The Finance Committee on Dec. 1 recommended favorably a $175,000 grant from the Barr Foundation to the Department of Public Works to fund a transportation-planner position.

CFO Troy Clarkson said the three-year grant will allow the city to bring on a planner who will work across planning, DPW and Brockton Area Transit. DPW Commissioner Pat Hill told the committee the planner will help coordinate consultants and staff for major projects and specifically cited a pending $7,800,000 RAISE grant to transition the downtown to two-way streets. "This planner will ... coordinate between all those parties," Hill said.

Clarkson and Hill said the planner will primarily coordinate planning work with consultants and regional planning partners including the Old Colony Planning Council and BAT. Councilors voted to recommend acceptance of the grant and its expenditure.