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Lawrence council declines to suspend rules to amend police, fire salary ordinance; item sent to public safety committee
Summary
The Lawrence Common Council voted against suspending rules to pass Proposal 1-20-25, an ordinance amending the police and fire salary ordinance to correct pay-title errors and add field training pay. The proposal will go to the council's public safety committee for further review.
The Lawrence Common Council on Feb. 3 declined to suspend the rules to pass Proposal 1-20-25 on first reading, referring the ordinance amending the police and fire salary ordinance to the council's public safety committee.
The administration presented the ordinance as a technical fix to Ordinance 10-02-2024 to align the salary ordinance with terms in collective bargaining agreements reached with police and firefighters. City staff said the amendment would correct omitted titles, add a $5 hourly training differential for field training officers and fix a duplicate technical-pay line. The administration urged quicker action so affected employees would see corrected pay on upcoming payrolls.
Councilors expressed mixed views. One councilor said the changes appeared clerical but opposed suspending rules, citing the risk of additional undiscovered errors and requesting a legal review before final passage. The administration suggested the possibility of an off-cycle check to expedite pay for affected employees if the council delayed formal passage.
Because council rules require unanimous consent to consider and a two-thirds vote to pass on first reading, the council took a roll-call on the request to suspend rules. Several councilors voted no, and the motion failed; the president announced the proposal will be considered by the public safety committee with no further action at the Feb. 3 meeting.
Background: the ordinance package is intended to align the city’s salary ordinance with recently negotiated collective bargaining agreements for police and fire personnel and to correct clerical errors discovered after the prior salary ordinance was enacted.
The council did not adopt the proposed language on Feb. 3; next steps are committee review and any additional edits or formal readings at a future meeting.
