CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Week ending October 15, 2010

 

City staff presents at League of Kansas Municipalities Conference

The 2010 LKM Conference was held October 9-12, 2010 at the Overland Park Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel. The City of Lawrence was represented on two days of the conference with presentations by the City Manager and the Aquatics Manager. On Sunday, October 10th, “Issues in Creating & Managing a Storm Water Utility” was presented by David Corliss, City Manager.  His discussion included the process, from start to continued management, of a successful stormwater utility. On Monday, October 11th, “Swimming in the Deep End:  Aquatic Facility Risk Management” was presented by Jimmy Gibbs, Aquatics Manager.  He discussed the topic of aquatic risk management that must be considered to ensure that swimming pools lead to “swimsuits, not lawsuits”.

 

Airport Open House attracts aviation enthusiasts

On October 8, 2010 the City of Lawrence held its second airport open house in two years. This year’s event was very successful with an estimated attendance of 2,000 people. Several venders were on hand providing food and displays. There was participation from multiple aviation related groups: Commemorative Air force (WWII restored aircraft), Douglas County Emergency Management, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cessna Aircraft, Public Works and Fire Medical equipment. Public Works had a recycling display booth on hand. The public was presented several activities during the open house; airplane rides around the city, radio control aircraft demonstration, inflatable kids playhouse, a balsa wood airplane completion and even a WWII dog tag machine. See attached memo for more information and photos of the event.

 

Third quarter web site statistics

The City of Lawrence website, lawrenceks.org, received 221,148 visits from July 1 to September 31, 2010 and had 627,519 pages viewed during that time period. The top 10 most viewed pages on the City of Lawrence website during that time period were:

 

1.    LPRD home page

2.    Jobs

3.    Adult Sports Softball

4.    Adult Sports

5.    Utility Billing home page

6.    City Services A-Z

7.    City Commission Agendas

8.    Departments

9.    Planning & Development Services home page

10. Aquatics

 

The city’s database of frequently asked questions top five viewed answers during the same period were:

 

1.    A tree in my neighbor's yard overhangs my property - can I trim it without my neighbor's permission?

2.    Do I need a permit to install a fence?

3.    Why do fire engines respond to emergency medical calls?

4.    Does the City pick up bundled tree branches and other woody debris?

5.    Does the City pick up yard trimmings (grass, leaves and small woody debris) from my curb?

 

Content for the FAQ database comes from the city department pages, as most departments have a FAQ section.