Owner of janitorial service seeks seat on Lawrence City Commission

City Commission candidate Gary Williams

The owner of a Lawrence janitorial service has filed for a seat on the City Commission and said he wants to rein in some city spending and regulations.

Gary Williams, an owner of Flo’s Laundry & Janitorial Services, said he’s questioned the City Commission’s spending decisions both with the new $18 million public library expansion that was approved by voters and a proposed $28 million police headquarters project that failed at the polls in November.

Williams said both projects had their merits, but he said they weren’t yet ready to move forward.

“It just wasn’t the right time,” Williams said. “We are coming out of a recession, and now we just want to go deeper and deeper into debt.”

Williams said he also has been concerned about the amount of regulation that exists in City Hall. Williams said he was considering opening a food truck business in Lawrence, but dropped the idea as he watched the City Commission create new regulations for food trucks.

“I think the city has been going in the wrong direction,” Williams said. “I don’t want it to end up like Detroit. I think the regulation has gone overboard.”

Williams, 52, has been in Lawrence for the last 10 years. He and his wife moved here from Texas when they took a job opportunity with Community Living Opportunities, an organization that helps the disabled. About three years ago, the couple opened the cleaning and laundry services.

Williams is the 10th candidate to file for one of three-at large seats on the commission. The others are David Crawford, a leader of a grassroots group to bring a grocery store downtown; City Commissioner Bob Schumm; Leslie Soden, the owner of a Lawrence pet sitting company; Stuart Boley, a retired IRS agent; Stan Rasmussen, an attorney for the U.S. Army; Matthew Herbert, a Lawrence High School government and civics teacher; Justin Priest, a Lawrence bus driver and leader of the local transit union; Mike Anderson, the host of a cable television program; and Kristie Adair, a Lawrence school board member and co-owner of Wicked Broadband.

Commissioners Mike Dever and Terry Riordan also have terms expiring in April, but they have not yet announced whether they plan to seek re-election. Candidates have until noon Jan. 27 to file for one of the three at-large seats. A March 3 primary will narrow the field to six candidates. The general election will be April 7.


2015 Lawrence city commission candidates (in order of filing)