It’s too bad that the city’s new arts and culture director is leaving Lawrence after just four months on the job, but her departure gives city officials an opportunity to take another look at how essential this new position is.

City commissioners agreed about a year ago to create this $75,000 position. At that time, the additional staff position was justified as an important step in establishing the city’s standing as an art-based tourist destination. It also was hoped that creating the new position would help attract grant funding for various arts projects in the city.

After a broad search, the hiring of the new arts and culture director was announced in August. However, in December the new hire announced she would leave the position this month and return to Denver to rejoin her husband who had found insufficient job opportunities in the Lawrence area.

Mayor Mike Amyx initially opposed the new position because it was created outside the city’s normal budget process but said after the resignation announcement that the arts and culture director is “an extremely important position for the city.” There seemed to be no question in his mind that the position would be filled as soon as possible, but maybe there should be.

A number of things have happened in the last year that might affect this decision. Key among those is a rising concern about how much money the city is spending on projects that put the city’s “wants” ahead of the city’s “needs.” That concern likely was a factor in the community’s rejection in November of a sales tax increase to fund a new police headquarters building. It also has spurred a desire by many taxpayers to examine city spending decisions more closely.

Last June, the city was notified it had received a major national grant to develop an arts corridor on East Ninth Street. Although the Lawrence Arts Center took the lead in obtaining that grant, the new arts and culture director was expected to have a key role in coordinating the project. That might be nice, but, given current spending concerns, the city might reconsider whether a full-time arts position is the best use of city funds.

It’s true that the cost of an arts director is a relative drop in the bucket compared to the $28 million price tag of the proposed police headquarters, but such expenses add up.

If the city hopes to revamp its plans for a new police facility and other pending needs without raising local taxes or attracting new sources of tax revenue, it needs to start cutting corners somewhere. Getting along without an arts and culture director might be a first step.