The Lawrence Common Council on Oct. 6, 2025 voted to override Mayor Hanks’s veto of Proposal 2-2025, an ordinance amending Title 1, Article 1, Chapter 2, Section 12 of the municipal code concerning common council approval of expenditures for professional service contracts. The override vote came after the council president read the mayoral veto and a council member moved to take a vote to override.

The ordinance had been approved by the council at a special meeting on Sept. 23, 2025, and the mayor’s approval deadline had passed, according to the clerk’s reading at the Oct. 6 meeting. The transcript records a motion to override, a second and subsequent voting activity; it records that the motion passed but does not include a clear, complete roll-call tally in the audible record.

Councilors also placed other items before committees: Proposal 3-2025 (amending Title 1, Article 2, Chapter 5 of the code) and Proposal 6-2025 (ordinance concerning graffiti elimination) remained before the Committee of the Whole, and Proposal 7-2025 (an ordinance adopting a code of ethics) was referred to the Code Committee.

Votes at a glance: the council approved the minutes of the regular meeting of Sept. 17, 2025, and the special meeting of Sept. 23, 2025 (each recorded in the meeting as 8–0). The council also recorded the successful override of the mayor’s veto on Proposal 2-2025; the transcript confirms passage but does not provide a clear vote tally in the recorded audio.

The override restores the council’s prior approval of the ordinance as recorded at the Sept. 23 meeting. The council did not, during the Oct. 6 meeting, attach additional amendments to Proposal 2-2025 nor discuss implementation details for changes to the approval process for professional service contracts.

The council moved on after the vote to other agenda items and to questions for the administration about the city budget.