photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Police and emergency crews respond to a suspected overdose around 2:15 p.m. on July 17, 2023, at the city-supported campsite at 100 Maple St. in North Lawrence .

There’s been speculation in some Lawrence circles that a group of business leaders is preparing to sue the city over its homeless policies and the number of homeless camps that have emerged.

The speculation isn’t quite right, but I have confirmed one longtime business owner has hired an attorney to engage with the city.

Rick Renfro, the longtime owner of Johnny’s Tavern, has hired local attorney Todd Thompson to dive into the issue.

“But only to do research for me — not to do litigation,” Renfro told me.

Renfro, though, is hoping that Thompson can help produce some change at City Hall. Specifically, he has Thompson researching the city’s illegal camping ordinance, which has been the subject of debate over how and when it can be enforced.

“Maybe, maybe, maybe we could tweak our ordinance, or come up with a whole new ordinance concerning camping,” Renfro said.

Renfro said he would like an ordinance that would have some consequences for people who refuse to go to the Lawrence Community Shelter or other sanctioned homeless sites, if beds are available. There are multiple unsanctioned homeless camps operating in Lawrence currently, despite the Lawrence Community Shelter having open bed space.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Debris and other possessions are scattered throughout a homeless camp on the banks of the Kansas River in East Lawrence on Dec. 8, 2022.

Renfro said he also is interested in Thompson looking at how the city’s Municipal Court sets bail amounts for certain types of frequent offenders. He’s concerned that many crimes that are serious but don’t rise to the level of a felony are resulting in people being arrested but then immediately released because the Municipal Court does not require them to post a cash bond.

If that practice — called an own recognizance bond — is being used with repeat offenders, he’s concerned the city isn’t doing enough to deter crime.

photo by: Lawrence City Commission screenshot

Rick Renfro, the owner of Johnny’s Tavern in North Lawrence, addresses a packed Lawrence City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.

As an owner of Johnny’s Tavern, Renfro has a business next door to the city-sanctioned camp that is near the Kansas River in North Lawrence. Renfro said the people he personally knows who stay at the camp tell him it is a “hell hole,” and Renfro said the city’s overall operations related to the homeless have “miserably failed.”

But Renfro said he didn’t hire Thompson to just focus on the camp next door to his business. He said sanctioned homeless camps may be a part of the foreseeable future, but the city needs clearer policies on what’s allowed.

“We all have ethical and moral obligations to help people who need help, but the people we give help to, there has to be some minimum barriers,” Renfro said. “Like don’t break the law, follow the rules of the camp.”

Renfro, who has bar and restaurant businesses in many other communities in Kansas and in the Kansas City region, said city officials need to act more urgently because the perception of Lawrence is getting hammered, and the negativity is growing by the day.

“If somebody has a bad experience downtown, they are going to tell 10 people,” Renfro said. “When I go to Kansas City, people tell me, ‘I hear it is a war zone over there.’ It is the worst marketing we can get.”

Renfro said he and Thompson have been meeting with about seven individuals — he just calls them “concerned citizens” — whom he connected with through a Downtown Lawrence Inc. meeting on the topic. But he said the group is not a formal one, and it hasn’t hired Thompson. Neither has Johnny’s Tavern. Instead, Renfro said he and his wife hired Thompson.

City officials have said the homeless issue is among their highest priorities. City Manager Craig Owens’ recommended budget for 2024 calls for creation of a new homeless services department in City Hall. The city currently is working to open a nearly $2 million Pallet Shelter Village — a community of tiny homes for the homeless — but that project has suffered setbacks.

The project, slated for recently purchased land at 256 N. Michigan St., was supposed to be operational in June. But city officials had to delay its opening until at least late 2023, after it received no proposals from entities interested in operating the facility.

Renfro said that setback, among others, has made it difficult to have confidence in the city’s plans on the homeless front. Douglas County officials also are working on the issue, as the county and city are creating a new strategic plan for battling homelessness.

But Renfro also has expressed concern with the county. He said he still doesn’t understand why the county hasn’t allowed the city to develop the shelter village and a one-stop shop for homeless resources on county-owned property that is adjacent to the Lawrence Community Shelter.

In March, a county spokeswoman acknowledged the city had inquired about the property, but the county expressed strong reservations, which included that the site isn’t visible enough in the community and is too near the Douglas County Jail.

Specifically, the county said “placing a new shelter for unhoused residents next to a jail is not trauma-informed for camp residents.”

Renfro said that response has been baffling to many. He noted the multiple drug overdose deaths that have occurred at the city-sanctioned campsite and the amount of violence that has occurred at or near the site.

“I wonder if they think that is trauma-informed?” Renfro said.

Renfro said he didn’t have a timeline for when Thompson would complete his work. Thompson referred questions to Renfro. Renfro said that when the work is completed, he plans to take it to the City Commission, but not in a threatening way.

“I want to work with the city,” Renfro said. “I want to hear what they think, and whether it is something we could look at together.”