photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

Lawrence Journal-World Editorial

We already know that Lawrence fans of KU basketball won’t spend April 7 preparing for a watch party of the NCAA National Championship game, which takes place the next day. So, they might as well spend part of the day at a less festive but more important event.

The city will be hosting a forum that day to introduce the two finalists vying for the job of Lawrence city manager. It is kind of fitting that this process is happening during championship season. One of these two finalists will be tasked with being Lawrence’s champion day-in and day-out.

Hopefully the two candidates — Susan Sherman, an assistant city manager in nearby Olathe, and Craig Owens, the city manager of the St. Louis metro community of Clayton, Mo. — will find many reasons to be excited about that prospect.

The duo should find a community that has a lot going for it. While our economy still has room to elevate to a new level, we are growing in ways that many other communities in the state are not. We have a sense of community and are cognizant of the importance of being our own place, rather than just a subset of a larger metropolitan area. And, not least of all, we are a fun place. We are full of young people, who somehow keep us a bit more youthful than we would be otherwise. (Maybe it is the loud music next door.)

One other positive aspect about our community actually is evident in the process we are going through to select our next city manager. It is open and transparent. Anyone and everyone in the community has a chance to see the finalists, hear their ideas, and listen to how they answer our community’s questions. Congratulations to the city for having such an open process. It hasn’t always been that way with top-level searches. Hopefully, Douglas County will use a similar approach once it begins its process to find a new county administrator.

More broadly, though, it is important to recognize that open government is a real attribute for Lawrence. The city of Lawrence has had a good history of open government, and departing City Manager Tom Markus has improved upon it. Records are easy to access. Meetings are easy to watch. City leaders don’t bristle when the public asks them tough questions. In general, the city, understands it does not own the information. The public does, and the city is just its custodian. Like every public entity, the public is at the top of the organizational chart. The city understands and respects that.

Such openness leads to good things. It helps produce a more engaged community. Yes, that engagement can slow things down, but it also can produce well-thought-out projects that benefit the community for decades to come. Stroll through one of them by taking a walk down Massachusetts Street.

It would be tempting to say such openness is baked into the community’s DNA, but that’s too casual of an approach to take. Such openness could be reversed or stunted with one city manager or one City Commission. It will be important to hear evidence — not just words — that our next leader is committed to the idea of the public’s right to know and a belief that open government is better government.

There, of course, will be challenges for the next city manager. The community has struggled for a long time in uniting behind a vision. We never seem to get beyond the idea that we want to be a great place to live with a good quality of life. That is a like a company saying its vision is to turn a profit. Everybody wants to do that. We have to find what differentiates us and what gives us a competitive advantage. It won’t be the job of the city manager to find that — the entire community must — but a good city manager can be critical to putting us on the path.

Before any path is embarked upon, though, we must first put out a welcome mat. Let’s do so at the upcoming forum, which will be at 1:30 p.m. on April 7 — a Sunday — at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth Street.

It won’t be as much fun as a National Championship, but one of these two people hopefully will help our community hang important banners for years to come.