Commissioner Schauner said what the City Commission could rely on was they no longer had any legality issues with the City’s criminal ordinances.
Commissioner Hack said she appreciated being in the proactive stance so they were not backtracking or fixing something behind an action. She said she knew it was an incredible amount of work to see where they were off and where they needed to be realigned. She said she appreciated Miller’s efforts and his detailed explanations. She said Miller did a great job of providing the City Commission with the information they needed to help understand what they were supposed to understand.
Commissioner Highberger said he would like to take a look at the ordinance on dumpster diving. He said he would like to place that issue on a future agenda for discussion and a vote.
Moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 8021, amending portions of Chapter 14 of the Code of the City of Lawrence, December 2003 Edition and amendments thereto, the public offense code. (6)
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Harry Thomason, President Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors, thanked the City Commission for the funding they had received from the outside agency budget and the special alcohol tax fund. He said their funding helped them operate 11 after school program sites. He said at those sites, they were serving over 1000 youth per day. He said many of those were youths who might not have somewhere else to go if not for the after school program. He said during their summer program, they had run 3 sites serving over 450 youth per day. In addition, they had been able to serve more youth thanks in part to the City Commission’s participation by purchasing three busses. Those busses allowed them to serve more youth by providing transportation to the various sites.
Mayor Amyx thanked Thomason for all the work he provided with the youth of the community.
Allan Hanson, Coalition for Peace and Justice, requested the City Commission place a resolution on the November 7th ballot regarding withdrawal from the war in Iraq. He said he did not think his appearance was a surprise because he had indicated to Interim City Manager Corliss that he planned to come to the meeting. He said he believed the City Commission might have text of the resolution they were proposing because that resolution was sent approximately 6 weeks ago and another resolution approximately 10 days ago. The resolution read:
“Whereas the stated reasons for the American-led invasion of Iraq have proven to be false and groundless,
Whereas the war in Iraq has cost the lives of nearly 3,000 American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis,
Whereas Iraq’s Vice-President, supported by the President, asked President Bush to set a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq (Associated Press, 6/15/06),
Whereas a World Opinion Poll conducted in January, 2006 found that 70% of Iraqis favor setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces,
Now, therefore, the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas call for the immediate withdrawal of American armed forces from Iraq, to begin on November 8, 2006 and to be completed no later than July 1, 2007.”
He requested the City Commission place the item on the ballot for Lawrence voters on the November 7th election. He said he wanted to be very clear as to what they were asking the City Commission to do and what they were not asking the Commission to do. He said they were not asking the City Commission to take a stand on this issue themselves. He said they elected the City Commission to deal with local issues and it would be inappropriate to ask the City Commission to make a statement that had some sort of official city impromptu on an international issue. He said they were five individuals and their statements on issues like that would be no different and have no other weight than any five votes from the community. He said they did not ask or expect the City Commission to take a position on this issue. He said what they did ask was the City Commission give the voters of Lawrence an opportunity to express themselves on this critically important issue. He said it was important to remember the election in November was not just a local election, but had to do with national issues such as the election of the House of Representatives in Washington. He said they thought it was entirely important that the issue of the war in Iraq be on the ballot and indeed the outcome of that referendum could give guidance to the elected representatives when they go to Washington as to what the wishes and views of their constituents were.
He said this would not be the first time a community had expressed itself officially on the Iraq War. He said a resolution similar to this one had been on the ballot in 32 towns in Wisconsin and had passed some 40 town meetings in Vermont. He said that was just a few of the places. He said this was a very important issue to the Lawrence community. He said if they had read Sunday’s edition of the Journal-World, they would not have seen a word about it. He said the fact was on Saturday afternoon nearly 200 people marched down Massachusetts Street in order to mark the fact that vigils against the war in Iraq had been held in front of the Douglas County Courthouse every Saturday for the last four years. He said if there was a more sustained action regarding the War in Iraq anywhere in this county, he would like very much to hear about it.
He said the City Commission might have a couple of questions he would try to foresee and respond to. He asked if it would cost the taxpayers of Lawrence any money to put this on the ballot. He said he thought not. He said there was going to be a ballot printed anyway and an election anyway on the 7th of November. He said he thought whatever extra cost there might be for printing this particular resolution would be negligible.
He said secondly, would this set a precedent so that they would need to put anything that anyone else ever asked them on the ballot. He said that was a tough question and thought it was one the City Commission needed to settle on a case by case basis. He said that was the only way they could address it.
He said he would simply urge the City Commission to remember the war in Iraq was without doubt the most important issue facing the American people today. He said fellow Americans were dying in Iraq daily, fellow human beings; the Iraqis were dying in Iraq in far greater numbers. He said the Bush Administration had linked the war in Iraq to a number of very important issues facing the country today. He said among those issues was the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens to gain intelligence, the arresting of suspected terrorists and not allowing them to communicate with anyone and sending them to foreign prisons where they were tortured and even proposing to take them to trial with not allowing them to know what the evidence against them was or to confront their accusers. He said they perhaps heard this morning on NPR the story of a Canadian citizen who was arrested in New York when he was going to take a flight to Ottawa and was sent to Syria where he was tortured. He said it was a very disturbing and serious situation. He said this was, he thought, a very crucial issue and thought the voice of the people, in this case the people of Lawrence, really needed to be heard.
He said he would make one final request. He asked that the City Commission did not simply smile and thank them for bringing this to their attention and move on to other issues without doing anything. He said he urged one of the Commissioners to make a motion to put this measure on the ballot and urged another Commissioner to second that motion so the citizens of Lawrence had the opportunity to express themselves on this critical issue. He said it was too important to do anything less.
Casey Milstein, said she came before the City Commission to ask the Commission to relax the City ordinance regarding skateboarding on the KU campus. She said she wanted to relax this ordinance because she was a skateboarder and had friends that were skateboarders and solely use their skateboards for transportation. She said she went to the University Student Council and they said the City Commissioners would be the place to start her endeavors. She said she brought a few different University policies from different universities across the country including a few in Kansas; Kansas State and Fort Hays State being two of them that did allow skateboarding on campus for transportation.
She said she thought it would be a legitimate thing to consider relaxing considering the increasing gas prices and there was some misconception when it came to skateboarders. She said most of the time they did not have the best people representing skateboarders, referring to the younger skateboarders who had some disrespectful actions. She said she thought if she could get the City Commission’s support, by relaxing the ordinance on the campus it would be a smart and not as harmful thing as some might think. She said a lot of the other universities simply stated that it was a great way to get around campus if one was respectful with the way they were doing it and it was a good way to get from one place to another.
She said with some universities where it had been illegal and then legalized, they had not seen any increase in injuries. She said there had been an article in the UDK a couple weeks ago that she had instigated and from that she had gotten many e-mails from people around the nation including a world champion long boarder who she had received great support from pursuing this issue because it was a lot safer than people think and actually said it had acquired as many injuries as volleyball.
She said she came to the City Commission to gain their support and see what they thought about her pursuing this issue on different levels because she thought it was a cool thing. She said as of right now, in the City of Lawrence, skateboarding was allowed on the sidewalks, but not downtown, which was understandable because there was a lot of foot traffic and she stood by that because downtown was too crowded. She said on campus where the sidewalks were larger and wider, she did not think it would be as big of an issue as everyone thought it would be. She said in other university policies, they just say skateboarders must yield to everyone else to motor vehicles and pedestrians, and not use their skateboards in any destructive manner. She said she thought if given the chance, there were a lot of people that could prove that could happen.
She said the University, 10 years ago, made it illegal to skate anywhere within 1,000 feet of Jayhawk Boulevard because an 11 year old skateboarder sent his skateboard off the backside of Wescoe and there was an accident where someone had to go to the hospital because the board hit a girl in the head. She said a means of transportation was what she was looking for and a recreational thing that some people make too big of a deal.
Mayor Amyx said he thought that the Vice Mayor had referred her e-mail to staff for their review.
Millstein said she brought some copies of the policies for the City Commission including the articles in the UDK, one concerning the basic legalization of skateboarding as transportation and a follow-up editorial with the support of a lot of students. She said she thought it was something that should be pursued and wanted to let the City Commission know that she was serious about it.
Commissioner Rundle asked if she identified the sections of the current code she would like to see changed and/or provide some alternative suggestions.
Millstein said as for the City, she thought it was not going to change the amount of people that were skateboarding. She thought being on the sidewalks and out of traffic was a good idea even though some of the sidewalks were probably more dangerous than the roads themselves.
Mayor Rundle said he just wanted to make sure that she had already provided language or she could provide suggested alternatives to staff if she had not already done that in her original note.
Millstein said the use of campus sidewalks would be the only change.
Commissioner Highberger asked if the City had any jurisdiction over the sidewalks on campus.
Corliss said the City did have jurisdiction over sidewalks on campus. He said KU approached them about 10 to 12 years ago to enact the ordinance they were speaking about. He said they did not have jurisdiction in the sense that they own the right-of-way and regulate it, but what the City had the ability to adopt an ordinance that K.U.’s police officers or public safety officers could issue a misdemeanor citation and could be adjudicated under municipal court, much like the speed limits on KU’s property or the stop signs on KU’s property were also enacted by the City Commission and prosecuted and adjudicate them in municipal court. He said as a property owner, the State of Kansas had the authority to say what would be the law on state owned property, but they did not have a judicial mechanism to enforce that so they had used the City to adopt the ordinance and prosecute it and adjudicate it similar to other traffic offenses.
Commissioner Highberger said if the University administration desired to prohibit skateboarding, did the City have any authority to change it.
Corliss said he hoped to have a discussion with the University administration as part of the process with the Traffic Safety Commission. He said they would be participatory as to why they thought this was a good regulation, if they still did. He said if the City Commission wanted to repeal the ordinance, then K.U. would be back to where they were going to be back to where they were before wanting to prohibit skateboarding, but not having a very good means of enforcing it, which was not a particularly good situation. He said he had not had any discussion with KU officials and they might be open to the repeal or there might be middle ground that would be satisfactory to those wanting skateboards and could still respond to safety concerns.
Mayor Amyx asked Corliss to provide the Commission with information about what steps would need to be taken for this nonbinding election and then poll the City Commission as to whether or not it would be an agenda item.
Commissioner Highberger said he would go on record now to place it on the agenda. He said he wanted to know if they had time to do it and if so, he expected the costs to be minimal, but would like some estimate.
Commissioner Rundle said he did not see harm in having a general discussion and certainly would not take action without it being a published agenda item so that other people in the community would know and had a chance to offer their comments.
Commissioner Schauner said he concurred with Commissioner Highberger.
Corliss said he would put it on the agenda next week, but he was not sure about publishing the ballot and there would be a staff report by Thursday. (7)
Consider motion to recess into executive session for one hour to discuss the possible acquisition of real estate and non-elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non-elected personnel matters and possible terms and conditions of possible acquisition confidential at this time.
It was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to recess into executive session at 7:45 p.m. for one hour to discuss the possible acquisition of real estate and non-elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non-elected personnel matters and possible terms and conditions of possible acquisition confidential at this time. Motion carried unanimously.
The Commission returned to regular session at 8:45 at which time Mayor Amyx called for a motion to recess the September 19th meeting. He stated the Commission would reconvene the September 19th meeting at 7:45 a.m. on September 23, 2006 at the US Bank Building, 900 Massachusetts, Lower Level, at which time the Commission would recess to executive session for 12 hours to discuss non elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non elected personnel matters.
It was moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to recess the regular meeting at 8:50 pm. Motion carried unanimously.
On September 23, 2006, at 7:45 a.m. Mayor Amyx called the September 19th meeting back in session with Vice Mayor Hack, and Commissioners Highberger, Rundle and Schauner present. It was then moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to recess into executive session for 10 hours to discuss non elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non elected personnel matters. Motion carried unanimously.
At approximately 5:45 p.m. the City Commission returned to regular session at which time it was moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to extend the executive session for one hour. Motion carried unanimously.
At approximately 6:15 p.m. the City Commission returned to regular session at which time Mayor Amyx called for a motion to recess the September 19th regular meeting and to reconvene September 24, 2006 at 8:30 at the US Bank Building, Lower Level, 900 Massachusetts, at which time the City Commission would recess into executive session for approximately 5 hours to discuss non elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non elected personnel matters.
It was then moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to recess the September 19th meeting and reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 24, 2006, at the US Bank Building, Lower Level 900 Massachusetts. Motion carried unanimously.
On September 24, 2006, at 8:30 a.m. Mayor Amyx called the September 19th meeting at back in session with Vice Mayor Hack, and Commissioners Highberger, Rundle and Schauner present. It was then moved by Rundle, seconded by Hack, to recess into executive session for 5 hours to discuss non elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non elected personnel matters. Motion carried unanimously.
At 1:00 p.m. the City Commission returned to regular session at which time it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to recess the September 19th meeting and reconvene at 5:00 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
At 5:00 p.m. the City Commission reconvened the September 19th meeting at which time it was moved by Hack, seconded by Rundle, to recess into executive session for two hours to discuss non elected personnel matters. The justification for the executive session is to keep confidential non elected personnel matters. Motion carried unanimously.
The Commission returned to regular session at 7:00 p.m. September 24, at which time it was moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to adjourn the September 19th meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
APPROVED _____________________________
Mike Amyx, Mayor
ATTEST:
___________________________________
Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk
1. License agreement with University of Kansas for use of portion of Burcham Park for storage of boats and rowing equipment.
2. Approve request from Lawrence Home Builders Association to place direction signs in various rights-of-way.
3. Ordinance No. 8038, first read- allowing the temporary sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic liquors at Burcham Park on September 30, 2006.
4. City Manager’s Report.
5. UPR-05-07-06- Request for retirement community located at 24th Place.
6. Staff report concerning proposed amendments to public offense sections to City Code.
7. Public Comment – Boys & Girls Club funding & skateboarding on K.U. campus.
8. Executive Session.
9. Future Agenda Items.