voter february 2011

8/6/2019 VOTER February 2011

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Plans areunderway for presenting the annual He-len Fluker Open and Accessible Govern-ment Award and the committee wants

your nominations. To make a nominationplease fill out and mail or email the

Nomination Form on page 8.

Deadline for nominations is March 2. For

more informationor to make your reser-vation, contact committee members -Marguerite Lohrenz (865-0195), Marjorie

Cole (842-6085), Arline Seely-Bensch

(331-4642).

THE AWARD WILL BE PRESENTED at a luncheon

on March 12 at the Smith Center, 4730 Brandon

Woods Terrace. Doors will open at 11:30. Lunch willbe served at 12:00 with the formal presentation of

the award at 12:30. Cost will be $14.00. The menu

includes Spinach Salad, Garlic Shrimp

Pesto Chicken, Rotini Pasta, Green Beans

Roast Potatoes, and Fresh Fruit.

Deadline for luncheon reservations is

March 8.

For more information or to make yourreservation, contact committee membersMarguerite Lohrenz (865-0195), Marjorie

Cole (842-6085), Arline Seely-Bensch

( 3 3 1 - 4 6 4 2 ) o r e m a i

[email protected] Award Recipients:

February 2011 page 1 My Heart Belongs to the League Issue(s)

TheVOTER

President: : Brooke Goc 917-1291 brookegoc @ gmail.comMembership:Voter Editor: Ruth Lichtwardt 841-5419 lightwatcher @ gmail.comLocal League: http://www.lawrenceleague.com National League: http://www.lwv.orgState League: http://www.lwvk.org [email protected]

L e a g u e C a l e n d a r

Helen Fluker Open and Accessible Government Award Luncheon

Helen FlukerMary Michener, 2000

Hilda Enoch, 2001

Larry Kipp, 2002

Betty Lichtwardt, 2003

Allan and Louise

Hanson, 2004

Mary Davidson, 2005

Forrest Swall, 2006

Jesse Branson, 2007

Marci Francisco, 2008

Jamie Shew, 2009

Margaret Farley, 2010

Bulletin of the LWV of Lawrence-Douglas County, KS Volume 58, No. 8The League ofWomen Voters is a non-partisan political organization encouraging the informed and

active participation of citizens in government and influencing public policy through education and advocacy.

Saturday,

February 194:00 PM Land Use Committee Meeting. Community Mercantile Meeting Room, 901 Iowa St.

Friday,

March 4th9:00 PM VOTER Article Submission Deadline. Please send submissions to [email protected].

Thursday,March 10th

7:00 PM LWVL-DC Board Meeting. 9th St Christian Education Building, 833 Ohio St.. All Leaguemembers are welcome to attend.

Saturday,

March 12th11:30 AM Helen Fluker Award Luncheon. Smith Center, 4730 Brandon Woods Terrace. Please see

article below for nominations and reservations information.

Thursday,

March 24th8:30 AM Kansas League Day at the Capitol, Dillon House, 404 West 9th St.,Topeka. Please see

article on page 2.

Sunday,

April 10th11:30 AM LWVL-DC Annual Meeting. Macelis, 1031 New Hampshire St. $13.99 for lunch buffet

or $12.99 for seniors and students.
http://www.lawrenceleague.com/http://www.lwv.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.lwvk.org/http://www.lwvk.org/http://www.lwv.org/http://www.lwv.org/http://www.lawrenceleague.com/http://www.lawrenceleague.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Location: Dillon House, 404 West 9th St.

Topeka, Kansas

Parking: Garage under the Capitol building

Fee: $20 includes continental breakfast & lunchNote: Legislature is not in session this day

Agenda8:30 Registration and continental breakfast

9:00 Opening Remarks

9:05 Political Redistricting in Kansas

Corey Carnahan, Research Analyst

Kansas Legislative Research Dept

9:45 Break

10:00 Legislative Update by Paul Johnson

11:00 Luncheon12:15 State Taxation: Who Pays?

Panel Presentation

1:00 Registration for public attendees

1:30 Quest for a More Diverse Judiciary:

Project Wrap-up and Celebration

Introduced by Zaida Arguedas,

Deputy Executive Director, LWVUS &

Director of Global Democracy Programs

2:20 Guest Speakers

1) Jeffery Jackson, ProfessorWashburn Univ. School of Law

2) The Honorable Lawton R. NussChief Justice, KS Supreme Court

3:30 Adjournment

Registration due by March 20th. Send check to

LWVK, P.O. Box 2366, Topeka, KS 66603

The Lawrence League will have the

honor of representing the League Of

Women Voters forthe annual Natu-ralization Ceremony at the Dole

Center which takes place every fall.

This is a beautiful event that wel-

comes new citizens to our country. The

Leagues major task will be to pass out a book-

let to new citizens with information about vot-

ing in our country and to register new voters

We are very excited to be a part of thi

ceremony. We will need several volunteers

for this event. You will receive more informa-

tion as the next event draws closer.

- Lee Ann Duver

Twelve LWV L-DC members, and a couple of visitors

came to our LWVK Program planning meeting at the

Community Mercantile, on January 29 (Kansas Day!)

We discussed a handful of issues of interest to mem-

bers present, and decided which of these we wouldlike to recommend the Kansas League adopt as a

study at the State Convention this

April. There were several fine

runners-up, including a study of

the judicial selection process in

Kansas, a study of how our legal

system deals with convicted sex-

ual offenders, a statewide study of

public transportation options, and

a study of Kansas adoption law.

However, at the conclusion of ourdiscussion, we chose to recom-

mend a study of Kansass tax poli-

cies, with an eye towards how

well they line up with the Leagues

present position on finance. Our recommendation to

the State Board is printed in full below.

In addition to recommending this study, we

offered several suggestions for improvement to the

LWVK Program as posted on the website. The most

significant of these suggestions included changing the

position presently titled Privatization of Child WelfareServices by SRS to Child Welfare Services by SRS.

Members felt the current title suggests that League in

some way supports the on-going privatization of

these services, when, in fact, the position itself suggests

that we do not. This is especially true for the Program

in Brief, where findings of local League studies are not

presented in full. Also, on considering the position in

full, it became unclear to us whether this part of ourFebruary 2011, page 2 My Heart Belongs to the League Issue(s)

Kansas League Dayat the Capitol

NaturalizationCeremony at the

Dole Center

Report from LWVKProgram

Planning Meeting


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Program was ever formally adopted.

We recommended that the LWVK

Board add or revise language for adop-

tion at State Convention, which would

make it clear that this part of Program

is formally included as a position. In a

similar vein, we asked that the State

Board review the background state-

ment for our position on MentalHealth Care, with an eye toward to

identifying appropriate changes to the

text, which would make it clear that

the statement was current at the time of adoption of

the position and allow the possibility that some

changes may have occurred since. Recommendation of Restudy of the LWVKFinance Position. LWV Lawrence-Douglas County

recommends the State League undertake a two-year

study of present tax policies, with a one year focus on

tax exemptions, tax credits, and property tax to see ifthey meet the Leagues standards for tax equity, ade-

quacy, ease of administration and consistency with

economic goals. In 2011, Kansas is facing budget deficit of $550million [1], with no improvement in the foreseeable

future. It is critical that current and proposed tax pol-

icy meet the Leagues standards. However, as illus-

trated by the following two examples, concerns have

been raised about both the fairness and effectiveness

of our current system.

In March, 2010, LWV L-DC sponsored a publicforum on education in Kansas. The speaker, repre-

senting the Kansas Association of School Boards, ex-

pressed concern about fairness and equity of taxation

in Kansas. His reports asks Who pays? for the dem-

onstrated cost effectiveness of our education system

[2]. He noted that

Kansas has histori-

cally sought to ap-

p l y t h e m a j o r

sources of tax

revenue prop-erty, income, and

s a l e s v e r y

broadly, with few

except ions and

with relatively low

rates. However, in

recent years, this

has changed as the Legislature has

authorized with increasing regularity

tax exemptions, abatements, credit

and other devices that allow certain

taxpayers to avoid or reduce their tax

payments. In February and March, 2010 the Kansas Legislative Division of Post

Audit produced three reports that re-view our states 247 tax credits, sales

tax exemptions, and property tax ex-

emptions [3]. Their findings raised

questions about: whether the current system meets

state standards for transparency regarding who bene-

fits from tax credits; the potential for unfair competi-

tion between entities; unequal treatment of simila

types of taxpayers; and the lack of measures for public

purpose and mechanisms for collecting necessary in-

formation, and sunset provisions that would trigger

reviews. While it seems likely that our states currentmix of revenue sources may fail to meet at least our

standards for equity, adequacy,

and consistency with economic

goals, we believe that a full

study of this issue is necessary

in order for League to under-

stand the changes that have oc-

curred to Kansas tax policy

since our current position was

last updated in 1993. A two-year study of tax policies may

result in a modification of our

position; it will certainly enable

League to advocate more effec-

tively on this important issue.

[ 1 ] K a n s a s C i t y S t a r , 1 0 J a n 2 0 1 1

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brow

nback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html .

[2] Student Achievement, School Funding and the Fu-

ture of Kansas. Kansas Association of School Boards

July 2009, Mark Tallman, Asst. Executive Director, Advocacy.

[3] Performance Audit Report, Kansas Tax Revenues

Parts I, II, and III: A report to the Legislative Post Audit

Committee by the Legislative Division of Post Audit

State of Kansas. Feb-Mar 2010 [available at

http://www.kansas.gov/postaudit/audits.shtml .

February 2011, page 3 My Heart Belongs to the League Issue(s)
http://www.accesskansas.org/srv-postaudit/start.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5Dhttp://www.accesskansas.org/srv-postaudit/start.html%5Dhttp://www.accesskansas.org/srv-postaudit/start.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5Dhttp://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/10/2573984/brownback-sworn-in-as-kansas-governor.html%5D


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stands at $18.6 million, down from the

original cost of $19 million. This estimate

takes into account the $500,000 for the

roof as well as funds for lighting up-

grades. The city is looking for additional

federal grant funds for the project. Cur-

rently the schedule is to put the project

out to bid in mid-September and break

ground in December 2011 or January2012. There will be opportunities for

pub l i c i npu t on the des i gn . - Elinor Tourtellot

Present: Charles Wintermantle, Trustee; Jerry Smith,Clerk; Suzanne Evinger, Treasurer ; Lyle Bowlin, Volun-

teer Fire Department Chief; Brandon Masur, Fire

Training Chief; Tim Kohler, Road maintenance; Matt

Bowlin, fire depar tment. The minutes of the December meeting andthe treasurers report were approved as read. Fire Department responded to two fires lastmonth. A barn burned on Pleasant Grove Hill, and

there was a grass fire started by men cutting wood.

Their branch burn pile sparked in a wind. One truck needs two replacement tires. TheBoard told the fire department to use their funds.No American-made tires are made for that vehicle (a

1995 model.) Two applications have been receivedfrom potential fire department volunteers. Main topic of meeting was the

accident with one of the fire depart-

ment trucks, which rolled over while

returning from a grass fire. Drive LyleBowlin was uninjured, but the truck is

probably totaled. The townships insur-ance agent is doing the evaluation. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 andyour observer kept to one new years

resolution and passed on homemade

cinnamon rolls baked by Paula Bowlin. - Peggy Baker

PRESENT: Brooke Goc, President and

President-Elect; Milton Scott, Vice-

President; Elinor Tourtellot, Secretary;Marjorie Cole, Treasurer; Directors:

Lee Ann Duver, Bob Duver, Ruth

Lichtwardt and Marguerite Lohrenz.

ABSENT: James Dunn, Aline Hoey,

Carrie Lindsey and Chris Lempa.

The meeting was called to order by Brooke at 7:00

p.m.

CONSENT AGENDA: Approval of the Agenda - Ruth moved andLee Ann seconded the agenda. The agenda was

passed. Approval of October meeting minutes - Ruthmoved and Bob seconded the approval of minutes

The motion passed.

Approval of Treasurer's October report - Marjorie

reported that payments were made to both the state

and national PMP in October reducing our checking

account balance to $1657.16. We are behind in dues

collection as about twenty members have not paid their dues. Marjorie will send a letter encouragin

people to pay their dues with the option to pay in

$10 increments. She will also encourage people to

apply for scholarships from our Scholarship Fund

Marguerite moved and Bob seconded

the approval of the Treasurer's Report.

The motion passed.

PRESIDENTS REPORT: Brooke welcomed formerLWVL/DC President Ruth Lichtwardt

to the Board. Ruth is also editor of

The Voter. Brooke was asked to be amember of the board of the Sun-

flower Coalition, which looks at open

government in Kansas. The Coalition

meets three or four times a year. Our


Willow Springs TownshipRegular Board Meeting

January 5, 2011

Minutes of the BoardMeeting

November 29, 2010


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league will collaborate with them in putting on

their annual event to be held in Lawrence this

March.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Final plans for Afternoon with the Legislators

is on December 4th at the home of Rita Spra-

dlin were discussed.

Issue Meetings - A public meeting to addresspost election issues was suggested. We plan to

have three issue meetings, one in the early

spring, one near the end of the legislative ses-

sion and one in the summer.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Fluker Award Committee Chair, Marguerite Lorenz,

reported that Arline Seeley-Bensch and Marjorie

Cole will serve on this committee. A tentative date

for the Fluker event was set for March 12,

2011.Membership Committee - A Membership

Chair is needed. It was suggested that a

new member might be interested in this job.

The position would involve welcoming new

members by sending out materials, phoning,

contacting members without email ad-

dresses, and recruiting.

Judiciary Grant: 3nd event - Gwen Elliot,

President of the Topeka-Shawnee County

LWV, and three members of the Kansas Bar

Association are all interested in collaboratingon our third event at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Fundraising - Marjorie reminded the board that

fundraising should begin in January. Ruth suggested

that contributions to the league could be made at

issue meetings.

Voter Services - Brooke attended a Johnson

County naturalization ceremony and re-

ceived information that will be useful when

we take over the Annual Naturalization

Ceremony at the Dole Institute from John-

son County LWV next fall.Communications - Brooke talked with

KANU about radio spots and learned that

they are inexpensive and flexible.

Milton Scott, Communications Chair,wants to add a new member to do graphic

design. He requests that any additions or

changes to our website be sent to him. Brooke moved for adjournment andRuth seconded. The meeting was adjourned at

8:20 p.m. - Elinor Tourtellot, secretary

December Land Use Committee Meeting. The Land Use Committee (LUC) met at the Merc on Saturday, December 11 at 4:00

p.m. to discuss items on the Planning Commission

(PC) December 13th Agenda. Most of the items werenot controversial except two, on which we sent

letters.The first letter was on Item No. 3, the Text

Amendment (TA) to the RM32 District to al-low an increase in density above the 32 units

an acre that the district allows. This was re-quested several months ago by developers

who wanted to be able to convert apartments

from four- bedroom units to studio (one room

apartments accommodating both kitchen and

bed) and one bedroom units (one kitchen and

one bedroom) to meet changing demand

[Explanation: One dwelling unit is determinedby the presence of one kitchen plus accompa-

nying bedrooms. One unit in multiple familybuildings may have up to four bedrooms with

one kitchen. Maintaining the same number of bed-

rooms but increasing the number of kitchens has the

effect of technically increasing the number of dwelling

units in a building, but not the number of

residents.] The argument was that thischange is needed to respond to demand so

that old outmoded apartments can be reno-

vated. Both developers and staff suggested

various remedies, but the simplest solution

seemed the current recommendation by staff to change the definition of density in th

RM32 District to half; that is, counting studio

and one-and two-bedroom apartments as 0.5

dwelling units. Three- and four-bedroomapartments would be counted as one dwell-

ing unit. Other regulations would remain thesame, including the requirement of one park-


Land Use Committee Report

December 2010 & January 2011


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ing space per bedroom. We pointed out inour letter that there are

possible unintended

outcomes of making this

density modification to

the code unless further

conditions are added

along with the densityadjustment. The sup-

posed purpose of this

proposed change is to encourage the renovation of

older existing apartments rather than providing incen-

tives to consolidate lots and tear down the historic

houses for new apartments, which without limiting

conditions could easily happen. We made two sugges-

tions to avoid the latter outcome: (1) Rather thanchange the density calculation of the RM32 District as

a whole, allow it as a Condition under the Land De-

velopment Code Article 5, Use Regulations, either forthe district or for the building type, limiting the density

change to existing multi-family structures in the RM32

district. (2) Make the density proportionate to thenumber of bedrooms so that two-bedroom units

would count as 0.75 unit. We also suggested thatthese density changes be limited to those areas desig-

nated in the Oread Neighborhood Plan for high

density.We suggested that these provisions added asa general Condition to Article 5 of the Land Devel-

opment Code could apply to all apartments in need

of renovation or replacement, so that it could be acity-wide Condition, applying only to existing apart-

ments and not to new RM32 Districts. OUTCOME:

the PC approved the staff recommendations without

any additional conditions. However, the City Com-mission sent it back to the PC to be reconsidered,

with multiple objections. It has not yet been sched-uled for rehearing by the PC.

Our second letter to the PC was on

Item No. 4, the proposed text amend-

ment for Boarding Houses.

This has been under consideration sinceDecember 2009, and was sent back to

the PC for reconsideration by the City

Commission (CC) with three requested

changes: (1) simplify the standard relating

to building additions to 20% of the exist-

ing structure, (2) review parking standards,

requiring one space per bedroom with

variances possible for larger structures (to provide

incentive to preserve historic structures), and (3) dis-

cuss approval process; i.e., whether conversion to

boarding houses should be by right, or require a

special use permit. The staff recommendation re-

names Boarding House to Congregate Living, al-

lows it as a use by right (permitted use) but with a

site plan, allows a 20% increase in the building foot-

print, and regulates trash on the site. We made two requests in our letter: (1) Thereshould be a responsible person to contact in case of a

complaint. (Lacking this has been a major problemwith party houses.) (2) The use of the term foot-

print for limiting the 20% allowed expansion still does

not prevent the addition

of height in stories to

existing structures be-

cause the footprint is a

ground-level dimension.

(A 10-story building canhave the same footprint

as a one-story building,

for example.) What isneeded is the addition of

the term existing struc-

ture to the 20% allowed

as a description of the permitted size increase, or, if

not that, some better definition. OUTCOME: the PCapproved the staff recommendation without any addi-

tions or changes. The City Commission also approvedit and its Ordinance 8606 is on the City CommissionConsent Agenda for Second and Final Reading for

Tuesday, February 8.January Land Use Committee meeting. Please note: The one issue of concern to theLUC that was on the published agenda to be heardat the January, 2011 Planning Commission meeting

was deferred. It was a proposed text amendment ofthe Subdivision Regulations. Because wealso had no text or Staff Report to study

on this issue, we canceled our Land Use

Committee meeting for January.The February Land Use Committee

meeting will be held on Saturday, Febru-

ary 19 in the Merc Community Meeting

Room at 4:00 p.m.



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League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County

Helen Fluker Open and Accessible Government AwardNomination Form

Name of Nominee: _____________________________________________________________

Title/Organization (if applicable): ___________________________________________________

Address: _______________________________________ Phone: _______________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________________

Please indicate below or attach a statement explaining why you feel this nominee should be considered for theHelen Fluker Open and Accessible Government Award. Please feel free to attach up to three additional sheetsto this form.

Your Name: ___________________________________________________________________

Title/Organization (if applicable): ___________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________ Phone: _____________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________________

This form may be copied if you wish to make more than one nomination.Please send completed forms by March 2, 2011 to:

Helen Fluker Award Selection CommitteeLeague of Women Voters Lawrence-Douglas County, P.O. Box 1072, Lawrence KS 66044-1072


Criteria:The nominee must be a Douglas County resident over age 18, and their efforts (volunteer or

as an extension of their work duties) must have promoted improvement in government.They could have accomplished this in a variety of ways, such as attempting to increase citi-

zen participation in government; educating the public about an issue; working toward moreopen government; or otherwise being involved in ways which represent the principles thatlead to better political decision-making.


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using a stamp. Only current members are able to

vote at the Annual Meeting.


voter february 2011

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