Lisa Larsen, left, and Scott Morgan answer questions during a public interview for the Lawrence City Commission vacancy, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, at City Hall.

The months-long search to fill the Lawrence City Commission vacancy ends Tuesday, when current commissioners will elect one of two final candidates.

The new commissioner — either geologist Lisa Larsen or editor/publisher Scott Morgan — will start in the position immediately.

Larsen or Morgan will add a fifth voice to a body that will soon be tasked with making decisions on a new police facility, the reconstruction of Kasold Drive and retail development near the South Lawrence Trafficway, among other items.

Here’s what the candidates shared about a few upcoming issues during individual interviews with the Journal-World.

Police facility

Both candidates said the Lawrence Police Department is in need of a facilities upgrade, but they don’t want it funded with a tax increase.

The department requested a new headquarters last year and has reiterated that its current locations — a Joint Law Enforcement Center downtown and an Investigation and Training Center in west Lawrence — are too small and don’t meet its needs.

Voters rejected in November a proposal to fund a $28 million facility with a sales tax increase.

Commissioners have discussed other options, but haven’t taken action. The issue is listed under the City Commission’s “future agenda items.”

Larsen, who said she supported “something for the Lawrence Police Department,” proposed more research to decide between building a new headquarters and upgrading existing structures.

City Commission vacancy applicant Lisa Larsen, address city commissioners at a recent candidate forum.

She said if elected, she would work with other commissioners to determine where the facility fell among the body’s current priorities.

“The physical facilities — something has to be done with them,” Larsen said. “Whether consolidation or retrofitting or a combination, I don’t know yet.”

Morgan said he’d support a new headquarters.

He thinks commissioners should take into account the public’s opinion and adjust the department’s plan.

He said he doesn’t have a timeline for when he’d want the issue taken up, rather, “I just know it’s important and something I would be supportive of pushing along.

“I support it, and I think I could really help — with understanding Lawrence the way I do — help move it along,” Morgan said. “Not just repeat the same exact plan and think you’re going to get success, but take a step back, adjust it and come back with a Plan B.”

Neither Larsen nor Morgan was in favor of a sales tax increase to fund upgrades. Neither had a clear idea of where the funding would come from, but both said they’d need to look further into the project’s feasibility.

Street reconfiguration

Neither candidate said they’d support one of two options for the reconstruction of Kasold Drive — a project that has faced opposition throughout the past four months.

Work is expected to start in 2016 or 2017 on the section of Kasold Drive from approximately Sixth Street to Bob Billings Parkway.

One option, titled the “typical street option,” includes four lanes and a traffic signal at the intersection of Harvard Road and Kasold Drive. The other, dubbed the “complete street option,” is two lanes with a roundabout at the Harvard-Kasold intersection.

“Complete street” refers to street planning that considers all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders.

Morgan said his experience as a school board member made him “leery of prepackaged things with clever names.”

City Commission vacancy applicant Scott Morgan answers a question posed by the city commissioners Thursday evening at City Hall.

He said he would want to hear from city engineers about how a transition to two traffic lanes would create a steady traffic flow, as proposed.

“I go into it with a healthy amount of questioning, but I’m open to the idea,” Morgan said. “There’s a lot of unknowns yet for me, and I don’t just blindly accept it.”

Larsen said she was “definitely for complete streets,” but that the input of those living along Kasold Drive needs to be considered.

“I think complete streets is something we need to continue to look at within Lawrence,” Larsen said. “Part of the discussion needs to be, do we look at something different given whether or not it’s going to fit with the neighbors.”

Retail development

When asked about retail development along the South Lawrence Trafficway — specifically the proposed Southpoint shopping center — both Morgan and Larsen voiced concerns over pulling shoppers away from downtown.

In August, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission recommended for approval the proposal of the Southpoint shopping center, a 250,000-square-foot retail space located at the southeast corner of the SLT and Iowa Street interchange.

The plan next heads to the City Commission.

A significantly larger development project for the site was proposed last year but never won approval.

Larsen said she did not have an opinion on that specific project. She does have concerns, however, with “over-building.”

“I think we only have so much retail dollars to go around, and we have to make sure we do not over-build to the point we have empty shopping areas just sitting there,” she said.

She said the “No. 1 item” was that stores in downtown Lawrence “stay intact and healthy.”

Morgan noted that the space proposed for the Southpoint shopping center has already been zoned by the city as commercial.

He said he would be against the development of a “fake downtown,” such as the Zona Rosa development in Kansas City, Mo., or Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kan.

“We have a real downtown here, and I think that’s probably all this community needs,” he said. “But there’s a lot of development that can happen that doesn’t challenge downtown.”

Morgan said he thought Lawrence could support more retail and commercial development. He doesn’t think Southpoint would “light the fuse on sprawl” because of the surrounding floodplain.

After the election Tuesday, the winner will be sworn in and seated immediately.

The City Commission meeting starts at 5:45 p.m. at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.