Lawrence council pulls police‑chief nomination from committee then votes to table consideration

The Lawrence City Council on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, voted to remove Mayor Brian A. de Pena’s nomination of Maurice Aguilar for chief of police from the personnel committee and return the matter to the full council for consideration, then voted to table further action.

The move followed more than an hour of procedural debate at a special meeting called under the city charter. Council Vice President Lourdes Infante, who also serves as chair of the personnel committee, told colleagues she had scheduled a personnel committee meeting for Monday, May 12, at 6 p.m.

The nomination originally came to the council after a seven‑member search committee reviewed applicants and recommended three finalists to the mayor, who then forwarded a single nominee for confirmation under the city code. During public comment before the council took up the matter, resident Richard Russell of Cross Street said he supported Aguilar, calling him a qualified choice and criticizing prior politics in selection of public‑safety leaders. "I have no issue with Captain Maurice Aguilar becoming Lawrence's next police chief," Russell said.

Council members spent most of the special session on parliamentary questions: whether to suspend rules to allow debate, whether the chair had properly set committee dates, and whether the full council could act without a committee hearing. The council voted to suspend Rule 18 — which limits debate when no motion is pending — allowing discussion (motion carried; roll call recorded in the transcript as a council vote in favor). The council then used Rule 11 to discharge the nomination from the personnel committee and bring it before the full council. The discharge motion passed with six votes in favor and two opposed (the transcript roll call shows Councilors Levy, LaPlante, Luzon, Del Rosario, Santiago and Reyes voting yes; Vice President Infante and Council President Rodriguez recorded as no; one member noted absent).

After the item was formally before the full council, a motion "to approve for the purpose of discussion" was made and seconded so members could debate the nomination. City legal counsel clarified council procedure: "The matter is back before the full council right now. ... If you wanted to, you could vote on it right now," the attorney said on the record. Before a final confirmation vote was taken, another motion to table the matter (postpone consideration) was offered and the council voted in favor; the table motion carried in the roll call recorded on the transcript.

No formal confirmation of Maurice Aguilar occurred at the special meeting. The personnel committee chair stated she would not change the May 12 date. The mayor’s nomination remains before the council, and councilors said the item could be taken up at a future meeting or at the scheduled personnel committee session.

Quotations in this story come from the meeting transcript and are attributed to speakers who addressed the council during the special meeting.