CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
City paying new Westar electric rates effective February 3, 2009
Chad Luce, customer and community relations manager for Westar Energy, briefed city staff this week on new electric rates paid by the city effective February 3, 2009. The city was provided with a projection of 2009 electric bills based on the new rates applied to last year’s electric usage. Total city electric bills (including city facilities and streetlights) are projected to rise from $2,489,702 in 2008 to $2,827,503 in 2009.
Total city electric usage actually fell from 2007 to 2008, probably mostly due to a mild summer in 2008. Electric bills still rose in 2008 due to Westar charging their highest ever fuel factor, as well as additional Environmental Cost Recovery Rider (ECRR) and Transmission Delivery Charge (TDC) fees. Projections of 2009 costs include the new rates, continuing ECRR and TDC fees, as well as an expected high fuel factor. Westar rates are regulated by the Kansas Corporation Commission.
Updated available residential lot inventory
Economic Development Coordinator/Planner Roger Zalneraitis has updated the attached available residential lot inventory. At historical permitting rates of 264 lots per year, the available lots represent about 4-5 years of demand. At current permitting rates of about 125 lots per year, the available lots represent about 11 years worth of demand.
January 2009 Building Permits Report
There were 117 permits issued in January 2009, compared to 162 in 2008. Permit valuation was $2,553,334 compared to $3,104,090 last year. Fees were $22,559.77 compared to $30,064.77 last year. Six permits were issued for new single-family dwellings, compared to two in January last year. The number of permits for remodel projects, mechanical/plumbing/electrical projects, and signs all decreased from a year ago. Please see the attached memo, building permits report, and summary report for more details.
2009 street maintenance summary
On January 27th, 2009 the City Commission approved the 2009 contracted street maintenance program. Public Works staff has provided the attached summary of the 2007, 2008 actual and 2009 planned contracted street maintenance program which includes total lane miles of mill and overlay, curb and gutter, microsurfacing and crack sealing completed in 2007 and 2008, and approved quantities planned for 2009.
5-County Regional Transportation Study underway
The Kansas Department of Transportation has initiated a transportation study focusing on the growing and changing transportation needs of Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties (see attached overview). The study has three goals: assess the multi-modal transportation needs of the region, prioritize those needs and develop strategies to address them. A number of city staff and advisory board members are participating on panels and working groups for the study.
Farmland Industries Property update
The attached letter provides an update on the city’s efforts to purchase the former Farmland Industries property.
Planning Division develops checklists for early assessment of proposals
Planning Division staff has developed checklists to assist developers and property owners in the early assessment of property being considered for development. Checklists have been prepared to assist with site plans, rezoning requests and subdivisions. These checklists are meant to be used in the early planning stages to aid in the identification of issues associated with a particular property and to provide general information regarding Code compliance. These checklists are located on the Planning and Development Services website: www.lawrenceks.org/pds under the links ‘Development Process’ and ‘Features’.
Web site visitors for January
Visitors and page views to the City of Lawrence’s web site (www.lawrenceks.org) increased significantly in January over 2008. The site received 38,478 visits in January; a 27 percent increase over visitors during the same period in 2008. Pages views, an indicator of visitors browsing the site, totaled 98,733, resulting in a 35 percent increase from last year.
The Top 10 Visited Pages to lawrenceks.org in January were:
* Number of viewed pages includes combined totals from Job Opportunities home page and Job Opportunities search page.
6th and Congressional signalization complete
The signalization of the intersection of 6th and Congressional was completed and signals were activated in late January (see attached photos). This project was funded by a benefit district with no city participation. Island and sidewalk work at the intersection is in progress.
2008 Municipal Court Annual Report
Please see the attached 2008 Annual Report for the Municipal Court. In 2008, Municipal Court staff processed approximately 2,700 warrants, completed 312 dockets, answered over 40,000 phone calls, mailed out over 75,000 notices and receipted over 63,000 criminal and traffic payments. Additionally, over 7,000 new case files were created and over 5,600 closed case files were scanned. The annual net revenue to all city funds was $2,777,526, up 6% from 2007.