City Commission vacancy applicant Karl Watson

City budget talks prompted Karl Watson, self-described as numbers-focused, to take a harder look at city funds and develop an interest in running for City Commission.

“Like a lot of people, I have friends who think we spend too much money on the city, and then friends who think we don’t spend enough,” Watson said.

City Commission vacancy applicant Karl Watson

After the commission passed in August a 2016 budget of $207 million, a 9 percent increase from the 2015 budget, Watson gave the numbers a hard look and found where the extra money was going.

“I got energized and thought, ‘Wow, we could certainly use some skills here in the city with how you strategically use the budget to implement the values of the community,'” Watson said. “The values and vision translated to a budget, and it being a communication tool, that’s what I’ve done a lot of. I really like that, and I think the city could use that.”

Watson and his wife, Gina, own a engineering consulting firm that handles more than a hundred projects across the nation at any given time. He has experience in engineering design and building construction, and he’s conducted business internationally.

He was the director of financial planning and control at Payless ShoeSource, and then worked as the chief financial officer at DiscoverME, a dot-com startup, before opening GPW & Associates in 2000.

As a commissioner, Watson said he’d be able to look at construction plans — such as those for the planned Maple Street Pump Station in North Lawrence — and determine how much the city should be spending to keep the project effective and affordable.

Watson noted that at a City Commission meeting earlier this month, there was a lengthy discussion about whether to grant the Lawrence Arts Center’s request for $100,000 for the 2016 Free State Festival, but the project to build the $5.9 million Maple Street Pump Station was passed without much discussion.

“I was kind of going, ‘Boy, I’d like to dig into that $6 million a little more,'” Watson said. “Maybe we could have shaved off $40,000.”

Other than taking a closer look at development plans, Watson said he’d also focus on recruiting businesses to Lawrence by using the city’s resources: Rock Chalk Park, Venture Park and the new library.

“I think I’ve got a diverse, dynamic background that’s common sense for results,” Watson said. “I’m excited all those things apply to the city of Lawrence.”