Small Town Has Big City Challenges

(posted Jan 8)

Although Barbara Lawrence has only been Speedway's town manager for eight months, she has been involved with enough projects and challenges to realize that despite the town's small size, it has its share of big city problems.

"Clearly redevelopment is gonna chart a course for the town of Speedway like no other project maybe since the track opened. I could be accused of a little bit of a hyperbole there, but it is very important project for the future of this town," Lawrence said.

Lawrence made her first presentation to the Old Speedway City Neighborhood Association at its January 5th meeting. She said one of her regrets was not taking more time to meet residents during her initial two weeks of employment.

Lawrence prefers working at the local level for its ability to have a more immediate response. One of the town's immediate situations in 2008 was the International Village fire. She discussed the tragedy that resulted in displacing families, but stated the fire "underscored" the need for the town to remain vigilant with code enforcement. International Village was fined $5,000 for late demolition of the burnt unit.

The town continues to monitor the complex for safety issues. She is fearful that some of the balconies are not safe and could detach from the buildings. There is a pending fix and repair order hearing that has been continued at the request of the new owner. Lawrence could not predict the future status of IV, noting only that the complex will not be taken out by the Accelerate 465 project, unlike West Wind Terrace Apartments and Red Roof Inn.

Lawrence is in the process of developing the town manager's work plan that focuses on areas of the town's concerns. The area of focus will look at supporting commerce, economic development and industry, housing, preserving public safety, sustaining public education, community investments, fiscal issues, quality of life, community engagement and youth initiatives. Creating a work plan is part of her job contract. The plan's goals are to achieve efficiencies and convenience by using technology.

She talked about the possibilities of paying bills online and with credit cards. The town's efficiencies will be based on doing more with less, especially during the budget crunches. The cash flow issues because of the property reassessment made it difficult to create the town's 2009 budget.

Lawrence said the town does not have a high rate of abandoned homes, but it can have a ripple effect on quality of life issues in an immediate neighborhood. It could be the start of a domino effect for others not maintain the curb appeal of their homes. She surmised there are around five abandoned homes among the 17 bank-owned homes in Speedway.

During the question and answer session, Merrill Demaree asked if the $7.00 fee on the water and sewer bills would be removed if the code enforcement efforts become self-sustaining. Lawrence replied that she was not aware of the fee or its purpose. She did state that the code enforcement program was self sustaining between fines and registration fees.

Despite a unanimous protest against the increase by residents at the March 27, 2006 public hearing, the council voted to add the fee in order to free up money in the general fund's solid waste budget, which had been paying for trash collection. The council estimated the town could free up $275,000 in the general fund to add three to four police officers.