County narrows audit topics

Douglas County commissioners Monday morning reviewed and narrowed potential topics to be audited.

Since October, commissioners have discussed bringing in an outside group or person to conduct audits to see if improvements or efficiencies could be made.

The topics the commissioners continue to discuss include costs associated with law enforcement; the city/county planning process; ways to merge county and city functions to provide better or less-costly services; the effectiveness of townships; other ways to provide road maintenance and fire protection in unincorporated areas; and a survey of how residents view county government.

Commissioners also will consider audit topics submitted by department heads.

Commissioners haven’t hired anyone to perform an audit.

Schauner expected to seek re-election

Lawrence City Commissioner David Schauner is expected to announce today that he will run for re-election.

Schauner has scheduled a news conference for 4 p.m. today to announce his intentions. Schauner would become the second incumbent to seek another term on the five-member board. City Commissioner Sue Hack previously announced she’s running for re-election.

Schauner would join a field that includes former commissioner Mike Amyx and Lawrence school district administrator Tom Bracciano.

Candidates have until noon Jan. 25 to file for one of three at-large positions up for election on the commission. The third spot up for election is held by David Dunfield, who will not seek another term.

The general election is April 5. If seven or more candidates file for election, there will be a primary March 1.

Winter robins abound

The Lawrence area is seeing an abundance of robins this winter.

“The numbers are more than usual, I’m just not sure how much more,” said Alexis Powell, an avid birdwatcher and past president of the Jayhawk Audubon Society. “It could be a record.”

During the group’s Dec. 18 Christmas Bird Count, about 25,000 robins were seen in the Baker Wetlands, roosting in trees along the Wakarusa River.

Most are still there, Powell said, noting that the orange-breasted birds best known for tugging worms from summer lawns are busy feeding on crabapples and cedar berries.

“On (Kansas University’s) campus, there are lots of fruit-bearing trees and during the day, there are huge numbers of robins,” Powell said Monday.

He attributed the increase to a relatively mild winter or, perhaps, “less fruit production up north.”

The robins now in and around Lawrence, Powell said, are from the northern United States and southern Canada.

“The ones we see here in the summer are somewhere south,” he said.