Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Planning & Development Services

TO:	Thomas M. Markus, City Manager
FROM:	Scott McCullough, Director Planning & Development Services
DATE:	October 15, 2018
RE:	Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee Diversity Analysis

At the October 9, 2018 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Larsen requested information related to the diversity of the recently appointed Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee (SC).  The SC was designed to be diverse in category as the positions relate to downtown perspectives.  Commissioner Larsen was also interested in the SC’s makeup from a demographically diverse perspective.  The SC is comprised of the following positions per Resolution No. 7268:

• East Lawrence Neighborhood Association (ELNA) – (Appointed by Neighborhood Assoc.)
• Oread Neighborhood Representative – (Appointed by Neighborhood Association(s))
• Old West Lawrence Neighborhood Association (OWL) – (Appointed by Neighborhood Assoc.)
• Pinckney Neighborhood Association – (Appointed by Neighborhood Assoc.)
• North Lawrence Neighborhood Association – (Appointed by Neighborhood Assoc.)
• Explore Lawrence – (Appointed by Explore Lawrence)
• Three (3) At-Large – (Appointed by Mayor with consent of City Commission)
• Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC) – (Appointed by LCAC)
• Historic Resources Commission (HRC) – (Appointed by HRC)
• Architect – (Appointed by Mayor with consent of City Commission)
• Lawrence – Douglas County Planning Commission (PC) – (Appointed by PC)
• Downtown Lawrence Inc. (DLI) – (Appointed by DLI)
• Downtown Business Owner/Tenant – (Appointed by Mayor with consent of City Commission)
• Downtown Property Owner at Large – (Appointed by Mayor with consent of City Commission)
• Affordable Housing Advisory Board (AHAB) – (Appointed by AHAB)
• Lawrence Chamber of Commerce – (Appointed by Chamber)

The Mayor has six (6) appointments, with the Commission’s consent.  The other twelve (12) positions were appointed by the respective boards each positon represents.  The appointments are complete, and the full roster is listed below and can also be found here: https://lawrenceks.org/boards/downtown-master-plan/.

Full roster:

• Brady Flannery - Downtown Property Owner Representative

• Clint Paugh - Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission Representative

• Dalton Paley - At-Large Representative

• Daniel Poull - Old West Lawrence Neighborhood Association Representative

• Edith Guffey - Affordable Housing Advisory Board Representative

• Emily Peterson - Downtown Business Owner Representative

• Erin Paden - Planning Commission Representative

• Matt Veatch - Historic Resources Commission Representative

• Meredith Moore - At-Large Representative

• Michael Davidson - eXplore Lawrence Representative

• Nick Kuzmyak - Pinckney Neighborhood Representative

• Sally Zogry - Downtown Lawrence, Inc. Representative

• Sarah Hill-Nelson - At-Large Representative

• Steve Clark - Architect Representative

• Steve Kelly - Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Representative

• Ted Boyle - North Lawrence Improvement Association Representative

• Todd Foster - East Lawrence Neighborhood Association Representative

• Tom Birt - Oread Neighborhood Association Representative

The Mayor appointed the following committee members:

• Sarah Hill-Nelson
• Emily Peterson
• Dalton Paley
• Meredith Moore
• Brady Flannery
• Steve Clark

The city application for advisory boards was recently revised to include optional questions related to diversity.  This application was used by those applying to serve on the SC.  Of the six appointments made by the Mayor, two applicants did not answer the optional questions and four did.  Of the four that did, the following was ascertained:

• Two are male and two are female.
• Two are between the ages of 35-44, one is between the ages of 45-54, and one is between the ages of 55-64.
• All four are heterosexual/straight.
• All four are white.
• Three identified as married and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as having a college degree and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as living in the city and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as working and living in Lawrence and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as owning a business in Lawrence and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as owning their home and one did not answer this question.
• Three identified as not having a disability and one did not answer this question.

Some members of the steering committee were appointed from city-related commissions (Historic Resources Commission and Planning Commission, for example).  Others were appointed from outside organizations. The city conducted a survey on advisory board diversity and collected voluntary information related to diversity on all of its boards and commissions in the spring of 2018. The aggregate results of that survey can be found here: https://lawrenceks.org/board-diversity/.  The information in that effort was obtained prior to the creation of the SC and so it did not include specific information on SC appointees or applicants.  For the SC members that may have been part of the spring 2018 effort, the surveys were anonymous and so we cannot cull out individual SC information from the city-related commissions to develop a broader sense of diversity.

Staff cannot assume any information about the identity or other demographic information with regard to the outside appointments and leaves this assessment for individuals to complete based on their own personal knowledge of those on the roster, but staff does believe the steering committee is diverse in its primary intent to include many voices as the downtown master plan gets underway.