Week ending December 16, 2017
Citizens Request to Move the City Manager’s Report and Confusion about Public Comments/Questions on City Manager’s Report
On December 8, Eric Kirkendall sent an email to the City Commissioners and several neighborhood listservs. In it, he suggested that the City Manager’s report should be moved to the beginning of the agenda in order to enable citizens to hear the report. He also expressed concerns about citizens not being able to ask questions regarding the report. I provided a response and also asked for additional information regarding one of the examples that he cited. Michael Almon then provided me a response regarding the example that he cited as it related to an experience he had back in June. The original email, my response and the subsequent response are attached. In my response I explained that the City Manager’s report is at the end of the meeting so that citizens who are at the meeting for a specific item don’t have to wait through the reports to hear a regular agenda item. There have been complaints about the length of the meeting and how long citizens have to wait to hear their item. Also, there were concerns a few years ago when the Citizen Comments was toward the end of the meeting. The comments were moved up to the beginning of the meeting to avoid complaints about having to wait through all of the items to be able to comment. Obviously, this is a balance. Also, there is nothing that prohibits a citizen from asking a question or making a comment on a City Manager’s report item. This can be accommodated now. We offer numerous opportunities for citizens to comment on items even though there is no technical requirement for such comment. Staff does not recommend moving the City Manager’s report. Should the City Commission wish to have this on the agenda for discussion, that direction can be provided.
November 2017 Sales and Use Tax Distribution
The City received its November sales and use tax, along with its share of County sales and use tax distribution. Total received was $3,352,196. Of this amount, $3,318,315 was from sales and use taxes city-wide. The remaining $33,881 was from sales in the three Transportation Development Districts. See attached report for more information.
Monthly Utility Billing Report
Attached is the monthly Utility Billing Report for November 2017.
Airport Lease Payment Reconciliation Report
In early 2017, Finance contracted an audit of the City’s agreements, leases, and accounts receivables. The findings of the audit concluded that some of the airport leases had not been increased per the lease agreements. In October, staff accordingly billed an additional $14889.68 to airport lease holders. See attached report for more information.
Pavement Management Program Update and 2018 Comprehensive Street Maintenance Program
Attached is a memo from Steve Lashley, Project Engineer, regarding the Pavement Management Program and Comprehensive Street Maintenance Program.
Monthly Building Permit Report
The Building Safety Division issued 197 building permits in November, with total construction for the month valued at $15,085,681. Total permit fees assessed for the month were $101,705, and total review fees assessed were $9,130. Permits were issued for thirteen (13) new residential projects, including nine (9) single-family dwellings, three (3) duplexes and one (1) multi-family dwelling with eight (8) dwelling units. Staff Memo Monthly Report Year-to-Date Summary
2017 Kansas Statewide Freight Plan
The Kansas Statewide Freight Plan was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in November 2017. This plan identified Critical Urban Freight Corridors, which provide access and connection to the Primary Highway Freight Network, the Interstate with other ports, public transportation facilities, or other intermodal transportation facilities.
The State was allowed to designate 75 miles of critical urban freight corridors. K-10 from US-59 to I-70 was included as a critical urban freight corridor. This designation of the 9 mile west leg of K-10 means the corridor can be submitted for a FAST Lane grant for funding to construct improvements. The FAST Lane grant process is similar to the TIGER grant process in that it is highly competitive.
View a handout at: https://assets.lawrenceks.org/assets/mpo/KSFreightPlan.pdf
View the plan at: http://www.ksdot.org/burRail/Rail/default.asp
FCIP Project Final Report:
On February 7, 2017, the Commission approved an energy performance contract with 360 Energy Engineers to complete an $11.3 million energy efficiency retrofit project as part of the state of Kansas FCIP program. For the past 10 months, contractors have been retrofitting city facilities. The project is now 95% complete, and staff have compiled a report to share the results thus far.
Certified Public Manager Program Graduates from City of Lawrence
The City of Lawrence recently had five of its employees graduate from the Kansas Certified Public Management (CPM) Program. The CPM Program involves year-long course work and nationally accredited curriculum aimed at development and strengthening management skills, inspiring new ways of thinking, and innovative approaches to problem solving. The City is proud of these employees and recognizes them for this significant achievement. This year’s graduates include:
Future Agenda Items
Attached, please find a summary of future agenda items.
Future Work Session Items
Attached, please find a summary of future work session items.