CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Week ending July 16, 2010
Primary Election for Office of City Commissioner (updated 07/19/10)
The attached copies of letters and staff memorandum were sent to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods and the League of Women Voters. The City Commission would like to know what the community believes is the appropriate number of city commission candidates that require a primary election. Opinions and or comments on this matter were requested to be received on or before August 16, 2010. All information received on this request will be returned to the City Commission in late August.
23rd Street KLINK project update
The project was awarded to Bettis Asphalt and Construction, Inc. and work activities began July 6th. The entire street was milled and areas were identified that needed full depth patching. Rain on the milled roadway caused numerous potholes and a thin asphalt leveling course was applied on the outside lanes to carry traffic. This week crews will finish repairing patches in the inside lanes and a leveling course will be used before traffic is moved over to address patching on the outside lanes. After all full depth patch work is complete a 2” asphalt overlay will be applied. The overlay operations will occur at night to minimize conflict with traffic. All work is expected to be complete the first week of August.
The amount of patching is significant and will incur cost overruns to the project (approximately $150,000 to be paid from the street maintenance program). Attached are pictures showing full depth patches.
June building permits
There were 232 permits issued in June 2010, compared to 192 permits issued in June 2009. This was the most permits issued in a single month since July 2008. Permit valuation was $4,137,672 compared to $6,506,035 last year. Fees were $41,357.95 for June versus $53,086.15 a year ago.
Permits were issued for four new single-family dwellings and one duplex last month. This compares to six permits issued for new single-family dwellings along with one duplex in June last year. For more details, please see that attached memo, building permits report and summary report.
In-house parking lot striping saves money
The Department of Public Works purchased a new line painter that will assist our maintenance staff meet our requirements to maintain striping. The equipment will be used for city‐owned parking lots, garages, airport functions and small street maintenance repairs. Striping in‐house has proven to provide a significant cost savings over contracting. Since its purchase the division has re‐striped the Riverfront garage and the Public Library parking lot, totaling 14,615.70 linear feet. Cost saving to the City of Lawrence is expected to be significant. Contracted striping currently cost $0.20 per linear foot. In‐house costs thus far are $0.033 per linear foot. See the attached memo for more information including a photo of the new equipment.
City launches new sustainability web page
The City of Lawrence has launched a new web page to highlight sustainability efforts by the city and what Lawrence residents can do to help. The page’s content was compiled by Eileen Horn, Sustainability Coordinator for Douglas County and the City of Lawrence, with web programming done by Eric Gruber, eGov Coordinator. The Sustainability page is available at http://lawrenceks.org/sustainability.
2nd Quarter web page statistics
The City of Lawrence website, lawrenceks.org, received 246,752 visits from April 1 to June 30, 2010 and had 730,448 pages viewed during that time period. The top 10 most view pages on the City of Lawrence website from April 1 to June 30, 2010 were:
3. Jobs
4. Adult Sports
5. Youth Sports
8. Aquatics
9. Departments
The city’s database of frequently asked questions top five viewed answers during the same period were:
2. Do I need a permit to install a fence?
Content for the FAQ database comes from the city department pages, as most departments have a FAQ section.
City launches two new Facebook ‘fan’ sites
The City of Lawrence now has two more options for social media savvy citizens to keep informed about events, services and programs within Lawrence.
Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department has launched a Facebook site to interact with residents, former residents and people who are “fans” of the City of Lawrence’s Parks and Recreation Department. The department will use this social network to provide information about current and up-coming programs and activities, as well as important information regarding field conditions and other happenings of the department. Those who would like to sign up may access the page at www.facebook.com/lprdks.
The City of Lawrence Waste Reduction and Recycling Division has also launched a Facebook site to provide information about composting, hazardous waste disposal, waste reduction, reuse opportunities and recycling. To become a “fan,” visit www.facebook.com/LawrenceRecycles.
The City primarily uses social media to distribute press releases and highlight time-sensitive events throughout the year. The City of Lawrence (www.facebook.com/cityoflawrence) and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical (http://www.facebook.com/LawrenceKSFireMedical) are also available on Facebook. The city also offers e-mail news updates via the city’s website. Visit www.lawrenceks.org/subscriptions to find out more information.
Staff members Kathy Richardson, Cassandra Ford, Roger Steinbrock, Eric Gruber, Megan Gilliland and Alicia Holliday are responsible for updating the various city social media sites.
City wins awards for Community Development citizen participation efforts
The City of Lawrence Community Development staff members have belonged to the professional organization the Kansas Chapter of National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials for many years. This year the staff submitted the implementation of the “Web Based Citizen Participation” process for consideration in the association’s annual award competition. Danelle Dresslar accepted the award in the “Best Agency Publication” awards classification at the Annual Conference held in Wichita on May 12th. All state awards are automatically submitted to The Southwest Regional Council of National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials for their competition. The Southwest Regional Council is made up of professionals from the seven member states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The department received the award in the “Best Publication for a Small Entitlement City”. Tony Hoch was able to attend the conference and award ceremony on June 16th to accept the award.