‘Business friendly’ policies proposed

City Hall needs one stop for business owners, task force says

Business owners wanting to expand or move to Lawrence could soon have a one-stop team of city staff members to answer their questions.

They also could have more Internet-based resources to walk them through the development process.

Those are among the recommendations made Thursday by the Business Retention Task Force, which has been discussing how to make the city more business-friendly. They were based, in part, on survey data showing developers think city departments often given contradictory information.

“To relay the process up front and to explain it, I think, is great,” City Commissioner Sue Hack said.

The recommendations, which will be made more specific and may be the subject of a commission study session, include the establishment of a team of representatives from departments such as neighborhood resources, planning, utilities, public works and the Chamber of Commerce.

The team would meet with business leaders who have questions about city policies and procedures.

“A lot of these meetings already happen,” said task force member Lance Johnson, president of The Peridian Group. “This might formalize it or put some process to it.”

The task force also recommended changes to the city’s Web site, including the addition of basic information on the development process and a system to track information on specific projects.

Other recommendations included establishing standards for response times on phone and e-mail inquiries and having consistent drop-in office hours for departments.

Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the Chamber of Commerce, said she thought the recommendations moved the city toward being more customer-friendly.

“I really like this approach a lot,” she said.

Officials gave no timeline for sending the recommendations to the City Commission.