Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

To:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
From:	Megan Gilliland, Communications Manager
cc:	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager
Date:	September 30, 2015
Re:	Safe Winter Walkways Program 2014 Review

Background:

Since 2004, the city partnered with Douglas County Senior Services to create a program to connect people that need help removing snow from public sidewalks with able-bodied individuals willing to remove snow.  Douglas County Senior Services has agreed to work with the city to implement the “Safe Winter Walkways” program again this season.  The program and commitments are described in the attached Memorandum of Understanding.

To implement the volunteer program, the City Manager needs to sign the Memorandum of Understanding.  The Memorandum of Understanding will then be signed by a representative of Douglas County Senior Services.  Representatives of Douglas County Senior Services have reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding.

A press release for the program will be released in early October. 

The table below shows a program history for participation versus volunteer availability:

	Volunteers	Participants	Waiting List
2009	52	60	0
2010	57	119	24
2011	38	124	40
2012	24	91	67
2013	41 (served 57 properties)	89	32
2014	53 (served 70 properties)	80	10

Eighty-seven-percent of people who requested assistance from DCSS in 2014 were paired with a volunteer.  Numerous volunteers were paired with multiple homes.  It is noteworthy that the Lawrence Police Department staff was very involved and took multiple homes.  Their support was appreciated as part of this volunteer program.

2014 was the second year we implemented a strict deadline for participant sign-up.  DCSS and the city worked together to make sure previous participants, volunteers and the general public were aware the program had a deadline.  The deadline was helpful and allowed participants and volunteers to be paired up generally ahead of winter weather and this allowed participants to know if a volunteer for their property had been assigned.

DCSS staff and city staff have decided the deadline for the 2015/2016 season will be Friday, November 20, 2015.  This date has been selected so that participants and volunteers can be matched prior to the holiday season, and hopefully, prior to snow season. 

City staff will use a varied list of methods to solicit volunteers for the program.  Staff will roll out a communication plan using various methods in October to solicit volunteers and residences for the program.

Recommended Action:

Direct the Interim City Manager to sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the 2015-2016 Safe Winter Walkways program.