CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Week ending July 23, 2010

Fleet Manager certified EVT Management Levels 1 & 2

Fleet Manager Steve Stewart was recently certified by the Emergency Vehicle Technician (EVT) Certification Commission, Inc. in management levels 1 and 2. The EVT Certification Commission is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving the quality of emergency vehicle service and repair throughout the United States and Canada. Certification indicates competence in learning level objectives that cover wide ranging topics from business practices, specification writing, technology, environmental regulations, human resources, leadership and applicable NFPA standards, including NFOA 1901, 1911 and 1071. All testing and certification is voluntary and recertification is required every five years. 

Wings of Freedom Tour

The Wings of Freedom Tour visited the Lawrence Municipal Airport on July 14-16, featuring the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the North American P-51 Mustang. The Tour brings the aircraft to about 110 cities each year and allows the public to take walk through tours of the aircraft for a donation. Please see attached photos of the event.

Santa Fe Station update

The City received various documents from the BNSF that would enable the donation of the depot to the City, provide for a long-term land lease of the property, and lease a portion of the depot back to BNSF for their crew’s use.  City staff has reviewed the documents and returned a set of documents back to BNSF with extensive initial comments.  Comments centered on issues of environmental liability, how the building restoration project would proceed, and making the transfer contingent upon acceptance of a Transportation Enhancement Grant award.  Next steps are to get further comment from BNSF on the documents.  The documents will eventually come before the City Commission for discussion. 

In December, the City applied for a Transportation Enhancement Grant through the Kansas Department of Transportation to complete the first phase of the renovations on the Station.  KDOT officials have most recently advised that TE Grant awards will likely be announced in early August.

Staff is exploring a grant opportunity through the Federal Railroad Administration that could potentially fund 80% of the architectural design costs related to the renovation project.  The TE grant requires that 100% of the design costs be borne by the grant applicant.  Therefore, this could be a way for the City to gain additional non-local cost sharing in this project.  Applications are due August 6. 

New Transit routes to take effect August 2

The City of Lawrence’s transit system and KU on Wheels will implement service changes that will affect almost half of the existing transit routes on August 2. The changes are intended to improve access to the city and university, increase service frequency, and make the best use of resources available.

Transit Administrator Bob Nugent presented the proposed changes to the City Commission this past spring and numerous public meetings were held to collect input from citizens on route changes. Changes were based on the second round of recommendations issued in March by a team of nationally recognized transportation specialists hired to assist in coordinating the transit systems operated by the City of Lawrence and The University of Kansas.

Last fall, Route 11 was created to serve as the spine of the coordinated transit system. It connects with nearly every other route in the city and university systems. The two transit systems have been working cooperatively over the last few years, maximizing the service that can be provided with available resources. Each year, service adjustments will be made in August to coincide with the start of the university’s school year.

Full details are available in the new Guide to Ride, which includes route and schedule information for both city and university bus routes. Guides are available on buses, at City Hall, grocery stores, and across the KU campus.  

The city has worked to develop numerous public outreach activities aimed at educating the general public and current riders of the upcoming changes.  Activities included notices on the transit website, www.lawrencetransit.org; informational flyers on buses, insert in the July Utility Bill, full page article in the August Flame newsletter, city news release and social media postings.

City staff including Robert Nugent, Emily Lubliner, Wendy Koerner, Micah Seybold, Eric Gruber and Megan Gilliland have all worked on the project team to develop educational and outreach materials detailing the route changes.

In-house parking lot striping continues

The benefits continue to accrue for the city’s purchase of a paint striping machine. Recently the Public Works Department was able to re-stripe the angled parking along N. Park Street. While in the vicinity, they were also able to paint the Community Building parking lot at no cost to the Parks and Recreation Department. See attached photos. The flexibility of having our own machine made this possible. We continue to see huge cost savings by performing this task in-house. The average cost per foot to contract this work is $0.20 compared to $0.033 in-house. Maintaining parking striping enhances the appearance of our city and makes it much easier for drivers to park properly.

2010 facilities and structures update

The attached memo provides a mid-year update and status of our 2010 Facilities and Structures Program. The Facilities and Structures Division maintains two parking garages: Riverfront Parking Garage and the New Hampshire Parking Garage. This division has seven full time employees – five skilled maintenance workers (electrician, HVAC technician, multi-trade maintenance person for all buildings, one assigned to health facility, one assigned to airport, one assigned to parking structures) and a custodian for City Hall. The Facilities and Structures Division is responsible for building maintenance for approximately 40 municipal buildings. It maintains the Downtown lighting: pedestrian, parking lots, and city owned street lighting. The division responds to Planning/Development Services and Police reports of Graffiti. Division staff spends a minimum of eight hours a week at the I.T.C. Center on Bob Billings Parkway and provides technical support for other departments as well.