Lawrence has had its current manager-commission form of government since 1950, when it was approved by two-thirds of the city’s voters in a special election.

Five part-time commissioners are elected by city voters — the commissioners in turn appoint a mayor from the group, but that person has mostly ceremonial duties. The commissioners set policy and hire a city manager to run the day-to-day operations of city government.

Judy Sweets of Watkins Community Museum of History said Lawrence had tried a number of ways to run the city before the manager-commission model was adopted. Before 1913, the city had a mayor elected by the city and a council with members elected from districts within the city.

Between 1913 and the mid-1930s, a three-person commission ran the city: a mayor; a commissioner in charge of the city’s finances and a commissioner in charge of streets and utilities.

Between 1935 and 1950, the mayor-council form ruled again.

Today, three commission seats are open every two years. The top two vote-getters in the general election receive four-year terms and, by tradition, each serve a year as mayor. The third-place finisher receives a two-year term.

There are no term limits, either for commissioners or city managers. Officials with the League of Kansas Municipalities said they knew of no such limits elsewhere in the state.

Former Mayor John Nalbandian said he didn’t favor limits, either for commissioners or managers.

“If a person is a city commissioner and enjoys the work, we ought to leave it up to elections to decide,” he said.

City managers, he said, serve at the pleasure of the commission.

“If there are three commissioners who, for whatever reason, are dissatisfied with the manager, they can make that decision,” Nalbandian said. “Why would you need a fixed time for a manager? That would be like having a citywide election for commission every meeting.”

Commissioners are paid $9,000 a year for their service; the mayor makes $10,000.

The deadline for candidates to file for the commission election is noon Jan. 21. A primary election will be Feb. 25 if there are more than six candidates. The general election will be April 1.

“They’re not professional politicians at all,” former Mayor Barkley Clark said. “They’re citizens serving the citizens … it’s the best thing about serving at the city level.”