If there’s widespread public interest in the city’s 2003 budget preparations, it was difficult to tell Tuesday night.

That’s when the Lawrence City Commission opened comment to anybody who wanted to tell the commission what they wanted  more money for pet programs, say, or lower taxes  in the 2003 budget.

Five people spoke. Two were city employees making another pitch for their departments.

The speakers:

 Russell Brickell, representing the Lawrence Firefighters Assn., asked commissioners to authorize funding for the construction of a fifth fire station in the city. He said a new station would help the city reach its goal of responding to every emergency within four minutes.

“Today, in 2002, we have the same amount of equipment and stations we did in 1982,” Brickell said.

 Carey Maynard-Moody, representing the Alliance for the Conservation of Open Space, asked the commissioners to fund an environmental planner.

Maynard-Moody said such a planner could prevent planning mistakes, like building in the floodplain, that come back to haunt the city.

“Rather than make the land try to fit the use we’d like it to have, we’d design the use to fit what nature has given us,” she said.

 Bill Cory, representing the Lawrence Police Officers Assn., asked the commission to fund a range of improvements for the department  particularly by adding more officers to handle the growing number of investigations.

“I don’t think we can serve the citizens of this community well if we’re reactive,” he said.

 Hilda Enoch, a member of the Coalition for Homeless Concerns, asked the city to help fund an substance abuse detoxification center that would be run by the city’s various social agencies and focus on assisting the homeless.

“The real solution is for all these organizations that work with these issues to come together,” she said. “It’s important that we not leave the most vulnerable (residents) behind.”

 And Larry Kipp, chairman of Friends of Douglas County, asked, along with Maynard-Moody, that the city pay for a study to determine the true costs of expanding city services to accommodate growth.

Commissioners made no comment Tuesday as to whether they’ll incorporate the suggestions into the budget. Their next meeting on the budget is 9 a.m. June 12 at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.

The final blueprint for city spending is expected to be ready for approval by the end of August. There will be a required public hearing scheduled prior to the budget’s adoption.