Lawrence City Commissioners Lisa Larsen, left, and Matthew Herbert.

Call it a mayoral mystery, I guess. City commissioners are still trying to figure out who the next mayor of Lawrence should be and when that person should take over. A change in state law has made the normally simple matter more complicated, but now a pair of city commissioners are making it downright odd by withholding information.

As we reported Monday, commissioners this evening are scheduled to receive a recommendation on changing the process for how Lawrence chooses its mayor. What has become odd is that the two commissioners who have crafted that recommendation — Matthew Herbert and Lisa Larsen — are refusing to disclose to the public or fellow city commissioners what that recommendation is prior to tonight’s meeting.

Herbert said they’ll “announce” their recommendation near the end of tonight’s meeting. No word on whether there will be a drum roll.

Perhaps a quick bit of background is in order. Each April, the five city commissioners choose one of themselves to serve a one-year term as mayor. April was always the time to do so because April was when voters went to the polls to choose City Commissioners. The first meeting after those elections, the new commission would choose a mayor. Well, state lawmakers decided that system wasn’t working, and they have now said city elections will occur in November. The seating of the new commission also is being pushed back to January. So, electing a mayor in April doesn’t necessary make a lot of sense anymore. Current Mayor Mike Amyx appointed Herbert and Larsen to make a recommendation on when elections ought to be held.

Lawrence City Commissioners Lisa Larsen, left, and Matthew Herbert.

Now that recommendation has become the sort of thing you put in a locked briefcase and hire Price Waterhouse Cooper to watch over. As you can probably sense, I find that odd.

City commissioners are being asked to change a city policy. How Lawrence chooses its top elected official will be changed for years to come. That is the sort of thing that the public has the right to provide comment on. Indeed, the public will be allowed to provide comment on the recommendation at tonight’s meeting. But certainly the public could make better informed comments if it actually knew what the recommendation was prior to tonight’s meeting. For that matter, city commissioners could have a better conversation among themselves, if all of them knew what the recommendation was. Some people like to think about a topic for more than a few minutes before they actually speak about it. I know some of the stupidest things I’ve ever said — a really long list — have come as I’ve tried to make an argument on the fly. I end up looking like an ignoramus. Whereas when I have a little time to prepare, I simply end up looking like a buffoon, which I’m told is much better.

I asked Herbert why the recommendation couldn’t be made public before the meeting. He said he didn’t want commissioners first reading about it in the newspaper. OK, that’s fine, but not particularly relevant. Herbert and Larsen came up with the recommendation on Wednesday, Herbert told me. The City Commission’s agenda is published on Thursday afternoon. All Herbert and Larsen had to do was write a one paragraph memo stating their recommendation, send it to the city manager’s office, and the memo would have been placed as a supporting document on the City Commission’s agenda when it was released on Thursday. Every City Commission agenda has dozens of those sorts of memos, normally from staff members or advisory boards. Their purpose is to provide the commission and the public information ahead of a meeting so that there can be more informed debate and discussion.

When I asked Herbert why the information couldn’t have been released in that manner, he said: “I don’t have a good answer on that.”

That’s fine. Such things happen from time to time. What’s important, though, is a recognition that when government has information it can share with the public it should do so. Why wait? It is Good Government 101 to seek public participation in public policy decisions. Providing timely information is part of that public participation process. As I freely tell anyone, the city of Lawrence — particularly as it relates to the City Commission — does a good job on that front. But in this instance, it has fallen short of the mark.

The good news, however, is that this is easy enough to correct. City commissioners at their meeting tonight should hear the recommendation, and then table the matter for a week. That will allow the public time to develop its thoughts and comments. Commissioners too. Maybe some members of the public next week will show up to discuss the topic of how we select our mayor, or perhaps none will. Either way, it is the right thing for good government to do.

In other news and notes from around town:

Speaking of mysteries, the next one in Lawrence likely will involve trying to figure out where that snoring is coming from inside the Southwind movie theater on south Iowa Street.

As we reported Monday, the Southwind is set to undergo a $1.5 million renovation that includes new recliner seating for all 12 of its theaters. Well, yesterday afternoon I found out a bit more information. Take a look below at the chairs that are slated to be installed in the theaters.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn

New reclining chairs are slated to be installed in Lawrence's Regal Cinema Southwind theater as part of planned renovations.

I, of course, tested the chairs out. They have a high-quality BarcaLounger feel. What is particularly cool is they have a button that controls a motor that reclines and lowers the chair. Watch out at the next “Star Wars” movies. I’ll bring my Han Solo jacket, my 13-year old son can be Chewbacca, and I’ll repeatedly push the button while whispering “engage the thrusters.”

As for other details of the project, I’m still working on those. I was instructed to call a corporate media line out of state, so I’ll work to do that. What I hear, though, is that construction hasn’t yet started. Portions of the theater will remain open during the construction period.

I think one of the larger questions is whether seating capacity in the theaters will be reduced to accommodate the new chairs. The chairs recline back very far, which leads me to believe there will need to be some reduction in capacity.