The Lawrence Times

Eight days after the city of Lawrence issued a cease and desist order for AT&T to stop all ongoing utility work due to “numerous” safety complaints from citizens and other utility providers, the parties announced Friday the order had been lifted. City officials met with AT&T representatives and other local utility providers on Monday to discuss the concerns laid out in the July 15 order, which included hitting other public utility and competitor’s facilities without utility locates being performed in advance — which is illegal in Kansas. AT&T, the city said in a statement Friday, committed to the following measures to move [...]

As part of federal COVID-19 relief packages passed in the last 18 months, Lawrence and Douglas County are poised to take in millions of dollars this year that can be used to address chronic homelessness and aid in affordable housing solutions. The city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board on Monday gave an initial approval of the funding level it intends to allocate later this year to applicants focused on housing services — an increase of 175% over the funds that were available last year. In 2020, hampered by a tighter budget and uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, AHAB had $450,000 available from [...]

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday gave a nod of approval to a program that will allow residents to donate to a utility assistance program to help others who can’t pay their bills. The program will be administered by Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, which was the only group to respond to a city request for proposals, for $250 per application that gets approved by the city. The city already has a special rate for residents ages 60 and up who earn 110% of the federal poverty level or less, but this program will expand assistance to other customers with low [...]

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday will consider a contract that would pay Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas $250 for each application approved for a utility assistance program. That amount is roughly equivalent to two or three months’ worth of the average residence’s city utility bills, which include water, sewer, stormwater, and solid waste and recycling. According to the commission agenda item, the city can now allow residents to opt in to donate to a utility assistance program through their own bills. The city already has a special rate for residents ages 60 and up who earn 110% of the federal [...]

The people of Lawrence should directly elect a mayor to serve a four-year term and six city commissioners broken down by districts, according to the city government study task force. The task force members voted Thursday evening to finalize their draft report, and they’ll present it to the Lawrence City Commission on a date yet to be determined. The short-term task force has met seven times over the past few months. Members have researched Lawrence’s form of municipal government and weighed it against other possible options. Currently, the mayor and vice mayor positions rotate each year to the commissioners who receive [...]