To the editor:

I am voting yes to modify the current City Commission structure.

The current structure was created in 1951 when Lawrence had around 23,000 people in 4.7 square miles. Today we have almost 100,000 people in 34 square miles. Our community has grown and changed and so should our governing body.

The ballot question has unfortunate wording. It asks if we should “abandon the Commission-Manager form of government and adopt a Modified Mayor-Council Manager form of government. “Replace” would have been better than “abandon.”

We will still be professionally managed by a city manager. All that will change is going from five at-large commissioners to a directly elected mayor with limited power and six city councilors. Four will be elected from districts made up of an equal number of population and two will continue to be elected at large.

I am a proponent of having our day-to-day operations run by professional staff. Yet a truly representative elected governing body serves as the legitimizing foundational support every professional needs to do their job.

Too many of us feel disconnected from our city government. Well-meaning but narrowly focused unelected special interest groups have an inordinate say in what happens in Lawrence.

These groups should be at the table and heard. Their collective voices are important. But even they would benefit from a governing body that had the confidence of a majority of Lawrence citizens. This includes those citizens who have busy lives and do not have the time to be deeply involved in every governing question.

Providing more and more focused elected representation while retaining our professionally run city management is a strong vote for a healthier civic community.

Scott Morgan,

Lawrence