Meeting started 7:04pm…6 residents attending
Resurfacing was done across North Lawrence for the roads and to fix issues with the roads, some roads are still being worked on.
The pedestrian railroad bridge at Fourth and Locust is currently being presented to the governor of the State as the city has been holding on to the information for one year with no progress. Craig Owens moved the project to the proposed corridor improvement plan that currently has no legs.
There is currently a plan for Mike Devers to write a letter of recommendation for the State to get involved on the improvements for the railroad crossings and push the project forward since the City manager is not moving forward on the project at all.
From what it is sounding that the Governor is very favorable to taking on this potential project.
Ted discussed the current indicator lights installed at the Locust and 2nd Street intersection to warn for high water in the underpass which is not an effective solution.
Brian Jimenez discussed the codes department on how the city will not hire more people for code enforcement.
Ted reported a person that was staying at the depot sleeping in a canopy near the depot fountain.
There are currently no campers on the levee. There are major improvements in concerns to homeless encampments in North Lawrence.
Jerry Jost started his guest speaker time. He is a precinct volunteer for the neighborhood democratic organization. He provided information for the current candidates and information on voting and registration for voting.
He mentioned the general election set for November the 4th, with the primary being August the 5th. He included flyers on the webpage.
Courtney Shipley started her guest speaker time. Courtney is currently running for City Commission. Courtney is running on code issues with being able to change residences to triplexes or duplexes without notice. Courtney has been disappointed in code enforcement for the City, she wants to be able to rebound the code enforcement in the city.
Bob Schumm started his guest speaker time. Bob Schumm is currently running for City Commission. Bob was at a meeting discussing the topic of no fees for the Parks and Recreation in the city.
Bob Schumm spoke on whether he would be running the city or if it will be run by staff and the staff will make decisions. Bob does not agree in the staff running city decisions and influencing the opinion of the commissioners instead of the commissioners putting the thoughts of the people that elected them.
Ted advocated for better control during the city meetings when it comes to staying on topic and staying orderly.
A lot of punishments are just a slap on the wrist and does not prevent the issue of deviating the meetings.
A resident spoke about taking the time out of his day to contact a commissioner and will never hear back.
Another resident asked why Bob decided to run again and Bob spoke on property tax, homelessness, Downtown Lawrence infrastructure, the KU Gateway Project, and he hammered the importance of fixing a mismanaged budget.
Ted spoke to Bob about keeping the current Fire Chief that is a good asset to North Lawrence. Ted was disappointed in the flood warning beacons rather than a backup generator for the pump in the underpass.
Ted complained about the 6.5 million deficit for the current city and its current budgets.
Meeting adjourned…8:01pm
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