A financial adviser hired by the Lawrence Common Council backed out after alleging hostility from the mayor.

The former city controller has allegedly been involved this year after resigning following accusations of wrongdoing.

Staff turnover has been a problem at the city in the past year.

Top Democrats on the Lawrence Common Council are publicly criticizing the city's first-term mayor — a fellow Democrat whom many councilors supported in her 2023 campaign — for lacking transparency and allegedly rejecting a financial consultant that the council hired to navigate yet another tumultuous budget cycle.

With just over a month left to pass the 2026 budget, Lawrence Mayor Deb Whitfield presented the city's $59.8 million plan for the first time Sept. 30 to a tense room of councilors from

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