OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Budget Committee Meeting on 2026 Budget Presentations from 911 and Police Department - September 15, 2025

City Council — Monday, September 15, 2025
BodyMinneapolis, Minnesota
SessionCity Council
DateMonday, September 15, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:19:29
Transcript — Verbatim
0:17

Good morning.

0:18

My name is Aisha Chugtai, and I'm the chair of the budget committee.

0:21

I'm going to call to order our adjourned meeting from Monday, September 15th, 2025.

0:26

Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation.

0:37

These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community.

0:44

Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast.

0:53

We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments.

0:56

At this time, allows the clerk to call the roles.

0:59

We can verify the presence of a quorum.

1:02

Councilmember Payne is absent.

1:04

Wonsley?

1:06

Present.

1:06

Rainville.

1:07

Present.

1:08

Vita?

1:09

Present.

1:09

Ellison is absent.

1:11

Osman is absent.

1:14

Cashman.

1:15

Present.

1:15

Jenkins is absent.

1:18

Chamba's present.

1:19

Chowdry is absent.

1:21

Paul Masano is absent.

1:24

Vice Chair Koske.

1:25

Present.

1:26

Chair Chotai.

1:27

Present.

1:28

We have seven present.

1:29

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.

1:31

I will also remind my colleagues that we are using speaker management today, so please make sure to sign in.

1:37

Colleagues, today we have two presentations related to the mayor's recommended 2026 budget, one from the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center or 911, and one from the police department.

1:48

We'll first begin with the presentation from 911.

1:52

And for that, I will now invite Joni Hodney, Emergency Communications Center Director to begin the first presentation.

2:09

I'll also note that we've been joined by Councilmember Palmasano in this committee meeting.

2:23

Gotcha.

2:28

Welcome, good morning.

2:29

Good morning, Chair Chucktai and Council members.

2:32

I am Joni Hodney, the director of Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center.

2:36

I'm here to present the proposed budget for MECC for 2026, and I'm happy to be here to launch our budget presentations.

2:54

All right, I'm going to start with describing where MECC falls into the structure of the Office of Community Safety.

3:01

We are one of the departments that reports directly to the Commissioner.

3:07

And of course, the commissioner reporting up to the mayor.

3:10

We also have engagement with the public and the mayor during the decisions for our budget.

3:20

For the MECC organization chart for the department over here overview, our internal MECC organization chart shows that the radio shop, the training department, and data collection fall directly under the director.

3:35

The operations and floor staff fall directly under the assistant director.

3:41

The rest of the management staff has uh supervisors and floor staff that report directly up to them.

3:51

Starting with our mission goals and priority objectives in MECC.

3:59

Our staff of Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center helps save lives, protect property, and assist the public in their time of need.

4:07

We achieve this by providing the critical link between public safety responders and the communities we serve by being efficient, courteous, and compassionate.

4:18

To provide transparency for this mission, we continue to build our Outcomes Minneapolis framework database used to demonstrate the work goals and accomplishments in MECC.

4:34

Some of our priority objectives are to provide professional customer service to everyone we engage with in the public and those we serve in the community safety responders.

4:45

We ensure that we're connecting anyone who lives, works, or visits the city of Minneapolis with services needed through direct engagement or through making sure our radio communications is keeping the city responders in communication.

5:03

We work in full support of the City of Minneapolis racial and equity impact analysis, providing caring support during crisis for Minneapolis communities, demonstrating understanding, commitment to equality regardless of age, gender, race, sex, or economic status.

5:27

This QR code will link you to the Outcomes Minneapolis dashboards that we have set up in the for the 911 call center.

5:35

Using Outcomes Minneapolis dashboards, we track call volumes, call answer times, and quality assurance scores.

5:44

So far in 2025, we have processed nearly 400,000 emergency and non-emergency calls.

5:51

We strive to meet the National Emergency Number Association, otherwise known as NINA, standard for answering calls 90% of the time within 15 seconds.

6:02

These dashboards will demonstrate to you where we fall in the answering times.

6:08

As of right now, we are back to showing that we're getting back to that 95%, 90% of the time, summer months with the heavier call volume.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████72%
Personnel Matters███████11%
Procedural████7%
Technology and Innovation███4%
Community Engagement██3%
Labor Standards█2%
Intergovernmental Relations█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Budget Committee Meeting on 2026 Budget Presentations from 911 and Police Department - September 15, 2025

The Budget Committee convened on September 15, 2025, to review the mayor's recommended 2026 budget with detailed presentations from the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (911) and the Police Department. Council members engaged in extensive questioning on staffing, technology investments, budget reductions, and operational challenges.

Discussion Items

Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (911) Presentation

  • Director Joni Hodney presented the proposed 2026 budget, outlining the center's mission to save lives, protect property, and provide compassionate emergency response.
  • Key achievements in 2025 include achieving near full staffing, launching an embedded social worker program, and reducing 911 calls over the Fourth of July weekend.
  • Budget adjustments involve eliminating one vacant position and reducing administrative costs, with risks noted in cybersecurity, staff burnout, and capacity limits for new projects.
  • Council members inquired about the impact of the vacancy on operations, technology investments for efficiency, and whether the center had reached its capacity limit. Vice Chair Koske expressed gratitude and support for the department's work as first responders.

Police Department Presentation

  • Chief Brian O'Hara and Finance Director Vicky Troswick overviewed the 2026 budget, emphasizing goals to reduce crime, build community trust, and comply with state and federal settlement agreements.
  • Metrics showed a reduction in overall crime but an increase in property damage, with median response times for priority one calls at 8 minutes 29 seconds. The department hired 145 new personnel in 2025, with a focus on diversifying sworn staff.
  • Budget reductions total approximately $5 million, including cuts to critical staffing overtime (reducing pay from double-time to time-and-a-half) and eliminating five vacant positions (two case investigators, a community navigator, a police support technician, and an office support specialist).
  • Council members raised concerns about the loss of civilian investigators, unclear funding for the mounted patrol unit, youth recidivism, and recruitment diversity. Council President Payne expressed disappointment over cutting civilian positions, arguing they are needed for case closures. Councilmember Cashman emphasized the importance of civilian investigators to address backlogs, and Councilmember Vita urged targeted recruitment in Black and Native American communities.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee received and filed both presentations without taking any votes or formal decisions.
  • The next meeting is scheduled for September 16, 2025, to hear presentations from other city departments, including Public Service, Assessing, and Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. My name is Aisha Chugtai, and I'm the chair of the budget committee. I'm going to call to order our adjourned meeting from Monday, September 15th, 2025. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. At this time, allows the clerk to call the roles. We can verify the presence of a quorum. Councilmember Payne is absent. Wonsley? Present. Rainville. Present. Vita? Present. Ellison is absent. Osman is absent. Cashman. Present. Jenkins is absent. Chamba's present. Chowdry is absent. Paul Masano is absent. Vice Chair Koske. Present. Chair Chotai. Present. We have seven present. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. I will also remind my colleagues that we are using speaker management today, so please make sure to sign in. Colleagues, today we have two presentations related to the mayor's recommended 2026 budget, one from the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center or 911, and one from the police department. We'll first begin with the presentation from 911. And for that, I will now invite Joni Hodney, Emergency Communications Center Director to begin the first presentation. I'll also note that we've been joined by Councilmember Palmasano in this committee meeting. Gotcha. Welcome, good morning. Good morning, Chair Chucktai and Council members. I am Joni Hodney, the director of Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center. I'm here to present the proposed budget for MECC for 2026, and I'm happy to be here to launch our budget presentations. All right, I'm going to start with describing where MECC falls into the structure of the Office of Community Safety. We are one of the departments that reports directly to the Commissioner. And of course, the commissioner reporting up to the mayor. We also have engagement with the public and the mayor during the decisions for our budget. For the MECC organization chart for the department over here overview, our internal MECC organization chart shows that the radio shop, the training department, and data collection fall directly under the director. The operations and floor staff fall directly under the assistant director. The rest of the management staff has uh supervisors and floor staff that report directly up to them. Starting with our mission goals and priority objectives in MECC. Our staff of Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center helps save lives, protect property, and assist the public in their time of need. We achieve this by providing the critical link between public safety responders and the communities we serve by being efficient, courteous, and compassionate.

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