CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Parks & Recreation Building Improvements
Over the past month a number of upgrades and improvements have been completed to the facilities that are operated and maintained by the Parks & Recreation Department (see attached photos)
1) Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center - new lighting in the leisure pool replaces fixtures that had failed due to corrosion.
2) Community Building - new roof over the gym replaces a system that was beginning to fail.
3) Community Building – resurface Kallwall sky light to correct cracking.
4) Community Building – new elevator replaces the original system that was installed when the building was built.
5) Holcom Park Center – new roof over the lower sections of the center installed to correct leaks.
6) Holcom Park Center – resurfaced Kallwall sky light that was leaking due to cracking of surface.
7) Holcom Park Center – glass block installed in gym wall to replace louver vents that were not well sealed.
8) Holcom Park Center – new basketball supports and goals were installed to replace systems that had failed.
9) East Lawrence Center – refinished Gym Floor.
Mums the Word
Over the past 2 weeks, the landscape staff (and a special guest) in the Parks & Recreation Department have been busy planting over 1800 mums (see photos) to add a little fall color to the City’s landscapes. These mums will be in full bloom in about another week.
® 700 mums planted in the downtown planters
® 300 mums planted at other downtown buildings & parks
® 800 mums planted in parks, building entrances and entrances to the City
Meadows Place Stormwater Improvements
To alleviate flooding problems in an adjacent neighborhood, the Stormwater Division is working with the Meadows Place Homeowners Association to make improvements in open space owned by the association. The project involves construction of a relief channel connecting to a drainage channel already present, and cleaning out a stormwater drainage box underneath Kasold Dr. Please see the attached photos of the project.
Staff Participates in SHRM Conference
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 205,000 individual members, SHRM has over 550 affiliated chapters and members in more than 100 countries. On September 21-22, 2006 the Kansas State SHRM conference was held in Topeka, KS and attended by 400 HR professionals including the following Personnel staff members: Personnel Manager Lori Carnahan; Management Analyst Karen Reed; Personnel Specialist/Benefits Marlo Cohen and our new Personnel Specialist/Recruiter Ryann Pem.
This year’s conference “Super HReros, The HReart and Soul of Business” was kicked off with keynote speaker Secretary of State, Ron Thornburgh. The Society's mission is to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Other sessions to that end included nationally-known speaker and published author Dr. Michael Mercer with his “Turning your HR Department into a Profit Center.” City staff not only participate but are leaders at such events in that Karen Reed, PHR is the Jayhawk SHRM local chapter President (84 members) and State Council member; Ryann Pem is the Jayhawk Director of Diversity and was a recipient of state’s HR Hero award; Frank Reeb and Lori Carnahan both hold the highest certification level possible of Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) and Marlo Cohen holds her Professional Human Resources (PHR) certification as well. Frank, Lori and Marlo were listed in the Kansas State Conference program for their newly obtained certifications during this 2006 year.
Building Permits Report
Please see the attached memorandum for a report on building permits issued this year through September. Overall the number of building permits issued continues to surpass the number of permits issued last year for this same period, 2068 building permits issued versus 2036. Building permits for single-family homes is at 196 as compared to 151 for this same period last year.
The City of Lawrence main web site at lawrenceks.org has a visually-enhanced page for city maps. The page, viewable at http://www.lawrenceks.org/map.shtml, now provides thumbnail images of the maps in addition to text descriptions. In addition, the eGov services pages on the main web site has been updated. The page, viewable at http://www.lawrenceks.org/egov.shtml, also provides thumbnail images of eGov services, highlighting them for use by residents. Changes were completed by Eric Gruber, eGov Coordinator.