In this file photo from April 2, 2013, Kristie Adair talks with people gathered at a watch party on election night in the Alton Ballroom at Pachamama's.

A budding business may cause Lawrence school board member Kris Adair to end her term on the board early, Adair has told me. Some of Adair’s comments also may spark some discussion about what Lawrence does or doesn’t do to keep budding technology companies.

As we have reported, Adair and her husband, Joshua Montgomery, are founders of the artificial intelligence company Mycroft, which is working to create a device that allows consumers to do a variety of tasks on the internet through voice-activated commands.

As we reported in October, MyCroft won a $50,000 grant as part of the LaunchKC technology competition. As part of that grant award, it also received free office space in the Crossroads District in Kansas City, Mo.

On top of that, the Kansas City-based technology website Startland recently has reported that Mycroft has opened an office in Silicon Valley, and “senior Mycroft leadership” will work out of that California office.

Adair certainly qualifies as senior leadership of the company, so that begged the question of whether she would be staying in Lawrence and completing her school board term, which expires at the end of 2017.

Adair did confirm to me that her husband, Montgomery, is working in Silicon Valley full time. She said she could not yet say with any certainty whether she would move to California before the end of her term.

“There have been no definite decisions made,” Adair said. “It really is going to depend on how things go for him.”

Adair added that she hopes she’ll be able to finish out the term.

“It has been something that has brought me a great amount of pleasure,” Adair said of serving on the school board. “I’m hoping that we will not have to move until my term is up.”

The Silicon Valley office is primarily focusing on raising venture capital and establishing business relationships with Silicon Valley’s famed tech industry. So, Adair is rooting for those efforts to go well too, which may lead to a move before her term is up.

“It all depends on how things go with Mycroft, and right now it is going better than we really anticipated.”

Either way, Adair expects there will be more travel back and forth to California. Adair’s duties with Mycroft already have created some concerns about her ability to fulfill school board responsibilities. In March, then-school board president Vanessa Sanburn suggested Adair consider resigning from the board, unless she could start attending board meetings more regularly. That suggestion followed an announcement by Adair that she would be taking “a less active role” with the board through May, and after she had been absent from various board engagements, including the final stages of the board’s search for a new superintendent.

Adair had said that her decreased level of attendance earlier in the year was related to a 90-day business accelerator program that she was participating in as part of her Mycroft duties. She told me this week her attendance at recent school board meetings has become more regular.

So, we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out as it relates to Adair’s school board term. What seems clear, though, is Mycroft’s presence in Lawrence is coming to an end, and Montgomery and Adair’s presence seems set to.

Adair said that there are no plans to keep any part of the Mycroft operations in Lawrence.

“There is nothing really for Mycroft in Lawrence anymore,” Adair said. “We are a high-tech startup and Kansas City, Mo. really has a tremendous startup program.”

Adair continued: “We think Kansas City, Mo. is really focusing on the high tech sector that is going to be the future. Lawrence just seems to be focusing on smaller projects like apartments and hotels. That may be where a small community like this can focus.”

But Adair made it clear she thinks Lawrence can do more on its economic development front. She said the type of programs offered in Kansas City that have been helpful to Mycroft have included the LaunchKC grant program and free office space, a mentorship program at University of Missouri-Kansas City, and venture capital and other assistance from the quasi public-private Missouri Technology Corporation.

“I think Lawrence focuses more on tax abatements for economic development and less on how spending in other ways could help the community,” Adair said. “I think it is just a difference of opinion on whether you think a tax incentive is going to bring in more economic development or a grant program is going to be more beneficial.”

While Lawrence doesn’t have anything quite like the grant program being used in Kansas City, economic development leaders have made some major efforts to attract technology startups. The city, the county, the chamber, the university and the state have created partnerships to invest $20 million to build and then expand the Bioscience and Technology Incubator on KU’s West Campus. It has had good luck in attracting both startup companies and well-established companies — like Garmin — who want to be on or near the KU campus.

So, there probably will be some difference of opinion about whether Lawrence is doing enough in that regard, but certainly Adair isn’t the only one urging the community to think more creatively in the incentives it provides and the programs it offers. It is always a conversation worth keeping an ear open for.

Adair also said two other changes are likely to occur as Mycroft moves its business out of Lawrence. Adair and Montgomery are founders of Wicked Broadband, which previously was known as Lawrence Freenet. Adair confirmed the company is seeking to sell the business, although no deal is imminent. The business provides broadband service primarily to apartment complexes, fraternity and sorority houses, businesses and some residential subscribers. It has been in the news a lot over the years, primarily over disputes about whether the city should provide it grants, or low interest loans or other such assistance to expand its services in the community.

“I like to explain it this way: It is like having a child in a sense,” Adair said. “Wicked has been around for 11 years now. We feel like it is time to send it off to college.”

Adair also said it was likely that she and Montgomery would shut down the Lawrence Center for Entrepreneurship that they operate in office space near Ninth and Iowa streets. The center was designed to offer low-cost office space and maker space services to startups and small companies. Adair said the center has stopped taking new members for the space.

“I see that project probably folding in the future,” Adair said.

As for Mycroft, it will be interesting to watch how that company develops. Its device is similar to devices offered by Amazon, Microsoft and others. It allows you to use voice commands and the internet to turn off lights at your home, start a coffee maker, search for answers online and a number of other tasks that are part of this new technology called the Internet-of-Things. So, Mycroft will face major competition in becoming a player in the space, but it has received some early funding, in part, because it uses an open-hardware and open-source system that allows software developers from around the world to build features that can be added onto Mycroft’s functionality.

In other news and notes from around town:

• More of an observation than anything else, but it will be interesting to watch how the new South Lawrence Trafficway function on KU basketball game nights. In particular, the east end of the road where you can exit K-10 and enter 23rd Street will be worth watching.

Last night I noticed traffic at about 6:30 p.m. — a half hour before the tipoff of last night’s KU game — was backed up from approximately Noria Road to just west of the main Eudora exit on K-10. That is about six miles that traffic was backed up on the westbound lanes. That is largely due to a long section of road being one lane due to the SLT construction. But, as several people have noted, even after the road is completed, exiting K-10 and entering 23rd Street will have to funnel down to one lane for a significant stretch.

Those of you who drive the road now know what I’m talking about. The portion of road that goes under the new bridge where Noria Road used to intersect with K-10 is one lane and doesn’t become two lanes again until about East Hills Business Park entrance. I’m guessing the one-lane stretch is a little less than a mile in length.

That stretch probably won’t create a 6-mile backup every KU basketball game, but it probably will create some back up. However, people may quickly adjust their routes to get to the fieldhouse. Instead of taking 23rd Street, motorists may find it easier to take the South Lawrence Trafficway all the way to Iowa Street and Iowa Street to the either 19th or 15th streets, which both lead to the fieldhouse.

I keep talking to people who say traffic patterns in Lawrence are going to undergo their largest changes in years once the SLT opens and people learn how to use it. As a reminder, the ribbon cutting for the road is Friday, although it won’t immediately open for traffic. A full opening is expected by Thanksgiving.

• The Lawrence chamber of commerce has announced its board members for the upcoming year. Here’s a look at the leadership positions:

• Chair: Jason Edmonds, Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors;

• Incoming Chair: Michele Hammann, SS&C Solutions;

• Treasurer: Joe Caldwell, Bartlett & West engineers

• Past Chair: Cal Karlin, Barber Emerson attorneys

• Government and Community Affairs: Beth Easter, Intrust Bank

• Communications: Kristin Eldridge, Snap Promotions

• Operations: Kirsten Flory, Colliers International

• Joint Economic Development Council: Rick Hird, Petefish, Immel, Heeb & Hird attorneys

• Leadership Lawrence: Tom Karasek, CEK Insurance

• Economic Development: Mike Orozco, US Bank

• Membership: Crystal Swearingen, McGrew Real Estate