CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Week ending June 17, 2011

May building permits report

The Building Safety Division issued 159 building permits in May (down from 192 in May 2010), with total construction for the month valued at $21,088,007 (up from 14,711,012 in May 2010).  Total permit fees assessed for the month were $92,472 (up from $75,586 in May 2010). Staff issued 16 permits for new residential construction in May, including one duplex and 15 single-family dwellings.  Permits were issued for 14 new residential projects in May last year, ten for single-family dwellings and four for duplexes. Please see the attached memo, summary report and full report for more information.

Football game day bus service

Transit staff is planning for a fourth year of downtown to Memorial Stadium bus service on KU football home game days. Starting last year, service supporting the football season was incorporated into regular service. In order to accommodate the overloads to our regular route (i.e. Route 11) we ran additional buses from the downtown to the stadium. That guaranteed that we could maintain service from the downtown to the southernmost portion (31^st and Iowa) of the route while maintaining the level of service needed to accommodate football patrons. From a user standpoint it appears virtually the same as it has for the last several years. Parking at the New Hampshire Street Garage and the Riverfront Garage will be free on home game days and the bus fare is $1.00.

Website audit complete

City staff has completed an audit of the content on the City of Lawrence, KS website. In January, eGov Coordinator Eric Gruber met with staff members who help maintain the website’s content – called Web Content Developers - to roll out a new plan to review the content of LawrenceKS.org. The plan called for a manual review of the quality of content and a check of all the links for every page in the content management system. The audit was completed by all departments by June 3. In addition to auditing, most were able to go ahead and fix any changes that needed to be made, although a few changes still need updating to a handful of pages on the city website. Eric Gruber will be working one-on-one with those departments to help complete those changes by Sept. 1, 2011. The city plans to perform a large-scale web content audit like this once every two years.

Lawrence recycles 23 tons of electronic equipment at city-sponsored event

On Saturday, May 14, 2011, the City’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Division hosted an Electronics Recycling Event.  The event was held from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Free State High School parking lot.  Participants dropped off a total of 45,551 pounds (22.78 tons) of electronic equipment for recycling.  Electronic recycling was provided by The Surplus Exchange.  See the attached report and participant survey results for more details.

Pump Station 25 and force main upgrade completed

The Department of Utilities and general contractor Midland Contractors Inc. have completed the construction of pump station 25 and force main upgrade. Pump Station 25 is located in the East Hills Business Park adjacent to the Amarr Garage Door facility at 3800 Greenway Circle, the force main parallels the BNSF railroad from the pump station site to just south of 11th Street and then continues north across 11th Street onto the wastewater treatment plant property as shown on the attached map.

The project involved the construction a new 3MGD (million gallons daily) wastewater pumping facility including gravity sanitary sewer system, pumping and pressure piping system, and electrical and control system improvements as shown in the attached photos. The project also included the open trench installation of approximately 13,500 lineal feet of 12” PVC forcemain and 15,900 lineal feet of fiber optic conduit and cable. As part of the project the City obtained, annexed, and platted an approximately 4.0 acre site as well as obtaining all necessary permanent easements for the force main along the BNSF railroad.

Midland Contractors Inc. was given notice to proceed on May 17, 2010. A total of 300 calendar days were permitted to attain final completion per the executed contract. An additional 28 days were added to the contract schedule by change order. The project met all requirements for final completion as of April 21, 2011.

The project was awarded to Midland Contractors Inc. in the amount of $2,372,596.00 and executed change orders comprised $16,630.00, for a total constructed cost of $2,389,226.00. Total project expenditures including design and construction phase engineering services, land acquisition, legal, and permitting costs totaled $3,063,412.59, approximately $337,000.00 below the bonded project budget of $3,400,000.00.

Pump Station 9 Wet Weather Storage Basin No. 3 completed

The Department of Utilities and general contractor Wildcat Construction Inc. have completed the construction of Pump Station 9 Wet Weather Storage Basin No.3. Pump Station 9 is located west of 31^st and Kasold (map attached).

The project involved the construction a new 2.5 MG wet weather storage basin, flow meter vault, and electrical, valving and pipe modifications required (photos). As part of the project Department of Utilities staff prepared, submitted and managed the required Site Plan, Special Use Permit, Zoning Applications, and Floodplain Development Permit.

Wildcat Construction Inc. was given notice to proceed on July 13, 2010. A total of 150 days was allotted for Substantial Completion and another 30 days to achieve Final Completion. An additional 5 days were added to the contract schedule by change order to accommodate delays due to weather. The project was Substantially Complete and placed in service on December 28, 2010. On January 18, 2011 a Final Completion walk through was conducted. On June 3, 2011 the contractor completed warranty work to address excavation settlement and constructed a concrete driveway section per change order. All project work is now complete.

The project was awarded to Wildcat Construction, Inc. in the amount of $1,444,400.00 and executed change orders totaled -$8,080.41, for a final construction contract cost of $1,436,319.59. Total project expenditures, including construction, design and construction phase engineering services, and Department procured equipment costs totaled $1,677,643.59, $722,356.41 below the bonded project budget of $2,400,000.00.

Kansas Aviation Youth Camp hosted at Lawrence Municipal Airport

The Kansas Commission on Aerospace Education (KCAE) held it its first half-day summer camp at the Lawrence Municipal Airport on Saturday, June 4. The camp was a partnership between the Airport Advisory Board, the Parks and Recreation Department, the KU Aerospace Engineering Department and the KCAE, introducing middle school aged students to the fundamentals of flight.

Sister Cities grant application

The Sister Cities Advisory Board has applied for a grant to fund travel support for an exchange trip to Hiratsuka for four individuals from the arts, business, university or government community.  The grant is through the International Sister Cities Association and is funded by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnerships with an objective to improve and expand existing relationships between the US and Japan.  There are no financial requirements of the City of Lawrence relating to this grant.  The Sister Cities Advisory board may use existing funds within its organization from fundraising to augment grant funds for travel opportunities.