The idea of expanding the number of Lawrence city commissioners in future years seems to be gaining momentum, based on comments made by candidates at a Monday evening campaign forum.

Two more City Commission candidates said they believe the community ought to consider breaking the city into precincts and allowing voters to directly elect a mayor who would serve a four-year term as the leader of the commission.

“There are a lot of people today who feel like they don’t have a voice, and this may help that,” said Leslie Soden, one of 13 candidates participating in a forum sponsored by the Voter Education Coalition and 6News.

City Commissioner Bob Schumm also said he wanted to explore a change that would alter the commission’s current format, which has five commissioners who all are elected at-large. The five commissioners choose a mayor, who serves a one-year term. City Commissioner Terry Riordan has been campaigning on the idea of possibly changing the commission format to have a four-year mayor elected at large, two city commissioners elected at large, and four commissioners who are elected from precincts within the city.

Other candidates didn’t provide their thoughts on changing the City Commission structure. The question wasn’t asked specifically as part of the candidate forum, but both Schumm and Soden made it a point to bring up the idea when they were asked a general question about ideas they hope to pursue as a commissioner.

Monday’s forum at the Lawrence Public Library attracted a crowd of about 100 people. 6News taped the forum and plans to rebroadcast it several times in advance of the March 3 primary, which will narrow the field to six candidates.

Candidates were asked a variety of questions ranging from topics on affordable housing to planning codes to downtown’s future. Here’s a look at comments made by each of the candidates:

• Kristie Adair said the community needs to focus more on strategies to help small businesses and entrepreneurs. She said many of the city’s economic development policies are too tilted toward large businesses. Adair, who is a member of the Lawrence school board, participated in only a portion of the forum because she had to leave to attend Monday night’s school board meeting.

• Mike Anderson said he’s a “big believer” in zoning changes that would require developers in some instances to set aside a certain percentage of their lots in residential development for affordable housing.

• Stuart Boley said increased density in downtown Lawrence generally was positive and should benefit the city’s public transit system.

• David Crawford said he’s not sure that the city is ready for the type of zoning program touted by Anderson that would require affordable housing units to be constructed. But he said the community should work to build special transition housing that would give people leaving the city’s homeless shelter an affordable place to live

• Matthew Herbert said the community should consider scrapping its comprehensive plan, Horizon 2020, and starting over with an entirely new document, in part because of its age and the number of times it has been amended.

• Justin Priest indicated other candidates may be overthinking the issue of affordable housing.

“The easiest way to fix affordable housing is to pay people more money,” he said.

• Stan Rasmussen said one of the more important economic development initiatives the city could undertake is to “go out for bids” to get high-speed Internet service in the community. He said he’s aware of businesses who may leave the community if greater Internet speeds aren’t soon secured.

• Greg Robinson said he supports promoting downtown, but is concerned too many of the incentives being given to downtown developments are coming at the expense of residential property owners in the city.

• City Commissioner Terry Riordan said he wants to help the commission regain the trust of the citizens.

“I don’t think it is because we have been doing things poorly,” Riordan said of the commission. “But we have been communicating poorly.”

• Rob Sands said Lawrence’s comprehensive plan doesn’t focus enough on strategies for the future, and should do more to facilitate collaborative projects between the city, county, Kansas University and the school district.

• City Commissioner Bob Schumm said that when the city’s comprehensive plan is updated it should maintain a core principle of past plans.

“I get up each morning and say, ‘Protect downtown, protect downtown, protect downtown,'” he said.

• Leslie Soden said she wants city policy rewritten to ensure that tax incentives are only used for permanent, full-time jobs with benefits and that any new developments must provide adequate parking.

• Cori Viola said she thinks a project to convert portions of Ninth Street into an arts corridor is exciting but should rely on grants and private funding. She said there are “more imperative issues” to address with city funding.

Candidate Gary Williams did not participate in Monday night’s forum because he had the flu, event organizers said.

Related coverage

• 2015 City Commission election: candidate profiles and questionnaires