Planning Office Budget Gains Grant‑funded Staff; Councilors Question Director Pay and Transparency

The Lawrence Office of Planning and Development (OPD) outlined a general‑fund budget that shifts two finance positions back into community development, lists several grant‑funded program staff and shows a large anticipated grant reimbursement amount, prompting councilors to seek clarity on staff funding sources and the OPD director’s recent pay increases.

Acting community development director Charlene Pascual said two positions—the financial and administrative services manager and a finance officer—were transferred from planning to community development; those moves explain much of the personnel‑service change in the OPD general‑fund schedules. The department’s finance officer and other program staff are partially or wholly grant funded; the OPD expects roughly $865,000 in grant reimbursement in the coming year, officials said.

Director Awilda Pimentel described a large portfolio of grants and partnerships the OPD manages and said the office now oversees roughly $65 million in active grant work separate from the general fund. She said OPD staff helped secure about $15 million in grants during her tenure and that many of the positions listed in the budget are supported in whole or in part by grant funds; the department provided a roster of grants and said more detailed project accounting can be supplied to councilors on request.

Several councilors asked about a pay increase for the OPD director. Director Pimentel said recent salary adjustments reflect a citywide compensation study (the Collins report) used to benchmark director‑level pay and that portions of her salary are reimbursable through grants, including opioid‑related funds. “I will say that 80% of my salary is grant funded,” she told the committee, and she provided examples of grant agreements that cover portions of administrative costs.

Councilors pressed for transparency and clearer budget presentation. Councilor Marmol and others said the budget book aggregates department‑level totals in ways that make it difficult to tell whether an increase is a new position, a transferred role, or a salary step. The OPD said it can provide more detailed personnel breakdowns by position and recommended separating advertising/communications, outreach and consultant lines in future books.

Pascual and finance staff underscored that many line items previously housed in planning were moved back to community development to reflect the department’s true work; they also described a $30,000 purchases‑of‑service amount used for title searches, registry filings, easements and outreach materials that are not covered by grants. The department also reported a backlog of programs and the need for consultant expertise for some state grants that require engineering or technical studies beyond in‑house capacity.

Councilors requested a written list of grants and a breakdown of reimbursements, and asked the administration to provide hiring and funding histories for positions that moved between budgets. Directors said they would supply documentation requested by councilors and work to make future budget books clearer at the line‑item and position level.