The Backbone of a Community by Matt Petillo, photos by Steven Hertzog
Serving a community through government or nonprofit comes with many of the same concerns as a business but can have many more people to whom they must answer. Governmental and nonprofit entities are, in many ways, like any other business. They have to worry about funding, recruitment and retention, and standing in the community. The only difference is they aren’t beholden to an owner or set of owners—they’re accountable to the people they serve and those who pay the taxman (or the endowment, your pick). During the last 10 years, they’ve endured many issues in an attempt to achieve their main goal: to serve the people of Lawrence and Douglas County. Working at City Hall and in public service, Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard has seen it all. She’s been working there since 2007 and last spoke to Lawrence Business Magazine in 2014. Since then, she has worked to create programs and initiatives to keep Lawrence running. In 2015, Stoddard was named interim city manager, a position she kept for 66
nine months. About her time in that position, she says: “Honestly, there were some pretty major challenges that had come to the city during that period of time, and personally, I am extremely proud of how our elected officials [and] our staff handled everything during that year.” Some of those challenges included the resignation of a mayor, which Stoddard says has never happened in the history of the city. The other issue: The Oread Hotel. “During my tenure as interim city manager, the city made a decision to proceed with filing a lawsuit against The Oread based on what we had learned.” The lawsuit accused the hotel developers of fraudulently collecting tax rebates and was settled in 2017 in favor of the city. More recently, Stoddard was involved in planning Lawrence VenturePark and the Economic Development Strategic Plan, both meant to stimulate the economy and bring big business to Lawrence while keeping the small-town feel intact. The VenturePark
