City commissioners and staff work on a vision statement as part of the city's first strategic planning process on Jan. 14, 2017. From left, City Manager Tom Markus, Commissioner Lisa Larsen, Mayor Leslie Soden, Commissioner Mike Amyx, Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib and Commissioner Matthew Herbert.

As part of the city’s first strategic planning process, the question of how much city government should provide beyond the basics — infrastructure, police, water and fire services — to address issues not traditionally handled by municipalities wasn’t easily answered.

With city commissioners and department heads all in the same room, the breadth of the city’s public responsibility was written and rewritten as local leaders tried to come up with a vision statement for Lawrence.

“Cities have to be big tents; they have to provide an array of services,” City Manager Tom Markus told attendees of the meeting Saturday. “…I think you have to look at those in context of what the ask is, that you just can’t be a core service community. You have to be way more than that.”

Some of the additions brought up were the city’s efforts toward increasing affordable housing and providing better mental health services, which have both been goals recently set by the commission.

Vice Mayor Stuart Boley agreed that what constitutes Lawrence’s core services shouldn’t be limited to the services that cities have traditionally been responsible for. Boley gave the example of the city deciding in the 1960s to begin operating a municipal pool, and said goals such as affordable housing could likewise be added.

“That’s what we need to be doing today, is saying, ‘What is our core?'” Boley said. “Given what’s going on in Topeka and what’s happening in our community, we need to say, ‘Do we need to shift resources? Do we need to take care of the core but also take care of some of these problems that are affecting our community?'”

The lack of affordable housing has been designated through national health rankings as a “severe” problem in Douglas County. Other negative statistics, such as poverty rates, were also cited as commissioners and staff discussed what community needs should be central to the city’s future vision.

Quality of life

As part of the retreat, statistics about the city were presented in a document called an environmental scan, which relied on federal census and labor data. Some of the figures cited were that 26 percent of the city’s residents have a college degree and about 4 percent are unemployed, but the individual poverty rate is 21 percent.

As the meeting went on, the subject of core services and quality of life services continued to emerge. Commissioner Mike Amyx, whose political career with the city began in the 1980s, said addressing poverty in Lawrence is part of the city’s development.

“We talk about development over time and we talk about spending people’s money wisely,” Amyx said, adding that he’s seen the city’s budget grow over the decades, but he doesn’t know whether poverty rates have improved over the years. “What are we missing? What are we doing wrong?”

Other aspects affecting quality of life, including quality jobs, availability and affordability of childcare, public transportation, the public library, and arts and culture, were also mentioned as discussion continued.

Standing commitments

The issue of how existing commitments fit into the city’s vision also came up, and Commissioner Matthew Herbert argued that part of that consideration is answered by what the city has already committed to by building facilities.

“Are the arts part of your core? Well, I don’t know, but when you build an arts center, then I think you make a commitment to maintain it,” Herbert said. “Is a library part of your infrastructure? I don’t know, but when you build a library, I think you make a core commitment to maintain it.”

Herbert said that building facilities without a plan to maintain them is one of the main failures of governance.

“I think that asset management, in my very biased opinion, is probably the most important two words that appear on that glass up there, as it revolves around every single category,” Herbert said. “Because a fundamental flaw that makes governments not effective is when you build things but have no plan in place to manage that asset.”

The city has debt obligations for all those buildings, and discussions are ongoing about partnering with the county to build a mental health facility.

Markus said that the strategic plan would help commissioners prioritize how the city’s resources should be spent, and in essence, would help define the city’s core services.

“I think part of this discussion is just to heighten the awareness of the competition for resources,” Markus said. “…I think it’s just to make sure that everybody is evaluating how we spend our money, and that ultimately comes down to a prioritization of the elected officials in terms of their governance.”

A vision emerges

After several revisions, the first ideas about what will characterize the future of Lawrence went up on crate paper in front of the group. The working vision statement is as follows:

“The City of Lawrence, supporting an unmistakably vibrant community with innovative, equitable, transparent and responsible local government.”

In order to further develop the vision statement, commissioners and staff identified seven individual factors necessary to accomplish it. Those factors, which are still in draft form, include accessible public transportation, affordable housing, and “health, safety and welfare needs.”

The “critical success” factors developed by city leaders and officials Saturday, as well as working definitions of them, are as follows:

• “Commitment to core services: Core municipal services reflect legal mandates and the city’s commitment to meet health, safety and welfare needs and maintain assets while adopting service levels to meet evolving community expectations.”

• “Safe, healthy and welcoming neighborhoods: All people in Lawrence live in neighborhoods that provide opportunities to lead a healthy lifestyle through good neighborhood design with access to safe and affordable housing and other services that help them meet their basic needs. The diverse and unique features of our neighborhoods are celebrated, creating a strong community as a whole.”

• “Economic growth and security: The city fosters an environment that provides both individuals and business the opportunity for economic security and empowers people’s ability to thrive. Our community succeeds because of individual prosperity and a vibrant, sustainable local economy.”

• “Collaborative solutions: The city actively seeks opportunities to leverage partnerships in order to enhance service delivery and quality of life in the most fiscally sound and responsible manner.”

• “Effective governance and professional administration: The city effectively and collaboratively plans and prioritizes in a transparent manner to efficiently move the community forward. We clearly communicate and boldly and professionally implement using sound leadership and relevant best practices.”

• “Innovative infrastructure and asset management: The city has well maintained, functional and efficient infrastructure, facilities and assets, and supports accessible, sustainable transportation options. We are innovative and forward thinking to meet community needs while preserving our natural and historic resources.”

• “Sound fiscal stewardship: The city provides easy access to relevant, accurate data for budgeting and decision-making. Decisions are made by prioritizing across all government services, considering needs balanced with available resources, using fiscal policies based on industry best practices to ensure decisions reflect the current and long-term impact.”

Getting specific

At the next strategic planning session, commissioners and staff will develop specific and measurable objectives that will help them accomplish the broad goals already laid out.

As part of comments made at the conclusion of Saturday’s nearly six-hour meeting, Mayor Leslie Soden said she was ready to get more specific.

“These all still kind of come across as vague, so I’m looking forward to next time when we’ll drill down further,” Soden said.

Once compete, the strategic plan will serve as an umbrella for other local planning documents, including the comprehensive plan, the five-year capital improvement plan and the master plans of various city departments.

The strategic plan, which will initially be reviewed by the commission every two years, will be used to help determine spending priorities during the city’s budget deliberations.

The draft of the vision statement and seven factors will be presented to the community for feedback and possible revision during two public meetings, which will be held before the city’s next strategic planning retreat on Feb. 20. The dates of those meetings have yet to be set.