A crowd filled Lawrence City Hall Tuesday to watch a historically diverse City Commission take their seats at the dais and elect the city’s new mayor. Tuesd
Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on May 3, 2016.
In their first discussion of the city’s 2022 budget, city leaders said they would like to keep the property tax rate flat and were interested in ways to mitigate the city’s rising utility rates.
As part of its study session Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission discussed 2021 revenue projections and directed staff regarding key policy questions that will affect the 2022 budget. Commissioners agreed that they did not want to increase the city’s property tax rate as part of the budget.
“I definitely want to leave the mill levy flat,” Mayor Brad Finkeldei said. “I think that’s a starting point.”
photo by: City of Lawrence
Commissioner Jennifer Ananda, left, discusses a proposed ordinance to prohibit the practice of conversion therapy for minors with Assistant City Attorney Maria Garcia.
After disagreement regarding how to handle counseling provided by members of religious organizations, city leaders have deferred their vote on an ordinance that would ban so-called conversion therapy that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Jennifer Ananda opposed, to defer a vote on ordinance 9828, which would prohibit the practice of conversion therapy for minors. At issue was whether the ordinance should specifically single out clergy as being an exception to the ordinance. City legal staff said the exception had been included to avoid legal challenges based on the First Amendment, which protects religious freedoms.
Days Inn, 730 Iowa St., is pictured Dec. 24, 2020.
City leaders have voted to continue funding a cold-weather shelter for homeless people at a local hotel for now, but because of safety issues and the significant amount of program funds going to repair property damage, they are urging city staff to seek alternatives.
Volunteers running the program and some social service professionals who are not involved with it expressed concerns regarding the security and efficiency of the program at the City Commission’s meeting Tuesday night. Commissioners said they shared those concerns. They voted 4-0, with Commissioner Stuart Boley absent, to allocate another $200,000 for overnight shelter programs, and they directed city staff to devise ways to use that money beyond the current hotel program. City staff was also asked to coordinate with the Lawrence Community Shelter and other local social service organizations in its effort to find a new way to shelter the more than 100 people currentl