photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Members of the Lawrence Community Shelter Board of Directors take a look at the shelter's proposed 2024 budget during a meeting on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023.

The Lawrence Community Shelter Board of Directors on Thursday unanimously adopted a $3.43 million budget for 2024, and it also voted to extend a job offer for a new permanent executive director.

As the Journal-World reported, the Lawrence City Commission earlier this week unanimously approved nearly $2.7 million in city funding for LCS as part of an updated funding agreement. The shelter’s 2024 budget as constructed is contingent on that funding to support the majority of its $3.43 million in anticipated operational expenses.

After taking that action, board members discussed the three finalists for the shelter’s executive director position in a 30-minute closed session. After returning, the group authorized Board President Charlie Bryan to extend an offer, ranging from $90,000 to $120,000 in annual salary, to the candidate who received the highest ranking from board members and interview panelists after two rounds of interviews.

The board didn’t share the name of that chosen candidate, nor any other identifying details. Bryan told the Journal-World that two of the three finalists live outside of Kansas, though, and that each of them was excited about potentially being selected for the role. He said board members felt that they were able to learn everything they needed to know about that group through discussion, which rendered the board’s original plan of moving on to a third round of in-person interviews unnecessary.

Bryan said that six of the seven board members were directly involved with the first two rounds of interviews, meaning nearly the whole group had a chance to speak with the candidates directly.

Bryan said there’s no specific target start date for the chosen candidate, but he planned on sending the offer via email as early as Thursday night following the board meeting. From there, he said an announcement including more detail about the new director will likely be disseminated via the LCS email list.

If that candidate accepts the role, it will conclude a search process that lasted roughly a month and ultimately produced 121 applicants. As the Journal-World reported, the board voted in early November to conduct a national search for a permanent executive. Melanie Valdez has served in an interim role since April 2022 after initially being hired as the shelter’s director of finance and operations the year prior.

The individual chosen to replace Valdez will be responsible for tackling a wide range of objectives that add significantly to the shelter’s current service capacity, which are detailed in the job description for the director position and in the provisions of the shelter’s funding agreement with the City of Lawrence.

Some of them include managing The Village, the community of 64-square-foot Pallet cabins for individuals experiencing homelessness at 256 N. Michigan St., and expanding the shelter’s day services to everyone in the unhoused community, rather than just the smaller group of roughly 25 direct service slots that are currently available.

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In other business, the group also spoke briefly about plans for contract negotiations with the shelter’s newly unionized staff. Negotiations are slated to begin Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.

As the Journal-World reported, the roughly 35-member union has asked to be paid $30 an hour, about an 85% pay raise from the $16.25 rate that day and evening staff currently receive and the $17.25 per hour paid to overnight staff. They’re also seeking a higher standard of living for the homeless community, job security, paid time off and ceremonial time off for Indigenous employees, and comprehensive health insurance.

When discussing the 2024 budget earlier in the meeting, Bryan told board members that the outcome of those negotiations — along with the board’s collaboration with city staff to decide how to utilize the 45 additional Pallet cabins at the city’s disposal, potentially near the LCS facility at 3655 E. 25th St. — will likely lead to the need for further budget updates and funding requests after the new year.