The city of Lawrence is now ready to start taking applications for the vacant seat on the City Commission, but those who apply will undergo an intensive process that will include both oral and written examinations.

The four current commissioners agreed Tuesday night on a process for screening applicants that may come as close as possible to the gauntlet that candidates face during regular elections, without actually holding a special election.

“I think about my experience running for office, and I’m sure the three of you had the same,” Commissioner Matthew Herbert told the other commissioners. “I mean, how many things did we fill out? It got to the point where you had to really want it.”

After filling out a lengthy application — which calls for writing essays up to 500 words in length describing a candidate’s top issues, approach to governing and views on the city’s zoning and land-use process — candidates will also undergo an intensive interview process with a 12-member advisory committee.

Dennis Constance, a member of that committee, offered a lengthy list of potential questions that panel might ask, such as what candidates’ views are on economic development; the role of the Chamber of commerce; their knowledge of budgeting and planning; and what kind of leadership experience and training they’ve had.

During the discussion Tuesday night, commissioners offered a few hints about what they are looking for in the next commissioner. Most of those are listed in the scoring matrix that Mayor Mike Amyx had distributed earlier.

It calls for giving candidates one to five points in each of several categories such as knowledge of the city, community involvement and the person’s history of decision-making.

At the urging of Commissioner Leslie Soden, they also added another category: “diversity.” Soden said after the meeting that diversity could include the applicant’s age, sex, race, ethnicity or several other factors.

Commissioner Stuart Boley said his criteria were much more basic.

“The ability to represent citizens of Lawrence is the criteria,” Boley said.

The schedule calls for the advisory committee to narrow the field down to as many as six finalists before Sept. 29. That’s when commissioners will decide which candidates they want to call in for final interviews, which will be held during a special meeting Oct. 1.

Commissioners expect to vote Oct. 6 to name their selection.

That person will serve out the unexpired term of former Commissioner and Mayor Jeremy Farmer, who resigned earlier this month.

City bonds fetch low interest rates

Economic turmoil in China in recent days translated into lower-than-expected interest rates on bonds for the city of Lawrence, the city’s financial advisers said.

Finance director Bryan Kidney told commissioners the city completed the sale Tuesday of $9.45 million in 15-year general obligation bonds and about $10.8 million in short-term temporary notes.

The low bids came in at 2.5 percent interest on the long-term bonds and 1.1 percent on the temporary notes, both well below what the city’s bond advisers had expected.

Kidney said local governments selling bonds this week benefited in some ways from the sharp plunge of the Chinese stock market, which has had ripple effects on Wall Street and elsewhere.

As stock prices fall, he said, investors look for other, safer places to put their money, making municipal bonds from a city like Lawrence particularly attractive.

“There’s just a huge flight to safety right now, where investors are looking for a nice, solid, safe place to invest in, and a (Moody’s) Aa1 Kansas municipality is a very safe place to be for investors,” he said.

Kidney said the 2.5 percent rate on the long-term bonds was about 50 basis points, or one half of a percent, lower than the city had expected. That difference, he said, will save the city about $400,000 in interest costs over the life of the bonds.

Neither of the two issuances actually increases the city’s bonded indebtedness. The city typically finances capital improvement projects with short-term notes and then issues long-term bonds once the final construction costs are known.

The 15-year bonds will provide long-term financing for recently completed capital improvement projects that were initially financed with temporary notes. The new temporary notes are actually just “rolling over” short-term notes for other projects that haven’t yet been completed.

In other business, the commission:

• Approved the vacation of the pedestrian easement located between 1543 Hanscom Road and 1547 Hanscom Road, as requested by property owners Dustin and Sarah D. Smith and Subina A. Annamma and Ryan G. Eggen.

• Authorized the transfer of 1.38 acres of property in Clinton Park, along with a “no-build” easement, to the Lawrence school district, although the city will retain the right of first refusal if the school district ever resells the property.

• Approved an event permit for the Bike MS Event scheduled for Sept. 20; passed an ordinance allowing the sale and consumption of alcohol at the event; and authorized the closure of Massachusetts Street between South Park Street and North Park Street for the event.

• Approved an event permit for the 40th anniversary of the Lawrence Arts Center on Sept. 25; passed an ordinance allowing the sale and consumption of alcohol at the event; and authorized the closure of the 900 block of New Hampshire Street for the event.