Riordan files for second term on Lawrence City Commission

Lawrence City Commissioner Terry Riordan will seek a second term on the commission, and he plans to make sure voters know that he’s heard their concerns about Rock Chalk Park.

Terry Riordan

“I think we have learned a lesson from this,” Riordan said of the controversial sports complex that included a no-bid contract for about $12 million worth of infrastructure work. “I think people want to trust us, but we have to earn that trust back.”

Riordan, a longtime Lawrence physician and an owner of a local pediatric practice, came on the commission two years ago as the city was finalizing agreements for the Rock Chalk Park development. In recent weeks, he’s joined with fellow commissioners in calling for an audit of the project to ensure that the city’s private partner in the project — an entity led by Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel — has accurately accounted for the approximately $12 million worth of infrastructure that was built without going through the city’s normal bidding process.

Riordan said the Rock Chalk project has reinforced the importance of creating a process where citizens feel valued and listened to throughout a project. He said the project also has highlighted the community’s expectations about how public money is spent.

“We have learned that a no-bid contract is a bad thing,” Riordan said. “It is not that it can’t ever work in any community, but it doesn’t work in Lawrence.”

Riordan, 63, is finishing his first two-year term on the commission. He’s been a Lawrence resident for the past 31 years. He said he’s proud of the new rental registration and licensing program that the commission approved during his current term. He said he also wants to run again because he wants to work on ways to build a new police headquarters facility. Voters rejected a sales tax proposal for the project in November, but Riordan said he thinks there may be ways a project could be built without raising taxes.

“We still need to do something, and now the questions are what, and what can we afford?” he said.

Riordan is the 12th candidate to file for one of three at-large seats on the commission. Of the three incumbents with terms expiring, Commissioner Mike Dever is the only one who has not announced whether he plans to seek re-election. Commissioner Bob Schumm recently filed for another term. Other candidates are 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; Kristie Adair, a Lawrence school board member and co-owner of Wicked Broadband; Gary Williams, an owner of a local janitorial service; Rob Sands, a full-time officer in the Kansas National Guard; and David Crawford, a leader of a grassroots group to bring a grocery store downtown.

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)