$1.1M water project contract approved

Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting unanimously approved a $1.1 million engineering contract for a project to provide more water to southeast Lawrence and North Lawrence.

The project will run a new water line from the city’s Kaw Water Treatment Plan through North Lawrence and then back to southeast Lawrence. The contract is with Burns & McDonnell.

The entire project is expected to cost about $18 million, with construction work on phase one beginning later this year.

Intersection upgrade discussions to continue

Commissioners briefly discussed ideas to improve the intersection of Ninth and Iowa streets but took no action.

Commissioners heard from Scott Zaremba, part of the ownership group that owns the Zarco Phillips 66 station and the former Citgo station at the intersection.

Zaremba said he mainly wanted commissioners to know that he’s interested in working with the city to make long-term improvements at the intersection.

City staff members said they would like to look at ways to add more turn lanes to the intersection. Commissioners were told that staff members and Zaremba would have more conversations.

City manager to receive annual evaluation

Commissioners will meet again at 9 a.m. Thursday for an executive session where they’ll discuss the evaluation of City Manager David Corliss.

The evaluation is Corliss’ regularly scheduled annual performance evaluation.