Proposed Government Restructure

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Understanding our City Government and the Proposed Restructure

Introduction and Background

In 2021, the City Commission worked with City staff to assemble a City Government Study Task Force. They asked the Task Force to review the current form of our City Commission structure and provide any recommended changes for their consideration. (The City Government Study Task Force was established by Resolution No. 7353 and adopted on February 2, 2021.)

The Task Force met for several months in 2021 and considered community values along with their own experiences with local government, academic research, correspondence with other local government experts and review of government structures in similar communities.

Final Resolution  No. 7442 adopted on February 14, 2023.

Ultimately, the task force created a report, which recommends the following changes to the structure of our city government:

    • First: They recommended the direct election of a nonpartisan mayor to a four-year term. The mayor would be elected by City of Lawrence voters at-large. According to the task force, directly electing a nonpartisan mayor to a four-year term would provide both greater focus and continuity than the current one-year term. Furthermore, campaigns for mayor could potentially improve our community’s discussions over the city’s future and increase resident interest in municipal government. The directly elected mayor will continue to be a voting member of the commission.
    • Second: They recommended the creation of six districts in the City of Lawrence. The six districts would each elect a nonpartisan commissioner who would serve a staggered four-year term. With a staggered schedule, three commissioners would be elected every two years.

We want to hear from you!

The City Commission wants to hear from the community on these recommendations as it considers adding these two questions to the ballot in the November 2022 election. We welcome your thoughts, questions and concerns and invite you to submit those on our website at your convenience, link below.

Lawrence Listens survey: https://lawrenceks.org/listens/  (The survey closed July 15, 2022. Thanks to all who took part!)

Paper surveys, in English and Spanish, are available at the front desk of the Lawrence Library.

Final report to the City Commission.

 

Community Meetings

Please attend a hybrid (virtual or in-person) meeting to briefly learn more about the proposed restructure from the Task Force chair, Dr. John Nalbandian and share thoughts:

Email

You can also send questions, thoughts or comments to: governmentrestructure@lawrenceks.org

Documents

Government Study Task Force meetings on YouTube

Individual meeting videos

*YouTube recordings can be closed-captioned and translated: