# Personnel  & Budget and Finance Committee  October 15, 2026


**Body:** LawrenceCityCouncil
**Date:** October 14, 2026
**Jurisdiction:** SLED

**Tags:** Public Safety, Energy & Utilities, Grants & Funding, Digital Infrastructure


The Lawrence City Council’s Personnel and Budget and Finance Committee meetings were held October 15, 2026. The Personnel Committee voted to recommend Lynette Perez’s appointment as director of the Office of Planning and Development, with one member opposed; the appointment is to go before the full council. The committee tabled a request for an additional Human Resources position. In Budget and Finance, members advanced a $300 donation to the Fire Department for consideration by the full council and approved a $2,000 transfer from legal services to the claims account. The committee also considered a $70,000 allocation from ambulance services for an EMS coordinator; that item was tabled pending a city attorney’s opinion on whether the position must be established by ordinance. A $43,500 FY25 Edward Byrne grant for three police-cruiser laptops received a favorable vote.

Members reviewed a proposed 90-day pilot of 10 SoundThinking Plate Ranger license-plate-reader cameras; the presentation described data controls, auditing, and possible sharing settings, and a public hearing was planned before full-council consideration. The committee also considered a 20-year net-metering agreement with New Leaf Energy and 978 Solar Development LLC for about 16 million kWh of credits from three solar projects, with an estimated $10–11 million in savings and a 10% discount; it was sent forward pending letters from the city attorney and the consultant. A home-rule petition concerning service credit for six firefighters was advanced as a committee report using the version in which the individuals pay the associated cost.

**Source:** LawrenceCityCouncil