Good afternoon and welcome to assembled family friends and community. My name is Casey Carl.

I have the privilege of serving as clerk of the city of Minneapolis. In accordance with

the relevant provisions of the Minneapolis City Charter and laws of the state of Minnesota,

This is the day fixed for the assembling of the newly installed City Council following the 2025 general municipal election as certified by the Municipal Canvassing Board at its meeting November 10 this past year.

Certificates of election were provided to all declared winners on November 18.

Those newly elected and re-elected members of City Council were sworn in as required pursuant to City Charter earlier today as part of the City's inauguration ceremony.

Consistent with the City Charter and the Council rules, today's organizational meeting marks the commencement.

of the council's 2026-2029 term with that the minneapolis city council will be in order the

clerk will call the role of members in numerical order by ward council member payne present

wansley present rainville present vita present warren present osman present

present. Schaefer present Stevenson present Chavez present present

Chugtay present Whiting present Chowdhury present

Palmasano present there are 13 members present the record will reflect that a

quorum is present the purpose of this first meeting is to organize the City

Council for the conduct of City business this organizational meeting is convened

notice as required by law, which was first posted on Monday, the 22nd of December 2025.

Printed copies of the agenda have been distributed to all members and copies also are available

for the public, including from the city's legislative information management system

from the city's website.

Council members at this morning's inaugural ceremony, Mayor Fry offered his inaugural

address for the 2026-2029 term.

Without objection, I'll direct the clerk to receive and file the mayor's inaugural address

AND HAVE THAT SPREAD UPON THE JOURNAL.

IT'S NOW IN ORDER FOR A MOTION TO ADOPT THE AGENDA AS

PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED.

MAY I HAVE SUCH A MOTION, PLEASE.

SO MOVED.

SECOND.

IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED.

TO ADOPT THE AGENDA, THOSE IN FAVOR, PLEASE SAY AYE.

AYE.

THOSE OPPOSED, SAY NO.

THE AYES HAVE IT.

THE AGENDA HAS BEEN ADOPTED.

MEMBERS, THE FIRST ITEM OF BUSINESS IS THE ELECTION OF

OFFICERS OF THIS BODY.

IN TERMS OF PROCEDURE, AND AS PROVIDED UNDER THE RULES,

I will administer the election for president and vice president.

We will take up the nomination and election of a president and then proceed to the election of a vice president.

For each office, we will follow the same process, which I'll now explain.

First, I'll open the floor to nominations for the office.

Any member may nominate themselves or another member.

Any member who is so nominated must accept that nomination to be considered.

After all nominations have been made, the floor will be closed.

At that point, we will proceed to take the vote by roll call.

We will vote on nominations in the order they were made and accepted.

The clerk will call the roll in numerical order by ward.

The first nominee to receive the required number of affirmative votes shall be declared the winner of the election.

As provided under City Charter Section 4.3C1, an election requires the affirmative vote of the absolute majority of the body.

That is, there must be the affirmative vote of at least seven members to be elected to the office.

As I indicated, we will conduct the election for president first, and then we will follow the same process to elect a vice president.

Once the election of officers has been completed, we will briefly pause the proceedings in order to seat the president and vice president before taking up the remainder of the agenda.

Is there any question about the procedures for the election of officers as I have described them?

ALL RIGHT. WITH THAT, THE FIRST OFFICE TO ELECT IS THAT OF PRESIDENT. WITHOUT OBJECTION, I WILL OPEN THE FLOOR TO NOMINATIONS. ARE THERE ANY NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENT? COUNCIL MEMBER CHOWDRI.

THANK YOU, CLERK CARL. IT IS MY HONOR TO NOMINATE COUNCIL MEMBER ELLIOTT PAYNE TO THE SEAT AND OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. IS IT ALL RIGHT IF I SAY A FEW WORDS?

SO WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN?

COUNCIL MEMBER ELLIOTT PAYNE OFTENTIMES SHARES HIS STORY AND HOW HE ENDED UP BEING A COUNCIL MEMBER.

AND I THINK IT'S ONE MANY COMMUNITY MEMBERS, MANY COUNCIL MEMBERS ON THIS DAY SEE THEMSELVES IN.

HE WAS A SERVANT TO THIS CITY WORKING IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION TIRELESSLY

to ensure that we grew our public safety system

and we had justice in our public safety system

through the creation of the Behavioral Crisis Response Team,

one of the most successful teams that we have in the city of Minneapolis,

receiving high regard even at the federal level.

And he shares that not to claim credit,

but to share that that is a North Star that we have in our city,

that we can do hard and difficult things

and in hard and difficult times,

like the murder of George Floyd through the pandemic,

we can be a leader in this nation

and we can both provide justice, but also service.

And specifically to the black, brown,

indigenous residents in our city,

and even more so the working people of our city.

And he has served steadfastly

as the president of the council over the last two years.

And I have really grown to appreciate his leadership

because he does not take credit for himself.

He really tries to open up this body

to be a place where all council members

can find their leadership.

And he also understands that he's not perfect

and that he's made mistakes along the way,

but he's taken those mistakes and turned them into lessons.

He's tried to seek out feedback,

not only for the members that he is entrusted to serve,

but from the community members

who consistently show up and fill our offices and city halls

to call for accountability, to call for better services,

to shine a light on the residents in our city

that get forgotten far too often

in a city that oftentimes feels like a tale of two cities.

And I know that Elliot Payne will be a leader

that will continue to grow, work with all of us

to make sure that this body functions

in the direction where we're serving working people,

We're serving our city.

And in a time where we have attacks from the federal level, many of us have received several

phone calls and text messages today about the attacks from ICE in our community, taking

our community members.

He knows that he can come to us and work with us to ensure that this body is steady and

ready to come together.

And I think that's also shown in the structure that he's put forward, giving us all a chance

to lead and grow.

and that's a that's a hope that I have for this body one thing that's really clear is that the

city of Minneapolis is really asking us to find a way to work together and not do that in a way

where we are compromising our shared values not do that in a way that we're forgetting each other

that we're holding on to each other and we're taking big uncomfortable steps and doing things

that are hard and still staying true to what the city is so I'm really proud to nominate you

THANK YOU FOR SERVING AS A PRESIDENT AND SHARING YOUR

LEADERSHIP WITH ALL OF THE MEMBERS THAT YOU WERE

ENTRUSTED TO SERVE AND THANK YOU FOR COMMITTING TO

SHARE YOUR LEADERSHIP IN THIS UPCOMING TERM.

COUNCILMEMBER PAYNE, DO YOU ACCEPT THE NOMINATION?

I ACCEPT.

THANK YOU.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF

PRESIDENT?

ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICE OF

PRESIDENT?

I WOULD LIKE TO MOVE WITH THE NOMINATION.

I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE COUNCILMEMBER POMISANO.

COUNCILMEMBER WARREN HAS NOMINATED COUNCILMEMBER

POMISANO TO THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT.

COUNCILMEMBER POMISANO, DO YOU ACCEPT?

ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT?

ONE MORE TIME. ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF

PRESIDENT?

SEEING NONE, WITHOUT OBJECTION, THE PERIOD FOR NOMINATIONS IS NOW

CLOSED.

I will remind council members we will proceed to vote in the order that the nominations were made.

Thus, we will begin with the nomination of Council Member Payne, representing Ward 1, to the Office of Council President.

The clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Payne.

Aye.

Wansley.

Aye.

Rainville.

No.

Vita.

No.

Warren.

No.

Osman.

Aye.

Schaefer.

Nay.

Aye.

Stevenson.

Aye.

Chavez.

Aye.

Chuktay.

Aye.

Whiting.

Aye.

Chowdhury.

Aye.

Palmisano.

No.

There are eight ayes and five nays.

That motion carries.

Councilmember Payne has been elected president. Congratulations, Councilmember Payne.

We'll now move on to nominations for the office of Vice President.

Are there any nominations for the office of Vice President?

I see Council Member Shugtai is in queue.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is my privilege to nominate Council Member Osman to the office of Council Vice President.

Council Member Osman, representing Ward 6, has been nominated for the position of Vice President.

DO YOU ACCEPT? I ACCEPT. THANK YOU. ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT?

COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING. YES, THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO NOMINATE COUNCIL

WOMAN MEMBER PAUL MISANO. IF POSSIBLE, WOULD I BE ABLE TO SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT THAT NOMINATION?

PLEASE PROCEED. THANK YOU. I THINK TO MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUE CHAWDRY AS WELL, I THINK WE HAVE ALL

seen every single person whether in this chamber but across our city have heard a

familiar message from our constituents that they are tired of factional

politics at City Hall and we have to come to that moment to move progress

because as much as civility and decorum and words of affirmation have been used

against communities to struggle in terms of cruelty, so does gridlock and so does

division and so does continued toxicity. As somebody who's seen who has seen and

had conversations with most of this body, I have seen and had these

conversations. I think every single person is unanimous in this

understanding that we are tired of that and we want something different. And so

SO SEEING BALANCE, UNDERSTANDING THAT COUNCILMEMBER PALMISANO IS AT 12 YEARS OF SERVICE ON THIS BODY, MUCH OF IT IN LEADERSHIP.

SHE HAS SPENT HER TIME SWEATING THE DETAILS AND ENSURING THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIVE TO THE PEOPLE THAT WE SERVE.

AND FOR THAT AND FOR HER EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE, I AM PROUD TO SUPPORT COUNCILMEMBER PALMISANO IN THAT ROLE. THANK YOU.

COUNCILMEMBER PALMISANO, DO YOU ACCEPT THAT NOMINATION?

Are there any further nominations to the office of Vice President for City Council?

Are there any further nominations?

Seeing none, the period for nominations is now closed.

And again, council members, I will remind you that we will proceed to vote on the nominations in the order that they have submitted.

We will begin with a vote on the nomination of Council Member Osmond, representing Ward 6, to the office of Vice President.

The clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Payne.

Aye.

Wansley.

Aye.

Rainville no Vita no Warren no Osman aye Schaefer

nay Stevenson aye Chavez aye Chuktye aye Whiting no Chowdhury aye

Palmisano no there are seven eyes and six nays that motion passes council

member Osman has been elected vice president congratulations

council members and for the audience we will take a brief recess now as we

receipt the president the vice president will stay right where he is

thank you

Thank you.

Tech team, we're ready to start.

Before we proceed, I just want to share my sincere thanks to my colleagues.

I'm truly humbled by your vote of confidence in my leadership.

I recognize this position is one of trust and that the primary duty is to reflect the consensus of this body,

especially our four new members on this body. I'm very excited about getting to

know you all and working together with you as we put the interests of the city

first. I also want to thank the work of Mr. Carl. Today your team and your entire

team including our new legislative research and oversight team has done a

tremendous job shepherding us into the the new term and I think that this is a

a really momentous occasion, especially in the city's history with what we've been through,

the two-year terms, the new structure of the government. You've been through a lot,

we've been through a lot, and I'm glad that we've arrived here. I also want to thank everyone in

the room that took time out of their busy day to mark this occasion with us. Today's supposed to

be a day of celebration, a day of joy, a day of transition, and a day of renewal. And there are

indeed many things that we should celebrate today. This past term was one of the most productive in

recent history. Together, this body worked to keep people safe. We keep people safe by expanding the

Behavioral Crisis Response Team, investing in additional VANs, staff, and making responders

available 24-7 in every corner of the city.

We've invested in our case closure rate and made investments in civilian investigators

to help MPD close those cases while taking burden off of our sworn officers, shifting

department towards a more civilianization and providing justice to victims and their

families.

We secured ongoing funding for wage theft enforcement, recovering over $2 million in

stolen wages.

And we will continue transforming our public safety system by expanding services like safety

ambassadors in all of our cultural corridors and fully implementing both consent decrees

to make MPD more accountable to our community.

We've taken bold action on climate change, establishing carbon fees for the city's

largest polluters.

We've secured the city's first dedicated funding to combat climate change in our $10 million climate legacy initiative.

We've secured funding and approvals for key street reconstruction projects, including historical investments in traffic calming,

literally paving the way forward for a safer, multimotor future.

We've prioritized investments in zero waste so that we can shut down the Herc garbage incinerator.

and we will make Minneapolis a beacon of climate resilience by creating a new green economy by going block by block to retrofit every home to meet our carbon reduction goals.

We've responded to the housing crisis, working to create a more humane response to homeless encampments that treats our unsheltered neighbors with dignity and respect

and the funding necessary to transition them into permanent and supportive housing.

housing. We've expanded renter protections so that people don't get displaced in the first place.

We've banned the use of algorithmic price fixing for rental housing. We've continued investing in

stable homes, stable schools so that NPS students and their families can thrive knowing that they

have housing stability. And we've created homeownership opportunities that create

generational housing stability. We've fought to protect our most marginalized communities.

We are expanding protections in our civil rights ordinance, adding height and weight,

justice impacted status and housing status as protected classes.

We have created a sidewalk, cart and street vending program that provides economic opportunity

while protecting public health.

We have made significant investments in our office of immigrant and refugee affairs, providing

dedicated staff support and outside legal services for our immigrant community.

We've prevented young people from falling into addiction by passing stronger protections

for tobacco use.

And we've secured minimum wages not just for Uber and Lyft drivers in Minneapolis, but

some of the strongest driver protections across the nation.

This display of progress should absolutely be celebrated.

And we owe a debt of gratitude to our democratic socialist colleagues and the grassroots organizers

who helped shape our ambitious agenda.

I'm proud to have been a part of a body filled with such bold leaders,

leaders willing to take action on climate change,

solve the housing crisis, transform public safety,

expand worker protections, and protect public health,

regardless of whether they organize within a political party

or as a member of a grassroots organization.

In the words of Zoran Mandani, the newly elected mayor of New York,

those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty.

I say let us put our agendas on full display.

Agendas of care and compassion.

Agendas of equity and justice.

Agendas that show we are not afraid of despots or authoritarians.

We celebrate today.

We celebrate our return to City Hall and our newly remodeled chamber.

and we especially celebrate the return of four-year terms

and we hope to celebrate a return to a sense of normalcy

but we are clear-eyed about the dark path this country is heading down

we are not afraid we are not afraid because we are steadfast and we are resilient

we are not afraid because the same grassroots organizers that patrolled our streets when our

local government failed our community in 2020, are patrolling our streets today looking out

for our neighbors as the federal government is literally attacking our community right now as we speak.

We are not afraid because our networks of mutual aid who have cared for our unhoused neighbors

are the same networks that are looking out for our immigrant neighbors by hosting food drives

and helping transport kids and families to work and school.

Nothing about what's happening right now is normal.

This moment must move us to show up in ways we have never shown up before.

It must move us to govern like we have never governed before.

Because unprecedented evil attacks against our neighbors deserve an unprecedented response from local government.

Today, let us celebrate.

Then let's get back to work.

Thank you.

Colleagues, we'll now proceed to the rest of our agenda, which includes the election

of our majority and minority leaders. I'm proposing to restore these two leadership

positions to expand the members who serve as part of council leadership. Years ago,

prior to the government structure charter amendment, the council had majority and minority

leaders. And I think this is an opportunity to bring that expanded leadership team back

to City Council as we continue to implement the Executive Mayor and Legislative Council

government structure. In consulting with the City Clerk, it's my understanding that under

Council Rule 2.2.D, there is a provision for other officers the Council requires to assist

in the performance of its duties and to provide for those duties. Accordingly, I've taken

the liberty of preparing a rough description of these leadership positions, which I directed

the City Clerk to include in the amended version of the Council Rules, which are also included

in an item for the consideration of the Council today.

The Majority Leader and Minority Leader will perform such duties as may be assigned or

delegated from time to time by the President or the City Council.

The Majority and Minority Leaders will also follow behind the President and Vice President

in the line of succession that I am proposing, as required by the City Charter, which is

also an item on our agenda today.

So these positions would serve as part of an expanded council leadership team.

I'm proposing that Councilmember Chugtai be elected to the Office of Majority Leader

and that Councilmember Wansley be elected to the Office of Minority Leader.

Before we take up those proposals, I'll pause to ask if there are any questions from my

colleagues about this proposal.

Councilmember Rainville.

Thank you.

explain what the qualifications are is this a political so as a minority leader

a political party majority leader political or this is just your opinion

I'll call on the city attorney to answer that question

council president council members so the offices of the the city council are

non-partisan offices so they can't be organized around political parties so this would not be

affiliated with political affiliation as i stated in my remarks i really want to expand our

leadership team and be able to share the load and have an ability for each member to build

relationships and help us build a shared agenda ultimately for the body and i think that

reinstituting the majority and the minority leader will help us identify those members where we

have majority support of their various policy areas and then there may be some

priority policy areas that may not fit within the majority support that I would

still like to be able to shepherd through at least the legislative

process and I think that the minority leader could serve in that role as well

well I'm not gonna vote for this because I think this is just keeping our

council out of balance you'll notice all the votes went today we are far from

being in a position to be moving forward we're still going to argue with with each other like

we did for the last term so i do not agree with this thank you councilmember vittal thank you so

i called you yesterday about this because i wanted more information on um what these uh positions

meant i was interested myself so i wanted to know what a majority and a minority leader would do

do. And you told me nothing yesterday and you've said nothing today, of course, saying

that duties assigned makes absolutely no sense to me. What are those duties? I would, like

I asked you yesterday, I would like to know at least a baseline of what your vision for

these positions could be, because you decided who to nominate for this without even telling

me why or how I should be supporting these people if it's not about a division of party lines or

whatever this I mean I really genuinely called you to find out what the roles and responsibilities

of these positions were because some other folks here with much more senior much more seniority

a lot of experience could be interested and so i not only do i want to know more about what this

is i would love for you to explain how you decided who and where the people you decided on are gonna

you know like how they're working across the body like where where did these like yeah i don't get it

I'll bring the rest of the room into that conversation a little bit and start with saying

that one of the things I was trying to outline is that I truly believe that there are areas

of agreement on this body across every member here.

I think there are things that are important to our community that we should be prioritizing

that represent a majority position of this body.

And I'd like the majority leader to work hand in hand with each one of our members to make

we're identifying and building out an agenda around a set of priorities that we do believe

would be representing the majority of of this body i also believe that there are a number of

policy areas that maybe don't quite have that majority support but that doesn't mean that we

shouldn't formalize a process to make sure that we're carrying that agenda through i i want to

end my comments by saying you know what i've heard more than anyone in this city um throughout the

campaign and leading up to today is that they are sick of the discourse on the Minneapolis City

Council they're sick of the fighting they're sick of the arguments and so why I reached out to you

in hopes that you could provide information on a majority and a minority leader is because

I think there are some people here who could if that is a part of what you're saying these

positions will do I think there are some people here who could actually do that and I think how

you start out in in the imbalance in the wrong way is by you picking those people based on what you

think should happen and how it should happen and i really do think this was something i asked you to

delay it to a further to a later meeting so that we had time to talk with the people of minneapolis

about this so we could see what people want to see i'm i'm with council member rainville i'm

seeing the same old same old here happening today and i think it's really going to play out with

with these committee assignments,

but I'm definitely not gonna be supporting this.

It feels like a trade for votes for me.

Thank you.

Council Member Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I think I get part of the confusion here

is that people can nominate somebody.

So I'm not sure if you've officially made nominations.

Is that correct?

Did someone second it?

Otherwise I'll just nominate Council Member Chuck Tyne

as the majority leader.

Has that been due?

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Great.

I want to nominate Council Member Chuck Chai as the majority leader of this council because I know that she can work with everybody to get stuff done for our communities.

I know that my sister here is someone that I came into this council and together.

She was the youngest person elected when we were here.

She's still young, and I think that something that I've been super proud of her is the way that she has shown up for our communities,

the way she has shown up for young people, the way young people see her as

someone that they can look up to. Young people have had someone they can look at

face to face and know that they can be represented in city government and I

think it's important that we give the young people in this city the chance to

learn and grow and know that one day they can also be in the seeds to create

change for our city. I've seen the way that Councilman Chugtai has taken us to

difficult moments and made them seem easy to the public but behind closed doors

they were very difficult whether it was her work to make sure that our

community's public safety aid wasn't stripped from their backs making sure

that we preserved public safety aid and still worked with the downtown council

member former councilman Cashman to save the convention center she was able to

make sure that we worked with both things right making sure we preserve

city assets but also not losing essential public safety services

particularly directed at neighborhoods of color neighborhoods where you see a

lot of crime in a neighborhood where you see people being left behind and I was

proud that I could call Aisha and say I need some help because my community is

being left behind and one thing she always did was stand ten toes down

making sure that she could work with this body to make sure that that got

across the finish line with various perspectives whether it was her support

as budget chair to make sure that we as Lisa the City Council took a stance of

saying we are not going to allow more shelters to be closed down that was

something that was really important that I saw Councilmember Chuck Ty lead us through.

I got to call her and when I was stressed out, I knew that she said this is my job too

because this is my community members and she stood down 10 toes down making sure that we

can help our people.

Whether it was her support through this last budget cycle when I said our communities are

literally being under attack by this federal administration, how can we find more funding

for immigration legal services because this funding that we have right now is not meeting

the moment.

And Council Member Chuck Tye said, all right, let me go look for some funding.

And there she did.

She found more funding to make sure that we can increase that.

Whether it was her work to support the working people of the city, shepherding labor policy

through this city, through the city enterprise, through the city council, at a time when we

are seeing working people in the city being left behind and corporations getting whatever

they want.

I got to see Council Vice President Chuck Tye say, no, our working people, the working

people of the city deserve the help of the city and working us with this body

to make sure that we can at least attempt to pass on policy and I can go

along and on and on but we can go back to increasing funding for climate

emergency this past December that she helped us lead through that and I think

that she has done a really great job in bringing people together that have

different various opinions and with that I am very proud to nominate my sister

Councilmember Chuck Chai to serve as a majority leader and I know that she'll

work with everyone to make sure that we can get stuff done for Minneapolis.

Councilmember Whiting.

Sorry, give me a little patience here on this one. Are we still able to ask questions about the positions themselves?

Certainly. Perfect. Thank you. I think my first question,

council president, is I think if we are defining these positions outside of partisan roles,

how are we actually defining majority and minority then if they are non-partisan positions outside of political processes and political parties?

Yeah, my vision for this is that there's going to be a certain set of policy areas that this body is going to want to focus on that are going to be uncontroversial.

They're going to be things that we largely agree on, that we want to move forward.

That would be a majority position of a policy area.

THERE'S GOING TO BE CERTAIN POLICY AREAS THAT MIGHT HAVE THE ABILITY TO PASS THIS BODY,

BUT MAYBE DOESN'T HAVE THAT BROAD CONSENSUS. I THINK THAT IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE

ARE BUILDING AGENDAS THAT BOTH REFLECT THAT CONSENSUS VIEW AND THAT VIEW WHERE MAYBE WE NEED

TO DO SOME PERSUASION. AND SO JUST BECAUSE AN IDEA MAYBE DOESN'T BY DEFAULT HAVE SEVEN VOTES

doesn't mean that it's not a worthy idea.

And I would like to make sure that we are putting just as much legislative effort behind those ideas

as those broad consensus ideas.

Perfect. Thank you, Council President.

I think, you know, what is also helpful, I think there would be as these,

and I might be missing something here too, and so I apologize if that is the case,

but as these roles and the responsibilities and the authority that are attached to these positions,

I am not seeing them ascribed as defined here I don't know if that is the case and I am

will be voting no I think on these positions not necessarily for the individuals but the

positions themselves I think require some level of larger definitions and and positions that

actually kind of talk through the authority of those positions as well so thank you yeah and

I'll say maybe use a former member of our city attorney's office may appreciate this answer

SENSE MORE THAN OTHER MEMBERS ON THIS BODY.

BUT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE KIND OF MOVED TO AS A

THEME IS DEFINING LESS IN OUR FORMAL DOCUMENTS SO THAT IT

PROVIDES MORE FLEXIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY FOR THAT

INTERPRETATION TO BE REFINED OVER TIME WITHOUT US HAVING TO

GO BACK AND REVISE, REVISE, AMEND, AMEND THROUGH FORMAL

COUNSEL ACTION. AND SO WE KEPT THE DESCRIPTION

BROAD SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY DO THAT REFINEMENT TOGETHER AS

A BODY.

THANK YOU. I AM SEEING THE DEFINITIONS IN

as well so i appreciate you thank you yep council member warren

thank you um council president payne i'm curious as to this really feels like plausible deniability

where it pertains to our council president and vice president within these positions that you're

looking for a majority or a minority to rule over any said motions that come before the council where

you're saying that it doesn't need a seven-person vote for it to be determined or to be ruled as important?

How does this position, these two positions, differ from president and vice president?

And if it's being left that open and broad, where does accountability live?

One of the goals of this reinstituting these positions is to create more accountability.

The role of the president and the vice president is actually not that defined.

we are elected, essentially the role of the president is to chair the meeting. That's the

only formal duty of the president and to set the structure. But ultimately the power is of the

power of the body. So we only make, we move as a body. So what we would want to define is going to

be defined by the majority of this body. So I don't know if that answers your question.

It does not. And so then if we move with the body and you are the head of the body here as we are a legislative body of council members and reflective of these positions, then that means that you should instrument that leadership and take into consideration clear and concise motions or decisions that come before this body without the need for a majority or a minority because that's being left too open in space where it doesn't provide any type of

of boundaries with respect to whatever may come before the body itself

feedback noted i move not to vote for that

councilmember vita thank you um thanks i think colleagues have asked

some actually really good thoughtful questions and your

response i just want you to kind of elaborate it on a little bit because

um while i'm here processing it basically sounds like you're saying that the minority and the

majority leaders are the leaders of ideas and if we match up with your idea then you're our leader

so like what the minority i think council member whiting said it like what is the if it's not

political the majority of what the majority of people who support the police or the majority

of the people who don't or the majority of what i guess i'm trying to understand is it just

majority of ideas i haven't had an opportunity to find out if anyone up here we're going to be

working on that for the rest of the week what our shared ideas are what our shared values are

so the majority and the minority of what besides what i can gather is you've just said ideas

i think that's the core of the work that we do as a legislative body is bring ideas into reality

so could that switch though so will could the minority leader be the majority tomorrow if we

find out at the end of the week that we have more shared ideas with the minority leader who is not

a political part I've just never heard those words used in that term in that way for nothing I think

the previous majority and minority leaders there was a green party member up here there used to be

Republicans on the Minneapolis City Council and that's what those terms were used for because

people were literally divided by party there were democrats there were greens there were republicans

and you're saying that we should i can't even say what you're saying because i don't know but it

sounds like we're gonna act like we're not doing what was previously done but use it as a reference

but then say that's not what it really is i mean i don't i really wasn't that why clerks or somebody

CAN SOMEBODY GIVE US A LITTLE HISTORY HERE OF WHY WE HAD MAJORITY AND MINORITY LEADERS IN THE

PAST? WASN'T IT POLITICAL PARTY DIVISION? MR. CLERK? MR. PRESIDENT, AS COUNCILMEMBER

VITA HAS INDICATED, YEARS AGO UNDER A SEPARATE GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AMENDMENT FROM 1984,

THERE WAS AN INDEPENDENT BODY CREATED CALLED THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

WAS CHAIRED BY THE MAYOR, AND IT WAS IN ONE BODY A UNIFICATION OF THE EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY OF THE

OF THE MAYOR AND THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY OF THE COUNCIL.

ITS PRIMARY DUTY WAS TO APPOINT THE 10 CHARTER DEPARTMENT HEADS.

AND BECAUSE THE CHARTER PROVIDED THAT THE MEMBERSHIP HAD TO INCLUDE A MINORITY MEMBER OF COUNCIL

ASSUMING THAT ALL MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL WEREN'T FROM THE SAME PARTY, THAT GENERATED

THE NEED FOR A MINORITY LEADER.

SO IT WAS NOT NECESSARILY AS A RESULT OF PARTY PER SE, BUT SAYING THAT IF THERE WAS

any member of the council that if it wasn't all 13 and the mayor were from the same party,

then the groups that were out of the majority had the right to have a seat on that executive

committee for the purposes of appointing the charter department heads and approving enterprise-wide

policies. So it is true that there was previously a provision for majority-minority because

of that executive committee, which was a public vote to amend the charter. I will indicate

that the structure of the executive committee was removed based on the government structure amendment

in 2021 so the government structure that minneapolis elected to have we are now four years

later going to say we don't like what you did uh citizens of minneapolis we're gonna make up our

own stuff i just want us to be mindful of that that the people of minneapolis voted for the

the current government structure and we're creating a roundabout for what

President Payne said he wants to see this he so what he wants to see in the

city of Minneapolis outside of what people elected us to do. Mr. President I

certainly I can't comment on the the you didn't need to political nature that I

will say that in my discussions with the president I think the underlying intent

and I'm certain I'm not saying this as well as what the president has done so

I'm not sure I'm adding value but that the goal of this proposal using titles

that existed before so there's a historic basis for these titles and that

using those titles was intended to broaden councils recognized leadership

team if it were beyond the two positions of president and vice president which

have always existed and which are required under the city charter so I

I THINK THAT THE INTENT, AND THE PRESIDENT CAN SPEAK TO THAT MORE THAN CAN I, WAS TO BROADEN THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE COUNCIL'S ELECTED LEADERSHIP TEAM.

THE RULES DO PROVIDE FOR IT. I THINK IT'S PROBABLY MORE A USE OF HISTORIC TERMS.

COUNCILMEMBER WANZEY.

Thank you, President Payne.

I do want to offer some further clarification to what you also shared as definitions as

it relates to actually one of the positions that I'm running for as the minority leader.

The minority represented by the minority leader is not referring to ideas that have minority

support.

My intention, I believe in conversations with you and the number of colleagues has been

for this role as it did in its prior iteration

is to reflect the leadership of the political diversity

that does exist amongst this body.

And as it currently stands, we do have council members

who do identify as democratic socialists.

We have four of them.

And city attorney I know just floated this around,

you know, this is not in relationship to political parties.

Democratic socialism is not a political party.

So I wanna name that of it does not have correlations

towards a partisan orientation.

It's around reflecting the political diversity

that existed in this body as it did several years ago

when my predecessor, Cam Gordon,

who was the only Green Party representative on this body,

also reflected.

There was political diversity amongst their body.

Then they created formal recognition

and representation for that space.

We're looking to do the same and codify that

through our structure as well today.

And that's the intent.

Councilmember Paul Massano.

Council President, let me try and help out here.

I heard you say,

let's expand the leadership circle.

I appreciate that.

Let's make it balanced.

I think there is someone that voted

the least with Councilmember Chug Tye or

Councilmember Wansley.

I think it's me.

If to look at just past votes,

Both Councilmember Chugtai and Councilmember Wansley, I believe, have voted together almost always.

So if the desire is political diversity, which I also appreciate, this is not expanding the leadership circle.

I do agree and want to work on ways that we can all this term feel like we are represented at a leadership table.

I would suggest, given where the conversation has gone, that we come back to this.

Let's postpone and come back to it.

I think I think first off they need better titles.

But if we want balance,

maybe better titles might be a second and third vice president.

Maybe better titles might be something other than majority

and minority because we seem to be getting lost in the details there.

And I still can't tell you majority of what.

I THINK THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.

I THINK THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT PAYNE.

I'M JUST STILL CONFUSED AT THESE ROLES,

BECAUSE ISN'T THAT THE PURPOSE OF HAVING THE ASSIGNMENT OF

COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS,

before committee, there would not be a minority or majority of things that don't fit in a

bucket of those organized leadership.

So I don't understand this.

I just need some more clarity.

And I, like a number of my colleagues, think that we should definitely stick a pin in this

and revisit this at a later date because it does not line up with a clear understanding

OF WHAT THE ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES OR ACCOUNTABILITY LOOKS LIKE ON THE BEHAVIORS OF THESE INDIVIDUALS.

COUNSEL PRESIDENT.

I MIGHT SUGGEST THAT THAT'S A SECOND.

COUNSEL MEMBER RANVILLE.

SO MR. PRESIDENT, WE HAVE THREE DAYS OF PLANNING AND GOAL SETTING AHEAD OF US.

IT WOULD JUST MAKE COMMON SENSE TO WAIT UNTIL THAT WAS OVER AND REVISIT THAT DURING THAT TIME THAT WE HAVE

so we can clear all this up.

You have the votes to pass this

and if that's how you wanna do things

and just keep forcing the vote,

then that's what we're gonna look forward to

for the next four years.

Let's try and do something different.

Let's talk this over with each other

for the next three days and come to consensus on this.

Please.

Seeing no one, Councilman Palaceno.

Council President, that was from me a motion to postpone

and others have spoken in support of it.

So perhaps that's a second.

Thank you.

There's a motion to postpone.

Is there any discussion on that?

Council member Schaefer.

Yeah, as a new member of this board,

process is really important to me.

And so I would be really thrilled to think about these

with a fleshed out job description

and more discussion about what their role would be

in consideration with the president

the vice president's role i'm open to new ideas but we want to make sure that we have a process

that the public cannot point fingers at we want a process that's above board and is very clear

with the public that we want to share with you what we're doing and how we're moving forward

so for the for that those points i would be all in favor of postponing to our next full meeting

I THINK THAT'S A POSSIBLE.

SECOND.

SECOND.

COUNCIL MEMBER WANCE, ARE YOU IN CUE?

NO.

OK.

ON THE MOTION TO POSTPONE THIS ITEM, I WILL ASK THE

CLERK TO CALL THE ROLL.

MR. PRESIDENT, JUST TO CLARIFY, ARE WE POSTPONING

ITEM, THE ELECTION OF MAJORITY LEADER OR THE ELECTION OF

MAJORITY LEADER OR THE ELECTION OF BOTH MAJORITY AND

MINORITY LEADERS?

I THINK IF WE, LET'S CONSIDER BOTH OF THESE,

WELL, I DON'T KNOW.

okay mr. Clark Council member Wansley Council member Rainville Council member

Vita Council member Warren Council member Schaefer I Council member

Stevenson they Council member Chavez no Council member Shugtai

NAY.

NAY.

COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING.

NAY.

COUNCIL MEMBER CHOWDRY.

NAY.

COUNCIL MEMBER PALMISANO.

NAY.

VICE PRESIDENT OSMAN.

NAY.

PRESIDENT PAYNE.

NAY.

THERE ARE SIX AYES AND SEVEN NAYS.

THAT ITEM FAILS.

WE ARE BACK TO THE QUESTION OF THE ELECTION OF COUNCIL MEMBER CHUG TIDE TO THE OFFICE OF MAJORITY

LEADER.

SEEING NO ONE ELSE EFT IN CUE, I'LL ASK THE CLERK TO CALL THE ROLL.

council member warren

we have currently a nomination on the floor and we

we will have a nomination on the floor with council member chuck ty

and then we will take that up next based on the outcome so on the motion to elect

council member chuck ty as the majority leader i'll ask the clerk to call the roll

Council member Wansley. Aye. Council member Rainville. No. Council member Vita. No. Council

member Warren. No. Council member Schaefer. Nay. Council member Stevenson. Aye. Council member

Chavez. Yes. Council member Chaghtai. Aye. Council member Whiting. Aye. Council member Chowdhury.

Aye. Council member Palmisano. No. Vice President Osmond. Aye. President Payne. Aye. There are

eight ayes and five nays.

That motion carries and Council Member Truchti

has been elected to the Office of Majority Leader.

Congratulations.

Next, we'll take up the election of Minority Leader.

I'll move to elect Council Member Wansley

to the Office Minority Leader.

Is there a second?

Second.

In the discussion, Council Member Stevenson.

You all beat me to my second,

but if you don't mind, I'll say a few remarks.

It's clear in this time that the Democratic establishment is failing America and it's

failing Minneapolis as well.

It's failing working and middle class people throughout the city and throughout the country.

My personal experience as a survivor of police violence and as someone who's worked in homeless

outreach I have seen this firsthand.

I've seen it in unaccountable policing, in neighborhoods that are not as safe as they

can and should be, and in having many, many neighbors sleeping outside night after night

with little progress towards a systemic solution that's going to keep everyone in our city

safe, everyone in our city housed, and treat everyone in our city with dignity and respect.

We need democratic socialist leadership to fight for this.

We need democratic socialist leadership to fight for people over profits.

We need it at the national level and we need it on the Minneapolis City Council as well.

Council member Wansley is an incredible leader and has produced a large body of work.

To name a few, though it's not exhaustive, she has worked to protect and expand the BCR

program which everyone wants to claim now because of how successful it is.

She has led on off-duty reform, which is much needed in this city.

She has led on carbon fees.

She led on protections and raises for Uber and Lyft drivers, which has been a national

success.

And she has strong relationships in George Flight Square, which is of particular importance

to me and to the people of Ward 8 and to the city of Minneapolis.

AND SO YOU ALREADY BEAT ME TO MY SECOND,

BUT I WANT TO SEE COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY

AS THE MINORITY LEADER,

BECAUSE SHE BRINGS THE TYPE OF WORK

AND THE EXPERIENCE THAT WE NEED IN THIS CITY

IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD ON CRITICAL ISSUES

THAT ARE FACING BOTH US HERE IN THE CITY

AND THE NATION AS A WHOLE.

THANK YOU.

COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT PAYNE.

GOOD AFTERNOON, COLLEAGUES,

And I just want to say thank you for considering this motion to elect me as minority leader of the Minneapolis City Council and to exhibit formal representation of the Democratic Socialists on this body.

Democratic Socialism has been a growing political movement nationwide, as demonstrated recently by the election of Zomron Madomny in New York,

and Mayor Katie Wilson in Seattle, and hundreds of Democratic Socialists elected to local offices all across the country.

Minneapolis has a strong socialist tradition.

Residents elected a socialist mayor in 1916, shortly before Minnesota elected a socialist governor.

And 100 years later in 2016, 65 percent of Minneapolis voters supported Bernie Sanders, a socialist as well, for president.

There have been well-funded campaigns to demonize socialism.

And despite the propaganda, people here in Minneapolis understand that democratic socialism is a belief that society and the economy should be structured to meet the needs of working class people and not to create profit for the wealthiest individuals or corporate interests.

And neighbors here in Minneapolis support and care for each other while fighting to change the status quo.

And that's what made me fall in love with the city. Minneapolis residents truly believe that

the purpose of city government should be to serve them. And when that doesn't happen,

we aren't afraid to organize. In 2020, following George Floyd's murder by the Minneapolis Police

Department, thousands of residents organized one of the largest social movements in U.S. history

to demand an end to racist and violent policing. Now thousands of residents organized to protect

their neighbors from ICE. Minneapolis residents love each other and we believe that everyone

deserves to have their basic needs met. And that's what democratic socialism is about.

And it's why democratic socialism is a huge and growing movement here in Minneapolis.

Voters first elected democratic socialists to city council in 2021, myself being one of them.

And this past November, 65,000, over 65,000 in fact, Minneapolis residents voted for a democratic

Socialist Mayor. And going into this term, nearly a third of our city council identifies Democratic

Socialists, collectively representing over 120,000 Minneapolis residents. And over the past four

years, the Democratic Socialists that have held seats on this body have won significant policies

that have improved the lives of working class people. We've passed policies to protect the

majority of Minneapolis families who are renters. We closed the minimum wage loophole for ride share

drivers leading to a statewide increase for over 10,000 workers who are mostly immigrant and workers

of color. We expanded civil right protections for residents who may be targeted by discrimination

and we were among the first cities to pass a ceasefire resolution that acknowledged the

genocide taking place in Gaza. All of these victories happened because working class

residents organized and worked hand in hand with the democratic socialists on the city council.

And now more than ever, we are going to need democratic socialist leadership and strong and organized movements.

We are in unprecedented dark times, and the council is going to have to do more with less, protect our residents, and respond to multiple crises simultaneously.

Most immediately, the council needs to protect our neighbors who are unable to safely go to work while ICE is terrorizing our communities.

Allowing residents to be evicted because ICE has made it impossible for them to make rent

is unacceptable.

And I plan to work with the community and all of my colleagues on this body to prevent

looming evictions.

As tech companies expand their reach, our city will be faced with serious questions

about automation, surveillance, and corporate control.

And we need to approach these conversations with an unwavering commitment to labor, community,

and accountability.

new technology in our city must serve the working class and not out-of-state billionaires.

This council will also face monumental decisions about how to handle the upcoming fiscal cliff.

And austerity and social cuts will be catastrophic for our working-class residents unless we put

them first. And we can't keep asking working-class homeowners and renters to pay ever-increasing

property taxes to weather these financially challenging times. We are going to need everyone

to pay their fair share and we're going to have to generate progressive revenue and that includes

also a tax on the rich. Thousands of our residents lack access to fresh and affordable groceries.

In my ward, one in four University of Minnesota students face food insecurity and I know that

other areas of the city are also grappling with the lack of access to fresh foods.

Democratic socialists recognize that if the private market and philanthropy aren't delivering

food access equitably, government leaders have the responsibility to step in.

And democratic socialists have championed the vision for comprehensive public safety

that protects all of us.

Over the last four years, we've made tremendous strides towards making this vision a reality

with embedded social workers, violence prevention services, and mental health responders.

In the term ahead, we recommit ourselves to these efforts to extend safety to all residents

and reject the status quo, especially the most recent proposal to give $50 million

to the Minneapolis Police Department to build their own version of a cop city.

These will be my top priorities as a minority leader for our Democratic Socialists on this body.

And I hope to use this position to represent all residents who have ever supported a socialist

candidate or a social justice campaign. I also hope to represent residents who do not identify

as socialists, but want local government to utilize all the tools that we have to make lives easier

for ordinary people. So with that, colleagues, I am asking for your vote today as minority leader

for the Democratic Socialists that do exist on this body. We're lucky to have political diversity

amongst this council and voting for a minority leader is a vote to acknowledge that diversity,

no matter how you see yourself in relation to the Democratic Socialist movement. And I look forward

to working with every single one of you to improve the lives of working class people and to make

Minneapolis a beacon of hope and inspiration for this country.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

And thank you, Councilmember Rob Wansley,

for the history lesson we just received.

What I won't allow us to do is play in the face of Minneapolis residents.

When we just stated in your very bleak definitions

of majority and minority leader that these were nonpartisan positions

and you just made it completely about the Democratic Socialist Party,

which is completely unfair to the residents of Minneapolis

or the members sitting on this council right at this time.

Council Member Vita.

Thank you.

Let me just say, I don't always agree with Council Member Ronsley,

but she says what she's coming to do, and she said what the definition meant.

I should have called you yesterday and asked you what the roles

and responsibilities were going to be because you laid it out clear on what the minority leader is.

Instead, I got the now newly elected president who acted like he didn't know what it meant.

And I know for a fact you told him what you wanted to do based off of what you just told everybody that's watching

and what you just said up here.

You made it very clear on what you saw the roles and the responsibilities as the minority leader.

So I appreciate that. I respect that. Thank you for making it very clear.

I am just, I don't even, the word, it's just escaping me on how I feel that we've been lied to.

It is clear that these are, this is about parties.

Not only did we hear Council Member Wansley talk about the party, we heard the person who nominated her talk about why he was nominating her and that it was about the party.

And so all of this, again, all we needed was time to really define what these roles and responsibilities could be.

And maybe it would have been Council Member Chuck Tye.

But from what I know about Council Member Chuck Tye, she's listed as a socialist, too.

It's not that she's not listed as a Democrat, but she's also listed as a Democratic socialist.

And so this feels like we have two people with the same agenda, the complete opposite of what you said you wanted, Council President Payne, newly elected Council President Payne.

The opposite is before us again, the complete opposite.

Everything was, this is not about political parties.

This is different than previous majority and minority leaders.

and the nomination and the actual candidate said nothing but this is about the democratic socialist

party gave us a wonderful history lesson in minneapolis and socialism from 19 whatever to

up to to her so i mean like i really do appreciate you because you do that you're not gonna like

sugarcoat it for people and make us think like it's what what's to come ain't coming so i really

do appreciate that i'm not supporting it because i knew that this was about parties and i think it's

unfair to the people of minneapolis to have just sat up here and be re-elected and someone gave a

speech about how you work with everybody and whatever it just it doesn't even make sense it

it just doesn't council member whiting uh thank you chair uh and to to my colleague as well uh

Councilmember Vita, I think we are also in first, I think, let me walk this back a little bit first.

Can I nominate Councilwoman Vita for role of minority chair?

Why don't we take up the first one?

I don't even know what this means.

Are we back to me, Linnea, and Rainville?

Am I the minority leader of the three of us?

I don't know.

Since we get to define it.

Don't give me a job.

I do not accept.

I don't want a job.

I have never taken a job without a description.

Exactly right.

I appreciate you, Jameson, but it is not my ministry.

Well, if we get a majority and minority, right, let's define it.

And so I think, right, and the nomination is purely based on if we are defining what is majority and what is minority, let's just name it.

Right. This city has done for the last four years and the last two years explicitly factions of council.

And if we are purely talking about factions on this council, which I think every single person in the city of Minneapolis, this body and this chamber across our enterprise and across this administration no longer want to deal with because we want progress.

If we are purely talking about that, then sure, let's use that as a minority, right?

If we want to talk about factions, I just think we just saw votes along some of those lines, right?

AND SO THEN WOULD THAT PUT US WOULD THAT PUT A CERTAIN FACTION IN THE MINORITY AND THAT IS WHY

WELL MAYBE THAT IS A MINORITY VOTE TO PUT COUNCILWOMAN VITAL ON THERE AND SO MAYBE YOU'LL

RETHINK IT COUNCILWOMAN VITAL BUT IT LOOKS LIKE MAYBE WE HAVE TO DEFINE SOME OF THESE

VERSIONS OF WHAT THE DEFENITION OF MAJORITY AND MINORITY IS BUT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S A NO TO THAT

THANK YOU I REALLY DO I REALLY DO APPRECIATE THAT BUT AGAIN NOT MY MINISTRY

Thank you.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Thank you, President Payne.

Just first of all, I think I want to just correct the record.

The DSA, Democratic Socialists of America, are not a party.

Like, we just need to say that everyone, even within the Democratic Socialists of America,

there's a debate, like, and a big, deep divide of, like, is it party building into the future,

or is it no longer a party?

So really looking at the nonpartisan nature of what majority and minority leader are, as our city attorney laid out, DSA does not qualify as a party.

There are members that identify with that political belief and system, and that's really apparent in our city.

As you said, we know that there are people that are pushing that agenda, working towards it across the country.

We now have a mayor in New York, the largest city in the country, that is a DSA member and a DSA elected prior to becoming a mayor.

That's the future.

We're here.

Welcome to 2026.

And it's a growing, growing movement, and it is really rooted in addressing the material needs of working people because entrenched power in established parties, Democrat, Republican, has oftentimes left people behind to the point of the largest party in our country being the block of people who don't vote in any election.

because they have been so left behind, because they are worried about food on their table,

unable to pay for health care or receive it, or get basic city services.

And we're lucky in the city of Minneapolis we have such quality city services.

Other cities are really, really hurting for it.

With the majority leader conversation, I think I want to just put this out there for my colleagues to think about

and the public to think about.

The role of majority leader, as in our conversation and as defined here, as assigned and delegated by the president or by the city council, is actually a pretty onerous role.

Because your job is to put aside what your personal agenda, what you were elected for, what you campaigned on aside.

That can't be your job.

You can't just only singularly look at your own agenda.

It has to be the agenda of the entire body, which is what we are going to be developing in this next week.

I'll give you an example of an agenda that we are all running towards.

Creating more housing.

We all have a say in defining how we want to create that type of housing.

And that's what Council Member Chugtie has to take up.

Even if she has a disagreement with it, she has to try to move those things through.

AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE CAN HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT, RIGHT?

THERE ARE ITEMS THAT WE HAVE NOT PASSED IN THIS BODY.

THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH VOTES TO PASS IT THROUGH.

FOR A SECOND THING, IN THE LAST TERM, PEOPLE WERE NOT GOING TO

SUPPORT MY BOULEVARD'S ORDINANCE.

THEY'RE LIKE, THIS IS TWO IN OUR BOULEVARD'S ORDINANCE, RIGHT?

PEOPLE ARE LIKE, THIS IS TWO IN THE WHEETS, PUN INTENDED.

AND THEY'RE LIKE, THIS IS UNNECESSARY.

THAT WAS A MINORITY ITEM.

And perhaps Councilmember Wansley will have to take those things up, too,

because it might be a minority opinion, right?

And there are little city specific things that are very Parks and Rexian

in nature that are going to be minority opinion,

and they're going to be bigger picture things.

And that same thing goes for the majority.

So these two individuals actually have to take up the role of putting aside

their own singular personal agenda

and articulating something for a collective of people.

and Council Member Chugtize is a big one.

There are definitely things in this body

that we have a 13-0 support for,

and maybe it's like 8-5, maybe it's 12-1,

and maybe that's something we should take up in deciding

because clearly today we saw a 7-6 split.

Maybe a majority isn't defined as 7-6.

Maybe it's bigger than that.

Maybe it's a larger collective of us

Because one thing I will say, serving on the city council for the last two years and also being a policy aide is one of our strong suits is having these really, really great ideas and putting them forward.

But one of our weaknesses is articulating it into a comprehensive strategy and an agenda for us to achieve on the offensive.

We're oftentimes reacting to things.

And so having a role like this can help us focus in.

And so I would encourage my colleagues to not think that all is lost in this role and actually use it as a tool to further the goals that you have.

Council Member Paul Misano.

Council President Payne, you just said the minority needs more representation, and then you voted against more time to understand and figure out how we might work more collaboratively together in an expanded leadership circle.

circle. I think these last votes, particularly the unwillingness to have

more conversation, have already demonstrated that there is no listening

to the minority of this council. I think that my colleagues are mixing the terms

DSA and minority, not on this council, and next it will be reflected in our

succession plan, ironically as both the majority and minority leaders. This

absolutely signals to me that Minneapolis Council leadership doesn't want to change anything from the past two years only to further entrench our division.

Council member Whiting.

Thank you, Chair Payne. And I think my council colleague, Chaudhary, raises the thing I think I'm most confused about here.

SHE MENTIONS THAT IF OUR MAJORITY LEADER WHO JUST ELECTED HAS TO PUT ASIDE THEIR PERSONAL

BELIEFS FOR MAJORITY OPINION OR MAJORITY POLICY, I THINK THOSE SAME CONFUSIONS ARISE

WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MINORITY LEADERS, PARTICULARLY AROUND THE CONVERSATION THAT

MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUE ROBIN WANSLEY ALSO JUST RAISED.

SO IF THERE IS A POSITION THAT WE CAN ALL FORESEE THAT IS ACTIVELY AGAINST THE DSA

POLICY OR DSA PLATFORM AND IT IS THE MINORITY OF THIS BODY, WILL ROBIN WANSLEY, SORRY,

OR COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY, HAVE TO PUT ASIDE THOSE DSA PLATFORMS BECAUSE THAT POLICY

IS WITHIN THE MINORITY OF THIS BODY?

I think that is where the confusion for me most lies in this.

Councilmember Wadsmey.

Yes, thank you, Councilmember Wadsmey.

I'll just reiterate this once again.

This is reflecting the political diversity.

It's not about minority of ideas.

That's going to constantly shift.

And as someone who's been on this body for four years

and who have been very clear in their representation

as a democratic socialist,

also as the only independent amongst this body

and who has in their office produced the largest quantity of ordinances

and legislative action that has garnered support by a number of my colleagues new

or existing, well, existing.

I have clearly demonstrated ability to represent the interests of our entire city

to work with my colleagues to get to a common goal, but being very firm about

it's around.

We need to be responding to the needs of everyday people.

So that is the diversity.

It's not about committing to the minority rule that might constantly shift amongst this body.

Thank you.

I think, right, my confusion is not with Council Member Wanzi.

I think it is with the definitions, again.

I think when our Council President defined those positions of actual policy, right, like these definitions in policy positions.

And I think we are seeing that actually right now kind of play out.

it seems like we do not have a good definition between all 13 of us of what that actually looks

like. And I think that's why we're having these conversations right now, because we actually

don't have a good understanding of what these roles actually mean. And I think that is where

the confusion lies. Just like I think Councilwoman Vita, right, you come exactly with what you're

going to say, right? And I appreciate that. And I think trying to figure out the definitions within

what these things actually mean these positions themselves not the individuals that sit in the

positions but the positions themselves I think are are need a full understanding and I think

deeper discussion thank you on the question oh okay on the question to elect councilmember

Wansley to the Minority Leader. The Clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Wansley. Aye. Council Member Rainville. No.

Council Member Vita. No. Council Member Warren. No. Council Member

Schaffer. No. Council Member Stevenson. Aye. Council Member Chavez.

Aye. Council Member Chugtie. Aye. Council Member Whiting. No.

Council Member Choudhury. Aye. Council Member Pomisano. No.

Vice President Ozman. Aye. President Payne. Aye. There are

7 Ayes and 6 Nays.

That carries and Council Member Wansley has been elected to the Office of Minority Leader.

Congratulations to Council Member Wansley.

I will now recognize Council Member Osmond.

Thank you so much.

President Osmond.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

I just didn't get a chance to really thank my colleagues.

WHO HAS WORKED WITH FOUR DIFFERENT CONSUL BODIES.

IT'S REALLY HONOR TO SERVE MY RESIDENCE AND SERVE RESIDENT OF

WAR SIX.

AND I'M GRATEFUL FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE AND VOTE TODAY.

I'M COMMITTED TO STRENGTHEN OUR CITY AND CONTINUE TO REALLY

BRING US ALL IN TOGETHER.

WE ALL TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, COLOPERATION, BUT WE, YOU

GOT TO BE THAT SEVENTH VOTE TO BE A COLOPERATION, RIGHT?

can be like, you know, and that is what I have been,

and that's what I continue to be.

And, you know, the goal for me is to really build everyone's

relationship and everyone understand their concern.

You know, what are they going through?

What is the difficulty of challenges they're having

in their ward?

And I understand for us is to come here and debate

and really make a bigger decision,

but every decision we make, it has affected someone's life.

And it's just an honor for all of you to work with you.

And my office is Obin, my phone is Obin,

and I would love to all of you to cooperate

and be the leader that you can come to.

And also it's an honor to serve with you,

Council President Payne.

Council President Payne, you did a phenomenal job last term

and I know we will definitely accomplish a lot next few years.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

That completes the election of council officers.

We'll now proceed to the order of new business

as reflected on our agenda.

I've asked the clerk to prepare a packet

of the proposed resolutions and actions

for all the agenda items which you should have at your desks.

Each of these items is numbered to correspond to the agenda

to facilitate our consideration of these matters.

There are six items which are numbered in your packets

as NB1 through NB6, followed by the introduction of two ordinances shown on the agenda.

The first item is a resolution establishing lines of succession to the offices of Mayor

and Council President, as required by the city charter and our Code of Coordinates.

The draft before you identifies both name and position of those Council members who are in line

and in what order to assume the Office of Council President and, as necessary, the Office of Mayor.

By charter, the President is the first in the line of succession to the Office of Mayor

and the vice president is the first in line of succession to the office of city of the council

president and the second in line to success to succeed the office of the mayor beyond that you

can see that the third member in the line of succession would be the majority leader followed

by the minority leader and after that an order set forth in the resolution as needed are there

any questions for members seeing none i'll ask the clerk to call the roll council member wansley

Council member Rainville, Aye. Council member Vita, Aye. Council member Warren, Aye. Council member Schaefer, Aye. Council member Stevenson, Aye. Council member Chavez, Aye. Council member Shubtai, Aye. Council member Whiting, Aye. Council member Chowdhury, Aye. Council member Palmasano, Aye. Vice President Osmond, Aye. President Payne, Aye. There are 12 ayes.

THE NEXT ITEM OF BUSINESS IS A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE

CITY COUNCIL. THE DRAFT IN YOUR PACKET REFLECTS THE PROPOSAL I'M OFFERING, INCLUDING THE

NUMBER OF COMMITTEES, COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP, QUORUMS AND THE DATES FOR REGULAR

MEETINGS. COLLEAGUES RETURNING FROM THE LAST TERM WILL SEE THAT I'VE LARGELY RETAINED THE

PREVIOUS COMMITTEE STRUCTURE. THAT INCLUDES A TOTAL OF SIX STANDING COMMITTEES AND ONE SPECIAL

COMMITTEE. I'LL POINT OUT THAT THE FORMER ADMINISTRATION AND ENTERPRISE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

has been reformed as the Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee, giving this committee a

stronger emphasis on the issues related to the city's labor relations and workforce.

And the Public Health and Safety Committee has also been modified to reflect public health safety

and equity to reflect some of the reshifting of the administration and enterprise, the former

Administration Enterprise Oversight Committee. Four of the standing policy committees will meet

in the first week of a regular two-week cycle that includes the reformed enterprise and labor

relations committee on mondays the business housing and zoning committee on tuesdays the

renamed public health safety and equity committee on wednesdays and the climate and infrastructure

committees on thursdays all regular meetings of these four standing committees will be programmed

at 1 30 p.m on their respective assigned days in the first week cycle the one major change

change i'm proposing is that the membership of these standing committees be increased from six

to seven council members and the second week of the cycle the budget committee will continue to

meet at 1 30 on mondays and the committee of the whole will continue to meet at 1 30 on tuesdays

both of the both of these standing committees as well as our special intergovernmental relations

committee will consist of all 13 council members regular meetings of the full city council will

continue to be scheduled to begin at 9 30 a.m. on Thursdays in the second week of the regular

council cycle in terms of committee leadership I'm pleased to submit my proposal that the

following council members shall lead these committees for enterprise and labor relations

committee council member Paul Masano will be the chair and will be assisted by council

member Whiting as vice chair for the business housing zone and zoning committee our vice

president council member Osman will resume his leadership as chair and will be assisted

by council member Chowdhury as vice chair council member Chavez will continue leading

the Public Health Safety and Equity Committee, assisted by Councilmember Stevenson as the

Committee's Vice Chair. Our Minority Leader, Councilmember Wansley, will take on leadership

of the Climate and Infrastructure Committee with the assistance of Councilmember Stevenson

as Vice Chair. Our Majority Leader, Councilmember Chugtai, will continue to provide leadership

of our Budget Committee with the able assistance of Councilmember Warren as her Vice Chair.

Councilmember Chowdhury will lead our Committee of the Whole with Councilmember Chugtai as

Vice Chair. Councilmember Whiting will take leadership of our Standing Settlement

agreement and consent decree subcommittee under the committee of the whole and i will be assisting

as vice chair of that subcommittee finally councilmember chowdhury will continue her leadership

of our special committee the intergovernmental relations committee with the assistance of

counter member council member rainville as vice chair i want to extend my sincere thanks to all

council members who stepped up and agreed to lead these committees and the important work we know

that the city will be tackling in this next term are there any questions from council meeting

council members about the proposed committee structure council member warren

i never asked to be the vice chair of budget

okay

any other questions

seeing none i have moved the resolution council member warren i think that it is really

unfair that the senior council members as we have four new members who have taken a role

and have been seated and have stood up in representation of their wards and all of these

decisions were made behind the backs of individuals who have not you have not established relationship

you're picking majority you're picking minority you're putting people where you want them to be

without asking anyone anything.

You haven't had the opportunity to get to know anyone,

to see what their strengths are, who needs to be where,

or what anyone else wants to do.

And I think that's completely inconsiderate and unfair

to the constituents of our wards

and to individuals in the city that we represent.

I don't think that that's fair. I just don't.

Anyone else in queue?

Seeing none, I have moved the resolution.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Mr. President, it is now the appropriate time for comments.

I don't have any questions.

Go ahead.

I'd like to ground my comments in things that we heard today at the inauguration ceremony.

Bishop Howell called us to value unity over division.

Imam Hamza implored us in the shared responsibility of leading with engagement over distance,

inclusion over exclusion, and partnership over silence.

Rabbi Zimmerman encouraged us to build bridges over differences and work toward a partnership

for the greater good of everybody in Minneapolis.

Unfortunately, I do not see the proposal in front of us honoring the charge we were given this morning.

Consul President Payne, in your email to us last evening, which was the first time several of us saw this structure, you stated,

we have spent the last few days and weeks in conversation about the structure of the council for the next term.

And you said, I have tried to incorporate all member feedback to the best of my ability, and this is a reflection of that effort.

So who is we?

I certainly wasn't invited to participate in conversations about changes to the structure of the council this term.

Is this really how you want to lead again?

Council President Payne, you put the four DSL-ascribed members on everything.

This is over-representation.

The brand new members of this body put out a joint statement.

They challenged us to be fair, balanced, and collaborative.

I think that's a great challenge.

Let's do join them.

Let's try to be balanced and fair and collaborative.

This doesn't look like that kind of structure to me.

This just feels like a continuation of last term.

So to my new colleagues, do you feel valued and heard that your challenge for us to collaborate

was taken seriously?

Do you feel treated fairly? I think this is a really poor start and it shows a

lack of leadership. We can do better than this and we must do better than this.

President Payne doesn't get to make these appointments, he proposes them. So I

would encourage my colleagues to find themselves in this structure and suggest

some amendments and I would be happy to entertain them.

Seeing no one else left in queue. Councilmember Stevenson.

I just want to clarify that the four new City Councilmembers, we did not specify balanced as something in our statement.

We were talking about respect for each other and treating each other as fully human.

And I think that was the majority of what we were trying to get at with that statement.

THE QUESTION ON THE RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE STANDING COMMITTEES THE CLERK WILL CALL THE ROLL

COUNCILMEMBER VITAL I'M SORRY I'M JUST WONDERING IF THINGS NEED TO BE AMENDED BEFORE OR AFTER WE

OR ARE WE GOING TO HAVE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SO LIKE COUNCILMEMBER WARN HAS CLEARLY SAID BUDGET WAS NOT OF

her interest but I know that council member Schaefer was very interested in budget and like

we've had conversations we've had conversations with uh council member Chuck Ty about it and

majority leader Chuck Ty about this and I'm just wondering at what part of this process do we get

to maybe amend or suggest that council member Warren that exchange for council member Schaefer

IN THE COUNTRY, I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE A MOTION.

I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE A MOTION.

ARE YOU MAKING A MOTION?

YES.

I WOULD SECOND THAT.

ANY DISCUSSION?

COUNCIL MEMBER SHAFFER?

MY SPIRIT IN JOINING THIS BOARD WAS TO SERVE PUBLIC

SERVICE.

I have been a chair of the admin finance of the park board at various times, vice chair various times, have always participated in the

participated in great detail in the park board budget,

bringing forward amendments almost every year,

some successful, some not successful.

So yes, if this body so choose, it would be a privilege

to take this role as a public servant to the greater group.

And I do look forward to working with everyone.

I know we've had a little bit of a rocky start here today,

We're bigger, we're better, and I'm not going to let this

narrative shift on one meeting.

So yes, I would be considered as Vice Chair of Budget.

Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

If there is an amendment to this resolution,

I will strongly encourage my colleagues to reject it.

I think that the resolution brought forward

by the President is perfectly fine

and will support the underlying motion,

but I will not be supporting an amendment

to change the leadership of budget.

SO THAT IS MY POSITION.

IS THERE ANYONE ELSE LEFT IN CUE?

ON THE AMENDMENT TO ADD, REMOVE

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN AS VICE CHAIR OF BUDGET

AND REPLACE THAT WITH COUNCIL MEMBER SHAFER.

I WILL ASK THE CURRENT TO CALL THE ROLL.

COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY.

NAY.

COUNCIL MEMBER RAINVILLE.

YES.

AYE.

COUNCIL MEMBER VITAL.

AYE.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN.

aye council member schaefer aye council member stevenson aye council member chavez no council

member shugtai aye council member whiting aye council member chowdhury aye council member pomosano

aye vice president osmond aye president payne all right there are 11 eyes and two nays that carries

and the underlying motion of the resolution as amended is before us is there any discussion

councilmember Vita I have another one it might be a long shot but councilmember Warren did

show great interest in CNI she gave us actually a compelling argument that

climate and infrastructure was a big deal to North Minneapolis she thought that it was

IMPERATIVE THAT SHE LEARNED THAT DEPARTMENT THAT SHE LEARNED THOSE DEPARTMENTS AND THAT SHE LEARNED HOW THINGS WERE OPERATED BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE HEARD FROM HER CONSTITUENTS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE WAS THE SERVICES OUT OF THAT COMMITTEE IS WHAT THEY WANTED TO SEE THE CITY DO BETTER FOR THEM.

THEY WANTED HER TO COME DOWN HERE AND BE A MASTER AT IT.

SO I WOULD LIKE TO ALSO AMEND THIS TO REMOVE COUNCIL MEMBER

STEVENSON FROM VICE CHAIR, WHICH WOULD BE A SECOND CHAIR.

HE'S LISTED AS CHAIR OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY AND ALSO OF

CNI AND TO ADD COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN TO CNI AS THE VICE CHAIR.

PLEASE.

I WOULD SECOND THAT.

Council Member Vita has moved to remove Council Member Stevenson as Vice Chair of Climate and Infrastructure.

That's been seconded. Is there any discussion, Council Member Stevenson?

I wanted to bring up, I was also elected on a mandate for the work that goes through that committee.

George Floyd Square, three-quarters of it is in Ward 8.

That is of vital importance to me. It's of vital importance to the city.

I think that I should be the vice chair of climate and infrastructure for many

reasons that being one of them many more being Ward 8 is full of climate leaders

whether it's a hundred percent campaign faith in Minnesota transportation

advocacy many many more so this is a vital importance to Ward 8 many many of

the leaders on climate and infrastructure issues live in Ward 8 and have elected

WITH A MANDATE ON THESE PARTICULAR ISSUES SO I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THAT VICE CHAIRSHIP.

COUNCIL MEMBER VITA. THANK YOU AND THANK YOU FOR THAT COUNCIL MEMBER

STEVENSON. I JUST WANT TO MAKE A NOTE THAT WHEN WE SPEAK OF DISPARITIES, WHEN WE SPEAK OF ALL THE

THINGS, THE RESOURCES THAT OUR COMMUNITIES DON'T RECEIVE, THAT IS THE COMMUNITY THAT COUNCIL

MEMBER WARN REPRESENTS. AND SO WHEN WE THINK OF CLIMATE INEQUITIES, ALL THE CONVERSATIONS WE

HAVE ON THIS COUNCIL THE DECISIONS WE MAKE AROUND CLIMATE INEQUITIES IN THE AREAS WHERE WE NEED TO DO

BETTER AT THEY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS IN COUNCILMEMBER WARN'S AREA WHERE SHE REPRESENTS AND IF HER CONSTITUENTS

ARE CALLING FOR HER TO COME HERE AND FIGURE THINGS OUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY THAN THEY'VE EVER BEEN DONE

BEFORE I THINK WE ALL SHOULD SET HER UP TO TO REALLY JUST DO A GREAT JOB FOR THE NORTH SIDE

I mean, this means a lot to this community.

The North Side wants to see it happen.

I'm not saying that the South Side doesn't have, you know, that they don't have the chops to get it done.

But what I know is when I see advocates showing up on behalf of climate issues and some of these issues through public works,

where I see little participation is from the North Side.

And I wholeheartedly believe that Council Member Warren in this position could change that.

not only who we see show up at city council meetings advocating for themselves,

but also bring a level of education to these communities that have been underserved always.

I can't even say decades, always underserved with climate and infrastructure issues.

And so I really would like to see us set her up to succeed and take this back to her community

as a big win and do some big things with this for North Minneapolis and all underserved communities

in this city. Is there anyone left in queue? Well, I'll just make a point here that I meant what I

said. I did my very best effort to balance a lot of competing priorities based on a number of

conversations. And one of those priorities was making sure that the north side was represented

in some of the most critical decisions made. That's why I wanted Council Member Warren to

take on that leadership role of budget. I also knew how important the future of

George Floyd Square was to Councilmember Stevenson and his personal story

connected to the murder of George Floyd and how he wanted to show up in our

community and why he wanted to be the vice chair of PHS as well as making sure

that there is a future for George Floyd Square that reflected the values of what

happened in that community. And so my attempt at balancing those two

COMPETING PRIORITIES, BECAUSE I HAD HEARD AN INTEREST FROM THAT

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN WANTED TO HAVE THAT ROLE OF THE VICE CHAIR OF

CLIMATE AND INFRASTRUCTURE, AS I FELT THAT HAVING A LEADERSHIP

ROLL ON BUDGET WOULD GIVE HER AN OPPORTUNITY TO REALLY MOVE THE

RESOURCES OF THIS INSTITUTION AND REALLY MOVE THOSE RESOURCES IN A

WAY TO SERVE THE NORTH SIDE. BUT IT'S ABOUT THE WILL OF THE BODY.

I'M NOT GOING TO BE SUPPORTING THIS AMENDMENT BECAUSE I KNOW HOW

important this is to Councilmember Stevenson. Councilmember Warren. Thank

you Council President Payne. In your statement you are frequently referencing

what it is that you have heard because you neglected to have a conversation

with me. As I stated to you on yesterday when you reached out to me and told me

what others had decided on my behalf,

you had not had a conversation with me about what my desires were,

what were things that were very important to me within my community

and within my ward that elected me into this position to sit amongst this body

and ensure that we have fair and just things that are happening for North Minneapolis.

My community is just as marginalized, disenfranchised,

if not more than whatever is happening in Ward 8.

And these things are very important to my ward. They're very important to me.

I was an environmental justice fellow with the city of Minneapolis, EJCC, for over, for two terms and still do other work with environmental justice.

And the public works and the service that has happened in my ward needs some change and it needs to be effective.

and we need sustainability for our community across the board, but definitely in the fifth

ward. So I appreciate you, you know, preemptively thinking or however, you know, you drew your

conclusion, but I don't think that it was fair. You did not come and have a sit down conversation

with me after you stated that you would, but made decisions on behalf of me without my consent,

and I expressed interest in climate and infrastructure and biz, not in budget.

Council Member Chavez.

No, I'm just ready to vote.

Seeing no one left in queue.

Oh, Council Member Chowdry.

It's okay.

We're getting used to this dais.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

So I think I want to just like ground us in the fact that being a member of a committee means taking up a lot of the work.

Being a member of the committee means you will be participating in shaping the agenda of the work of that committee.

and all of the all of the members on this body that are chairs and vice chairs should listen

to their committee members and get their items and work on the agenda and so I think that's an

important thing to note because there's there's opportunity for everyone to to do the work of

representing their community whether they have a gavel or not that's certainly not the place

where i started i got intergovernmental relations committee um which wasn't a committee that was

doing a lot and then i tried to work on making it into something and that's still a work in progress

in my first term i served as vice chair of committee of the whole with a chair that was

very hands-on and honestly it was kind of nice to be able to be a member that kind of got to just

focus in on understanding what what each what each city council does what each city council

committee does and so that's just something that i wanted to note to everyone is like we will be

able to all collectively do plenty of work on this committee on these committees and i think

expanding it to a seven person body to ensures that more of us get to participate in various

committees and help shape the work that we're going to take up

Seeing what no one left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the roll on the amendment to add

Councilmember Warren as vice chair of the Climate and Infrastructure Committee.

Councilmember Wonsley. Nay.

Councilmember Rainville. Aye.

Councilmember Vita. Aye.

Councilmember Warren. Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer. Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson. Nay.

Councilmember Chavez. No.

Councilmember Shogtai. Nay.

Councilmember Whiting. Abstain.

Councilmember Chowdhury. No.

Council member Pomisano. Aye. Vice President Osmond. No. President Payne. No. There are five ayes, seven nays, and one abstention. That fails. We will now take up the underlying resolution as amended with Council Member Schaefer as Vice Chair of Budget, and the clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Wansley

Aye

Council Member Rainville

Aye

Council Member Vita

Aye

Council Member Warren

Aye

Council Member Schaefer

Aye

Council Member Stevenson

Aye

Council Member Chavez

Aye

Council Member Chaghti

Aye

Council Member Whiting

Aye

Council Member Chowdhury

Aye

Council Member Palmisano

No

Vice President Osmond

Aye

President Payne

Aye

There are 12 ayes and 1 no

That resolution is adopted and our new committee structure is hereby approved.

The next item is adoption of the 2026 calendar of regular meetings of the City Council and its committees,

which satisfies the statutory requirement for notice of such meetings.

This action also includes a direction to the clerk to publish and post that adopted calendar

and to update it as necessary to reflect the needs of the council.

A copy of the draft calendar is included in your packets.

For my colleagues in the public, I'd like to note that the first cycle of regular meetings will commence the week of January 26th.

Also, I'll point out that as adopted by the last council, our January schedule already includes two tentative one-week cycles to address any time-sensitive matters pending the start of the regular meetings.

Those one-week cycles are for the weeks of January 12th and January 19th.

Based on conversations with the Clerk, it seems that it is likely we may need to use

at least one of these interim cycles to dispense with some time-sensitive business.

The need for these meetings or the decision to cancel them will be communicated to Council

members via email as well as to the public through the City's Legislative Information

Management System on the City's website.

I will also note that it is customary for Council to adopt a calendar for its entire

TERM AT THIS TIME THE CLERK'S OFFICE IS STILL CONFIRMING LEGAL HOLIDAYS DATES OF SIGNIFICANCE

AND OTHER MATTERS IN YEARS 2027 28 AND 29 I UNDERSTAND THAT THEY WILL BRING FORWARD

A DRAFT CALENDAR FOR THOSE OUT YEARS AT A FUTURE MEETING ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS

FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS ABOUT THE 2026 CALENDAR SEEING NONE I MOVE TO THE ADOPTION OF THE

2026 CALENDAR IS THERE A SECOND SECOND THE CLERK THERE'S THERE'S NO PUBLIC COMMENT

during these meetings.

There's no public comment during these meetings.

I'm sorry.

The clerk will call the roll on the question

of the adoption of the 2026 calendar.

Council Member Wansley.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville.

Aye.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Council Member Warren.

Aye.

Council Member Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Chavez.

Aye.

Council Member Shaghtai.

Aye.

Council Member Whiting.

Aye.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Aye.

Council Member Palisano.

Aye.

Vice President Osman. Aye. President Payne. Aye. There are 13 ayes. That motion is adopted and our calendar is approved. The city clerk is directed to post and publish that calendar as required by law and to maintain the calendar as needed. Next we have a resolution adopting the council rules of order. The current version of the rules was adopted in 2024 pursuant to city charter section 4.4 A1 and those rules remain in effect. You'll note that the copy in your packet is marked as the 2026 version and already incorporates both the

majority and minority leader positions in the committee structure. Are there any questions from

council members? I'll move the resolution to adopt the 2026 version of the council rules of order.

Is there a second? Second. The clerk will call the roll. Council member Wansley. Aye. Council member

Rainville. Aye. Council member Vita. Aye. Council member Warren. Aye. Council member Schaefer. Aye.

Council member Stevenson. Aye. Council member Chavez. Aye. Council member Shugtai. Aye. Council member

White no council member Chowdhury I council member Pumasano I vice president

Osmond president Haynes I there are 12 eyes and one name that resolution is

adopted in the 2026 version of the council rules have been formally

adopted the next item is designating council members to serve on the audit

committee the audit committee is an independent decision-making body

established by city charter that is responsible for the city's audit

function including the appointment and supervision of the city auditor as

provided in section 8.1 for OB1 and see one this the council president is

responsible for appointing two council members to serve on the audit committee

one of whom is designated as the committee's chair pursuit pursuant to

that provision of the city code I hereby name myself as chair of the audit

committee and councilmember Chuck tie as the second council member to continue

THE CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS. I WILL ASK THE CLERK TO CALL THE

ROLL. MR. PRESIDENT, THERE IS NO

VOTE ON THIS ITEM. IT IS NOTED AND FILED WITH THE CLERK.

NOTED. ALL RIGHT. THE NEXT ITEM OF BUSINESS IS A RESOLUTION THAT

APPOINTS COUNCIL MEMBERS TO VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS, AGENCIES, BOARDS,

COMMISSIONS AND GROUPS AS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CITY OF

Minneapolis colleagues without objection I'm going to postpone this item in consultation with the

clerk we need additional time to review finalize and update the list of these external appointments

to be sure we have a comprehensive list we'll be reaching out to all members to verify these

appointments and anticipate bringing the action back at our next council meeting of the whole

committee meeting of the whole with that we've completed the new business items on the agenda

finally we have two ordinance introductions to refer to proper committees these are routine

actions that are included in every organizational meeting to expedite the notice and referral

of these matters during the coming term. The introduction essentially opens these chapters

for routine recurring actions. In your packet are two motions that accomplish these referrals,

which include the introduction and referral of amendments to Title II, Chapter 20, related

to wages and salaries, which we will refer to the Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee.

The introduction and referral of amendments to Title 20, Chapter 530, related to rezonings,

we will refer to the business housing and zoning committee colleagues are there any questions on

these referrals seeing none i'll move the introduction and referral of these matters may

i have a second second the clerk will call the roll council member wansley aye council member

rainbow aye council member vitton aye council member warren aye council member schaefer aye

council member stevenson aye council member chavez aye council member shugtai aye council

Council member Whiting. Aye. Council member Chowdhury. Aye.

Council member Palmasano. Aye. Vice President Osmond. Aye.

President Payne. Aye. There are 13 ayes.

That motion carries and those subject matter introductions have

made and referred to the committees as indicated.

Colleagues, that completes all items on the agenda today.

With that, the City Council has completed its organizational

meeting for the 2026 through 2029 term.

I want to again repaint my thanks and to reiterate that I'm

excited to get started on the work that we will accomplish together. With that

we've completed all business and without objection I will declare this meeting

adjourned.

Thank you.