Public Health and Safety Committee Meeting: October 29, 2025
Public Health and Safety Committee Meeting
Date: October 29, 2025
Chair: Jason Chavez
Members Present: Councilmember Payne, Rainville, Vice Chair Wandsley, Chair Travis (quorum achieved)
The meeting began with a motion to amend the agenda to add a legislative directive titled "Charter Compliance and Enforcement" as item five, and to swap the order of items three and four (Canopy Roots BCR presentation moved before other discussion). The motion passed by voice vote.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Accepting a training reimbursement for firefighter training and education and approving the related appropriation resolution. Approved unanimously.
- Item 2: Receiving and filing an appointment to the Public Health Advisory Committee. Approved unanimously.
Discussion Items
Legislative Directive: Charter Compliance and Enforcement
- Vice Chair Wandsley introduced the walk-on item, explaining that Mayor Fry and MPD failed to fulfill a previous directive to present an internal investigation report on the shooting of Davis Matory. She detailed that the council's October 9th directive requested MPD present on October 29th, but no presentation was scheduled. Commissioner Barnett emailed late on October 28th claiming releasing the report would impede an ongoing audit. Wandsley argued this was not supported by the city auditor and that MPD has done both internal and external reviews before (e.g., ShotSpotter). She framed the motion as exploring enforcement options when the executive branch violates the charter.
- Councilmember Palmasano opposed, calling the walk-on inappropriate (not an emergency) and political. He argued Commissioner Barnett's letter provided an update per the directive and that releasing the internal review could compromise the audit.
- Councilmember Rainbow supported Palmasano, noting Barnett was formerly chief judge and took his statement at face value.
- Vice Chair Wandsley rebutted, noting that MPD has complied with similar requests in the past (ShotSpotter) and that the mayor signed the directive without veto.
- Chair Chavez emphasized that the mayor signed the directive and should have ensured it was on the agenda; failing to do so is a charter violation.
- Council President Payne clarified that the underlying motion is about understanding consequences for charter violations, not about the specific case. He supported the directive as good governance.
- Councilmember Chowdhury supported the directive, noting that legislative directive deadlines are often missed with no recourse. She confirmed that OCS did not submit an RCA at agenda setting or speak about the item.
- Councilmember Rainville asked the attorney if the charter was violated; the attorney was unable to answer immediately.
- Motion to forward without recommendation (Palmasano) failed: 2 ayes (Rainville, Palmasano), 4 nays (Payne, Chowdhury, Wandsley, Chavez).
- Motion to forward with approval (Chavez) passed: 4 ayes (Payne, Chowdhury, Wandsley, Chavez), 2 nays (Rainville, Palmasano).
Canopy Roots Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) Presentation
- Sheree Hanson (Program Manager) presented the BCR program overview: unarmed mental health first responders embedded in 911 dispatch, 24/7 service, five vans maximum. In 2024, they responded to 11,500+ calls. 75% were BCRW (welfare checks), 25% were priority one mental health calls. All neighborhoods served.
- Tyana Ingram (Lead Responder) shared a story of a suicidal woman with a gun; BCR de-escalated, called police to remove the weapon, and transported the woman to the hospital.
- Successes: Second year of 24/7 operations, expanded to five vans, developed a community advisory board, updated training.
- Challenges: Transition from Neighborhood Safety Department to Fire (Jan 2025), leadership changes, scope creep (responding to non-mental health calls like wheelchair assistance). They are working to refine scope.
- Question from Councilmember Palmasano: Requested more metrics (response times, outcomes). Noted a legislative directive due June 2026 will request detailed data. BCR staff said they can provide additional data and are working with the Minnesota Research Justice Center on a report.
- Question from Councilmember Rainbow: Clarified difference between BCR (priority one, emergencies) and BCRW (welfare checks, less urgent).
- Question from Vice Chair Wandsley: About community advisory board process; still developing. Also asked about coordination with a 2023 CUNY gaps analysis. Chief Rugger noted that conversations about scope are ongoing, and data collection is being refined. Hanson acknowledged leadership changes and catch-up needed.
Homegrown Minneapolis Initiative Presentation
- Alison Babb (Manager) and Jenny (Food Council member) presented. Homegrown Minneapolis is a city-community partnership launched in 2008 to support local food systems: community gardens, farmers markets, food waste prevention. The Minneapolis Food Vision (adopted 2023) guides work with six priority areas. The Food Action Plan (2024-2026) includes five work plans: urban agriculture, food skills, local food procurement, equitable food access, wasted food prevention.
- Key highlights: USDA grant for wasted food prevention in restaurants (Food Forward program), boulevard gardening ordinance amendment, new urban farm project with community land trust ($50,000 from budget), 16 climate legacy projects funded in 2024. Farmers markets saw 1.45 million visitors in 2024; Minneapolis Farmers Market infrastructure improvements planned.
- Concerns: Federal funding for SNAP and Produce Market Bucks at risk; 61,000 Minneapolis residents (14%) receive SNAP. Food insecurity remains high across all wards.
- Councilmember Vice Chair Wandsley expressed interest in collaborating on addressing food deserts, especially near the University of Minnesota (1 in 4 students food insecure). She supported exploring a city-owned grocery store model.
- Chair Chavez noted the map showing food insecurity in every ward and thanked staff.
- Alison Babb emphasized that food shelves are not a permanent solution and welcomed collaboration.
Key Outcomes
- Legislative Directive (Charter Compliance and Enforcement): Approved with a 4-2 vote, to go to the full council.
- BCR Report: Received and filed.
- Homegrown Minneapolis Report: Received and filed.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned after the presentations.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Public Health and Safety Committee for October 29, 2025. I am Jason Chavez, the chair of this committee. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all member staff and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include a 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, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify your quorum for this meeting. Councilmember Payne. Present. Rainville. Present. Present. Vice Chair Wandsley. Present. Chair Travis. Present. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. I remind my colleagues that we'll be using speaker management today. So please make sure you're signed up. Before we move on to agenda, I'll call on Vice Chair Wandsley, who has a motion, and then Councilmember Rainbow. Thank you, Chair Chavez. But I and Councilmember and Chair Chavez are bringing forward a motion to amend the agenda today to include a legislative staff direction titled Charter Compliance and Enforcement, which would ultimately, if it's accepted, put it under as item five on discussion. And while that is a really concerning trend amongst this administration from blocking the council from receiving information that we're legally entitled to. So we'll talk more about the directive once we get to it, but with this, I will ask uh for a second in moving this motion forward. Second. And before we move forward, I do know that council member rainfall is on queue to uh make sure that we have the canopy roots presentation go first. Clerks, I don't do I need to make a motion on that, or can I just do that? As in first, you're just if I Mr. Chair, if I'm understanding just shifting the items around. Yep. So three to yeah, three and four switching them around. If there's no objection, then I think you can do that. Yes. Yep. So, you know, I guess council member, I'll make a motion to move items number three to number four, and then we can open them for debate. There's a second. Uh councilmember Rainville, you are on queue, then vice chairwandsley, and if anybody wants to get on queue, you can get on cue. Councilman Rainville and then Councilmember Chowdhury. Uh thank you. Uh my motion was just to flip the order of those reports. I I have to leave at three o'clock, so I would enjoy hearing the canopy roots presentation. That's why I'm making that. Thank you. Councilmember uh Chowdry. I wanted to make the request that we take up the legislative directive before the re receive and files. Yep, that we will do that. Okay, we'd said item number five, so that's why I wanted to clarify that. Thank you. So what we're gonna do first is uh move approval the consent and then we'll move on to the legislative directive that uh is being brought forward and then we'll go into discussion.
openpublica.com