September 20, 2007
The Board of Commissioners of the City of Lawrence met in regular session at 9:00 a.m., in the City Commission Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Hack presiding and members Amyx, Dever, Chestnut and Highberger present.
CONSENT AGENDA
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve the City Commission meeting minutes of September 4, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to receive the Board of Electrical Examiners and Appeals meeting minutes of May 24, 2007; the Lawrence Arts Commission meeting minutes of July 22, 2007; and the Sustainability Advisory Board meeting minutes of August 8, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve claims to 648 vendors in the amount of $2,822,401.37 and payroll from September 2, 2007 to September 15, 2007, in the amount of $1,838,029.54. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve the Drinking Establishment License for Tellers, 746 Massachusetts Street; Cielito Lindo Mexican Restaurant, 815 New Hampshire; Longhorn Steakhouse, 30550 Iowa; and The Hawk, 1340 Ohio. Motion carried unanimously.
The City Commission reviewed the bids for four (4) 35 yard refuse compactors for the Public Works Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Roy Conley & Company $65,440.00
Texoma Waste Control $67,040.00
Dowing Sales & Service $67,360.00
Big Stuff, Inc. $78,020.00
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to award the bid to Roy Conley & Company, in the amount of $65,440.00. Motion carried unanimously. (1)
The City Commission reviewed the bids for filter basin handrails for the Utilities Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Midland Construction $20,400.00
Blaze Mechanical $25,856.00
BA Green Construction $27,400.00
CAS Construction $29,773.00
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to award the bid to Midland Construction, in the amount of $20,400.00. Motion carried unanimously. (2)
The City Commission reviewed the bids for street, storm sewer and waterline improvements on Stoneridge Drive, from 6th Street to Silverstone Drive for the Public Works Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Engineer’s Estimate $385,412.50
R.D. Johnson Excavating, Inc. $296,395.13
King’s Construction Co., Inc. $296,741.44
LRM Industries, Inc. $299,892.40
Amino Brothers Co., Inc. $417,166.89
D.F. Freeman Contractors, Inc. $429,063.30
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to award the bid to R.D. Johnson Excavating, Inc., in the amount of $296,395.13. Motion carried unanimously. (3)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $9,803.84 to contract with Vance Brothers, Inc., for 2007 Microsurfacing Program. Motion carried unanimously. (4)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve the purchase from Globe Manufacturing for Fire/Medical Department protective clothing replacement and repair in the total amount of $51,950. Motion carried unanimously. (5)
Ordinance No. 8158, rezoning (Z-11-28-06) approximately .954 acres from RS10 (Single Dwelling Residential) District to RS7 (Single Dwelling Residential) District, located at 523-543 Rockledge Road, Lawrence, Kansas, was read a second time. As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to adopt the ordinance. Motion carried unanimously. (6)
Ordinance No. 8154, text amendments (TA-06-11-07, TA-06-12-07, TA-06-13-07), to Sections 20-218, 20-403, 20-1305 and 20-1307 of the Development Code, Chapter 20 of the Code of the City of Lawrence, was read a second time. As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to adopt the ordinance. Motion carried unanimously.
(7)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to adopt Resolution 6738, requesting the Board of County Commissioners of Douglas County find and determine that the “island” annexation of approximately .952 acres, located north of the intersection of N. 1300 and E. 1700 Roads, will not hinder or prevent the proper growth and development of the area or that any other incorporated city located within Douglas County. Motion carried unanimously. (8)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve as signs of community interest, a request form the Lawrence Home Builders Association to place directional signs in various rights-of-way throughout the Fall Parade of Homes Tour route on September 29 and 30, and October 6 and 7. Motion carried unanimously. (9)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to approve the Sidewalk Dining License for Local Burger, located at 714 Vermont, and adopt on first reading Ordinance No. 8157, allowing the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages on certain city property pursuant to Local Burger’s Sidewalk Dining License. Motion carried unanimously. (10)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Chestnut, seconded by Amyx to authorize the Mayor to sign a Subordination Agreement for Susan Bolton, 2015 Stratford Road. Motion carried unanimously. (11)
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: None.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None.
REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
Discussion of federal legislative statement.
David Corliss, City Manager, said staff made funding requests to the federal government for surface transportation needs. He said staff wanted to remind federal legislators about those requests which would be long term issues and he did not think those requests would be funded this year. Staff asked for funding for road improvements to assist with the 23rd Street and Franklin area, East Hills Business Park and Bob Billings Parkway and SLT interchange, knowing both were large infrastructure projects that would probably require funding from multiple sources such as state, federal, city and perhaps county governments or even as benefit districts. He said staff also made a request for storm water funding as well for 23rd and Ousdahl.
He said another item that was not related was the requirements for recertification of the levy coming from the federal government and staff did not know the dollar amount of that recertification. The federal legislators should be alerted that staff fully anticipated complying, but might need assistance as far as the study and any type of action that would come out of that study.
Chuck Soules, Director of Public Works Department, said their levy inspection went very well and staff was working with the Corps on what would be required. He said staff thought they could do a lot of that work, but might need to hire a contractor for boring and surveying. They had until June 2009 to get everything completed.
Mayor Hack asked when Soules thought the Commission would have the report on the levy inspection.
Soules said this was a routine levy inspection and the report would be distributed to the City Commission in approximately one month. He was there would be the need for some repairs to the levy, but nothing major or significant.
Corliss said the point he wanted to make on the levy certification to federal legislators was that staff was in favor of making sure the levy was structurally sound, but every $100,000 spent to fill out a bunch of paper work, unless that paper work was giving a level of assurance, was money they would rather spend on actual hardware or storm water projects in North Lawrence or elsewhere. He said hopefully the requirements would be meaningful and he did not think staff had a good grasp on the requirements yet.
He said information was received from Judy Billings, Chamber of Commerce, regarding the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and how they were going to respond to that locally. There were funds that Billings indicated were available to all the National Heritage Areas and it was appropriate to let federal legislators know that was funding that would benefit this City’s National Heritage Area and perhaps the Lawrence-Douglas County Community.
He said staff would put together information for legislators regarding a major project at the airport.
He said a lot of time was spent on the finances of the transit system and Cliff Galante, Transit Administrator, would provide information about the status of federal appropriations. He said they needed to continue to tout the success of the system over a number of years and staff would most likely receive questions about the merger with KU. The City partnered with KU now in helping with funding and federal compliance.
He said CDBG and the HOME Programs had been challenged at the federal level and those programs had not seen growing resources, but declining resources which needed to pointed out to the federal legislators and point out the success of that program to the community. Also, challenges in funding homeless services should be discussed. There were not very many federal earmarks in this area. Lawrence was an entitlement city under CDBG and HOME Programs and once the City reached a certain population, this City would receive a certain amount based on this City’s population. Lawrence did not need to competitively compete for CDBG grants like other smaller Kansas communities.
Mayor Hack asked if it would be helpful, when asking for funding for homeless services or asking for continuance in increasing CDBG funding, to have conversations about the current projects in East Lawrence and the neighborhood revitalization plan as well as the vision statement from the Community Coalition on Homelessness in that the City had an action plan.
Corliss said when staff talked to the legislators and the legislative staff many of those people had a great familiarity with Lawrence and were interested in what was happening in Lawrence. He said when talking about census, those people were familiar with what was happening to the housing market nationally.
He said some other portions of the statement indicated support for the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, opposing federal unfunded mandates such as the levy and attempts to federalize some of the laws regarding public safety employees.
Mayor Hack asked if there were any additions or concerns. She said the federal legislators might like to be updated on the situation with the CDBG and Destination Management Inc. and how that worked. She said everyone was pushing to keep Lawrence as the heritage area and it’s restructuring.
Commissioner Amyx said the City’s statement was an ongoing process and there could be changes from time to time, but the basis of the statement would always be about the same. He said regarding the project on flooding issues in North Lawrence and its cost, he asked if there was money available through the federal government that could help with some of those issues and was it something reasonable to ask.
Corliss said it was reasonable to ask. He said when he talked to the staff members in Washington, they said the requests were usually funded in half million to million and a half range for a particular project. It was very unlikely for a community to receive five million or ten million dollars for a particular project like that, but there were obviously examples which made national news where multimillion dollar bridges were being built to the Alaskan islands and those kinds of things. He said the Congressional staff was being realistic about the likelihood of funding projects. This City could ask for that amount of funding, but historically funding had been in the half million to million and a half dollar range. That was why staff asked for the 23rd and Ousdahl project because it ranked higher than the projects in North Lawrence on the storm water management criteria and its price tag was $2 million. They wanted a local match and staff asked for the federal government to spend the million dollars with the idea they would be able to spend a million locally as well to get the project accomplished. The federal government was not going to put a million dollars into a project that cost five million dollars and they were only going to spend two million. It had to be enough to do the project. He said they would look at that again and see if there were some things they could do. Some of the price tags for the North Lawrence projects were fairly substantial and it was unlikely the federal government would fund a $5 million pump station upgrade. The federal government would self select to decide if it was worthy to make a request.
Commissioner Amyx said another area for the federal government to be aware of was the silting of Clinton Lake and the amount of money the City was spending on the upgrade to the water plant. He said he kept the idea of silting problems in mind for all existing levies. The water supply from those levies were important and thought that discussion about a program should take place to make sure of the City’s water capacity, not only for Lawrence, but for rural water districts. (12)
Consider motion to recess into executive session for the purposes of: 1) possible acquisition of real estate; and 2) consultation with attorneys for the City on matters deemed privileged under attorney-client relationship. The justification for the executive session is to keep matters confidential at this time.
At 10:10 it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to recess into executive session for 20 minutes for the purposes of discussing the possible acquisition of real estate and to consult with attorneys for the City on matters deemed privileged under attorney-client relationship. Motion carried unanimously.
At 10:30 am the Commission returned to regular session at which time, it was moved by Dever, seconded by Chestnut, to extend the meeting until 10:40 a.m.
The Commission returned to regular session at 10:40 am.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:
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11/20/07 |
Vice-Mayor Dever plans to be absent. |
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TBD |
● Chapter 7 of Comprehensive Plan (Industrial Chapter) ● Staff reports on Sales tax options, Intangibles Tax and Impact Fees ● Federal Legislative Statement (in anticipation of delegation visit to federal legislators in October) ● State Legislative Statement ● Downtown Redevelopment Issues (public procedures and financing options) ● Commission and public discussion on goals for 31st Street corridor (Haskell Avenue to O’Connell) |
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(14)
COMMISSION ITEMS:
It was moved by Dever, seconded by Amyx, to adjourn at 10:50 a.m. Motion carried unanimously.
APPROVED:
_____________________________
Sue Hack, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk
1. Bid- four 35 yard refuse compactors for Public Works to Roy Conley for $65,440.
2. Bid- filter basin handrails for Kaw Water Treatment Plant to Midland Construction for $20,400.
3. Bid- street, storm sewer & waterline improvements for Stoneridge Dr., 6th St. to Silverstone Dr., to RD Johnson Excavating Inc. for $296,395.13.
4. Changer Order No. 1 for $9,803.84 to Vance Bros Inc for 2007 Microsurfacing Program.
5. Protective clothing replacement and repair for Fire/Medical Dept. to Globe Manufacturing for $51,950.
6. Ordinance No. 8158- 2nd & Final Read, rezone (Z-11-28-06) .954 acres, RS10 to RS7, located at 523-543 Rockledge Rd.
7. Ordinance No. 8154- 2nd & Final Read, text amendments (TA-06-11-07, TA-06-12-07, TA-06-13-07) of Development Code, Ch 20.
8. Resolution No. 6738- Request to Board of Co. Commissioners that “island” annexation of approx.952 acres will not hinder or prevent property growth & development in that area.
9. Approve as signs of community interest request from Home Builders of Lawrence Assn to place directional signs in rights-of-way for Fall Parade of Home tour route.
10. Sidewalk Dining License for Local Burger, 714 Vermont; and adopt Ordinance No. 8157, 1st read, allowing possession & consumption of alcoholic beverages on city property.
11. Subordination Agreement, Susan Bolton, 2015 Stratford Road.
12. Discussion of federal legislative statement.
13. Executive Session.