photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The gated entry to The Village, 256 N. Michigan St., is pictured on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. The site is home to 50 Pallet cabins for people experiencing homelessness.

The manager of The Village — the community of 64-square-foot cabins for people experiencing homelessness operated by the Lawrence Community Shelter — stepped down earlier this month, the Journal-World has learned.

On Thursday, LCS Executive Director James Chiselom confirmed to the Journal-World that community manager Juniper Gapetz submitted her resignation about a week and a half ago on May 13, after roughly a month in the role. Gapetz was tasked with overseeing the community of 50 Pallet cabins at 256 N. Michigan St.

Chiselom said he and LCS Deputy Director Kim Brabits are currently managing The Village, and there isn’t a timeline in place for hiring a replacement at this time.

Chiselom introduced Gapetz to members of the LCS Board of Directors just last month at the group’s April meeting. At that time, Gapetz spoke positively about how things were running there. That was about a month after The Village welcomed its first residents.

“(I’m) very happy overall with how things are going over at The Village,” Gapetz said last month. “There are definitely bumps, but because we’re just now opening … we have things to work out.”

The Lawrence City Commission first initiated the process of bringing a Pallet shelter village to the community a year prior in March 2023. But for a time, progress with opening The Village stalled as the city looked for an agency to operate the community, ultimately partnering with LCS.