OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Public Health Safety and Equity Committee Regular Meeting - May 13, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, May 13, 2026
BodyMinneapolis, Minnesota
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, May 13, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:11:55
Transcript — Verbatim
0:44

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Public Health Safety and Equity Committee for May 13, 2026.

0:52

I am Jason Chavez, the chair of this committee.

0:55

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

1:05

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

1:12

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.

1:20

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

1:24

At this time, I will ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify a quorum for this meeting.

1:30

Councilmember Payne.

1:31

Present.

1:32

Wandsley.

1:34

Rainville is absent.

1:35

Vita.

1:36

President.

1:37

Whiting.

1:38

Present.

1:39

Vice Chair Stevenson.

1:40

Present.

1:41

Chair Chavez.

1:43

That is six members present.

1:44

That's the record of the Let the record reflect that we have quorum and we'll be joined by Councilmember Rainbow shortly.

1:53

I'll remind my colleagues that we'll be using speaker management today.

1:56

So if we can confirm that it works for all of you, otherwise we'll go to badges.

2:03

Good.

2:04

All right.

2:05

Our agenda is in front of us, and we will begin with the consent agenda.

2:09

Item number one authorizes a contract with Forest Lake Sportsman's Club for police in-service trainings and outdoor range facility use.

2:16

Staff did provide a memo with background information on the contract and images of the site, which has been included on the looms file.

2:23

Item number two is a contract amendment with AGE and Associates Inc.

2:28

and GBR Inc.

2:29

for interpreting translation services.

2:31

Item number three approves the contract amendment with certified language international LLC for remote interpreting services.

2:51

Accept grants from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal and Spain neuter training conference attendance.

2:58

Item number seven approves the gift acceptance for site visit to the Chatao Health and Wellness Recovery Center.

3:05

Item number eight approves the gift acceptance for drone assessment and response tactics training.

4:14

Uh thank you, Chair Chavez.

4:15

As you all know, we received the mayor's nomination of Brian O'Hara for police chief last Thursday at our council meeting.

4:22

It was a late breaking letter uh the evening of the before the meeting.

4:26

Uh per our standard process that gets referred to the subject matter committee, that is this committee today, uh for setting a public hearing, which we have on our agenda for June 3rd for a final determination on June 11th.

4:40

Uh, I'm working really closely with the City Attorney's Office because we are anticipating uh the next semi-annual Alifa report for the settlement agreement implementation where there would be really valuable information in that report as it relates to how we're doing on the implementation of the settlement agreement.

4:58

I think it would be extraordinarily important for um us as decision makers but almost more importantly the public to be able to see the contents of that report before we do take that final determination of a vote um at this time we don't know the specific date that we are should get that report it could be possible that it could come as early as the beginning of June and be here in time for the even the public hearing and the final vote or we may learn that it's going to come later in the month I'm trying to stay on top of when that will happen and so uh as we set the date for our standard timeline for June 3rd for the public hearing once we get to June 3rd and we know more specifics about when that report might come I may want to uh hold that nomination until we get that report but at this time we don't have that information so I just wanted to give you all that update and the public that update so councilmember wants to thank you uh Chair Chavez I wanted to make some comments in regards to item number one uh which is the contract with Forest Lake Sportsman's Club for police and service trainings and outdoor range facility use um I'm excited to see another one of these type of contracts come forward for us to consider and approve um largely because it affirms what I know a number of us council members and residents have been saying which is we don't need to build uh 40 million to 80 million dollar building in order for our Minneapolis police department to have uh the training spaces that they need to execute their jobs um pd does currently practice in a residential area in war four that has been of um constant conversation of what do we do about that relocation as part of that um and I do believe that there is a shared interest in relocating it to a more appropriate um location but this contract demonstrates that we can rent a gun range and meet that need for about a hundred thousand dollars per year which is truly a tiny fraction of the astronomical amount that we're talking about paying um for the mayor's proposed cop city um so I'm really excited to see more contracts like this come forward um that's meeting the quote unquote training needs that are being proposed in that large cop city project um and to be able to see these type of trial uh contracts uh ideally come forward more frequently um so that we can truly create an alternative plan to that um so yeah just wanted to make those comments councilmember whiting thank you chair chavez just was wondering if we could pull one for discussion we can pull the the item out for discussion you want to vote on that uh no then you can just make your comments like am I able to ask someone to come up with that case okay um commander are you able to to come chat with this piece a little bit not too many tough questions for you.

8:03

Good afternoon.

8:05

Council chair vice chair uh council member I'm Commander Chris Brown from the uh police department and I run the training division.

8:12

Yeah perfect thank you commander and just a few quick questions here is not necessarily even related to uh this item specifically but um as kind of our training around firearms training like I I think would trying to get a sense of because I you know I hear council member wandsley's uh comments as well um if you can kind of just touch space on uh the required individual officer uh yearly bi-yearly whatever the training is that is needed for our firearms if you could kind of just give us a a background uh of what that training entails.

8:45

Sure.

8:46

Um it's it's pretty extensive um overall what the police department provides uh handgun and as well as rifle and uh our special operations which I can't speak to but um what we use uh do training related to firearms.

9:01

So related to um just in general, we do handgun qualifications once a year um that usually uh comprises of about uh it's about a month and a half, but it is only we only pull the officers off the street for as as minimal amount of time as possible.

9:18

It's more of a uh um an exam.

9:20

We examine their firearms, their equipment that is um uh securing the firearms.

9:25

We also go over uh um malfunctions and such like that.

9:29

So it's but it is not we don't we don't really consider it a training, we consider that an assessment or um their qualifications to meet the state standards.

9:29

So that is uh a brief training, but it does require us to have about um somewhere between 15 to 20 training sessions uh offered up for that.

9:48

Um, and then uh each officer that is authorized to carry a patrol rifle would um go to a patrol rifle school and the patrol rifle school um so historically has been uh held off site because uh too many too many rounds with a patrol rifle in a small area um uh is not good for the cost of the city for the going through the uh cleaning and and the processing of the uh uh spent rounds that go into that uh into that area.

10:18

That range we have right now is specifically designed mostly for handgun.

10:22

And so it wouldn't be feasible to do it.

10:25

Plus, we do um we need a place where they can use the uh the rifles uh you know and learn the tactics that are appropriate for safely uh uh you using and and carrying those weapons.

10:38

So that's the general officer that those are the two things that they often carry.

10:43

We do use um uh the range staff still also does, um, and it's very similar to handgun qual or qualifying with other weapons.

10:52

Is we have less than lethal uh 40 millimeter um as well as uh um trying to think of the other other things that generally do with it, but um officers that do go through the the be able to carry the patrol rifle are required to do annual recertifications for that so that uh we do use utilize facilities for that as well.

11:16

Thank you, Commander.

11:17

And again, just the last kind of question.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation███████████████████████████████████████████43%
Public Safety████████████████████████24%
Affordable Housing███████████11%
Racial Equity████████8%
Intergovernmental Relations█████5%
Community Engagement████4%
Procedural███3%
Budget Management██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Public Health Safety and Equity Committee Regular Meeting - May 13, 2026

The Public Health Safety and Equity Committee of the Minneapolis City Council met on May 13, 2026 at 6:32 PM. Chair Jason Chavez presided. Six members were present (Payne, Wandsley, Whiting, Vita, Stevenson, Chavez) with Councilmember Rainville arriving later. The meeting covered a consent calendar, multiple discussion items, and a public testimony period. Key topics included a police chief nomination update, a sponsor-a-kennel program, a legislative directive on police-federal collaboration, an internal review report on a shooting incident, quarterly updates on after-action reviews, the rental license ordinance implementation, and a drone-as-first-responder pilot program proposal.

Consent Calendar

  • Unanimously approved items 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 11 (minute agreement amount). Item 1 authorized a contract with Forest Lake Sportsman's Club for police in-service trainings and outdoor range facility use. Item 2 was a contract amendment with AGE and Associates Inc. and GBR Inc. for interpreting/translation services. Item 3 approved a contract amendment with Certified Language International LLC for remote interpreting services. Item 7 approved gift acceptance for a site visit to the Chatao Health and Wellness Recovery Center. Item 8 approved gift acceptance for drone assessment and response tactics training. Councilmember Wandsley expressed support for item 1, noting it demonstrated that police training needs could be met through contracts costing approximately $100,000 per year rather than building a $40-80 million facility. Councilmember Whiting asked Commander Chris Brown about required firearms training; Commander Brown explained annual handgun qualifications (15-20 sessions) and patrol rifle recertifications, noting the current range is primarily for handguns.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Davis Maturi (victim of police shooting): Testified about his experience with the Minneapolis Police Department following a neighbor dispute that escalated into a shooting. He stated he was shot by his neighbor, required extensive medical treatment, and that officers failed to protect him despite dozens of 911 calls. He criticized the police chief and mayor for blaming him in a press conference and demanded accountability, including that Chief O'Hara not be reappointed, that officers who mistreated him face discipline, and that the mayor issue a public apology. He said he has lost his job, suffers from PTSD, and sees no change in MPD despite the consent decree. Councilmembers Wandsley and Stevenson expressed empathy and support, with Wandsley framing the attack as a hate crime. Stevenson asked what accountability looks like to him; Maturi reiterated his demands.

Discussion Items

  • Police Chief Nomination Update: Chair Chavez reported that the mayor nominated Brian O'Hara for police chief, referred to this committee. A public hearing is set for June 3, 2026, and a final vote for June 11, 2026. Chavez noted he is awaiting the next semi-annual ALIFA (settlement agreement implementation) report, which may contain valuable information for the decision. He may hold the nomination if the report arrives after the hearing.

  • Sponsor-a-Kennel Program (MACC): Director Tony Schendel presented a new program allowing businesses and residents to donate to MACPAC (a 501c3) to sponsor kennels or cat condos. Donations will provide enrichment, veterinary services, and supplies not covered by the operating budget. The city incurs no financial or resource impact; MACPAC will handle all administration. Councilmembers Wandsley, Stevenson, and Whiting expressed strong support, noting the program's innovation and community partnership. Councilmember Wandsley highlighted the need for a new facility in the capital program. The item was approved and forwarded to full council.

  • Legislative Directive on Police-Federal Collaboration (Item 17): Author (Chavez, Stevenson, Payne) introduced a directive to inquire into MPD's participation on a Homeland Security Task Force and any other agreements with federal law enforcement not brought before the council. The directive seeks information on protocols for deputized officers, enforcement of city separation laws, transparency measures (e.g., body cameras), and data sharing with federal agencies. Councilmember Wandsley raised concerns about prior federal operations (June 3, 2025 operation on Lake and Bloomington, the federal occupation beginning December 2025) and called for closing loopholes. Councilmember Stevenson asked about transparency measures for officers on task forces, referencing the killing of Winston Smith where body cameras were not required. The item was approved and forwarded to full council. Chair Chavez also requested a staff memo on a related legislative directive regarding city systems to capture unlawful behavior by federal ICE agents.

  • Internal Review of Shooting of Davis Maturi (Item 18): This report was received and filed without discussion, as the following item (19) addressed follow-up.

  • Legislative Directive on Maturi After-Action Reviews Quarterly Updates (Item 19): Authored by Chavez, Stevenson, and Wandsley, this directive requires quarterly reports tracking implementation of recommendations from the after-action reviews of the Maturi shooting and other similar incidents. It covers changes to policies, procedures, training, staffing, 911 response, and other areas. The item was approved and forwarded to full council.

  • Rental License Ordinance Implementation Report (Item 20): Director April Bogart presented the first implementation report on the new rental licensing ordinance (approved 2025, effective Jan 1, 2027). The ordinance requires tier-3 (high-risk) properties and those with license conditions to go before city council for licensure. Currently, about 75 properties are impacted. Bogart acknowledged the tiering system has challenges and a multi-year effort to improve it will be presented at a June council round table. A technical amendment is needed to ensure licenses up for renewal are also covered. Staff capacity is a concern. Councilmember Wandsley (co-author of the original "Stop Slumlords" ordinance) stressed the need for amendments to uphold the ordinance's intent and not allow loopholes for segregated housing. Councilmember Whiting asked about an old "worst landlords" list (good cause list), which Bogart said is being updated and will return to the website. The report was received and filed.

  • Drone as First Responder (DFR) Pilot Program (Item 21): Presented by Chief of Staff Annie Scugman, Commander Tom Campbell, and representatives from MFD, 911, Inspection Services, and Traffic Control. The proposed 75-day free trial with SkyDio would place two drone docks at Fire Station 14 in the 4th Precinct, launching autonomously to priority 0 and 1 calls. Data from 2025 shows 33,402 such calls in the precinct; two drones could have responded to 4,643 of those in under two minutes. The drones have police markings, FAA compliance, and a public-facing transparency dashboard. State law (626.19) governs authorized uses, prohibits facial recognition and weapons, and requires data retention limits (evidence stored indefinitely, non-evidence deleted within 3-7 days). The trial would still dispatch officers. Other departments (fire, 911, inspection, traffic) identified potential uses: fire recon, hazmat, water rescues, illegal dumping, snow emergency monitoring, etc. Councilmember Vita, the author, expressed strong support, citing improved response times (current median 7:48 for priority 1 vs. drone under 2 minutes) and potential overtime savings. Council President Payne raised concerns about security vulnerabilities and risks from a hostile federal government (citing Trump administration counterterrorism language). Councilmember Wandsley requested a cost analysis before any enterprise-wide contract, noting MPD's $23 million deficit, and questioned deployment mechanisms for non-police uses. Councilmember Stevenson oscillated between excitement and "Big Brother" concerns; she asked about counting drone response times and Fourth Amendment issues. Councilmember Whiting questioned how pilots determine authorized uses under state law and whether MPD piloting for other departments could create compliance issues. Councilmember Rainville asked about other jurisdictions' privacy experiences. The city attorney reminded that a public hearing is required before acquiring surveillance technology per city ordinance. The report was received and filed.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Calendar: All items approved and forwarded to full council.
  • Sponsor-a-Kennel Program: Approved and forwarded to full council.
  • Legislative Directive on Police-Federal Collaboration: Approved and forwarded to full council. Chair Chavez will also request a memo on the city's response to unlawful actions by federal ICE agents.
  • Legislative Directive on Maturi After-Action Reviews: Approved and forwarded to full council, requiring quarterly updates to this committee.
  • Rental License Ordinance Report: Received and filed. A June council round table will further address tiering and proposed amendments.
  • Internal Review Report (Maturi): Received and filed.
  • Drone as First Responder Pilot Report: Received and filed. Further steps require a public hearing and council action per the surveillance technology ordinance before any contract can be signed.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Public Health Safety and Equity Committee for May 13, 2026. I am Jason Chavez, the chair of this committee. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. At this time, I will ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify a quorum for this meeting. Councilmember Payne. Present. Wandsley. Rainville is absent. Vita. President. Whiting. Present. Vice Chair Stevenson. Present. Chair Chavez. That is six members present. That's the record of the Let the record reflect that we have quorum and we'll be joined by Councilmember Rainbow shortly. I'll remind my colleagues that we'll be using speaker management today. So if we can confirm that it works for all of you, otherwise we'll go to badges. Good. All right. Our agenda is in front of us, and we will begin with the consent agenda. Item number one authorizes a contract with Forest Lake Sportsman's Club for police in-service trainings and outdoor range facility use. Staff did provide a memo with background information on the contract and images of the site, which has been included on the looms file. Item number two is a contract amendment with AGE and Associates Inc. and GBR Inc. for interpreting translation services. Item number three approves the contract amendment with certified language international LLC for remote interpreting services. Accept grants from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal and Spain neuter training conference attendance. Item number seven approves the gift acceptance for site visit to the Chatao Health and Wellness Recovery Center. Item number eight approves the gift acceptance for drone assessment and response tactics training. Uh thank you, Chair Chavez. As you all know, we received the mayor's nomination of Brian O'Hara for police chief last Thursday at our council meeting. It was a late breaking letter uh the evening of the before the meeting. Uh per our standard process that gets referred to the subject matter committee, that is this committee today, uh for setting a public hearing, which we have on our agenda for June 3rd for a final determination on June 11th. Uh, I'm working really closely with the City Attorney's Office because we are anticipating uh the next semi-annual Alifa report for the settlement agreement implementation where there would be really valuable information in that report as it relates to how we're doing on the implementation of the settlement agreement. I think it would be extraordinarily important for um us as decision makers but almost more importantly the public to be able to see the contents of that report before we do take that final determination of a vote um at this time we don't know the specific date that we are should get that report it could be possible that it could come as early as the beginning of June and be here in time for the even the public hearing and the final vote or we may learn that it's going to come later in the month I'm trying to stay on top of when that will happen and so uh as we set the date for our standard timeline for June 3rd for the public hearing once we get to June 3rd and we know more specifics about when that report might come I may want to uh hold that nomination until we get that report but at this time we don't have that information so I just wanted to give you all that update and the public that update so councilmember wants to thank you uh Chair Chavez I wanted to make some comments in regards to item number one uh which is the contract with Forest Lake Sportsman's Club for police and service trainings and outdoor range facility use um I'm excited to see another one of these type of contracts come forward for us to consider and approve um largely because it affirms what I know a number of us council members and residents have been saying which is we don't need to build uh 40 million to 80 million dollar building in order for our Minneapolis police department to have uh the training spaces that they need to execute their jobs um pd does currently practice in a residential area in war four that has been of um constant conversation of what do we do about that relocation as part of that um and I do believe that there is a shared interest in relocating it to a more appropriate um location but this contract demonstrates that we can rent a gun range and meet that need for about a hundred thousand dollars per year which is truly a tiny fraction of the astronomical amount that we're talking about paying um for the mayor's proposed cop city um so I'm really excited to see more contracts like this come forward um that's meeting the quote unquote training needs that are being proposed in that large cop city project um and to be able to see these type of trial uh contracts uh ideally come forward more frequently um so that we can truly create an alternative plan to that um so yeah just wanted to make those comments councilmember whiting thank you chair chavez just was wondering if we could pull one for discussion we can pull the the item out for discussion you want to vote on that uh no then you can just make your comments like am I able to ask someone to come up with that case okay um commander are you able to to come chat with this piece a little bit not too many tough questions for you. Good afternoon. Council chair vice chair uh council member I'm Commander Chris Brown from the uh police department and I run the training division. Yeah perfect thank you commander and just a few quick questions here is not necessarily even related to uh this item specifically but um as kind of our training around firearms training like I I think would trying to get a sense of because I you know I hear council member wandsley's uh comments as well um if you can kind of just touch space on uh the required individual officer uh yearly bi-yearly whatever the training is that is needed for our firearms if you could kind of just give us a a background uh of what that training entails. Sure. Um it's it's pretty extensive um overall what the police department provides uh handgun and as well as rifle and uh our special operations which I can't speak to but um what we use uh do training related to firearms. So related to um just in general, we do handgun qualifications once a year um that usually uh comprises of about uh it's about a month and a half, but it is only we only pull the officers off the street for as as minimal amount of time as possible. It's more of a uh um an exam. We examine their firearms, their equipment that is um uh securing the firearms. We also go over uh um malfunctions and such like that. So it's but it is not we don't we don't really consider it a training, we consider that an assessment or um their qualifications to meet the state standards.

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