Municipal News & Jobs

Lawrence now has its own teenage environmental advocate calling for action to address climate change.

But unlike Greta Thunberg — the Swedish girl who has traveled around the world to spread awareness about the dangers of global warming — Morgan Orozco, 16, said she was focused on her immediate community.

Read more: LJWorld.com.

The majority of Manhattan City Commission wants ban vaping in public parks, but commissioners are divided on whether to allow vaping in current and future e-cigarette shops.
Commissioners provided feedback Tuesday on signage, fines and their overall thoughts about vaping and smoking to Jared Wasinger, assistant to the city manager, as administrators seek to combine the e-cigarette and cigarette ordinances.

Read more: The Mercury.

On Oct. 8, the Park City council unanimously approved Marlo Rugg as the new city clerk. She is a Park City resident and was already a city employee.

Rugg has served as the city’s payroll and benefits clerk since May of 2017. Before that, she was the city clerk in Kiowa for nearly a decade. She is certified as a Kansas municipal clerk.

“She has been a tremendous asset to the city and a valued member of the staff,” said City Administrator Sean Fox. “We’re very confident that she will continue to make a positive impact in her new role.”

Read more: Ark Valley News.

Don’t expect Lawrence’s real estate market to regain its bounce in 2020, a Wichita State economist told Lawrence Realtors on Thursday.

A slight decline is more likely for the number of home sales next year. Stanley Longhofer, director of the WSU Center for Real Estate, is forecasting that home sales in 2020 will be down about 3.5% from this year’s totals. Longhofer is projecting 2019 will finish with home sales off by 3.4% from 2018 totals. All told, Longhofer is expecting Lawrence home sales to hit their lowest levels since 2015.

Read more: LJWorld.com.

The public will soon be able to provide input on what developments they would like to see in low-income areas of the city that have been designated as federal opportunity zones.

There are two Lawrence census tracts designated as opportunity zones, and developments within their limits are eligible for tax incentives under a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. One of the opportunity zones encompasses all or part of three eastern Lawrence neighborhoods, and neighborhood groups have pressed for more local discussion and input regarding the program.

Read more: LJWorld.com.

The Douglas County Commission didn’t suggest any changes to a proposed comprehensive plan for the county and the City of Lawrence at a Wednesday work session, and one commissioner praised the plan’s focus on preserving rural areas.

Wednesday’s session was the commission’s first look at the plan, known as Plan 2040, which outlines how the city and county will consider development and land use in the future. The commission hasn’t voted on the plan yet — it’s tentatively scheduled to do so during its next meeting on Oct. 16 — but commissioners said they were pleased with the work that had already been done.

Read more: LJWorld.com.

A local tourism leader is asking that the Lawrence City Commission closely consider whether recent shifts in how the city spends an additional sales tax charged to Lawrence visitors are appropriate.

As part of its study session Tuesday, the commission discussed its recent allocation of transient guest tax funds at the request of Explore Lawrence, the travel and tourism organization for Lawrence and Douglas County. Explore Lawrence Executive Director Michael Davidson said that in recent years the city had made several changes to how those funds were spent.

Read more: LJWorld.com.