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Sidewalks must be cleared today
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Police officer killed in wreck By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
DEREK JENSEN, A VOLUNTEER WITH THEATRE LAWRENCE, tosses a pile of snow from the sidewalk in front of the building Wednesday at 1501 New Hampshire St. Lawrence residents are required to clear their sidewalks of snow and ice to avoid a citation from the city.
Residents face fine for failure to shovel By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
By 8 a.m. today, Lawrence property owners need to have their sidewalks cleared of snow or run the risk of a city fine. The city’s snow removal ordinance gives property owners 48 hours following the end of a snowfall to clear the public sidewalks that run through their properties. Brian Jimenez, the city’s code enforcement manager, said his office will begin accepting complaints about uncleared sidewalks at 8 a.m. today. “There are probably hundreds of prop-
To file a complaint To file a complaint about a sidewalk, call 832-7700 after 8 a.m. today or go through the city’s online system at lawrenceks.org. erties across the city that fall into the category of noncompliant,” Jimenez said. The city, however, does not patrol the city looking for properties that are out of compliance with the ordinance. Jimenez’s inspectors respond to complaints. But he said inspectors are instructed to look at
adjacent properties when they are out responding to complaints. If found in violation, property owners — not tenants — are sent a notice of violation through the mail. Property owners have the opportunity to contest the violation in Lawrence Municipal Court. The standard fine for violating the ordinance is $20, plus $60 in court costs. The ordinance generally requires property owners to clear the sidewalk of snow and ice so that it is passable for pedestrians. If ice is difficult to remove, the ordinance does allow for sand to be spread over the ice.
An off-duty Lawrence police officer was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Wednesday morning in Lawrence. Officer Matthew Edward Klock, 29, was killed when his vehicle hit a traffic signal pole near the intersection of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive about 2:15 a.m., according to a news Klock release issued by the Kansas Highway Patrol, which is investigating the case. According to the report, Klock’s 2012 Nissan Altima was heading east on Sixth Street when his vehicle went through the intersection at Wakarusa Drive, crossed the center line and struck a light pole in the center median of Sixth Street. Klock, who was the only person in the vehicle and was dead at the scene, had been a member of the Lawrence department since 2007. The report did not indicate whether alcohol could have been a factor in the accident. The report stated that he was not wearing a seat belt. — Reporter Shaun Hittle can be reached at 832-7173. Follow him at Twitter.com/shaunhittle.
— City reporter Chad Lawhorn can be reached at 832-6362.
Audit: State can do a better job selling its surplus property The report says the state’s central asset inventory of real property is inaccurate and incomplete and the — For years, some process to sell surplus property includes disincentives.
By Scott Rothschild
srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA legislators have said the state should do more to sell unused state property. And a recent audit shows the state doesn’t do a good job of this but also indicates that sometimes an empty parcel of state-owned land is more complicated than it appears. For instance, the idea of selling unused land around the Kansas Soldiers’ Home near
Dodge City “could adversely impact the health and quality of life of those residing in this nursing home community,” said Gregg Burden, executive director of the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs. Burden argued the land is needed as a buffer against encroaching industrial development.
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The state owns approximately $12.3 billion in land, including roads and buildings, and $265 million in personal tangible property, such as cars and office furniture. The Kansas Department of Administration has review and oversight duties concerning surplus real property.
But a recent report by the Legislative Division of Post Audit stated the Department of Administration has failed to accomplish some key tasks. “The Department of Administration has not proactively identified surplus real property as required by law and lacks the authority to independently designate what properties are surplus,” the report stated. The report also says the state’s central asset inventory of real property is inaccurate and incomplete, the process to sell
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surplus property includes disincentives, and the State Surplus Property Program has operated at a net loss of approximately $50,000 for each of the past two years. Auditors selected 13 properties for an in-depth review and decided that eight of those were surplus because they either were unused or not critical to the missions of the agencies that owned them. Those eight properties
Returning Friday We’ll resume our series of stories previewing the coming year.
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Please see AUDIT, page 2A
Vol.155/No.3 16 pages
2013 A look ahead