photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

The City of Lawrence is seeking feedback from community members on two proposed changes to the city’s governmental structure, as city leaders consider adding a question to the November election ballot.

One of those changes would see a nonpartisan mayor elected directly to a four-year term, a change from the current arrangement where the commission chooses one of its own members each year to serve a one-year term as mayor. The other would create six voting districts in Lawrence, bumping the size of the commission up from five to six members, each serving staggered four-year terms.

City spokesman Porter Arneill told the Journal-World Friday afternoon that while both changes could ultimately end up on the ballot and be implemented in conjunction with each other, approving both isn’t a necessity; just one of them could end up on a future ballot, or neither, depending on community feedback.

If only the second recommendation — creating six voting districts — is ultimately the only one to appear on the ballot, it could create opportunities for split votes with an even number of commissioners and no additional vote from a nonpartisan mayor to break ties. But Arneill said that while that’s a possibility city leaders and the City Government Study Task Force behind the recommendations have discussed and plan to address before anything is implemented, for now the focus is simply on generating feedback from the community.

To that end, community members can already provide their input via an online survey. The city will also host two hybrid meetings on the topic later this month — one set for Monday, May 16, and the other for Tuesday, May 24. Both meetings will take place from 6 to 7 p.m.

Community members can register for those meetings on the city’s community engagement page, and can also visit that page for more information about the proposed government restructuring.

The Lawrence City Commission last received an update on the process for considering those changes to the commission’s structure at its April 19 meeting. The recommendations have been in the works since 2021, when the commission assembled the task force.