City staff members are asking the Lawrence City Commission to dissolve the Sustainability Advisory Board, despite commissioners saying a few months ago that they wanted to keep the board but reimagine it.
The city plan to sunset the SAB and several other advisory boards comes following recommendations from an ad hoc committee that was tasked with reviewing all city boards and limiting the number of boards to 10, not counting those required by state statutes. The discussion has been ongoing over the past year and a half or so.
Commissioners heard from SAB members and came to a consensus in November not to dissolve the SAB but rather to reimagine it or consider changes to its operations. City Clerk Sherri Riedemann confirmed twice that that was the commission’s consensus.
However, the resolution that city staff members are asking the commission to approve Tuesday states that the commission determined the board “should be dissolved.” There was no explanation in the meeting agenda materials for the recommendation.
Update:
• Lawrence Sustainability Advisory Board chair accepts city commission’s challenge, May 7, 2024
An agenda item for Tuesday’s Lawrence City Commission meeting includes more than a dozen draft resolutions and ordinances, including several that would dissolve a particular advisory board and update city codes to reflect its dissolution. City staff members are also recommending several changes to board structures and procedures.
Other boards the commission will consider dissolving include the Public Incentives Review Committee; Transient Guest Tax Grant Program Advisory Board; Sales Tax Audit Committee; and the Special Alcohol Funding Advisory Board. The latter three boards essentially give the public more oversight of how the city spends certain funds. Their duties would be absorbed into the city manager’s office.
City Manager Craig Owens told commissioners in November that the city is trying to “unhitch specific allocation of a small portion of the city’s budget from the policy advisory boards and commissions.” He said he was suggesting that those dollars get spent “like the rest of our city dollars,” and that the final call would still be the commission’s.
The Multimodal Transportation Commission and Public Transit Advisory Committee would be dissolved and replaced with the Connected City Advisory Board. Another resolution up for consideration Tuesday would establish that board, but its duties and scope were not defined in the agenda materials.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
The Bodywork Advisory Board would also be dissolved, and its duties would be moved to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health under the Board and Commissions Structure Committee’s recommendations.
Some other recommended changes include limiting boards to seven members, and allowing all city commissioners to nominate members, rather than solely the mayor. Nominees would still be affirmed by a vote from the full commission. Board members would serve three-year terms, and they would be limited to two consecutive full terms, among other changes. (Current policies provide a caveat that exceptions can be made to term limits.)
Timeline
The Transient Guest Tax Grant Program Advisory Board and Bodywork Advisory Board would be dissolved immediately upon the commission’s approval. The others would be dissolved effective Sept. 1.
Existing board terms would expire Aug. 31. Between June 1 and Aug. 31, the city would encourage current board members to reapply and launch an active recruitment campaign. New appointments would be completed and all ordinances, resolutions and bylaws would be updated to comply with proposed new policies by Aug. 31, under the city’s proposed timeline.
New boards would hold their first meetings in September, nominate their chair and vice chair, and set meeting dates and times. Going forward, board would vote on their chair, vice chair and meeting times at the first meeting of the calendar year.
In addition, proposed changes to the commission’s procedures would move the general public comment period to the end of meetings, make it untelevised, and require signup in advance. The changes would also apply to advisory boards. Read more about that at this link.
Lawrence city commissioners will consider the proposed changes to advisory boards as part of their agenda when they meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@lawrenceksvideo.
See the full meeting agenda at this link. See the agenda item on advisory boards below.
People may submit written public comment until noon the day of the meeting by emailing ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. The commission also hears public comment in person and via Zoom during meetings. Register for the Zoom meeting at this link.
20240507-Advisory-board-recommendations-Lawrence-City-CommIf our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
