CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Wage floor updated
Pursuant to the City’s Tax Abatement Policy, the wage floor hourly wage is adjusted annually based on an annual wage equal to one hundred thirty percent of the federal poverty threshold for a family of three. With new federal poverty thresholds established for 2009, the wage floor hourly wage will increase from $11.00 in 2008 to $11.44 for 2009. Please see the attached memo for more details.
Centennial Neighborhood Assoc., et al. v. USD 497 and City of Lawrence
The plaintiffs and the School District settled their differences arising from the school district’s plans to construct certain athletic facilities in the City. As a result of the settlement agreement between the plaintiffs and the school district, the lawsuit, including the claims against the City, was dismissed with prejudice. The Settlement Agreement and the Order of Dismissal are attached.
Update on Community Development Division activities
The attached memo includes a summary of Planning and Development Services Department, Community Development Division activities and some photos of completed projects. In 2008 the Comprehensive Housing Rehabilitation program completed ten projects for a total of $214,978, there were eleven Emergency or Furnace Loan applications approved and projects completed for $24,224, the First Time Homebuyer Lawrence Community Housing and Land Trust (LCHLT) program placed seven first time homebuyers in projects for a total of $203,251, and forty-three households received weatherization projects for a total cost of $76,568.
Technology improvements enhance city services
The Finance Department’s bid results page was updated in January with a new content management system that is easier for city staff to use. The system also publishes the bid results through RSS.
RSS is a web protocol that provides an easy method of syndicating (sending out) and aggregating (collecting) web content and news. RSS allows citizens to have featured content from our web site delivered to them via a modern web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 .The city’s RSS feeds are available at http://www.lawrenceks.org/rss.
Purchasing Specialist Alan Landis has found the system easy to use for web publishing bids. The system also allows faster posting. eGov Coordinator Eric Gruber completed the programming for the feature.
The City of Lawrence’s Municipal Court now has a web form for attorneys to request entry of appearance. The Entry of Appearance and Motion for Request form is available at http://www.lawrenceks.org/legal/forms/eoa.
Previously attorneys would call the request in or bring a written form to the court window. Now the data from this form will be e-mailed directly to Municipal Court staff.
“This is just one of the many ways we can make court operations more efficient in 2009,” said Vicki Stanwix, Court Administrator. “Hopefully this form will alleviate some of our phone traffic.” eGov Coordinator Eric Gruber completed the programming for the feature.
The city has added a new way to communicate with the public by creating a presence on the popular social network website, Twitter. The City of Lawrence can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lawrenceks.
Twitter is a free micro blogging service where only 140 characters per blog post are permitted. Twitter users can easily connect with other users and “follow” them, in turn subscribing to their posts on the website.
The city went public on Twitter on Dec. 4, 2008 and to date has 80 followers. eGov Coordinator Eric Gruber completed the programming for the feature.
City again honored with GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award
The city has once again been honored with the Government Finance Officer’s Association 2007 Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. The city is one on 16 entities in Kansas to be so honored, and has won the award five years running. Attached is a list of all the winners.
MPO staff presents overview of transportation planning
At the January 22 meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board Meeting, staff gave the attached presentation, which provided an overview of metropolitan transportation planning.
Legislation regarding publication of legal notices
The city has recently responded to a request from the League of Kansas Municipalities for documentation of city costs in 2008 associated with publishing legal notices. A number of Kansas communities have supported legislation in past legislative sessions to allow for the Internet posting of legal notices (versus the State mandate for publication in an area newspaper) because of potential cost savings and better access to notices.
City applies for Great Places in America designation for downtown
Planning staff recently submitted a nomination for the American Planning Association’s Great Places in America program. Lawrence is submitting under the Great Streets category and the nomination is for the downtown portion of Massachusetts Street between 6th Street and South Park. This is the third year of the Great Places in America program. Previous Great Streets designations have gone to Savannah’s Bull Street, St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, and Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue. APA will announce the designations sometime this fall in conjunction with Community Planning Month in October.
Lawrence Alliance and Centro Hispano hosting Lawrence Festival of Cultures
The Lawrence Festival of Cultures is a multicultural outdoor event whose purpose is to understand and celebrate diverse cultures while promoting an overall cohesive Lawrence community. The event will be held on Sunday, Sept 27, at South Park. Various organizations will display cultural booths and offer a variety of entertainment and food. This event is organized by The Lawrence Alliance and Centro Hispano. It is free to the public. Businesses, groups, or people who are interested in sponsoring, volunteering at, or having a booth at this event can send an e-mail to Deb Taylor of the Lawrence Alliance at: alliance@lawrencealliance.org.