CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Update on the City’s Request for Proposals to Offer Deferred Compensation 457 Plan Services
Members of the Administrative Services and Finance Departments, with assistance from CBIZ Financial Solutions Inc., and the Employee Benefits Committee, recently completed a review of 11 responses to a request for proposals for administrative, record keeping, and investment management services for the City’s 457 Deferred Compensation Plan (an optional supplemental retirement program for full-time regular, part-time regular, and extra-board employees). A detailed report and recommendation will be presented to the City Commission in January 2007, including a recommendation to change the Plan’s provider arrangement from ICMA Retirement Corporation to Diversified Investment Advisors, Inc. Over the next few weeks, and prior to the presentation before the City Commission, Administrative Services staff will host a series of employee and participant meetings to allow employees and participants to learn more about, and comment on, the recommendations. During this period, employees will also be provided information on the employee intranet and participants will be receiving information mailed to their homes explaining the RFP process and proposed recommendations.
Performance Management Update
Implementation of the new performance management system is now underway. Department directors have been meeting one-on-one with the City Manager and staff is recording and reporting performance measurement data. Some examples of the data collected in October and November include:
§ 93.52% of invoices received in October were paid within 30 days;
§ 71.43% of residential permits were issued within 5 business days of an application submittal in October;
§ 25% of commercial permits were issued within 15 business days of an application submittal in October;
§ The City’s email, network, and internet connectivity were fully operational 100% of the time in October, and 99.8% of the time in November.
Departments are working to develop data collection methods for many other performance indicators and customer satisfaction data will be available following the conducting of our citizen survey. A report to the City Commission is planned for late January that will summarize and highlight the performance data from the fourth quarter of 2006. This data, along with data from the first quarter of 2007 will be used as we develop the 2008 budget.
2006 Audit Schedule
Please see the anticipated schedule for completion of the 2006 financial audit.
Staff Participates in Neighborhood Planning and Design Teleconference
On November 30 Planning Department staff took part in a Neighborhood Planning and Design Teleconference. The conference focused on recognizing the unique qualities inherent in individual communities, and using the character of a community to create an effective neighborhood plan. Please see the attached conference materials.
November Building Permits Report
The total number of building permits issued through November 2006 is slightly lower than the total number issued during the same period in 2005. Building permit fees collected to date are $810,599 as compared to $816,317 last year. However, the overall valuation for building permits issued is $164,898,884 as compared to last year same period at $122,929,445 due to several City projects. Please see the attached report for a more details.
City Commission 2007 Election Information Goes Online
Information for the 2007 City Commission election is now available online at http://www.lawrenceks.org/2007_election/index.shtml. Included on the election information page are forms for candidates, which can be downloaded individually or in a complete zip file package. Dates for the filing deadline, in addition to the primary and general election dates are, listed on the election page.
Filing Deadline: Noon, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007
Primary Election: Tues., Feb. 27, 2007 (If necessary), Advance Voting begins Wed., Feb. 7, 2007 (If necessary)
General Election: Tues., April 3, 2007, Advance Voting begins Wed., March 14, 2007
Additional information about the 2007 election includes the following: purpose, structure and election of the city commission, including information on both the regular and primary elections.
www.lawrenceks.org Visits Climb in November
The City of Lawrence website, www.lawrenceks.org, received 52,670 visitors in November, 16,116 more visits than in November 2005 (36,554). The most visited day was Nov. 16, with 2,590 visits. That day’s visits can likely be attributed to local media coverage of the city’s addition of enhanced maps at www.lawrenceks.org/infosystems/maps.shtml. The PDF of the 2007 adopted city budget was the most viewed link this month, adding it to the top 10 most viewed pages. Of the 52,670 visits, 53.16 percent directly typed in the city’s web site address or had the address bookmarked, and 21.19 percent of traffic to the site used search results provided by Google to find the site.
Top 10 most viewed pages.