Gary Williams understands the importance of making a connection.

Williams, one of 14 candidates for the Lawrence City Commission, is an owner of Lawrence-based Flo’s Laundry & Janitorial Service, but for years he basically was in the connection business. He and his wife, Teresa, were foster parents who cared for more than 50 children during about an eight-year time period.

“For one thing, you have to remember that we were all kids at one time, and we’ve all messed up at times,” Williams said of the skills needed to be a successful foster parent. “But the big thing is you have to make a connection with them. You have to show them that you really care.”

City Commission candidate Gary Williams

Williams said he thinks forming a good connection with Lawrence residents is a vital part of being a good city commissioner as well. He said he’s running for a seat on the commission, in part, because he thinks that connection is largely lacking.

“When it comes to hearing the people’s voice, I just have not seen a connection like there should be there,” Williams said.

A clean start

Williams and his family came to Lawrence from Texas in 2006 when he and Teresa took a job with Community Living Opportunities to serve as managers and caregivers in a group home run by the not-for-profit agency. The home housed four disabled residents who needed 24-hour care.

“We really enjoyed it, but it was a stressful job,” Williams said. “It was starting to take some time away from our kids, though.”

By 2009, the couple had left the CLO job and started Flo’s Laundry & Janitorial Service, which provides services for a variety of apartments, motels, Kansas University and other clients. Williams grew up working in a similar business owned by his parents in the Dallas area.

Williams said the business has been a success on several fronts, including that it has allowed him to continue a ministry of helping people in need. While in Texas, Williams served four years as a youth minister. He said as part of his business — which employs anywhere from three to 10 people given the season — he often goes to homeless shelters to find workers.

“It is a business and we all need to make a living, but we like to try to do some outreach with our company too,” he said.

The business has given him plenty of opportunities to hear the concerns of lower-income Lawrence residents.

“They basically tell me that city officials don’t give a crap about them,” Williams said. “There is no communication. They feel like they are forgotten. They tell me they don’t vote because nobody listens to them.”

Issues

Figuring out a way to make it easier for residents to communicate with city officials is one of the issues Williams hopes to tackle as a commissioner. Williams, a frequent commenter on the message boards of LJWorld.com, said he thinks an online chat room could be beneficial. He envisions an area called the People’s Voice that would allow residents to chat about current city topics, propose ideas, and even vote on issues so elected leaders can get a better sense of public sentiment.

“It would get people thinking and allow us to listen to their ideas,” Williams said. “Lawrence has such an open-minded population and people with great ideas. I’m not sure we’re always going to the right places to look for ideas.”

On other issues, Williams said:

• He would like to see more services for the homeless. He said he would like to organize an effort to use underutilized apartments to help house the homeless.

• He understands the police department has facility needs, but he is concerned about moving forward with a police headquarters proposal until the city has retired a good portion of its debt from the library and Rock Chalk Park projects.

• He would advocate for an end to new city roundabouts. “Roundabouts are a disaster,” he said. “I would rather have the stop signs and save the money.”

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