photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Members of the Lawrence City Commission listen to a presentation about a nearly $2.7 million funding agreement with the Lawrence Community Shelter during the group's meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023.

Lawrence leaders voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve nearly $2.7 million in city funding for the Lawrence Community Shelter for 2024 as part of another updated funding agreement.

The Lawrence City Commission approved $2,677,696 in funding to be disbursed to the shelter on a quarterly basis next year, which will help fund the shelter’s capacity for winter emergency sheltering and operations at “The Village,” the community of 64-square-foot cabins for people experiencing homelessness located at 256 N. Michigan St.

More than half of that additional funding — or $1.5 million — is coming from the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds and is to be used solely for the purpose of operating The Village. The remainder is coming out of the city’s Special Alcohol Fund and General Fund.

It’s a substantial increase in funding from the city compared to years past, Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire told commissioners. Typically, the city has provided LCS $296,000 per year.

“This agreement represents a substantial additional investment compared to years past,” McGuire told commissioners. “You may recall in the last several years, the city has provided $296,000 to the Lawrence Community Shelter. We’ve always known that’s a much smaller number, but I think with the work that has gone on with Melanie Valdez, (Homeless Programs Coordinator) Misty Bosch-Hastings and the board of directors, I think we’ve got a much better number in terms of the resource needs overall for the Lawrence Community Shelter than we’ve ever really had in my time here.”

As the Journal-World has reported, the City Commission added $150,000 to the shelter’s existing 2023 funding agreement back in October, in an effort to help the shelter tackle its financial challenges from earlier this year. According to the shelter’s draft 2024 budget, which is included with Tuesday’s meeting agenda and will be up for consideration by the LCS Board of Directors at a meeting this Thursday, the shelter is anticipating $3.43 million in total operational expenses for next year.

The funding approved Tuesday night would account for 78% of the shelter’s 2024 budget, if it’s approved as is later this week.

Information provided by city staff in the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting breaks down what exactly is being funded through the new agreement:

• The ability for LCS to achieve appropriate staff-to-guest ratios for normal operations and winter sheltering at LCS and at The Village.

• Security for the LCS campus and The Village.

• Food service of three meals per day for shelter guests and residents of The Village.

• Day services for all people experiencing homelessness.

• Services that support guests’ ability to access and remain in housing.

• Coordination with continuum of care partners.

• General operational expenses.

The agreement also commits LCS to providing a minimum capacity of 125 beds nightly at the shelter, plus surge capacity of up to 140 spots for winter sheltering.

LCS is also supposed to prioritize serving people with a historical connection to Lawrence or Douglas County, either through a previous residence or a connection with a service provider. Melanie Valdez, the shelter’s interim executive director, told commissioners Tuesday that the methodology for how exactly the shelter makes that determination will probably need to be fleshed out moving forward.

Commissioners also heard from a group of about a half dozen LCS staff members, who voiced concern about that level of funding being insufficient to adequately support the shelter’s proposed staffing plan without pay cuts. Some of them were part of the group of shelter workers who recently unionized, and who on Monday publicly announced bargaining demands including that they be paid $30 an hour. Valdez told commissioners that she and city staff weren’t aware of the union’s request when crafting the proposed funding agreement, which she said accounts for keeping pay rates at $16.25 per hour for day and evening staff.

“When I go back a couple years ago, if someone would’ve told me that we were proposing to raise the amount we support LCS from ($296,000) to $2.6 million, and all of the comments we received were that we weren’t giving them enough, I would’ve been shocked that that was the outcome,” Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said. “And maybe it’s not enough, but my point is we’ve come a long way to get to this point.”

Tuesday’s agenda notes that the city and LCS will be partnering to develop and plan operations for another 45 Pallet cabins, likely mid-year in 2024.

In other business, commissioners:

• Voted 4-1 to approve a preliminary development plan for Fall Creek Villas, with the additional condition that a final development plan needs to return to the City Commission for approval.

The plan for 14 duplexes on 8.4 acres east of Fall Creek Road and west of North Kasold Drive in west Lawrence failed to earn a recommendation from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission in late September, which meant the project needed to earn approval from a supermajority of city commissioners. Neighbors to the proposed project have cited concerns with plans for the development to take place near a creek and what effect those additional homes may have on stormwater flooding in the area.

They did so again at Tuesday’s meeting, as commissioners heard roughly an hour and a half of public comments that were mostly opposed to the project. Neighbors coordinated their comments to share two different prepared presentations explaining why they felt commissioners shouldn’t let the project move forward.

Finkeldei, Mayor Bart Littlejohn and Vice Mayor Mike Dever, meanwhile, said those desires needed to be balanced against the need for further housing development in Lawrence.

• Approved the city’s 2024 Legislative Priority Statement, a document that will be distributed to state lawmakers for their consideration ahead of the next legislative session.

As the Journal-World reported, city leaders are asking for a new state law prohibiting any city or organization that receives state funding from transporting any individual experiencing homelessness across county lines and leaving them in another county, unless officials from the new county have agreed to the transfer.

Deferred the last item on the agenda, a proposed revision of the city’s Historic Resources Code, until the City Commission’s Jan. 16 meeting.