Good morning everyone my name is Elliot Payne I'm the president of Minneapolis City Council

I'm going to call to order this regular meeting of the City Council for February 5th the clerk

will call the role.

1.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.

And again, welcome back to our chambers.

This is starting to feel normal, but this is anything but a normal time.

As you saw on Tuesday, the council has adjusted its calendar to reflect the reality that we're living under,

which is a federal occupation of our city.

There is a lot going on in the city.

We are in the national news once again, not for a good reason.

once again. We are seeing leaders from the Trump administration make claims about how they're

moving forward with this occupation, and the claims that they're making in public don't match

the reality on the ground of the experience of our residents. They are still terrorizing our

communities kidnapping our neighbors and creating chaos on every corner and so we

still have business to run at the city that's why we still are maintaining these

meetings but we know that this is happening under a lot of duress for

everyone in our city so I just wanted to acknowledge that before we started our

meeting. And before we begin, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members and staff

that this meeting is broadcast live to enable greater public participation. The broadcast

includes real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our

proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of

their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the

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

With that, the agenda for today's meeting is before us. Are there any amendments? Councilmember

Chugtieh.

Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to move to amend the agenda to include under

the order of notice of ordinance introductions a notice of intent relating to regulations

regarding owner entry into a rented dwelling unit.

I will move this amendment and ask for a second.

Second.

Councilmember Chagdai has moved to amend the agenda.

It's been seconded.

Is there any discussion on that amendment?

Seeing none, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Vice President is clarifying.

Call the roll as amended.

On the agenda as amended.

Thank you.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Council Member Schaefer. Aye.

Council Member Wansley. Aye.

Council Member Shugtang. Aye.

Council Member Whiting. Aye.

Council Member Chowdhury. Aye.

Council Member Stevenson. Aye.

Council Member Rainville. Aye.

Council Member Vitaugh. Aye.

Council Member Palmisano. Aye.

Council Member Chavez. Aye.

Vice President Osman is absent.

President Payne. Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries and the agenda is adopted.

The next item is acceptance of the minutes from our regular meeting of January 15th.

May I have a motion to accept those minutes?

So moved. Second. The clerk will call the roll. Council member Warren. Aye. Council member Schaefer. Aye. Council member Wansley. Aye. Council member Shuktai. Aye. Council member Whiting. Aye. Council member Chowdhury. Aye. Council member Stevenson. Aye. Council member Rainville. Aye. Council member Vita. Aye. Council member Palmasano. Aye. Council member Chavez. Aye. President Payne. Aye. There are 12 ayes. That carries and the minutes have been accepted. Finally we have the referral of petitions, communications and reports to proper committees. May I have that motion please? So moved. Second. The clerk will call the roll.

roll council member warren council member schaefer uh aye is this including all 1 through 67

council member schaefer this motion is actually allowing reports from departments and committees

to be referred in the next cycle of council thank you aye council member wonsley aye council member

chug tai aye council member whiting aye council member chadri aye council member stevenson aye

council member rainbow aye council member vita aye council member pomizano aye council member

Mr. Chavez. Aye. Aye. There are 12 eyes. That carries and those matters have been referred.

The next order of business is the presentations of reports from standing committees. As you know,

due to the unprecedented nature of the ice occupation in our city, we're operating under

a temporary structure that has condensed all our standing committees into a single super committee

of the whole. I want to offer my thanks to Council Member Chowdhury for her able leadership

of that meeting this past tuesday it was a marathon meeting but i think it was very well

organized and she did an excellent job in helping us navigate an extensive agenda with a wide variety

of issues so thank you and congratulations to our super cow chair councilmember chowdhury with that

i'll ask her to present the report from our first super committee of the whole thank you mr president

the super committee of the whole is bringing forward 67 items items one through six were

were originally intended for the Enterprise Labor Relations

Committee.

One and two are both collective bargaining agreements.

Three through five are working compensation claims.

And six is accepting a grant for the Minneapolis Democracy

Center.

Items seven through 16 were intended for the Business

Housing and Zoning Committee.

Seven through 10 are liquor and gambling license

approvals and renewals.

Eleven through 16 include various contracts, grants,

appointment and an appropriation for demolition items 17 through 34 were

intended for the public health safety and equity committee 17 through 19 are

gift acceptances 20 through 32 are contract amendments funding

redistribution grant acceptances and a grant extent extension lastly 33 and 34

alert legislative directives items 35 through 58 were intended for the climate

and Infrastructure Committee.

35 through 38 are street reconstruction projects

and a related appropriation.

39 through 45 are various grants and agreements for services.

46 through 51 are various bids for project and services.

And 52 through 58 are various contract amendments

and a grant acceptance.

Items 59 and 60 are budget amendments.

Item 61 is a gift acceptance for President Payne.

Item 62 is a contract with IDEA Analytics for police misconduct training per the settlement agreement.

Item 63 is approving the 2026 legislative agenda and policy positions.

Item 64 is a lease agreement with the U of M.

Item 65 is a bid for the MPD training annex.

Item 66 is a budget amendment related to immigration legal services.

And finally, item 67 is a rental assistance resolution and was brought forward without recommendation.

I will move approval of all of these items and just pull item 67 for a separate vote and discussion.

Council Member Chaudhry has moved approval of the committee report minus item 67.

Is there any discussion on the remainder of those items?

Seeing none, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

Those items carry.

We will next take up item number 67,

and I will recognize Councilmember Wansley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Colleagues, in taking into consideration

the discussion and statements made during Cal

related to this item on Tuesday, I

think it's important to level set what this proposal is

and lay out that, or lay out why,

it should earn the support of all 13 council members.

The need for rental assistance is indisputable.

There are thousands of families who have lost income

from ICE's occupation of Minneapolis

and will be evicted without financial assistance.

Families have had their breadwinners detained.

Workers fear leaving the house due to the threat

of racial profiling by ICE that could lead them

to also being detained, deported, or even killed.

And there are also families who are not being directly targeted by ICE but have lost access to child care or their workplaces have closed and they've had their hours reduced as a result of ICE's presence.

Residents are doing a phenomenal job at fundraising to support each other, but that isn't a substitute for governmental action.

And yesterday, a parent leader shared that it's estimated that rental assistance fundraisers by Minneapolis public school families have raised over a million dollars cumulatively to support other families.

Minneapolis residents have made international news because of their incredible response in supporting each other during this occupation.

but it's incredibly unfair and illogical to depend on these working class people to pay each other's rent when the city has a responsibility in keeping these neighborhoods safe.

Minneapolis has the opportunity to step up to be the first governmental entity to take action on a response and recovery plan related to the looming eviction crisis.

and the city cannot address the impacts of this federal occupation alone, which is why I am working

with state legislators to advance significant investments in rental assistance as soon as the

state legislative session starts in a few weeks. But in the interim, the $1 million from the city

can begin getting help to residents who need it. Not all impacted residents are plugged into mutual

aid networks or are lucky enough to have a neighbor host a GoFundMe for them. Many people

are relying on their local government to help them during a crisis, and this is one of the ways in

which we can demonstrate to residents that council hears them, cares about them, and is stepping up

to do something to support them. The city sets aside an unallocated contingency fund for

unanticipated costs and emergencies. Rental assistance for families because of ICE's violent

OCCUPATION OF OUR CITY IS AN

UNANTICIPATED COST AND EMERGENCY

MAKING IT APPROPRIATE USE OF

CONTINGENCY FUNDS AND I KNOW THAT

COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING HAS A

PROPOSAL THAT ESSENTIALLY AIMS TO

CUT FUNDING FROM THE AFFORDABLE

HOUSING TRUST AND AND I WILL NOTE

WHILE WE'VE HAD MANY CONVERSATIONS

TOGETHER TO ALSO GET TO A PLACE OF

HOW DO WE GET RENTAL ASSISTANCE

ACROSS THE FINISH LINE I WANT TO

NAME VERY FORWARD THAT I CAN'T

support the source on that item. Cutting investments in affordable housing is not how we

also get through this crisis in an equitable way. And it's pitting the most vulnerable communities

and populations against each other. And the impacts of the cut will be felt two years,

five years, 10 years, even 25 years from now when our neighborhoods are less affordable,

less diverse, and less equitable. And it will be felt most by working class families who aren't

getting or who are getting priced out of their communities. And when we take up measures of

cutting some of the tools that have helped to promote affordable housing and the development of

30% AMI housing, it leaves us to look at what else do we have left. And we don't want to be put in

that predicament. And that said, if for some reasons my colleagues prefer to not use the

contingency fund that is set aside exclusively for situations like this, I will be also bringing

an alternative option that draws funds from the cash balance. Unlike contingency, this requires

just also no programs to be cut, which I think is the underlying goal of how we're balancing

this appropriation and making sure that communities, specifically vulnerable communities,

are not being divested in, and we're not also leading to department or programmatic cuts.

And contingency is the strongest way to get there, and that is what is for consideration before you.

And this will allow thousands of residents to have housing stability and to protect them from

ICE in the moment where that is one of our clearest objectives and responsibilities in

which we could be showing up for. So with that, I will move approval with recommendation

FOR THIS ITEM. SECOND. SECOND.

COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY HAS MOVED APPROVAL OF ITEM

NUMBER 67. IT'S BEEN SECONDED. ALSO NOTE THAT WE'VE BEEN JOINED

BY VICE PRESIDENT OSMAN. AND VICE PRESIDENT, WOULD YOU LIKE

TO HAVE YOUR VOTE RECORDED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE FOR THE PRIOR

ITEMS? YES, PLEASE. MR. CLERK, IF YOU COULD RECOGNIZE

THAT. AND I WILL NEXT RECOGNIZE

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN.

Thank you, President Payne.

I'm just going to state again in respect to the rental assistance and the ask that is coming from the council with respect to Minority Chair Wansley's resolution.

we still have to take into consideration that with a lot of our immigrant neighbors,

they are in fear of providing their information to city and state services.

So it is an unfair ask for them to then go and report when we have issues around trusted data privacy

and things of that nature to believe that there will be some allocation of funding that is specified just to them

because that smells like discrimination.

The county's ramifications that it has around emergency assistance

and emergency assistance programs also speak to sustainability for families.

So if you are in an emergency or an emergency situation,

they want to know how you are able to sustain yourself beyond that situation.

And that is an important factor to uplift

because we do recognize that we do have a crisis within our city,

but I don't understand nor do I believe that the county will soften their guidelines and expectations around this specific situation just to cater to a certain class or group of individuals.

We also have a number of families that have been affected through the closure of DHS who have been providing essential services to families and community members throughout the state as PCA servicers and all of those things who have not been paid since December.

that does not have anything to do with ICE.

It has to do with the fraudulent impact that is currently reigning over our state.

And with putting a discriminatory type of resolution as this,

where we're saying we're only catering to individuals who are impacted by ICE,

that is going to also smell and spell out some type of fraudulent discrimination

that is going to further impact marginalized communities,

and it's not going to work in any way.

That's all I have to say about that.

Councilmember Chowdhury. Thank you, President Payne. I just really want to take a second to paint the picture that we're in. And I think it's really important to state that we're in an all-hands-on-deck situation, right?

Like, it's been clear for the past few months, all we have is our community.

And in local government, we are all looking for ways to improve the material conditions

of those whose lives are actively falling apart, while knowing that there were several

hundreds and hundreds of community members who were already, before this crisis, struggling.

And what we know is we don't have enough of those resources.

And what we know is that this $1 million is about to be a drop in the bucket for the rental assistance that we need, but it's going to be a lifeline.

It's going to help many, many families in this moment.

And I need to make sure that we're protecting this body.

Us allocating funding for rental assistance is not fraudulent.

It's prioritizing in this moment a million dollars, a drop in the bucket for those experiencing harm in this crisis.

And we need to go to the legislature and make sure that we have rental assistance for everyone to recover,

whether it's due to the impacts of ICE or because you had a predatory situation in your part of town

and you've been living paycheck to paycheck and you're a single mother and you've been struggling for some time

and you are trying to avoid an eviction, right?

And in this moment, the phone calls that I've been getting with community members have looked like this.

I talked to one gentleman who was like, I have lived in this country for 17 years, and I have never asked for help.

I've never wanted to ask for help.

But I have no choice now, because I am scared.

I am scared that I'm going to be kicked out of my home, and I need to stay here.

I've talked to many women, especially.

It's a lot of women, and I know a lot of community members in Minneapolis resonate with this,

many women that are trying to figure out what's happening for their family.

Women who have lost their partner because they have been taken and abducted,

and that income is now gone.

Women who were already single parents and were going to work and now are fearful of going to work

because they are the lifeline to their child,

that they have no option, again, to just ask for help so they can stay in their home.

Women who are working, but because their workplace has been so impacted by this ICE occupation,

are not able to pay their paycheck on time, and so they're late on rent.

And so I just want to say, like, this $1 million is certainly not going to meet the need,

but it is a measure that we can take to lift some boats and also leverage future rental assistance.

And I know that there are risks that people take when it comes to applying for rental assistance with their data,

but I think we should give people the agency to decide to take that risk and not decide that for them.

I don't think that's our job as government.

and when you get an eviction letter, when you get a letter that says you're going to proceedings,

sometimes the only option you have in that moment is to apply for emergency rental assistance.

And I think this is a moment where us as a city can step up and also be a model for getting more

assistance and more resources for the black, brown, indigenous communities that have long suffered

in the way in which our housing system is set up, right?

It shouldn't be that precarious for people to stay in their home.

And so I think it makes a lot of sense for us to vote for contingency.

I understand the concerns that several of my colleagues have.

I just implore you, I think this is the best source for us to do it in.

I think it has a lot less risk than us going into our cash fund,

and I think it matches the emergency type of situation that contingency requires.

So I just really implore you and ask for your vote on this one today.

Council Member Chuck Tye.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Colleagues, I am really excited to support this item today,

and I want to urge all of you sincerely to support this item.

And I want to talk about that through three different lenses.

The first is around programming and what happens when,

should we approve this money,

what is going to happen on the side of Hennepin County.

So the total amount of money that is allocated for rental assistance

through RentHelp Hennebin is approximately $10 million at the county.

Each year, that entire pot of money gets used fully.

Last year, additional money had to be added during the fourth quarter

because the resources were all entirely tapped out.

There is no way for a person to receive this form of rental assistance unless they earn approximately minimum wage, about 30% of area median income,

and they have received court summons.

They've been served summons to show up at eviction court,

meaning their names are on that.

Their address is on that.

The government has the information,

the personally identifying information

that we may have concerns people don't want to access already.

right that's that's the nature of how people get here um i think there's some really incredible

things that are happening in our city right now uh council member wansley highlighted uh one

million dollars raised through um our school families um there through the through mutual aid

funds um and go fund me's there's been approximately 10 million dollars raised in the last couple of

weeks that is almost entirely going towards rental assistance directly paying people's rents right so

we're we're doing our community is doing everything we can to catch people on the front end before

they get served their eviction before their eviction gets filed before they receive their

summons this pot of money is about catching the people that we don't find that don't get connected

to a mutual aid network that can't, that aren't able to connect with their neighbors and get

their need met.

This is for the people that slip through the cracks.

This amount of money, so for, if you are a person who is either a senior, have children,

or have a disability, your entire backlog of rent is completely paid for.

$1 million would allow for 250 families to benefit from this assistance.

That's the scale of need, right?

And 250 families, I don't know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you.

I think it's a drop in the bucket compared to the need I personally see.

And I'm just one person in the city from my perspective, right?

So I think I want to just talk very briefly about discrimination.

This was brought up during committee as well and again here today.

And I really I would urge us to reflect back on the actual language of the resolution, which has no mention of this.

these resources being catered to only people who are impacted by the presence

and occupation that ICE is conducting in our city right now. The exact language is

one-time rental assistance for residents in need. So I just like let's please

stick to the facts as we're going through these conversations. As the budget chair, I really want

to implore us to use contingency as the mechanism to fund this, right? Contingency is 1% of our

general fund expenditures. It is money that is set aside for emergencies every single year.

You know, in a couple of the conversations I had with colleagues yesterday, I did hear there was

a concern that contingency needed to be backfilled within a calendar year. That is not true.

And this is the best way for us to get an urgent need in our community met while also

preventing any cuts to services or frontline programs or taking money out of our cash balance

when we know the amount of overtime for police and fire that's already been spent this year.

we shouldn't be putting our our financial position as a city in in a worse condition

and this is this is the most this is the best way we can we were able to come up with

to make that a reality at the at the pace it needs to and then the last thing I want to just lift up

is you know since Monday night I have been in touch with

so many of my constituents and just people across the South Side who have found their way to me

through word of mouth. Since Monday night, the amount of rental assistance that just the people

that I've been in touch with need is nearly $76,000. That's the scale of need. Every person

who we are not able to crowdfund their rent is someone who is likely to face an eviction.

Every single one of these parents, every single one of these people are parents.

I spoke to a mom who is disabled. Her husband is in detention. She's now suddenly become a single

parent she's behind on rent these are that every story is tragic it is heartbreaking

this is one small piece of the puzzle and i think this is a moment where we can be united in saying

we're going to do every last thing we can to protect the people that are slipping through the

cracks please i urge you all to support this thank you mr president councilmember vita

thank you president payne thank you um council member chupp tie for your comments i think

you're right we we should all support this i think where the issue is is that we have a difference of

opinion on where the money should come from and i i find it to be um challenging to listen to a

conversation about where we know things aren't gonna pass versus where we know

we have the votes for something to pass because that's all got to play out up

here I think it's smart for us to vote how we know that there'll be success from

this council to this community and I think all 13 of us knows what that is

right so like anything outside of that to me feels performative and feels like

a forced vote for something that you know is not going to pass we can act like we don't know but

we know so I think like there's a pot of money that all of us may not agree on but we know like

I like I mean thank you councilmember Palmisano and councilmember Warren for talking through this

I had a lot of questions about how these programs actually work.

You answered the questions that I had two days ago when I wasn't even at a place of being certain if I could vote for this.

So I appreciate you answering my questions about the program itself and then about how we fund it,

how we get to a place where all of us can vote on making sure this money gets to Hennepin County.

because one thing I don't we had a great presentation yesterday from Director Sayers

who is our the head of our what is it emergency management there we go and she said something

that I've heard a lot in the last month that families who really need these services aren't

going to use the county they're too afraid to give their information and the most telling thing she

said was if we're supporting families not as a council but just as people we

shouldn't tell people that something is specifically for rent we should just give

people a dollar amount for a household and let them choose their needs in their

household because some people may need rent some people may need food some

people may need utilities some people may need to get their car fixed there's a

lot of expenses people are having in the household at this time and so in my mind

I would like to figure out how we can get people just a dollar amount and they're able to use it

and I had some great conversations with philanthropy this week where I think we'll make some progress in that area

What I'm afraid of is this is a one-time thing for families from my understanding from speaking to

Councilmember Warren you can apply for Hennepin County assistance like once a year and so these families have a one-time

opportunity

to apply for this. We don't know what the impact of this is going to be in three months.

So we have people who are going to apply this month. Hopefully they get it. I want anybody who

applies to get it, but we're not going to have an opportunity for them to get this money again

in three months or even this year at all. So I have deep concerns about that, especially knowing

that this can get worse. 250 families is, you know, that's fantastic. We want that. We want to

help 250 families. We want to keep fundraising. We want to give people what they need. But I just,

I know the language. I've read it. I understand like it's not to target a certain group of people.

It's not discriminatory. But I know how this conversation started. And I just don't know that

this is going to impact the people that we need it to impact. If they're going to access it,

if they're going to be eligible. And I still haven't got answers on the county's backlog

because this doesn't get expedited in their system.

They have already applications.

My understanding is that they already have a lot of applications

they're working through now, and this gets put in as people apply.

So I heard from people who said,

I applied for rental assistance, and I didn't get it.

I was denied.

I don't even know how I didn't get it or why I didn't get it.

I thought some people said I tried to fill out the application,

and it just rejected it right away.

Some people said I got an interview

and I thought I was getting it

and they denied me.

And these are some of the most vulnerable people

in this city who said they couldn't even get it.

And so I'm fearful that we're giving it to the county

but we're not giving it to the people who need it.

And so I support,

I think it's Council Member Whiting's resolution.

I'm on board for that, but I really do think the larger conversation for us as a council

is to look at how we actually support families and how we actually get the money in their

pockets so they can make a decision for their household and how the city can better support

them.

If that's us individually fundraising, if that's us calling on to community partners,

if that's us, we just had a wonderful Ward 4 resident here today for the Black History

month celebration destiny prosper who's raised thirty thousand dollars for lucy laney families

herself she single-handedly did that she's helping with rental assistance i mean i know we can't um

you know fundraise to get ourselves out of this but i do think for now we could for now we could

help and we can use our resource we could take our time as a city to figure out a strategy and

a plan to make sure three three months from now five months from now and a year from now from now

that we are still able to support those families when the worst of the worst is going to happen.

Thank you. Vice President Osmond. Thank you so much, President Payne.

So immigrant council member who's here, a member of this body, and someone who federal government

AND ATTACKED ITS COMMITTEE, MY COMMUNITY.

I THINK I CAN SPEAK FOR IMMIGRANTS.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE SINCE THIS CRISIS HAS HAPPENED?

OTHER THAN GO TO THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND JUST TALK AND TELL PEOPLE THEY HAVE RIGHTS

WHICH I DON'T EVEN KNOW WE DO ANYMORE.

What is the city of Minneapolis doing?

What's more crisis than what we're facing today

on the streets of city Minneapolis?

Look back to the history.

It's up there.

We got families that are getting kidnapped.

Maybe the average person in Minneapolis

not thinking about, oh, I don't know

who's gonna pick up my kids today from school

when I'm no longer there and I've been kidnapped by ICE

and in a few hours back to Texas.

It's about the children.

It's about these human beings that are being attacked by so many ways.

It's not about choosing one group or another.

It's about responding to specific harm that's happening to our most vulnerable people, immigrants,

who are being targeted.

Maybe it's not happening in your community or member of today,

but history teaches it happens to all the communities we're being targeted I

don't know if you watch the national news we're being called garbage we're

being other we've been discriminated we've been killed in Minneapolis on the

streets I don't know what's more emergency than going to the contingent

funding this is what the city is supposed to do it's supposed to look out

for its citizens and community members are raising money that's great but

we can sit here and say oh the local government's not doing anything we can't

even touch specific money that we put for this kind of activities or this kind

of situation when they arise so I don't know it's it's kind of really sad that

to hear that we can't have this money because it's not emergency enough or for whatever reason.

It is more emergency than anything else.

I'm looking at the city leadership.

I'm looking at the administration enough with the press conferences and promises that's not really.

It's here.

We're here yesterday.

They will be here.

They're not leaving.

Your conversation on the federal government, I'm looking at the governor.

I'm looking at the mayor, I'm looking at all the council members and the city leaders.

This is needed.

This is actually one of the least thing we can do.

You know, we're not protecting our residents out there that are being kidnapped, that have been harassed.

We can't even do anything because we are afraid of being invaded by the military.

It's been very difficult and emotional for everyone.

and we can kind of throw all kind of things out there and say,

oh, people are afraid to go seek money for the government.

That's, no, if I can't pay the rent,

I'm going to go get the money from anywhere there is

because Minneapolis has a separation ordinance.

People understand.

People trust me.

They trust people like Council Member Chavez

who can communicate through that.

CITY MINNEAPOLI IS SAFE, A PLACE THAT YOU CAN GO GET HELP. IF THIS FAILS, I WILL BE THE MOST

DISAPPOINTING THING THE WHOLE TIME, THE ENTIRE TIME I'VE BEEN HERE. THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

MORE EMERGENCY THAN WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING LAST FOUR YEARS. IT'S NOT HAPPENING TO ALL GROUPS,

BUT IT'S HAPPENING TO SPECIFIC GROUPS THAT ARE BEING TARGETED, THAT HAVE IT THE HARDEST.

THE STORIES ARE HORRIFYING.

A MOM WHO JUST GAVE BIRTH WAS SNATCHED FROM HER BABY.

IN FEW HOURS SHE WAS BELIEVED IN AN AIRPLANE.

SHE WOULD NEVER SEE THAT BABY AGAIN.

THAT IS A STORY THAT ANY HUMAN BEING CAN RELATE TO.

SO LET'S SAVE THAT BABY'S HOUSE TODAY.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ABOUT.

AND THANK YOU COLLEAGUES FOR SPEAKING OUT,

FOR CONTINUING TO STAND FOR THE MURDER AND LIES COMMUNITY.

for targeted communities by the strong force of federal government. Thank you.

Council Member Wansley.

Thank you, President Payne. I just wanted to address some of the concerns raised about Hennepin County's ability or efficacy in being able to administer these funds.

And some of the concerns I heard raised during our conversation right now and even on Tuesday was rooted in perceptions around fraudulent activities.

And I just first want to implore us to use caution when using fraud as a basis of creating distrust with government agencies, especially in light of that same type of rhetoric, rhetoric being weaponized by right wing and mega pundits and officials who used it and weaponized it to lay the groundwork for Trump's enactment of Operation Metro Surge,

which has created the conditions for us to even have to consider rental assistance in the first place to protect residents who are having to shelter in place as a defense mechanism against ICE.

So I would just implore us to be cautious about using that language and also just to further double down on the fact that Hennepin County is a reputable agency.

Our own staff highlight this on Tuesday, but they have attorneys who advise them on how to comply with all relevant rules and regulations.

And they have been dispersing rental assistance for years in a legally compliant and legitimate way.

And they've actually won national recognition for this work.

And I would implore also if any member of this body has evidence that Hennepin County is committing fraud and rental assistance, then please go submit evidence to the authorities located right across the street or consider joining the MAGA movement because those are kind of the two avenues that you have right now.

But I want to note also, I shared this on Tuesday, the county also sent a letter over to this body where they highlighted, once again, their ability to meet this need.

Specifically in the letter sent by David Hewitt, the director of housing stability there, the letter states in 2025 alone,

Hennepin County administer approximately 11 million dollars in emergency rental assistance

to 3,000 households facing eviction and they were able to do so effectively by braiding a variety

of state and local funding sources with unique requirements and criteria while ensuring payments

were delivered in a timely matter for applicants averaging 14 days from the initial request in 2025

And then with the ability to be able to deploy these resources using even the city's appropriation that we're considering today, at the end of the letter, they named Hennepin County has the ability to leverage its various funding streams in RentHelp Hennepin to ensure any new funding for rental assistance reaches residents quickly and while a funding agreement is codified.

So there is parameters and procedures in place to make sure that these dollars get out the door once they are approved and sent over to Hennepin County upon the completion of that joint agreement or funding agreement that we talked about yesterday and that staff mentioned is a requirement of this process.

So I at least wanted to highlight that they have the ability to.

And once again, to reiterate, there is no way you are going to go fund me our way out of an eviction crisis.

This funding, governmental funding, is literally the last line of defense.

And Council Member Chuck Tye highlighted this.

For every single person who do not have access to a mutual aid network or who are not able to have a neighbor fundraise for them,

this is a resource for them because there's thousands of residents who do not have access

to that network and as council member osmond highlighted they will be seeking out support

from their governmental partners and state legislators know that because when they move

their emergency rental assistance package which is being led by senator port guess where they're

sending that money to they're not sending it to your local neighbors they're sending it to counties

They're sending it to fellow aligned governmental agencies to disperse emergency relief so

that people can have the resources they need to stay housed.

So this is one of the ways in which we can prevent eviction as opposed to waiting for

it to happen and still being the same conundrum of people being at our doors saying, why did

you let this happen when you had a mechanism to prevent it?

And this gives us that preventative opportunity to show up for our residents who are doing

TEN TIMES MORE THAN ANY OF US ARE DOING IN THIS MOMENT AND HAS BEEN FOR SEVERAL WEEKS TO SAY ONE MILLION DOLLARS IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET OF WHAT WE CAN OFFER RIGHT NOW AND WE'RE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN TO MOBILIZE OTHER GOVERNMENTAL LEADERS TO GIVE AND MOBILIZE RESOURCES WITH THE EXPEDIT EXPEDIT SEE THAT IT DESERVES AND THE URGENCY IT DESERVES.

YOU'RE AT TIME.

THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN.

THANK YOU.

Thank you, Council President Payne and Minority Leader Wansley.

I appreciate your comments.

And we won't use the word fraud, but what we will say, if you're offended by that, I don't want to offend you in that respect,

but it definitely is a very real and present instance that we are facing here in the state of Minnesota.

My uncle drove for metropolitan transit for over five, six years, ended up with stage four cancer,

living in his apartment right in Southside Minneapolis in the city view right off of Hiawatha.

He also did part-time property management there, so his apartment was discounted because of his property management.

When he ended up with stage four cancer just this past year, was not able to get an expedited caddy waiver,

was not able to get emergency assistance, was not able to get any of his essential needs met

because there was not a plan for sustainability.

Again, I want to highlight so that you understand because I have been a welfare recipient.

I received 437.

I stood in the food stamp line on Franklin.

I know how these programs work.

So when you go down there and you apply, what they're going to ask you is, do you have the ability to pay going forward?

If we provide you with $2,000, $2,500, if we activate an application because your lights are getting cut off or your gas is getting disconnected, what is your plan for sustainability going forward?

If we have families who are unfortunately being kidnapped and robbed and taken away from whomever and they do not have sustainable income in the household, they are not going to be eligible for these targeted funds.

Again, the individuals who need it will not be the ones who receive it.

And we have to also keep in mind, even pivoting these funds to nonprofit organizations who, again, the county is reputable.

These nonprofit organizations are reputable.

But any time they give out a dollar, be it petty cash or what have you, there has to be an accounting of a name, place, who, what, where, why, when, how, what this looked like and what it was for of where these funds went to.

I am licensed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

When you fill out a 9902 form to report to HUD of what you do with funding,

it states who, what, where, why, when, and how.

Anything with respect to housing.

So I want us to be cautious and educated on what it is that we're doing.

I'm not saying that I don't want to help our immigrant families and families in need.

We not only have people who need rental assistance, but we also have families that are homeowners that are drowning in their homeowner debt because they cannot afford to pay their mortgages because they have been disrupted and disenfranchised in this situation.

We need to figure out how to help them, too.

But it will not be able to come from a city or a county or a nonprofit organization.

It is going to take individual collective efficacy.

And if people are in fear of data breach, data privacy, disruption, people following Uber drivers, food delivery people, and all of these other things that are jeopardizing the safety and well-being of our immigrant families and community members, we have to be cautious and very careful of what protection looks like and how we protect those individuals.

And I don't believe that it is something that should be discussed on a dais.

I think we should take a note during this great Black History Month out of the Underground Railroad and not be blasting people's business all over the city, because that is not how we protect our most vulnerable.

That is not how that works. And I thank you so much for your time, consideration.

I love you all. The end.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you, Council President.

I have a few questions.

I'm not sure if the clerk, attorney, or you, Mr. President, can answer these for me.

I am new as well as some others here.

And so I just have a few questions about the different funds.

What is the definition of what an eligible use for the contingency fund?

Mr. Attorney, would you like to speak to that?

I'm not the appropriate person to speak to that I think we could have someone

from finance here to speak to how the fund balances work are they in the back

okay we have any professional staff in the back that could come to the chambers

to speak to comes member Stevenson's question

Thank you.

Welcome. Did you catch the question from? I did not. Okay. Council Member Stevenson,

would you like to ask your question again? And then if you could introduce yourself.

Yeah. So my question is, what's the definition of allowable uses for a contingency fund?

through the chair council members contingency is defined only in the financial policies

i believe the language and perhaps the budget chair has it pulled up but is around unanticipated

expenses uh councilmember chuck ty yeah thank you um contingency in our financial policies is

defined as uh the budget that we set aside for undesignated expenditures these expenditures

cannot be placed in departmental budgets primarily because the level and timing of expenditures are

uncertain when the budget is adopted these funds are earmarked for emergency or unanticipated

expenses special projects or revenue shortfalls what that means is the eligible use is something

THAT WE COULD NOT HAVE PLANNED FOR WHEN WE ADOPTED THE BUDGET IN

DECEMBER OF 2025. THANK YOU. IS THAT ACCURATE?

CFO? YES, I THINK IT IS LARGELY.

THE LANGUAGE IS NOT MORE SPECIFIC THAN THAT.

I BELIEVE I FORGOT TO INTRODUCE MYSELF.

I'M THE DEPUTY CFO FOR THE CITY. THANK YOU.

WE HAVEN'T MET, SO I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO SIT DOWN SOME TIME.

This crisis we're in seems unanticipated.

I don't think any of us thought we would be starting this term

with the federal government murdering our neighbors.

And it started in December, but kidnapping thousands

and thousands of others, so this seems pretty unanticipated

and urgent to me.

Could someone please share what the last use

of contingency funds was?

Deputy CFO, do you recall?

Agate.

Correct.

Through the chair, the council has voted affirmatively a few times over the past few years.

I believe Agate was one of the last.

I know there was a potentially at Vivo South when that was under deliberations was going to be.

And then just generally in operations, when we overspend our expenditure budget, that is also a reason for the contingency to be there.

That's why it's so important that we have a contingency budgeted every year.

So when we have cost overruns and revenue shortfalls, as we had last year, the contingency is a valuable cushion for that as well.

Are we expecting overruns currently?

Through the chair, Councilmember, yes, absolutely.

Departments are incurring major costs in responding to this crisis.

And so we have a very small cushion of general fund balance before we hit our minimum fund balance.

and then the contingency is further cushioned there.

Okay, so are there current plans to use this contingency for certain uses?

Through the chair, there are not specific plans to use it,

but it's early in the year.

We don't know what else may befall us besides this crisis,

and so I think finance would urge caution

in deploying further resources at the moment.

Okay.

How often were contingency funds used last year?

Through the chair, I do not believe there was a council vote on contingency funds, but

we'd have to do some limbs research to confirm that.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, from what I see-

Mr. Chair, Councilmember Stevenson, I think our budget chair may have an answer to that.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, the agate example that Deputy CFO Descenza highlighted, I know you experienced that as

a person that was impacted on the on the employer employee side in that in that

important fight that was that was a use of contingency that was approved

contingent on matching funds and so it never actually went out the door even

though the use was approved I can another example that comes to mind is

the MIWRC, the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, where we authorized

$100,000 for them to expand their warming shelters and have the capacity

to keep those open longer. That was a use of contingency that was both

approved and actually went out the door. I didn't realize when I started this

line of questioning that I was personally involved with both uses of

of the contingency last year.

That's interesting.

So it sounds like housing issues have been a frequent use

of contingency funds, at least recently.

I do want to mention again that this is perhaps the most

unanticipated and most urgent situation we potentially could

have imagined.

So this really fits the definition of what contingency could be

used for as far as I am seeing it.

and I would urge my colleagues to do this as well.

I would like to note one thing about another use,

and I'm not realizing how much time,

I have 30 seconds left.

If we take this money from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund,

we will be going against stated priorities of this body,

including the mayor in his inauguration speech,

he spoke very eloquently and powerfully

about building affordable housing everywhere in the city.

Cutting these funds will go directly against that.

I support the mayor's priority of building more affordable housing.

My community on a day-to-day prior to the invasion, housing issues were the biggest issues,

dealing with unsheltered homelessness, dealing with evictions, rents being too high, being

too expensive to buy a home.

So I'm loathe to take from affordable housing in order to do this, and I see this as the

most urgent and unanticipated expense and so i would urge us to use contingency funds for that

purpose councilmember chuck ty thank you mr president um so i want to start actually by

addressing a question that councilmember vita asked um quite a while ago during discussion

which is around what is the backlog of um the the resources for um rental assistance at hannabon

county um it has been confirmed yesterday through um the director of housing stability at hennepin

county that there is currently no backlog um for the for for the rental assistance fund um

at uh hennepin county i think uh as we were having this discussion on tuesday um you know there were

several sets of numbers that were thrown around and it took us a little bit of time as we were

having this discussion to just dig a little bit deeper double check triple check what what's

happening so of the 10 million dollars that they have allocated um approximately at this point um

about a million of that um has been dispersed uh to every um every person who has been who has

applied and has been eligible to receive these funds um and uh and it is important to note that

the one million dollar at this point in the year is comparable to last year which tells us that

the severity of the crisis has not yet hit where evictions are being filed a part of that is also

that we've extended pre-eviction notice here in minneapolis which means that

you know if you're a person that didn't pay your your rent in in january um you're likely getting

your pre-eviction notice um and and and you you had an additional cushion and uh so i think that's

that's an important factor i appreciate that we have talked about um you know how our emergency

management director um has brought up um the the the road map ahead that um you know that that

recovery from this moment that we are living through that we don't know when it's going to end

right um is going to take years and years i think an important factor that both our deputy cfo

and our economic development um staff have brought up is um what happens as as half of all immigrant

owned businesses in our city are shut down what happens as people's hours are cut they're losing

their jobs they're sheltering in place their families are being impacted by family separation

through deportations it as there's more economic instability within individual families the risk of

people losing their homes and then subsequently having an eviction that follows them on their

record permanently making it harder for them to access housing for the next decade of that family's

life right um what happens as people then are pushed out of our city and the economic impact

that has on property values here that we need to the best the best tools we have right now are ones

that keep our communities stable this is this is the last safety net that catches people before

they end up unstable, out of a home, unable to rent again,

forced to leave the city and be displaced out of Minneapolis.

And I think that that is just worth continuing to uplift.

And then I just I want to end with talking about

the people who need this assistance and whether they will be eligible to receive it.

I just, I really feel like I need to strongly assert that if you are a person who is making

minimum wage and you couldn't pay your rent for whatever reason, and you have been served

eviction papers you are a person in need objectively and like we got to move

past saying that the wrong group of people or people who don't really need

it are gonna end up with this assistance thank you

councilmember Schaefer thank you president Payne and thank you first of

all to all my colleagues for bringing this important topic forward I hear all

of our hearts around this issue and it is time to bring this forward for a

discussion I had a couple more questions for director descends a first of all

could you give me an overview of where we are approximately at over budget

across all departments and related to the ice scourge on our city through the

chair, Councilmember Schaefer. We've seen at least $5 million of spending from city departments just associated with those couple weeks in January.

So for just the police department, I think we're at $4.3 million in overtime associated with this response.

So if you project that out, certainly over budget.

and then there's Minneapolis Fire Department, Public Works.

Would both be the main two other departments

that have been greatly affected?

Through the chair, I think every city department

has contributed staff time and energy

to our Emergency Operations Center.

I know finance, the CPAD, health,

we could go through all 26 departments.

They are all contributing hours to that response.

Thank you.

And do you foresee that any of these impacts as we continue this year could affect our long-term health, our budgetary health, or our bond rating?

Could you kind of speak just from your 50,000-foot perspective on that impact?

Through the chair, council members.

Certainly, zooming out, you know, the city has many obligations, and we serve all of our residents, and we need to meet those obligations.

As I mentioned previously, we have the small cushion between where our general fund balance is projected to sit at the end of 2026, assuming departments don't overspend their budgets this year.

And again, that may be difficult given what they are being forced to do because of the federal incursion.

The risk long term for the city, if we are to deplete our resources this year, we've been put on notice by bond rating agencies.

they are watching our use of fund balance.

We have a AAA rating, and that matters for constituents

because it allows us to borrow at a lower rate

to do our capital work.

So I think the concern long-term would be that

without raising property taxes,

we would risk dipping below that minimum fund balance,

and residents would feel the impacts of that.

Thank you for those comments.

I appreciate that's all the questions I had.

I do have some questions

for this potential third proposal that may come forward I'm happy to ask those

now of director Hanson or if we should wait till later president Payne do you

have a preference you have four minutes all right director Hanson I had a couple

questions around this I noticed in the language I didn't foresee any specifics

around a joint committee established in the resolution can you speak to a little

bit about how this partnership would work and what authority we would have or ability to put

boundaries on the direction of the use of that funds might be in particular obviously we would

like to make sure this doesn't go to suburban county residents but would stay in minneapolis

secondly is there options for condo owners or homeowners in this housing assistance area or

or is this specific rental?

Is there flexibility within Hennepin County

to look at both of those?

And those would be the main two things to start with.

All right.

Good morning, Council President Payne, Council Members.

My name is Eric Hansen.

I am the Director of CPED.

And to answer through Council President Payne,

Council Member Schaefer's questions,

the first question,

I don't know exactly what resolution you're looking at,

but if it's the one that's published in LIMS

under Council Member Wansley's name,

This is for rental assistance through the county,

through a joint powers agreement,

for those impacted by Operation Metro Surge.

Is that correct?

Any.

Any, any, okay.

Because I was looking at what was in Lim's file.

We would work on a agreement with the county.

That agreement would come back to the council for approval.

It is our understanding it would be their current program.

We would be adding funding to their current program

under the current guidelines.

I am not aware of any assistance,

true rental assistance that would affect homeowners.

I don't believe that's in the cards in their programs.

It is a question I can confirm, but you should be,

you're probably looking at just renters in this program.

Okay, but that's something you could confirm

with Hennepin County.

I know during COVID, I believe there was some for homeowners,

but I could be incorrect.

through the Council President, Council Member Schaefer,

there are some for foreclosure prevention programs.

This is not one of those foreclosure prevention programs.

Thank you, that's very helpful.

Thank you, Director Hanson.

That's all the questions that I had for you.

Thank you.

So yes, I would love to see some joint powers agreement

added to this language, unless I'm missing something here

in the third resolution that we will get to eventually.

But I do want to say I cannot support taking this million dollars from the contingency or the general fund.

When I hear the director of finances of our city describe that we've already gotten question marks about our bond rating,

when there is already $5 million of overtime spent that we need to take care of to take care of the residents of our city,

that gives me pause so I will not be able to support use I am supportive of

rental assistance but in the first case of contingency funds I will not be able

to support thank you councilmember Chavez thank you council president Payne

directed sense that can you let us know what percentage of the more million

dollars that is being proposed is for the entire budget

Through the chair, could you repeat the question please?

What percentage of the $1 million, what percentage is that compared to the entire city budget?

The entire city budget is on the order of $2 billion.

Our general fund is around $700 million.

So the contingency is required to be 1% of the general fund budget.

Thank you.

and Council President Payne, I hope that members of the public are actually watching this meeting

unfold and that they re-watch the committee of the whole meeting because I am extremely disappointed.

I did not hear concerns about a source until today. In fact, what we heard in Cal and today

is that this vote is somehow fraudulent and that we are cherry-picking, which is not true.

That rhetoric is very dangerous. In fact, it is the same rhetoric that Donald Trump uses to

kidnap our immigrant neighbors in this country.

It is not fraudulent to want to prevent the eviction

of our neighbors.

It is not fraudulent to support neighbors

with rental assistance.

It is not fraudulent to lift the voices

of our immigrant neighbors who are in need.

It is not fraudulent to want to support neighbors

who need help with rental assistance

despite their immigration background.

And I will say that our immigrant neighbors

and neighbors who are in need,

which can be two separate communities,

live in every single ward in the city of Minneapolis.

I would encourage members of this body, this 13-member body that I'm disappointed to be a part of today, to talk to your constituents.

Neighbors across the city are scared right now.

They are late in paying rent.

February 1st just passed.

Rental eviction notices are on the rise.

And I'm just extremely disappointed about this conversation today.

It actually makes me sick to my stomach.

What I have heard from residents across the city of Minneapolis is that we are not doing

enough and that we need to do more.

And what I will say is that we cannot rely on the backs of our neighbors and our neighbors

across the country to keep everyone on float.

We should not be asking the community to fundraise if we aren't willing to fund those same initiatives.

I also need to bring us back to what Minneapolis residents are experiencing because I think

it's important to center what we are doing today instead of this quote-unquote fraudulent activity.

I will say that many of our neighbors have been impacted by Operation Metro Surge,

and those individuals are also our neighbors. People impacted by Operation Metro Surge are

our residents. They may not be able to vote sometimes, but they are our residents,

despite their immigration background.

I have never felt more unwelcome on the city council until today.

I will say that out loud.

I am freaking heartbroken.

There was a two-year-old in Ward 9 that was kidnapped by ICE in Parderhorn.

Is that not an emergency to people in this body?

Does that not raise alarms?

Two Minneapolis residents were murdered by federal agents.

A Latino resident was shot in the leg in North Minneapolis.

a Latino resident was kidnapped in Minnesota by ICE

and then died under custody in Texas.

Our community members are being kidnapped on bus stops

on the way to work,

and those who came to live the American dream

are now facing the American nightmare.

This is only $1 million.

It is not even enough to meet the need

of our actual neighbors who are struggling in Minneapolis.

I am so freaking proud of Minneapolis residents.

they are definitely meeting the needs of our community members in their own ways.

And our neighbors in Minneapolis understand the importance of what our neighbors are experiencing.

But I will continue to say that the conversation that we had in committee of the whole and today

is not matching what our residents are experiencing on the ground.

I ask that folks talk to your neighbors and hear about the sentiments that they're experiencing,

because when they watch this meeting, they're going to be so disappointed.

I WILL SUPPORT THE UNDERLYING MOTION BECAUSE THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.

IN FACT, I HOPE THAT EVERYBODY IN THIS BODY AGREES THAT AN OCCUPATION OF A CITY IS AN EMERGENCY.

AND IF THAT DOESN'T PASS, THEN I WILL SUPPORT THE MOTION FOR CASH FUND.

BECAUSE WE CAN'T EXACERATE THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS AT THE SAME TIME EITHER.

THANK YOU.

COUNCILMEMBER CHAUDREY.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, PRESIDENT PAYNE.

I just wanted to do a couple of things in my comments.

I had questions, but I also wanted to state a few different facts.

First, 50% of the awards of the RentHell Pennepin go to the city of Minneapolis already.

So that just, one, goes to state the existing need for our city when it comes to emergency

rental assistance and how it's compounding right now.

And then $1 million is .05% of our city's total budget.

I'm really glad to hear that Hennepin County is willing to work with our city to make this work however they want

and dedicate it to the city of Minneapolis if that's what we are choosing to do, which I am supportive of.

And if we dedicated it entirely to the city of Minneapolis, that would increase the available rent help money for Minneapolis by 20%.

I HAD A FEW QUESTIONS FOR DIRECTOR HANSEN, IF THAT'S ALL RIGHT.

I SPECIFICALLY WANTED TO GET A PICTURE FROM YOU ABOUT THE FISCAL CLIFF OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND.

YOU AND I HAVE HAD SEVERAL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THIS LAST BUDGET SEASON, AND I'VE BEEN THINKING A LOT ABOUT IT AS WE SEE THE LHA ALLOCATION BEFORE US.

I know it says Laha, but Laha is severely overprescribed by the city of Minneapolis.

That was a huge part of the discussion we had.

We faced a crisis around shelter operations and agreed as a body together that in our city budget process, we would move it there.

But it was also a conversation with a lot of caution that this would, if we continued to take from Laha,

IT WOULD IMPACT THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND DIRECTLY OR

PERHAPS EVEN THE MINNEAPOLIS HOMES PROGRAM WHICH ALLOWS FOR THE

CREATION OF AFFORDABLE HOME OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR

COMMUNITY. SO I JUST WANTED TO GET THE PICTURE FROM YOU ABOUT THE

AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND FINANCIAL CLIFF.

DIRECTOR HANSOM.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT PAIN, COUNCIL MEMBER CHOWDHARY, YES.

SO THE WAY WE HAVE SET UP OUR AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND, IT

know connotes a thing of like there's this funding in it but the city funds it

every year through its annual budget and it's what is the thing that provides

funding for affordable housing affordable housing units all through the

city of Minneapolis that had been funded by some discretionary funds that

were targeted towards this type of use mainly through tax increment financing

districts that are coming off of tiff and going back to the tax rolls which is a positive thing

for the for the overall tax base but it takes away from that source and so every time we take

money away from the affordable housing trust fund it gets us closer to the end of that fiscal cliff

and i'm looking up my stats and it it really basically could impacts how many units we can

can support. Typically the council and the mayor have set the affordable housing trust fund at

about 18 million dollars a year. That will precipitously decline over the next couple

years because we will lose that TIF funding in about a majority of it in 2027. So in the 28,

29 is where we'll see that start to dip. Without other financing sources, we'll just have fewer

dollars for affordable housing production. So if you take money today from the affordable housing

production from the trust fund, it just means this year we'll have fewer housing units that

we can invest in. And next year, because it would be one time next year, we will still be in the

same situation. But fewer houses today. And I think about it in the, when we help produce

affordable housing units, that is affordable housing units for the next 30 years. So they

kind of they compound and they're cumulative in in the housing ecosystem

in the city does that answer your question yeah that does and just a

follow-up to that is we have only a certain amount of the allocation that we

get from the state for LAHA and is it true to state that like by the time we

get to 2027 and onwards we'll be using most of that allocation as projected for

THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND TO ADDRESS THE FISCAL CLIFF AND SOME FOR THE MINNEAPOLIS HOMES PROGRAM?

IN 22ND. YEAH, THROUGH THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT,

COUNCIL MEMBER CHADHARY, PERHAPS THOSE DECISIONS HAVE NOT BEEN MADE.

BUT THAT WILL BE ONE OF OUR MAIN FUNDING SOURCES. THANK YOU.

I'LL JUST CLOSE BY SAYING THE WATCHDOG FOR THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND IS NO LONGER ON

THE COUNCIL, SO SOME OF US HAVE TO TAKE THAT MANTEL UP. AND IT'S OVERPRESCRIBED.

We need this for affordable projects to happen long into the future, and that's why I'm supporting contingency funding.

I think we can get 10 votes for this.

I think it's important that we do it, and I think it's a better option than our cash fund,

but if we have to vote for our cash fund today, that's what I'll ultimately end up doing.

Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you, President Payne.

First of all, I think we want to center this on our discussions that we've been having for weeks.

And this is something that I think all of us are seeing as an emergency.

I think all 13 of us sit here and with the mayor agree that this version of assistance is required and is an emergency in this moment.

And if this is an emergency, I think it is on all of us to figure out a way to actually move this forward.

I believe that this emergency does fit within the definition of contingency funds.

But I also believe that if this does not go forward, we have to figure out the best way to actually get these funds into people's hands as soon as we can.

That being the case, I believe Laha funding and our Affordable Housing Trust Fund is the best version for that.

As all of you sat through, I know all of us sat through a meeting kind of discussing our financial picture.

We just had our deputy director discuss with us and tell us in a lot of flowery words that we're broke.

I think we all know and have heard that this is kind of where our city is at.

And I think continuing to pull from general funds will exacerbate the issues that our city,

not we'll just have for the city of Minneapolis and not this body,

but every single one of our residents and the same exact residents that we hope to serve with what we're doing today.

That said, I just want to read the first eligible use for Laha funding, local affordable housing aid, as prescribed by the state.

The first qualifying projects include emergency rental assistance for households earning less than 80% of area median income.

If we are looking at the definition of how funds should be used, Laha funding is particularly subscribing an eligible use for emergency rental assistance.

I don't believe there's a better definition for that across our city.

And again, I kind of want to add here, and we'll end with this, we are seeing good work across the city, not just by our residents as they are standing up and doing the work, but our employees as well in the city.

We are seeing it by the large overrun, both by MPD, fire and public works, and across our city, people putting in the work to actually show up for our neighbors.

And I believe we are trying to do that as well.

While I will be supporting our contingency funds, I cannot support any level of pull

from our general funds because I believe that will only exacerbate the issues that we have.

And I think none of us want to move forward.

We don't believe any of these funds are, I think, ideal.

But we are in an emergency situation.

We have to figure out how to get there.

And I hope and I urge all of you to consider our law of funding as well.

So thank you.

Councilmember Fita.

Thank you, Chair.

a few things councilmember Warren I'm sorry that you're being compared to MAGA

because you have an opinion about Hennepin County its funding its

programs its procedures you know last year or maybe the year before a council

member sitting on this body accused the city of Minneapolis of waste fraud and

abuse and that in no way was compared to MAGA so I don't think just because you

use those words that means that you're MAGA. You have an opinion, you stated it,

you talked about not only using the services yourself but also helping

others in our communities to use the service. I relied heavily on you

because I know you have experience. So you spent hours talking to me about how

these programs work from a place of knowing yourself and also helping

hundreds of families use these programs and gain access.

So I would say you're the opposite of MAGA

because I don't think they would ever help anybody

get any type of assistance, especially someone on welfare.

They actually think the opposite of it.

So thank you very much for using your expertise.

I'm so proud to have you here sitting on this dais.

I don't even have that expertise.

And I'm so grateful for you being here.

You don't deserve that.

You should, what I love about this job is when something comes up about public health, that's what I have over 20 years of experience in, and I get to talk about it.

I have personal experience and also professional experience.

So, I'm sorry, I'm apologizing.

I'm not apologizing for the body.

I'm apologizing because you don't deserve that.

It's unnecessary.

It really is.

You get to have your opinion, and I know this is meeting, too, and I'm drained already for how you got treated.

this in this meeting for having an opinion and having expertise and subject matter content for something

So sorry a councilmember Warren to the the comment about

There not being a waiting list

There's somebody in this audience that text me and said they were told by Hennepin County that they're on the waiting list

So I don't know where this

You know information about a waiting list or not is coming from

but I know I've heard from lots of people that they're on the waiting list and they don't even

know I mean I heard from people who called me directly and said give the million dollars because

I'm on the waiting list and I don't know what I'm on the way why I'm on the waiting list so if you

all give the million dollars you can you know I can maybe get off the waiting list or find out if

I'm eligible or not so I I don't know if there's a waiting list tonight I wasn't able to find out

but i know that many people have reached out to me since we had the conversation on tuesday

about the waiting list and how they're on it and if they're going to be eligible for it and i do

agree that everyone should be eligible for it my question though is for director hansen we keep

having these conversations about how much the county has uh versus what we have you know there

was before i go to my question so i don't lose my thought there was a comment about the city's

budget being two billion dollars it is two billion dollars but it's not two billion dollars in the

bank waiting a lot of money has already been allocated to basic city services and what people

are looking forward to us doing as a resident as a tax paying resident or a resident of minneapolis so

we don't just have two billion dollars that we can call on we did a budget that spent up a lot

of money we with the mayor's proposed budget along with all the things that we wanted for our ward

cost money they're not free they don't get to just sit there so we don't have two billion dollars

this million dollars it is a little bit in the bigger scheme of things but it's not something

that we foresee we've foreseen in any other budget so we have to we have to make a way to figure it

out but i'm trying to figure out how this is going to work there's conversations around the county

director hanson this is for you i'm sorry i may have called you up too soon but the the county

THE MONEY HAS $10 MILLION IN THEIR HOUSING BUDGET IS MY

UNDERSTANDING. WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THEM A MILLION

DOLLARS. SO NOW THEY'LL HAVE $11 MILLION.

I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND, WILL WE GET OUR MILLION DOLLARS

BACK IF THEY DON'T USE OUR MILLION DOLLARS?

HOW SOON WILL THEY USE $10 MILLION? HOW MUCH DO THEY USE

A YEAR AND WILL WE GET OUR MONEY BACK? I GUESS IT'S TWO

QUESTIONS. IN 20 SECONDS.

Council President, Council Member,

we will add it to the $10 million,

and last year they told us they spent

about $11 million in their program.

And it would be a agreement that we would bring back to you

with all of the details on how the money would be used.

Thank you.

All right, Council Member Stevenson.

Yeah, thank you, Council President.

A few things.

One, there's been a lot of discussion about the bond rating.

Last year when we were in much less crisis,

MPD overspent its budget by $20 million.

How did that affect our bond rating?

Deputy CFO.

Through the chair, council member Stevenson.

We meet with the, I should say the CFO

along with our banking investment and debt team

meet with the bond rating agencies annually, I believe.

They have an annual report.

And that comes out, I believe in the summer,

you can take a look at it, they're on the city's website.

So we have not yet had those processes again,

since that time.

Okay, thank you.

What has changed in that department

and in other departments in order to spend

according to their budget?

Through the chair, council member, it's a good question.

I think there are ongoing conversations

about what it would mean.

The council members referring to our police

and fire departments overspent their budgets in 2025.

You all will get a presentation from the controller

upon year end, accounting year end of 2025

with the specific figures.

Departments including the police department

brought forward budget reduction scenarios

through the budget process last year.

One of the key things that the police department has changed

is backing off of the critical staffing overtime,

which was an elevated overtime rate

that they had been in while they were understaffed.

That is no longer the case,

so they have a standard overtime rate going forward

and we anticipate savings from that.

I believe the chief has also issued stricter policies

around overtime usage.

Great, thank you.

I'll have more questions,

but they'll probably be rhetorical,

so feel free to sit down.

Given the financial state of the city,

we should have a lot of questions

about what's being done to limit department spending.

I've heard from folks both in the administration

on this council that a large amount of money now is being used for graffiti removal and that that's

having public works go over is that really where our money needs to go right now um i think rental

assistance is vastly more important um i think our constituents need it my constituents have been

crystal clear that they have been demanding this of me and they've been demanding this of all of us

so we're going to have to we're going to have to see some things go and i i think rental assistance

is not one of those. We need this rental assistance and we need to do it in a way that's not

stealing from Peter in order to pay Paul. Lastly, Laha is already allocated. We would be doling out

lethal cuts to vital projects and services that I simply don't want to do. Yesterday, I met with

Catholic Charities, which runs homeless shelters among other things. Homeless shelters are an

eligible use of Laha, and we are still in a homelessness crisis. Taking Laha and affordable

housing dollars is much worse than stealing from Peter to pay Paul. It's relegating future

evictions, future homelessness, and crushing financial stress and debt on our residents

under the current housing crisis. So we can and we should use contingency funds because

this is a thing that is unanticipated and we desperately need it and we also desperately

need our affordable housing projects and other housing services to be fully funded.

And with that, I'll give it back to the President.

Councilmember Paul Mazzano.

Thank you, President Payne.

The facts given to us by Deputy CFO DeCenza have been front of mind to me this past week.

I do recognize that other than Councilmember Vita as a park commissioner, others here on this dais were not around when we had to redo the budget several times until Councilmember Osmond joined us late in the year during the COVID crisis and pandemic.

We've all been exploring how to best show up with what we can possibly afford with city dollars in this moment.

we all get deeply personal stories of need, immediate and dire need, these days more than ever

for the crisis that we're in. At the same time, Minnesota Multi-Housing Association,

and they've given me permission to source them, they report to me that rent collections are

tracking with normal rent collections right now. That's the macro view, and that's as of today.

But we all know that this road is very long and that philanthropy is filling known needs right now, but likely not into the future as long as it's going to need to go.

So, of course, I see a huge need for emergency rental assistance in our community.

This is an unprecedented time, and I support the intent of this resolution, but I do not agree with this funding source.

using contingency funds has a very high bar and using them for this purpose would be short-sighted.

I'm very concerned about our general and contingency fund balances right now.

We did not anticipate the enterprise cost of responding to Operation Metro Surge.

This would be for things like an immense amount of staff time in emergency operations that includes every department,

police, public works, communications, and on.

These increased costs were not forecast in our 2026 budget, and the strain on our general fund is going to be significant.

But earlier, my colleague said, what are we really doing?

And I think that is a slap in the face to every single city worker who has been showing up in this moment.

This isn't business as usual.

City workers are not going about our days as though nothing is wrong.

every department of our city is showing up differently there is a CPED

representative in the EOC overnight on weekends that is in addition to their

regular day-to-day job so this is not meant this money it is not meant to be a

public philanthropy fund yes the agit idea was successful I think it was a

couple of years ago it was unprecedented at the time and it was an unsuccessful

ultimate attempt at using it for philanthropy. I get did not to my

recollection get the rest of that money together but thank you to every worker

in the city enterprise for working so very hard this past month in responding

to this unprecedented crisis and also they are getting to everything that we

also need every day to have a city that works. People all over our city have been

part of that. Residents, people that care about our city from overseas even. I know that other

cities, department heads and bureaucrats are seeing how great Minneapolis is doing in this

moment and they are asking for advice on how they responsibly respond to ICE agents in their cities.

Our role here is about coordination in this moment, not about being able to fill the need

with local government funds because we will never be able to fulfill that need

one million dollars is a significant and monumentally difficult amount of money to find in

this moment and it should come from decisions we made last year on how much we can possibly put in

our budget toward affordable housing last budget season we made a decision not knowing the urgency

of this moment so let's make a different one i am also like council member stevenson said

loathe to make this change. Long term, it's not a good one. Long term, it means we will get help to

finance less 20 to 30 year affordable new housing units, for example. But in this moment, we need

to find something and we cannot stop responding as a city and delve into a terrible financial position.

So I think we need to ground ourselves and one another on what our briefings have said,

that government dollars is not what people need for rental assistance right now,

that people struggling right now need cash and let them decide what they are going to use for

their different needs of the moment, and that equitable assistance has to be equitably distributed,

and that is a really hard thing to do. And like Director Hansen said, not today but on Tuesday,

it will take a while the road here is very long much longer than people are

energized to donate in one moment and perhaps able or willing to donate so

let's figure this problem out in a much longer term basis thank you mr. chair

councilmember Schaefer yes I would just add this as for a thought process there

I think there is general support across our body for this idea.

We're getting hung up on how and what we should use to fund this idea.

I believe that Hennepin County has some wiggle room still with the funding that they have.

One option on the table would be for us to revisit this in a couple weeks, in a month,

once Hennepin County has drawn down their funds

and reassess what is our budget at that point?

Are we $10 million over budget at that point?

I'm just saying, is that a more measured approach

for us all to say, we know this is a problem,

we know it's immediate,

we know the GoFundMes have stepped up above and beyond.

We all have contributed, right?

right and there is a role for the city to contribute but is now the right timing if

we have disagreement to make a decision that could impact our budget process this whole

year that's my question maybe some other people have some comments and have an ability to

make a motion to head us in that direction better than i can as a newbie so what i mean

So maybe I can can I make a motion to postpone all of these resolutions until.

Chavez help me.

What do we want to postpone this to today?

Let's vote today for the actual money.

Let's help people get rental assistance because they need it.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I guess I will I will postpone to revisit on let's say end of March.

AND SEE WHERE HENNEPIN COUNTY FUNDS SIT. I'M ABLE AND WILLING TO CHANGE THAT DATE IF THAT HELPS PEOPLE COME THIS DIRECTION.

BUT I WOULD MAKE A MOTION TO POSTPONE ALL OF THESE RESOLUTIONS AND REVISIT ALL OF THEM WITH ALL THE FUNDING SOURCES THE END OF MARCH.

IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND.

Councilmember Schaefer made a motion to postpone to the end of March.

I think we need a date certain.

I would say the 19th would be the next, the end-ish March council meeting.

That's been seconded.

We have Councilmember Schaefer in queue, but maybe you've said your piece.

Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I will urge my colleagues to vote against the delay of these motions.

We are in an emergency.

People are facing evictions.

Rent was due on February 1st.

We cannot continue to ask our community to fundraise for our neighbors if we are unwilling as a government willing to support them.

I think a Senate vote is very clear that people have made decisions on how they're going to vote.

I think we just need to vote.

So I'm going to call the question on Council Member Schaefer's motion to delay these items, which I disagree with.

But I'm calling the question.

Council Member Traves called the question.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

That's been seconded.

Mr. Clerk, call the roll on calling the question.

Councilmember Warren.

No.

Councilmember Schaefer.

No.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville?

Nay.

Council Member Vita?

No.

Council Member Palmisano?

No.

Council Member Chavez?

Aye.

Vice President Osmond?

Aye.

President Payne?

Aye.

There are eight ayes and five nays.

And that requires nine, so that motion fails.

And is there anybody who wants to discuss the motion to delay this item until the 19th?

The clerk will call the roll on motion to delay this to the 19th.

Oh, Councilmember Vita.

Oh, thank you.

I feel like every time I'm in the queue, somebody calls the question.

It might, it feels targeted.

But my question was about what impact this would make for delay.

I had never thought about that.

So thank you, Councilmember Schaefer.

What would be the impact on delay?

Director Hanson, you said that the county uses $10 million a year of their own,

and so if we gave them $1 million in three weeks plus whatever time it takes to process,

how could this affect that, like the ability for rental assistance right now?

Director Hanson.

Council President Payne, Council Member VTOT, we would still have to negotiate a deal

and an agreement and bring it back to the council before the money would be ready for their fund.

SO THIS WOULD DELAY THAT CONVERSATION AS WELL.

SO JUST THE AGREEMENT CONVERSATION, NOT LIKE, I GUESS I'M ASKING MORE ABOUT THE SERVICES

OF THE COUNTY, REGARDLESS OF HOW THIS GOES, THEY'RE STILL GOING TO BE PROCESSING APPLICATIONS.

COUNCIL MEMBER PAIN, COUNCIL MEMBER VETAL, YES, THE COUNTY CONTINUES TO TAKE IN APPLICATIONS.

AND AT ANY POINT IN THIS PROCESS, OUR MILLION DOLLARS COULD COME IN AND HELP, BUT IT'S NOT ABOUT,

like like the timing isn't specific to right now uh council president payton council member vita

it's up to the body to tell us that they have the money and then we would negotiate that with the

county and then that those funds would then be able to be transferred to the county after an

agreement has been reached and approved by the council and the mayor so that would still that

but their program is still intact their program is still taking applications as of today i don't

want anybody in the community who's listening to say that they have to wait until the council acts

because there is still money at the county for rental assistance okay you

answer my question thank you councilmember Palmsano thank you mr.

chair one additional complication would be about if people will then still be

eligible for their renters credit it shouldn't matter who is paying the rent

whether it's the county or the person with the lease they should be able to

get their renters credit there is concern about how that will work at the

state level and so we're going to need to be mindful of that I think this is I

point this out because it's kind of like a brand new wrinkle just in my queue but

maybe something that shows that we should support a delay to iron out all

these details I do not want people to have to forego their renters credit in

in order to be able to get assistance in this moment.

Thank you.

Seeing no further folks in queue,

I will ask the clerk to call the roll

on the motion to postpone this item to March 19th.

Council Member Warren?

Yes.

Council Member Schaefer?

Aye.

Council Member Wansley?

Nay.

Council Member Shugtai?

Nay.

Council member Whiting. Aye.

Council member Chowdhury. Aye.

What? No, nay. Sorry.

I can't keep it straight.

Council member Stevenson. Nay.

Council member Rainville. Aye.

Council member Duton. Aye.

Council member Palmasano. Aye.

Council member Chavez. No.

Vice President Osmond. No.

President Payne. Nay.

There are six ayes and seven nays.

FAILS WE ARE RETURNING TO THE UNDERLYING MOTION I DON'T SEE

ANYBODY COUNCILMEMBER TRAVES NO ALL RIGHT I'M GOING TO ADD MYSELF TO

CUE A LOT OF DISCUSSION HERE IS ON SOURCE AND TIMING ON TIMING THERE'S

NOTHING MORE URGENT THAN WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY RIGHT NOW

We got a really robust briefing on the needs of our community from our professional staff and emergency operations.

Part of that briefing was an acknowledgement that the fastest money is private money, and I agree with that.

But the other half of that briefing was that recovery is not going to happen in one month.

Recovery is not going to happen in one year.

This is going to impact our city for years to come.

It's going to impact the residents of our city for years to come.

There are certainly people on the brink of eviction right now today,

and many, many community members are stepping up to fill those gaps

to save those people from the brink,

but they're not saving everybody from the brink.

And there are businesses that are currently closed indefinitely,

which means they may open.

They may be done forever.

they may continue paying payroll.

I've talked to some of the businesses in my community

that are not cutting hours.

They're not cutting payroll

because they want to support their employees,

but those businesses may not have the reserves

to continue doing that for another six months, another year.

And we're not also just talking about the members

of our community that are most vulnerable

and targeted as immigrants.

We're talking about citizens that have just been struggling

long before this crisis, and now this is yet another thing that is putting them deeper into

crisis. And so there's no question about the need. There's no question about the timing.

The source, I highly encourage this body to support contingency because I think it's going

to be private dollars that are already getting out the door right now because rent has already

been due and the private dollars are already doing as much as they can um but we're going to need it

next month and we're going to need it the month after that and we're going to need it the month

after that and delaying this conversation about how we're going to work with the county does not

help us waiting until we find out the county runs out of money doesn't help us because we know they're

going to run out of money a million dollars is not enough we're going to need not just relief

for this from the state for rental assistance we're going to need relief for a whole host of

economic impacts the other part of that briefing was the recognition that this is at the scale of

covet or worse and that required the federal government to step in with 300 million dollars

of stimulus just for the city of minneapolis um i don't have a lot of faith in our federal

government in this moment to step in with that kind of stimulus to support to backfill these

dollars but we are in crisis this is not about our bond rating for the next year this is about

the future of our democracy this is the future of our country our bond rating will be irrelevant

if we are in an outright civil war it has felt like we are on the brink of civil war as i'm out

on the streets physically getting assaulted by my federal government um this is this is there's no

MORE URGENT CRISIS THAN WHAT WE'RE GOING THROUGH RIGHT NOW.

AND THE OTHER PIECE TO THIS IS THE DISCUSSION OF THE BACKLOG AT THE COUNTY.

I THINK COUNCIL MEMBER CHUCKTIE SPOKE TO THIS, BUT DIRECTOR HANSEN, CAN YOU CONFIRM

IF THEY HAVE A BACKLOG?

BECAUSE I HEARD ALSO COMMENTS ABOUT THE WAITING LIST AND ONE OF THE REASONS WE ACTUALLY

EXTENDED OUR PRE-EVICTION NOTICE FROM 14 DAYS TO 30 DAYS IS BECAUSE IT STILL TOOK

about that much time to get money out the door even if there wasn't a backlog so can you help

us understand that distinction uh council president uh pain um under uh request from councilmember

chug tai i have communicated with david hewitt who oversees this program at the county and i will read

no waiting list eligible applications are processed within 14 days quicker when needed

to prevent loss of housing. So there is no waiting list.

Thank you for that. So there is an urgent need right now. People needed to pay rent

yesterday. There's going to be a need next month and the month after that. And the housing

crisis is going to be with us for decades. So we cannot raid our 4-0 housing trust fund

and exacerbate the housing crisis. We can't just rely on private donors because the need

is going to go long before that period of time.

The city needs to step up right now in this moment.

I would prefer us to use contingency

because that's what contingency is for.

Another issue, use of contingency that wasn't discussed

was there was an emergency because a convention

that we were hosting ran out of money for the planner.

That was raised to a level of urgency

that got unanimous support from this body

because of a convention.

was running out of money to pay their vendors.

This is more of an emergency than that.

We should be using contingency.

I don't want to use cash balance

because of the concerns about our bond rating,

but that will have to be our next best choice.

So I would prefer us to use contingency.

Otherwise, we're getting into cash balance,

and we'll have to deal with the aftermath of that.

And seeing no one else in queue,

I will ask the clerk to call the roll on item number 67.

Mr. President, to be clear, this is on the original proposal that came forward with the agenda packet offered by Council Members Wansley, Austin, Stevenson, Chavez, and Chaudry.

Correct.

Council Member Warren.

No.

Council Member Schaefer.

No.

Council Member Wansley.

Aye.

Council Member Shugtai.

Aye.

Council Member Whiting.

Aye.

Council Member Chaudry.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville.

No.

Councilmember Vitao.

No.

Councilmember Palmasano.

No.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Vice President Osmond.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are eight ayes and five nays.

That motion required 10 votes, so therefore that fails.

I will recognize Councilmember Wansley for a response.

The next motion is Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I would move to approve the following resolution in front of all of you.

Happy to talk to any of the questions about this, but happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wansley.

Thank you, President Payne.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO BRING A SUBSTITUTE MOTION THAT WILL

STILL KEEP BASICALLY THE ORIGINAL CONTENT OF THE

CONTIGENCY MOTION THAT JUST FELL BUT WOULD ESSENTIALLY

CHANGE THE FUNDING SOURCE TO CASH BALANCE.

THE TENT IS STILL THERE.

THIS IS NOT THE SOURCE THAT WE IDEALLY WANTED TO GO FOR.

WE BROUGHT FORWARD THE ONE THAT WAS MOST APPROPRIATE.

UNFORTUNATELY, MAJORITY OF OR SUPER MAJORITY OF MY COLLEAGUES

DID NOT AGREE WITH IT SO THIS IS THE NEXT BEST RESORT THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE AREN'T

CUTTING PROGRAMS AND DEPARTMENT LEVEL ACTIVITIES SO THAT SAID I'M MOVING THIS FORWARD AND ALSO

WOULD LIKE TO NOTE THAT COUNCIL MEMBER CHUCK TYE IS A COAUTHOR OF THIS. MR. CLERK WE HAVE

TWO SUBSTITUTES CAN YOU GIVE SOME GUIDANCE ON HOW WE OUGHT TO APPROACH THIS? MR. PRESIDENT I

I know we've been talking about three resolutions in three different subjects, but parliamentary law says one motion can claim the body's time, one at a time.

So, Mr. Whiting was in, Council Member Whiting was in order and made a motion.

That's the motion that is before the body.

Then the body could take up the substitute that was offered by Council Member Wansley and several co-authors.

I will note that Council Member Whiting made a motion.

It wasn't seconded, and we recognized a new member who offered a different motion.

So, I think Whiting is in queue.

THERE NEEDS TO BE A SECOND. IF THERE'S NOT A SECOND, THEN THAT WOULD DIE FOR LACK OF A SECOND.

SECOND.

WE HAVE A PROPER MOTION IN FRONT OF US BY COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING SOURCING A MILLION DOLLARS FROM THE

AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND FOR RENTAL ASSISTANCE. IS THERE DISCUSSION ON THAT ITEM?

COUNCIL MEMBER OSMAN?

THANK YOU. I THINK THE BEST OPTION STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN THE CONTINGENT FUNDING.

I DIDN'T HEAR ANY ARGUMENT WHY WE SHOULDN'T DO THAT OTHER THAN, OH, IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK FOR IMMIGRANTS OR THE COUNTY DOES DIFFERENT THINGS.

THERE'S NOT A STRONG ARGUMENT WHY WE SHOULD NOT TAKE THE MONEY.

THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR.

AND LET ME JUST SAY THAT, COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING, I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR MOTION.

IT'S TRYING TO FIND A SOLUTION AFTER IT REQUIRES TEN VOTES, I GUESS, THE LAST MOTION.

THAT'S WHY IT FAILED.

REALLY LIKE YOUR BRINGING THIS FORWARD, BUT I NEVER, SINCE I'VE BEEN CHAIR OF THIS COMMITTEE WHICH EVERYTHING COMES THROUGH RELATED TO HOUSING, AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST WAS NEVER GO ZONE PLACE.

LIKE, THAT WAS LIKE, STAY AWAY FROM IT.

THIS IS OUR SOMETHING THAT WE ALWAYS, YOU KNOW, PROTECTED.

AND FORMER COUNCIL MEMBER ALLISON WAS ALSO REALLY THE GUARD OF THAT FUNDING.

AND INCLUDING THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE MAYOR'S OFFICE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING NO GOES ON AREA.

SO I WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT IT, BUT AS A CHAIR OF THIS COMMITTEE, I CANNOT SUPPORT IT NOW.

BUT I WISH IT WOULD HAVE, THE CASH BALANCE WOULD HAVE COME FIRST, AND IF IT WOULD HAVE FAILED,

THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MY THIRD OPTION TO GO, BECAUSE WE GOT TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO SUPPORT THE IMMIGRANT.

AT LEAST WE'RE TRYING TO DO A VERY LIMITED, WE MIGHT NOT HAVE EVERYONE ELSE.

PEOPLE WILL BE DISPLACED.

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISPLACED.

SO JUST PEOPLE THAT ELECTED AND PEOPLE THAT MANAGES THEIR MONEY,

WHICH IS RESIDENTS' MONEY, WE'RE MAKING THAT DECISION.

AND AS A COUNCIL BODY, OUR ONLY POWER, OUR POWER ACTUALLY, IS ABOUT THE BUDGET.

THAT'S HOW WE ARE ELECTED TO OVERSIGHT AND MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS.

BUT I'M GOING TO WAIT AROUND AND WITH YOUR MOTION AND NOT SUPPORTED NOW, I WISH IT WOULD HAVE COME

LATER ON AFTER THE CASH VALANCE, BUT I'LL LEAVE YOU THERE. THANK YOU.

COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNCIL MEMBER STEPHENSON, YOU HAVE A PRIORITY MOTION?

I'D LIKE TO CALL THE QUESTION. COUNCIL MEMBER STEPHENSON HAS CALLED THE QUESTION.

Is there a second?

No, it's not a priority motion.

Not a priority motion.

Oh.

Mr. Clerk?

Mr. President, calling the question is a standard motion.

It's not a priority motion.

A priority motion is like a point of order, an objection to the question, or a point of privilege.

So a priority motion would have to be in that vein.

A call the question or the previous question is a standard motion that you get an order in the queue for.

Councilmember Chugtie.

Thank you, Mr. President.

So I really appreciate Councilmember Whiting bringing this path as an option forward here today.

I think you are the person I've talked to probably the most about this topic over the course of the last couple days.

And I saw a continuous desire from you to find a place of agreement.

And I saw how deeply moved you were throughout those conversations by the tremendous need that we are seeing in our community.

And I deeply appreciate that.

I see that need, too, and agree that we need to take some action now.

So, you know, Councilmember Ellison did used to be the bulldog of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

And, you know, that's something that needs its next set of bulldogs.

So let me attempt to do that just a little bit.

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund was created in 2003 by Mayor RT Ryback.

Its purpose was to have the general fund property taxes support the development of affordable housing units in our city.

So that every taxpayer had a stake in people being able to continue to live in Minneapolis and afford to live here.

And over the years, right, we see the investment in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund chip away.

We see the way it is supported and paid for become less and less reliable, I suppose.

You know, today, none of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is general fund supported.

Today, we are investing less money in the affordable housing trust fund than we were prior to the pandemic.

And it is that it that has real life impacts. Right.

If we can if we know that recovery from this current crisis we are in is going to take years and years.

it is important that we remain in the business of helping subsidize the development of affordable

housing units to continue to come online three, five, ten years from now so that the people who

are directly impacted right now can have a shot at calling Minneapolis home. We cannot pit two

housing, housing, critical needs against each other. And you

know, I will say this as a person who has voted in the past

just in last December to to take money out of the affordable

housing trust fund. But at that time, I made a commitment that

this is not going to be a fund we're going to use as as as the

thing that bills us out every time something goes wrong. And,

and I want to honor that commitment because this

This work is really important. We need to continue to do it.

You know, and it is it's the state's the city's explicit position are our mayor's explicit position that the best way to address homelessness is through building more affordable housing units to build more housing in general.

Why are we undermining that and pitting people who are facing evictions against people who can afford to live in Minneapolis in three, five, and ten years?

That's the reason I can't support this as a source.

And I will not be supporting this motion today.

But again, I want to thank the author for bringing this option forward and trying to get us to achieve some consensus.

Councilmember Chowdhury. Thank you, President Payne. Yeah, I want to thank Councilmember Whiting for bringing this forward. I have appreciated our conversations about it. You and I completely disagree on it, but your disagreement with me has been kind and our conversations have been direct and I have appreciated working with you in that.

And I think that shows that when we're sitting here and we're having tough debates, which will befall us many more times, especially around budgeting this next year, that we can do that.

I just want to state really clearly that a million dollars equals a set of units that will be affordable for 30 years.

That's always guaranteed when we have funding in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund because people regularly apply for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

And there are oftentimes applicants, I think every single time there are applicants that do not get awards.

Right. It is sought after funding.

And we are no longer in the build more era that we were in in the city of Minneapolis that has kept our rent down, that has increased our tax base.

and this is one of the few tools we have left to ensure that building continues,

and more importantly, affordable building projects throughout our communities

because we know that there are not enough units for the number of people that have need for housing.

And so I simply cannot vote for this because it is death by 1,000 paper cuts.

We can't cannibalize the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

it is over prescribed by the state we need different resources from the state when it

comes to rental assistance and homelessness that's been really clear and that's something that we will

voice in our legislative agenda this year and we need our community and our partners and philanthropy

who's helping cover a lot of these costs to ensure that government shows up to meet these needs

and we're just going to need a system-wide shift on how we do housing we can't just keep on

going through crisis after crisis and our housing system isn't resilient to it

because that costs lives so I'm unable to support this I commend the effort to

bring this forward though councilmember Stephenson yeah thank you for bringing

this forward I I would also prefer to vote on cash I agree with council vice

president first I also think a million dollars directly from the affordable

housing trust fund is just too steep and we should have we should rather take a

smaller amounts from from different departments but if I'm still able I'd

like to call the question councilmember Stevenson has called the question is

there a second the clerk will call the roll on the motion to call the question

Council Member Warren.

No.

Council Member Schaefer.

No.

Council Member Wansley is absent.

Council Member Shugtai.

Aye.

Council Member Whiten.

No.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville.

Poll.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Council Member Palmisano.

No.

Council Member Chavez.

Aye.

Vice President.

Vice President Osmond is absent. Council Member Wansley. Aye.

Vice President Payne. Nay.

There are six ayes and six nays. That fails. Council Member Whiting.

Wow.

Thank you, President Payne. And I would like to note to my colleagues, I do appreciate the conversations that we've had for the past

weeks on this motion. I think all of us again agree that this is an emergent need, that this is an immediate need, and I appreciate the conversations as such as my council member colleagues both to the side of me write. We've had long discussions on these. I don't think any of us want to put forward a motion that takes any dollar out of any of our funds here in the city of Minneapolis because we know that takes from individuals that need it regardless of where these funds are pulled from.

Again, I think, you know, to reiterate, I fully believe that this is the best middle portion and movement that we can actually move this forward on.

My worry is that, you know, I'm not sure the political realities of this, of the general fund piece, but I do expect that this may come back to us in a couple weeks.

And if that is the case, that fully delays this immediate need to help individuals that need this need now.

Like all of you up here, I am getting the same conversations of individuals in my ward across the city that need this help now and today.

I think any delay, any increase in delay continues to put people out of their homes.

And that is what the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is there to do, is to keep people in their homes.

That is the direct purpose of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

And I think we all know that it's so much more expensive to keep people housed if they are out of their homes.

Two weeks, I think, is too long of a time to then delay this motion, or if it comes back to us, to delay it any further.

And if we were able to get this through, I think I have high confidence that it wouldn't come back to us.

And so, again, kind of urge you all to consider this, again, not necessarily for the merits on the page of the funding source,

but of the political realities that we do sit in and engage in.

Thank you.

Council Member Warren.

Thank you, Council President.

My question is for Council Member Whiting.

If I'm reading this correctly, it says that the million dollars one-time rental assistance provided funds to Hennepin County are unspent within a month and a day at the end of Operation Metro Surge.

All remaining funds will be returned back to CPED.

It'll go back.

So they'll get the money back.

we're just sitting it somewhere else for a minute and then or however and if it's used it's used

it kind of if you need it you need it if you don't you don't is that what we're doing here

correct okay because I don't want to take any money from no affordable housing this that's

the part that I'm struggling with okay um for affordable housing development ensuring that

individuals and families have what they need. I have been a recipient of Section 8. I have lived

in my car. I have lived at Mary Jo's shelter. I know what homelessness looks like, feels like,

and I've housed homeless in Hennepin County. So if we can, we're not taken away from the stability

and we're lending to borrow. I mean, the whole thing is to get these funds and all of the red

tape and paperwork i really just want my colleagues to understand i am not anti-supporting anyone that

is what i do is the biggest advocacy ever for anyone and families that's what i do i am a mother

of six children and six grandchildren i am the champion of help someone to help somebody okay

but the red tape that you go through just to ask for a crumb of some bread here in i mean seriously

It is a lot, and the eligibility is slim pickings that make you eligible to even receive it.

If you've never been in that food stamp line or had to stand at window five in Century Plaza, you don't get it.

And I challenge you to really put on your thinking caps.

I will support this, Jameson, for this one time.

I want us to vote and be done with this because I got to pee.

There's the red button to say stop.

CHEESE. COUNCIL MEMBER CHOWDTREE. YEAH, THANK YOU. I JUST I FEEL LIKE ONE, WE DON'T KNOW WHEN

THIS SURGE IS GOING TO END. TWO, HOW DO YOU EVEN DETERMINE IF THE SURGE HAS ENDED OR NOT?

IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THROUGH PRESS CONFERENCE. LIKE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO ACTUALLY SEE IT.

AND I MEAN IT BECAUSE TOM HOMEN IS SAYING WE'RE GOING TO WITHDRAW DOWN 700. WHERE'S THE 700?

HOW DO WE KNOW? RIGHT? HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THEY'RE NOT ADDING MORE? SO I'M ALSO WILLING TO SAY

that like the need is so high which we have seen through millions of millions of dollars

of mutual aid funding that like we're probably not going to see the million dollars back or a

significant amount back so i don't want us to just put our hat on this like the need is incredible

the last thing i'll say is if this it is to pass or if it's vetoed which i'm hearing an allusion to

and that that veto is then sustained,

I will 100% bring a general fund allocation

in the budget cycle to refill the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

So we can either do that now or we can do it later

because I will bring it back.

Council Member Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I want to thank Council Member White for bringing this forward.

I cannot support it.

I think this will be detrimental to our affordable housing stock

across the city especially when we are living in an emergency if we didn't want to take from the

affordable housing trust fund we should have taken from contingency fund so the other option that

many members before we took that vote said was we're going for this cash fund we had optioned

and now we're going to do something different right so i also want to point out the the way

the resolution is written um while i appreciate that tent could have an impact on who gets these

services it talks about that funds to Hennepin County that are unspent within

one month and a day of the end of operation Metro Surge all remaining

funds shall be returned to CPED even if operation Metro Surge were to end ice is

still gonna be in our city and in our state and they're still gonna be

kidnapping our neighbors they have been doing so before operation Metro Surge

there has been an issue impacting our neighbors way before this operation

happened many of our families and loved ones are still gonna be torn apart so I

I feel like while I appreciate the intention of this resource, the way it has been written,

will also have an unintentional consequence of who can access the resources so I can't support it.

But I appreciate the thought of trying to bring people together.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the roll on the resolution brought forward by Council Member Whiting

to the source from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for rental assistance.

Council Member Warren.

Aye.

Council Member Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wansley.

Nay.

Council Member Shugtai.

Nay.

Council Member Whiting.

Aye.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Nay.

Council Member Stevenson.

Nay.

Council Member Rainville.

Aye.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Council Member Palimasano.

Aye.

Council Member Chavez.

No.

Vice President Osman.

No.

President Payne.

Nay.

THERE ARE SIX AYES AND SEVEN NAYS.

THAT MOTION FAILS.

AND NOW I WILL RECOGNIZE

COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT PAYNE.

I WILL MOVE THE MOTION FORWARD

USING THE CASH BALANCE AS A

FUNDING SOURCE TO GO TO HINNEPEND

COUNTY IN THE AMOUNT OF $1 MILLION.

AND YOU HAVE THE TECHNICAL

AMENDMENTS IN FRONT OF YOU TO THE

REVISED MOTION.

AND I WILL ASK FOR A SECOND.

SECOND.

Council member Wansley has moved the resolution.

It's been properly seconded.

I'll recognize council member Chuck Tai.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. President.

I just feel so incredibly disappointed that this is the last option, right?

This is the we're now pulling money out of our fund balance.

Our financial position is in an incredibly tough place, and a part of that is a $20 million overspend by the Minneapolis Police Department in last year's budget, or over the course of 2025, which has significantly diminished our cushion.

we have significant overtime resources that have been spent so far this year we're just in february

and i really dislike that this is where we are pulling from this was and i i like i very strongly

believe and continue to that the the most appropriate source um was contingency that was

was not the will of the body.

And I'm going to support this because of how large the need

is and how few resources exist in the face of it.

And that just matters the most right now.

But this can't be how we keep moving forward.

We're going to have a lot of tough choices

to make over the course of this year.

And then as we look towards our budget for next year,

and we don't have cushions.

We don't have magic money hidden places anymore.

And this is a reflection of how significant the need is,

because I know that most of the authors here did not

prefer the source in the first place.

The preference was the most appropriate source,

given all of the conditions before us.

But here we are. I hope sincerely that this can be a motion that that this body can improve.

So that we can do our small little part in keeping people in their homes and in the neighborhoods that they love in their communities.

Thank you. Council member Chaudry. Thanks, President Payne.

I just wanted to make a quick remark that members, we do have a procedural ability to reconsider our vote on the contingency motion.

Right. We we can do that if the body so chooses.

I mean, it would need the help of the clerks, but there would have to be a will.

And if there is a change of heart, like it's not over for us to reconsider contingency, which I do agree is the most appropriate place where this should come from.

Mr. Clerk, do you want to remind the body how reconsideration works?

Mr. President, the motion to reconsider requires someone who voted in the prevailing

side to make that motion.

Assuming it passes, then that matter returns before the body and can be taken up again

for a second vote.

So the first thing is to make sure that we have someone who voted in the majority or

on the prevailing side of the original question.

And I'll say that the original question I have was 8 to 5.

It failed because it was a vote which to consider approving it required 10.

As the body knows, the use of contingency under city charter requires 10 votes.

So it was two votes shy from passing the charter threshold.

So any of the eight council members who voted with the majority could make a motion to bring,

I'M SORRY ANYBODY FROM THE FIVE BECAUSE IT FAILED AND THAT'S THE PREVAILING SIDE WOULD BE ABLE TO BRING UP FORWARD A MOTION TO RECONSIDER THAT PROCEDURE AND THEN IT WOULD BE BACK IN FRONT OF US.

COUNCIL MEMBER CHALDRENCH?

OKAY.

ALL RIGHT.

COUNCIL MEMBER CHUCKAY?

YEAH.

THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT.

MR. CLERK CAN YOU OR THROUGH THE CHAIR MR.

I'm hoping if the clerk can list off the five members that were on the prevailing side just one more time.

Through the president, those who voted nay, which is the prevailing side, were council members Warren, Schaefer, Rainville, Vita, and Palmisano.

Mr. Chair, I mean, I would urge one of these members who were on the prevailing side to please

please make a motion to reconsider

I see that I'm not successful

and I guess I'll just add myself to Q just really quickly just to thank

Councilmember Whiting for you have been very clear about your spirit of

problem solving and you brought a very problem solving approach to this

However, although your motion didn't prevail, I really appreciated the effort that you put into that.

And I will be supporting our motion that's in front of us right now.

And seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the roll on the Wansley motion.

For clarity, Mr. President, I'll point out this version has revised, highlighted in yellow at the top,

and has Council Member Shugtai also added as a co-author at the end.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1

AYE.

PRESIDENT PAYNE.

AYE.

THERE ARE NINE AYES AND FOUR NAYES.

THAT MOTION PASSES AND THAT COMPLETES ALL ITEMS ON THE ENTIRE SUPERCAL REPORT.

THE NEXT ORDER OF BUSINESS IS NOTICE OF ORDINANCE INTRODUCTIONS.

WE HAVE THREE NOTICES TODAY, ONE OF WHICH WAS ADDED TO OUR AGENDA AT THE TOP OF THE

MEETING.

first council members chavez chowdhury wansley pain and stevenson give notice of intent to introduce

at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an ordinance to amend the health and sanitation

code to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia second council vice president

osmond gives notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an

ordinance amending the licenses and business regulations code to amend the regulation of

ALCOHOL ON LICENSE PARKING LOT PREMISES AND THIRD COUNCIL

MEMBER CHUCKTIE GIVES NOTICE OF INTENT TO INTRODUCE AT THE NEXT

REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL THE SUBJECT MATTER OF AN

ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 12 CHAPTER 244 OF THE MINNEAPOLIS

CODE OF ORDINANCE IS RELATED TO HOUSING MAINTENANCE CODE SECTION

244.285 TO ADD REGULATIONS REGARDING OWNER ENTRY INTO A

RENTED DWELLING UNIT. THOSE NOTICES ARE HEREBY GIVEN AND NO

FURTHER ACTION IS REQUIRED AT THIS TIME. THE NEXT ORDER OF

BUSINESS IS THE INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL CALENDAR. WE HAVE TWO

INTRODUCTIONS TODAY. FIRST, PURSUANT TO NOTICE, COUNCIL

MEMBERS WANSLEY, OSMON, CHAVEZ, AND STEPHENSON MOVED TO INTRODUCE

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE HOUSING

CODE, GIVE FIRST READING AND REFER TO THE BUSINESS HOUSING AND

ZONING COMMITTEE FOR ITS CONSIDERATION, A PROPOSAL TO

to authorize eviction moratoria during states of emergency.

Second, Council Members Wansley, Osmond, Stevenson, Chavez,

and Chaudry moved to introduce an ordinance

amending the Housing Code, giving first reading,

refer to the Committee of the Whole

and set a public hearing to be held

at that Committee's meeting on February 17th,

a proposal to temporarily extend the length

of required pre-eviction notices.

I'll note that this introduction seeks to bypass

the first step for enacting an ordinance, which is notice,

So will we require unanimous consent to accomplish what is being proposed for this ordinance?

May I have a motion to approve these introductions?

So moved. Second.

That's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion at all?

I'll recognize Council Member Wansley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Colleagues, I'm asking for your support on an ordinance called Pause Evictions, Save Lives,

which is a temporary policy change that will extend the timeline for evictions to protect renters from the impacts of the ICE occupation.

Currently, if a landlord plans to file an eviction due to misrent, they must give the renter 30 days notice prior to filing the eviction.

Paul's eviction saved lives would temporarily increase the required notice from 30 days to 60 days.

This gives family an extra month to acquire the funds needed to cover any missed rent and avoid having an eviction be filed.

The 60-day requirement would be in effect until July 31st.

Rental assistance funding takes time as we just had a very robust conversation around that.

And additionally, new financial resources could be available to families once the state legislative session begins on February 16th, sorry, 17th.

And Paul's Evictions Save Lives give families more time to apply for and receive rental assistance funding and thus preventing evictions in protecting families.

My co-authors are asking for your support to expedite the consideration of the ordinance, and I'm going to outline why.

The expedited timeline is the difference between families being protected on March 1st or not.

This will literally make the difference for thousands of families entering into the eviction process versus thousands of families having to or having a protection in place when next month's rent is due.

And I'm not being dramatic when I say this, but this could absolutely save lives.

And that's a huge responsibility and opportunity that this council has.

And I hope there would be not a member of this body who is okay with letting families come up on March 1st, rent being due and not having a protection in place.

And it's with that serious responsibility to protect residents in our hands that I ask for unanimous support from council on today's action to waive notice of intent to introduce,

introduce, give a first reading of the ordinance, refer to the Committee of the Whole, and set a

public hearing for the Committee of the Whole on February 17th. From there, we would hold a public

hearing at the Committee of the Whole on February 17th, followed by a council vote on the ordinance

on February 19th. And during the week of February 9th, we have asked the CAO or City Attorney's

office to be available for briefings on the ordinance to help ensure that you all have all

the information that you need prior to council's final consideration and vote of the ordinance

on February 19th. If there was ever a time or moment to expedite a process, this is it.

And we have the opportunity to deliver protections for our community and hope this is another

opportunity in which we can work together to pause evictions and save lives. So with that,

I WILL MOTION THE ITEM FOR APPROVAL. SECOND. IT'S BEEN MOTIONED AND SECONDED. AND SEEING NO ONE ELSE LEFT IN CUE, I WILL ASK THE CLERK TO CALL THE ROLL, REMINDING EVERYONE THAT WE DO NEED UNANIMOUS CONSENT. MR. CLERK, DID YOU WANT TO GIVE ANY GUIDANCE?

NOT GUIDANCE, BUT I ACTUALLY WANTED TO OFFER SOME COMPLIMENTS AND

MAYBE SOME EXPLANATIONS BOTH FOR RETURNING COUNCIL MEMBERS AND NEW

COUNCIL MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC WHO WATCH.

THERE ARE SOME SUBTLE LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES THAT ARE CLUES TO

COUNCIL MEMBERS WHEN WE GET TO THE INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL

CALENDAR.

IF YOU'LL NOTICE ON NUMBER ONE, THE EVICTION MORATORIUM ORDINANCE

USES THE PHRASE TO INTRODUCE THE SUBJECT MATTER OF AN ORDINANCE.

ON NUMBER TWO, IT SAYS TO INTRODUCE AN ORDINANCE.

THAT'S THE CLERK'S SUBTLE WAY OF TELLING YOU ON NUMBER ONE, WE DON'T HAVE A DRAFT ORDINANCE.

IT HAS NOT BEEN PREPARED. WE'RE GIVING A READING TO AN ORDINANCE

THAT NO ONE HAS SEEN. COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY AND HER

ASSOCIATES ON THE SECOND ONE HAVE DONE THEIR DUE DILIGENCE AND THERE IS ACTUALLY A FULL

ORDINANCE. IT'S IN LIMS. IT'S POSTED FOR PUBLIC ACCESS.

WHICH IS WHY THE USUAL PROCESS SHOULD BE NUMBER TWO.

THERE IS AN ORDINANCE THAT YOU CAN SEE THAT THE PUBLIC CAN SEE.

WE ARE ACTUALLY GIVING IT ITS FIRST READING TODAY.

THIS IS THE FIRST STEP IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS WHERE COUNCIL COULD VOTE TO KILL AN ORDINANCE.

THIS IS THE FIRST FORMAL VOTE ON AN ORDINANCE.

AND IN 95% OF THE CASES WE DON'T HAVE A DRAFT ORDINANCE.

SO THIS IS THE PROCESS WHEREBY THE COUNCILMEMBERS HAVE DONE THEIR HOMEWORK, THEY'VE PREPARED

AN ORDINANCE, THEY'VE WORKED WITH THE ATTORNEYS, THEY'VE BROUGHT IT FORWARD.

IT WAS ON THE LIMBS FILE AND AVAILABLE FOR ALL COUNCILMEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC TO SEE BEFORE

WE TAKE THE VOTE TODAY.

SO I WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT WORK AND TO SAY THAT'S THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCE

IF YOU'RE READING THOSE ITEMS ON THE AGENDA. WHEN IT SAYS SUBJECT MATTER, WE DON'T HAVE

ANYTHING. WHEN IT SAYS ORDINANCE, WE ACTUALLY HAVE THE DRAFT ORDINANCE.

THANK YOU. I'M HAPPY TO CALL THE ROLL.

THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFICATION. I'LL ASK THE CLERK TO CALL THE ROLL.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARREN. NO.

COUNCIL MEMBER SHAFFER. NO.

COUNCIL MEMBER WANSLEY.

AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER SHUGTI.

AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER WHITING.

Aye. Council Member Chowdhury. Aye. Council Member Stevenson. Aye. Council Member Rainville.

No. Council Member Vita. No. Council Member Palmisano. No. Council Member Chavez. Aye.

Vice President Osmond. Aye. President Payne. Aye. There are eight ayes and five mays.

That motion fails as a required unanimous consent. Mr. President, the first item passes.

IT ONLY NEEDED A SIMPLE MAJORITY.

SO ITEM ONE ON THE INTRODUCTION REFERRAL CALENDAR WILL MOVE FORWARD AS STATED.

ON ITEM NUMBER TWO, IT FAILED TO GET UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

SO I'M ASSUMING THAT COUNCILMAN WANZLE WOULD GIVE NOTICE TODAY AND MOVE FORWARD.

AND THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE A VOTE BECAUSE NOW IT JUST BECAME A NOTICE OF INTRODUCTION.

THAT'S RIGHT.

COUNCILMAN WANZLE?

YES.

THANK YOU, CLERK CARL.

We had the opportunity to do something very simple

and show unity to expedite a legislative process

when the work has been already done to give you an ordinance

and to bring your constituents along for a public hearing

that would have took place on February 17th.

And we could have made sure that preventative protections

against evictions could have been in place

ahead of the March 1st deadline for rent.

A supermajority of our colleagues did not want to move forward, but luckily we still have our legislative process to move forward with this.

So I'm giving official notice that will still allow us to move forward and would then require a simple majority vote at the end of it to adopt it.

And at least and unfortunately, at least after March 1st, this would, if adopted by this body, would give thousands of families that additional 60 days temporarily to seek out rental assistance.

and stay housed, but it's really sad that we're almost going into the third month of this operation

and the supermajority of this body could not get behind making sure that residents had a pre-eviction

protection in place. That said, I look forward to gaining the support of a majority of my colleagues

to put this in place in the coming weeks and months as we further consider it.

That notice is hereby given and no further action is required at this time. And Mr. Clark,

have several folks in queue but we actually don't have an item on the table anymore do we

all right well the next order of business is uh resolutions we have one resolution today

and that is an honorary resolution to designate the month of february 2026

as black history month in the city of minneapolis we were able to participate in a breakfast event

in our historic rotunda this morning that was the city's official launch of this month's long

celebration of black history month i want to express the count the council's thanks to

the city's black employee network mben and the planning committee who organized today's

breakfast celebration do council members have any comments to add uh council member of utah

thank you chair payne this morning we had a wonderful breakfast and um we had lots of folks

attend it was actually a super fun way to start the day in honor of black history month i just

wanted to acknowledge a woman who was there this morning and somehow we missed her her name is

destiny prosper she's been a hero in north minneapolis she has actually fundraised forty

thousand dollars for luke for jenny lynn school uh by herself you may catch her on the news every

now and then talking about the amazing work she's done in north minneapolis we have so many heroes

like Destiny in our community, but I wanted to make sure that I acknowledged her because

she has, I mean, she's just taken this thing by storm with helping with food, rent assistance.

She was actually one of the first persons that I met that was doing home delivery. So thank you,

Destiny. Thank you to everyone. But in particular, in this Black History Month, I wanted to make sure

that we acknowledge the phenomenal work she's doing on behalf of families in North Minneapolis.

And thanks to everyone else who attended this morning.

Fun celebration, good way to start the day.

And to get a good start on Black History Month.

I enjoyed all the fun we had.

Good breakfast.

Thank you to Latunji for catering the breakfast this morning.

That was a great addition to the event.

It's always good when you gather black people, you got to have food.

So that was a good addition.

Thank you so much to the clerk's office for making sure.

and also to the building commission and security and everyone for making sure we were safe and we had a good fun time this morning for our annual Black History Month breakfast.

Council Member Warren.

Thank you, Council President.

I want to just say thank you to everyone.

This was beautiful.

All of the individuals that we recognized and all of the attendees in support of the work

and the resilience of black folks here in America to have a moment during this time

of uncertainty throughout the city to recognize the instrument of leadership, the instrument of

creativity, the instrument of resilience that we have embodied for hundreds of years here in America.

I'm ultimately grateful for the opportunity and that the city took time to uplift this time

in this moment. The work is not done. The work continues. And I just want to honor and celebrate

everyone that we recognize today and all bodies that came and attended and supported and uplifted

those moments. And yeah, that's it. That's what I got. So thank you for that opportunity. It was

wonderful. Councilmember Chowdhury. Thank you so much, President Payne. I just wanted to take a

moment to acknowledge the extreme hardship that our black, brown, indigenous, immigrant businesses

particularly are facing. They were already facing many, many issues and were in recovery prior to

the ICE occupation and surge, but we're seeing from our local businesses that they are, in

some cases, seeing an 80% decrease in the regular customer base that they have.

So I'm just encouraging everyone to go to a black, brown, indigenous, immigrant-owned

business, double your orders, tip extra if you can.

if you can share that out on your social media and channels that's something that I continue to hear

as a need promotion is really really helpful and our city has been showing up as there's been

different direct actions that fill our streets and then we end up seeing community members go

to our to our local businesses so just encouraging everyone that's watching

to spread the word and all of us to continue to lean in in that way

Councilmember Chavez.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President.

I just want to say that it is truly an honor as a new council member to sit amongst a body

of council representatives from all across the diaspora.

That truly feels empowering.

beautiful and I wanted to acknowledge that at this at this very same time and

don't ever disrespect me by equating me or making me comparing me to MAGA in

any way because I'm blackity black black black okay just so you understand

foundationally to this ain't nowhere they can send me to I've been here there

never was a time when I was not and I will always be here the end

Seeing no one else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Warren. Aye.

Council Member Schaefer. Aye.

Council Member Lonsley is absent.

Council Member Shaghti. Aye.

Council Member Whiting. Aye.

Council Member Chowdhury. Aye.

Council Member Stevenson. Aye.

Council Member Rainville. Aye.

Council Member Vitao. Aye.

Council Member Palmisano. Aye.

Council Member Chavez. Aye.

Vice President Osman is absent.

President Payne?

Aye.

Larry, 11 ayes.

That carries and that resolution is adopted.

And for myself and for the entire city council,

I want to uplift our black residents, neighbors,

colleagues and family members.

We set aside this month each year to commemorate

Black History Month, but it is important that we recognize,

honor and celebrate the lives of black people all year long.

And I want to especially offer my sincere thanks and

appreciation to the Minneapolis Black Employee Network

and Ghanani Omar from the War II office who did a heavy lift to put on today's event.

And day after day both inside the city enterprise as well as out in the community. So thank you for

that. Next we have a request for a closed session today with our city attorney but before I recognize

the attorney for that purpose I will ask if there are any announcements from council members.

I'm on cue. Council Member Chavez. Thank you, Council President Payne. I just wanted to confer with the clerks that all the authors for the temporary pre-eviction notice extension NOI are reflected on the notice of intent.

I'm so sorry, Council Member. Can you repeat that? Since we, the notice of intent, I want to make sure that the authors that were submitted for the ordinance are reflected on there.

happy to add your name great thank you it's not just me either also really

want to talk about the item and its importance so I hope that when this

ordinance comes before the council that neighbors show up to City Hall talk to

your council members about the importance of this emergency temporary

pre-eviction notice ordinance the reality is many of our neighbors are

gonna face displacement what million dollars that we just allocated in the

City Council is not going to be enough to prevent a displacement of our

neighbors the go fund me is the rental assistance that are our neighbors in

Minneapolis in the state of Minnesota across the country our fundraising is

not gonna be enough to prevent the displacement of our neighbors I was

hoping that we would have taken this action to go the route of a more

expedited expedited route to prevent the displacement of our neighbors I'm

disappointed that we didn't do that today but it doesn't mean we get to

stop now neighbors get to advocate and ask their council members their elected

officials to take action and I can't wait for this vote to happen I'm

disappointed it wasn't able to happen in an expedited way but there is gonna be

opportunity for folks to testify to come to the chambers and ask for change so thank you

councilmember chowdhury yeah thank you i just wanted to make an apology to my

colleagues i did not make mean to make my statement during the resolution i had mistaken

that for announcement so i just apologize that i made that statement during the resolution

portion because that's exclusively for black history month

Council Member Wanzi, would you like your vote reflected for the Black History Month resolution?

Yes, as affirmative.

All right, got that. Council Member Chugtai.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge that this morning,

at as early as six o'clock, just less than a day after Tom Holman announced that there would be an

end to roving patrols and that there'd be a reduction in the number of agents that were

going to each or carrying out these quote-unquote targeted operations, which we clearly see

over the course of the last two days have not that's not been the case but

and you know this morning so early you know dozens of my neighbors were woken up

because because ICE agents broke down

an apartment building's door and two dozen agents went in and

arrested arrested a woman that was our neighbor and it's just the

we're continuing to experience um tragedy after tragedy uh right now and you know i just want to

um hold some space for for my constituents for all of your constituents honestly um we're all

living through this together and yeah thank you

seeing no one else left in queue with that we've completed all of the items on

our agenda I'll recognize the city attorney to provide the legal basis for

the requested closed session as noted on our agenda thank you president Payne as

you just noted the next item on the agenda is a discussion of the state of

Minnesota at all versus Noam at all your lawyers was to provide a briefing to the

council on this litigation matter accordingly under the Minnesota open

meeting law Minnesota statutes section 13 D point oh five subdivision 3b the

council may upon a proper motion close the meeting for the purposes of attorney

client communication as permitted by the attorney-client privilege in considering

motion the council should weigh the right of the public to know what its government is doing

against the need of the city to preserve the confidentiality of its discussion with its

attorneys uh thank you mr attorney i move to close our public meeting as authorized under the open

meeting law specifically minnesota statute section 13 d.05 for the purpose of receiving a briefing

on the litigation matter of state of minnesota et al v noem et al may i have a second to that

motion second the clerk will call the roll council member Warren council member

Schaefer I council member Wonsley I council member Shugtime I council member

Whitey I council member Chowdhury I council member Stevenson I council member

Randall I council member Vita I council member Pombasano I council member

Chavez vice president Osmond is Khan president Haynes I there are 12 eyes

that carries for the viewing public I'll note that the broadcast of this

meeting will continue and the council will reconvene in public after we've

concluded the closed session.

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The

time is now 1 19 and the City Council has reconvened an open session following our closed session.

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll to prove the presence of a quorum.

Council member Warren.

Present.

Council member Schaefer.

Present.

Council member Wansley.

Present.

Council member Shantai is absent.

Council member Whiting.

Present.

Council member Chaudhry.

Present Council member Stevenson president council member Rainville

President council member Vita present council member Palma santa president council member Shabins president

Vice President Osmond present

President Payne present there are 12 members present but the records reflect that we have a quorum with that

We've completed our business today with nothing further to come before the council and without objection this meeting is hereby adjourned

Thank you.

Thank you.