Personnel committee forwards 90-day extension for acting planning director and advances mayoral board appointments

The Personnel Committee on June 22 voted to send to the full council a 90‑day extension of Santiago Matias’s temporary appointment as director of Planning and Development and advanced several mayoral appointments to local boards.

Acting Planning and Development Director Santiago Matias told the committee he has spent his 90 days focusing on internal cohesion, public-health outreach and administrative changes. "I found the department was a dividing group, but now everybody is working together," Matias said, and described work with a mayoral health task force on mental‑health and lung‑cancer events and a push to "rebrand" the city and attract visitors. He also proposed a zoning task force to update ordinances he said have not been repackaged since the early 1990s.

Members pressed Matias on operational details of a planned office consolidation from 360 A Merrimack Street to 255 Essex Street. Matias said the administration is negotiating with the landlord and expects savings from eliminating current rent and service costs. Carlos Castillo, the city’s IT director, told the committee the existing remote office lacks fiber; the quoted cost to bring fiber service to the current building was in the "$80,000" range, and a temporary point‑to‑point connection from the retirement board is in use now but is "not the best." Castillo said moving the office could avoid that installation cost and yield ongoing savings.

Committee members also asked whether the acting appointment would be filled permanently. The personnel director said state/local ordinance requires reauthorization of an acting role every 90 days; the personnel office indicated an intent to post the permanent position.

The committee voted to forward item 264‑26 — the 90‑day extension — to the full council as a committee report on a voice vote.

On other personnel items, the committee recommended confirmation for several mayoral appointees. Mayor Brian De Pena’s nomination of Danaidy Valencia to the Conservation Commission drew an endorsement from Dennis Lilly, chairman of the Lawrence Conservation Commission, who described the board’s technical work on wetlands and the desire to recruit volunteers. Valencia, who said she volunteers with Groundwork Lawrence and works as an art instructor, told the committee she wants to learn and contribute to protecting local natural resources. The committee voted to forward her nomination with a favorable recommendation.

The committee also advanced two Lawrence Redevelopment Authority (LRA) nominees. Pedro Tejada, LRA chair, introduced Rolando de Castro, a civil‑engineer and architect with 25 years of project experience and 12 years working in Lawrence, as a candidate to fill the remainder of an expiring term. Robert J. Blackwell, a Lawrence resident with a long local real‑estate background, was also introduced; a city‑attorney memo dated June 1 said Blackwell is not precluded from appointment and would serve a five‑year term. Both nomination packets were sent to the full council as committee reports.

Separately, the committee un‑tabled an airport commission appointment for Carmen Garcia King and read a June 1 city‑attorney opinion stating that Garcia King — who the memo identified as a Haverhill resident and the city’s acting director of public relations — was not precluded from appointment under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90 §51E and that the appointment would be for a three‑year term ending July 15, 2029. After the legal clarification, Garcia King asked to withdraw her nomination and the committee approved the withdrawal.

The personnel committee adjourned with instructions that several items will appear before the full council at the July 7 meeting.