Job vacancy not sole problem with planning, commissioner says

Douglas County Commissioner Bob Johnson has some advice as city and county officials begin the search to hire a planning director.

Don’t expect to find a savior.

“I think it is very unfair for someone to suggest or imply … that when we hire someone new it will all change,” Johnson said. “That won’t happen.”

The search to find someone who both Lawrence and Douglas County leaders can agree should lead the joint city-county planning department likely will produce debate.

But an even greater issue may be what larger changes are needed to the planning process to better ensure success.

“We’re going to be hiring a new director, but the truth of the matter is it goes way past that position,” City Commissioner Mike Amyx said. “I think everything is on the table right now.”

Former planning director Linda Finger announced in November she would resign the post she had held since 1994. Finger said she made her decision after city officials made it clear her future with the department had dimmed.

Political process

City and county commissioners have clashed on several issues, including when rural housing developments should be allowed, the future development of hundreds of acres southeast of the current city limits and the ultimate route for the South Lawrence Trafficway.

David Burress, a member of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, said it is the political environment surrounding the planning office that needs to change.

“It is OK for politics to guide the process, but it needs to happen openly,” Burress said. “You shouldn’t work in private through the planning staff. I know there is a widespread perception that many planning recommendations are made as a result of political pressure. If that’s true, it is wrong.”

Burress said he thought some problems stemmed from the structure of city government. He said it would help to return to a form of city government that elected a mayor solely responsible for hiring and firing the city manager. He said the current system where the city manager position is overseen by all five city commissioners allows city staff members to be pulled in too many directions.

Commission changes

But the question of where politics is seeping into the system is likely to be a hot one. County Commissioner Jere McElhaney said the problem largely rests with the Planning Commission, which is appointed by city and county commissioners.

“This Planning Commission has hijacked the planning process,” McElhaney said. “They run staff ragged, they talk down to the planning staff and they talk down to the applicants.”

What the planning director does

City and county commissioners are in general agreement on many of the broad qualifications that the next Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Director should have. They include:
¢ Professionalism: The ability to make recommendations based on planning principles rather than politics.
¢ Big-picture thinking: Commissioners want a leader who thinks on a macro rather than micro level.
¢ Management experience: The position demands someone who can keep staff members working efficiently.
¢ Growth experience: Experience in a community growing at roughly the same rate as Lawrence would be desirable. Experience with a university community also would be helpful.
¢ Community history: Finding someone who has a knowledge of the area’s history or who quickly can learn its importance.

Both Johnson and McElhaney said they believe now is the time to restructure the role of the Planning Commission. Both said the professional planning staff should be given more authority over approving specific details of individual projects. The Planning Commission should focus on broader community planning issues.

But there likely will be some resistance from city commissioners to make those changes. City Commissioner Mike Rundle said thorough citizen review through a planning commission was important and works in other communities.

Mayor Boog Highberger and Commissioner David Schauner said they didn’t want to rush into any Planning Commission changes.

“I think we first need to provide the Planning Commission better tools before assuming that the Planning Commission is broken,” Schauner said.

Search process

City Manager Mike Wildgen has said he hopes to have the planning director position filled by the end of spring.

But the hiring process won’t be a simple one.

Both city and county commissioners will have a say, but because the city pays more than 75 percent of the department’s budget, Wildgen will have the final authority to hire the next director.

But county commissioners have made it clear to Wildgen and city commissioners they want a strong voice in the hiring. All three county commissioners said they were disappointed Finger apparently resigned after receiving negative comments from city officials. County commissioners were not asked to evaluate Finger.

Wildgen said he was considering hiring a consulting firm to conduct the national search, as well as having each finalist make a public presentation so the community will have a sense of the person before a hire is made.

“I’m not crazy enough to think I can do this without the input of the elected officials and the people who pay the bills,” Wildgen said. “It will be a wide open process.”