City Hall is overflowing with task forces, and Commissioner Boog Highberger thinks he knows what to do about it.

“I did suggest to (Mayor) David (Dunfield) that we have a task force on task forces,” Highberger joked last week. “The problem needs to be studied with a wide range of community members.”

Since taking office in April, the commission has appointed or agreed to form four task forces — addressing issues ranging from planning to smoking. The previous commission formed only two task forces during its two-year term.

The task forces usually include a commissioner, but are made up mostly of private residents interested in the topic at hand. They give commissioners extra help in researching and crafting solutions to difficult issues. They also start the process of building political consensus on those solutions, by including a variety of “stakeholders” from across the political spectrum.

“I think it’s a relief valve for the burden on staff and commissioners,” Commissioner Mike Rundle said.

A task force’s recommendations carry considerable weight, but are subject to shifting political winds. A task force on tax abatement put forth a proposed policy that was adopted largely intact, for instance, without a living-wage requirement. When pro-living wage commissioners were elected in the spring, however, that decision was reversed.

Growing number

Now there are four such committees:

Audio clips of interviews with Highberger and Rundle Economic officials to seek business retention task force (11-11-03) Johnson County planning input sought (10-22-03) Homeless pushed to take responsibility (10-20-03) Smoking ban in city restaurants weighed (4-19-03)¢Current city advisory boards

• The Task Force on Homeless Issues, which will make recommendations on how the city could help the various independent agencies make a coordinated effort to serve Lawrence’s homeless.
• The Public Improvements Task Force, which is examining tools the city can use to guide Lawrence’s growth — and methods of paying for those tools.
• The Smoking Task Force, which could recommend the commission ban smoking in public places, such as bars and restaurants.
• And, approved last week, the Business Retention Task Force, a body that will look at ways to make City Hall’s policies and practices friendlier to local businesses.

In the previous two years, two task forces were appointed: the Tax Abatement Task Force and a still-functioning committee to designate truck routes through town.

City officials have said a design guidelines task force could be on the way — to come up with rules to guide the look of new Lawrence construction. And Highberger said that, in time, he would like to see task forces address affordable housing and rental rules in Lawrence.

Reasons

Lawrence already has more than three dozen city advisory boards, which make recommendations on everything from plumbing codes to bicycle use.

The shift to a “smart growth” majority on the commission in April had much to do with the proliferation of task forces.

“I think several of us came in with a list of things we wanted to accomplish,” Highberger said.

The alternative, Rundle said, would be to create several committees on the commission itself — an idea he favors, pointing to Lenexa’s city government as an example.

“It seems to afford a more detailed study of an issue by commissioners,” Rundle said.

Highberger noted that the Public Improvements Task Force includes several developers, as well as neighborhood representatives.

“If we just ran it by staff, they did some research, they’d probably talk to people,” Highberger said. “But for an idea like this, for it to really work, there’s going to have to be buy-in from the people affected by it. It’s hard to generate that without the task force structure.”

Steve Ozark, a member of the homelessness task force, agreed.

“I don’t know how else you tackle city issues, without bringing together people to take a hard look at it,” he said. “I don’t know what would work better. I wish more people could be involved in the dialogue.”