Minneapolis City Council Meeting – June 11, 2026: Resolutions, George Floyd Square Development, and Police Chief Nomination
Minneapolis City Council Meeting – June 11, 2026
The Minneapolis City Council convened on June 11, 2026, at approximately 9:30 AM. The meeting began with five honorary resolutions: Gun Violence Awareness Month, Pride Month, Juneteenth, Special Olympics Week, and Immigrant Heritage Month/World Refugee Day/Caribbean American Heritage Month. Following these ceremonies, the council addressed a full agenda including committee reports, several contentious items related to the redevelopment of George Floyd Square, special assessments for the 38th & Chicago street reconstruction, and the nomination of Brian O'Hara as police chief. The meeting concluded with a closed session for litigation briefings and an MCDA meeting.
Consent Calendar
- The council approved numerous routine items from committee reports with unanimous or near-unanimous votes. Notable approvals included liquor license renewals, land sales, affordable housing finance, contract amendments, and grant acceptances. Specific items pulled for separate discussion are noted below.
Public Comments & Testimony
- During the honorary resolutions, several community leaders spoke in support of gun violence awareness (Molly Chase from Moms Demand Action, Christina from Protect Minnesota, and an unnamed speaker representing the African American community). During the Pride resolution, Kat from Outfront Minnesota and Rox (founder of Twin Cities Pride) spoke. During the Juneteenth resolution, Al from the NAACP spoke about the United Black Legislative Agenda and the need for community healing and city support for Heritage Park and George Floyd Square. No public comment was taken during the regular business portion of the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Honorary Resolutions: Six resolutions were presented and adopted unanimously, recognizing June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month, Pride Month, Juneteenth (National African American Independence Holiday), Special Olympics Week (June 20–26), and Immigrant Heritage Month/World Refugee Day/Caribbean American Heritage Month. Multiple council members and community leaders made remarks.
- Amendment to Agenda – Walk-On Items: Councilmember Chugtai moved to add an item related to the Uptown Art Fair and Meet Minneapolis contract. Councilmember Chavez moved to add three items: a FEMA grant application, a resolution condemning ICE funding, and a legislative directive for the 38th Street Thrive Plan. Councilmember Palmasano objected to the number of walk-ons, citing process concerns. The amendments were approved 13-0.
- Business Housing & Zoning Committee Report – Item 17 (George Floyd Square Development Rights): The committee recommended denying exclusive development rights to Minnesota Agape Movement for the People's Way at George Floyd Square. Extensive debate followed. Councilmembers Stevenson, Chavez, Wandsley, Vita, and others argued that the process lacked transparency, ignored community input, and that the proposal was not fiscally or legally viable. Councilmembers Palmasano and others expressed concern about further delays. The motion to deny passed 10-2-1 (Councilmember Vita and Rainville voted no; Warren abstained).
- Climate & Infrastructure Committee Report – Item 2 (38th & Chicago Street Reconstruction Special Assessments): Councilmember Stevenson moved to deny items 2.1 and 2.2 (the special assessments against property owners), citing the unique circumstances of George Floyd Square. The motion passed 12-0 (Vice President Osman initially absent but later recorded as aye). The remaining item 2.3 (areaway abandonment) was approved 13-0. Councilmember Stevenson noted the remaining 4% of project cost would be covered by MSA funds in the 2027 mayor's budget.
- Public Health, Safety & Equity Committee Report – Item 2 (Police Chief Nomination): The item was to delete the nomination of Brian O'Hara from the agenda following his resignation. Councilmember Chugtai moved to deny the nomination instead, arguing that a formal denial would count as one of the mayor's three allowed attempts under the charter. After a lengthy procedural discussion and a failed motion to deny (6-7), the council voted 13-0 to delete the item from the agenda. Councilmembers debated the need for a national search and collaboration with the mayor.
- New Business – Additional Items: The council approved legislative directives related to the 38th Street Thrive Plan, a FEMA grant for firefighter hiring (up to $2.2 million), a resolution condemning $70 billion in federal ICE funding, and a $100,000 allocation from Meet Minneapolis funds for the Uptown Art Fair. All passed unanimously.
- Notice of Intent – Autonomous Vehicles Ordinance: Councilmember Wandsley introduced a notice of intent to regulate autonomous vehicles for commercial purposes, along with a staff directive. Approved 13-0.
Key Outcomes
- George Floyd Square Development: The council denied exclusive development rights to Minnesota Agape Movement, ending the current RFQ process. Councilmembers Chavez and Stevenson committed to meeting with Mayor Fry to chart a new path forward, with an update expected next week.
- 38th & Chicago Assessments: The council waived special assessments for property owners at George Floyd Square (items 2.1 and 2.2), with the cost to be covered by leftover MSA funds. The areaway abandonment was approved to allow construction to proceed.
- Police Chief Nomination: The council voted to delete former Chief Brian O'Hara's nomination from the agenda, rather than formally deny it. The vacancy clock is running; the mayor has 30 days to nominate a new candidate or risk triggering a council-led slate of nominees.
- Uptown Art Fair: The council allocated $100,000 in one-time seed money from remaining Meet Minneapolis funds to support the return of the Uptown Art Fair.
- Other Actions: The council approved two mayoral nominations (Civil Rights Director Caleb McKinnon Diara and City Assessor Rebecca Baumquist) to be sent to committee for public hearings. A legislative directive was adopted to update the 38th Street Thrive strategic development plan and track budget amendments from December 2025.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, my name is Elliot Payne. I'm the president of Minneapolis City Council. Before we convene our meeting, we have the presentation of honorary resolutions. I'll invite Councilmember Chowdhury to give the first presentation recognizing gun violence awareness. And I believe we have some guests joining us, so we'll wait for them to be brought into the room. Thank you. Welcome, welcome. Come on up. Come morning, Director. Let me get close to y'all. We can have some of you all right over here by Councilmember Palmasano and Whiting. Come over here. Yeah, don't be shy. Come on down here, everybody. Yeah, yeah, please. Come on. Got a little bit more space down here. We can do some rows. Good morning. All right. This is recognizing June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month in Minneapolis. Whereas National Violence Awareness Day originated in June 2015 to commemorate the life of 15-year-old Hadea Pendleton who was shot and killed on a Chicago playground, and nearly 130 people shot and killed every day in the United States. Whereas in 2024, 44,447 people died from gun-related injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And whereas over 3,000 shooting deaths have occurred in the United States between January and March 2026. And whereas in Minneapolis, from January through May 2026, 22 homicides have occurred in 88 people sustain gunshot wounds. And whereas gun violence homicide is a local and national public health concern that disproportionately affects teens and young men ages 15 to 35 and individuals who identify as black American Indian and Latino, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Whereas, in the last year, Minneapolis and Minnesota have experienced gun violence due to interpersonal conflicts, crime, suicide, federal law enforcement, school shootings, mass shootings, and political violence. And whereas gun violence leaves lasting impacts on survivors, families, neighborhoods, first responders, and communities who continue to carry the emotional, psychological, and economic consequence of violence, and whereas gun injuries and death are preventable, and whereas community organizations play a vital role in community violence intervention by providing services such as violence prevention, youth and group violence intervention, violence interruption, hospital-based violence intervention, community trauma response, and have demonstrated success in reducing violence and saving lives. And whereas, the city of Minneapolis is committed to honoring survivors, those who have lost their lives to gun violence and their families by bringing an end to this preventable public health crisis through investment in awareness, education, training, violence prevention, and policy change. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the mayor and city council do hereby honor the survivors and remember those whose lives have been lost to gun violence. Recognize the ongoing work of community organizations to build safer communities and recognize June 2026 as gun violence awareness Month in the city of Minneapolis. Well, thank you everyone so much for being here and being here to bring awareness about gun violence in our city, in our country. I know that the city of Minneapolis in particular has faced a lot of heartbreak, especially with the shooting that took place that took two young lives at Annunciation School and Church. The shooting that happened just a few days before at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and several mass shootings that we've experienced in the community, whether it's on the north side or the south side, we've all been impacted, and I just want to give a big and deep thank you on behalf of the Minneapolis City Council for everyone's advocacy, everyone's hard work and your storytelling. I know how difficult it can be to have to share your trauma and your harm and to do it in such a selfless way. Because of you, we were able to pass sweeping gun violence prevention legislation at the Minnesota State Senate. And that is something so proud, something to be so proud of. Even if we didn't get at the House, we know. We know which seats we need to flip, we know what work we need to do, and because of you and your advocacy here on the Minneapolis City Council, we had a unanimous vote and support from the mayor on local-level gun violence prevention laws that will go into effect once the state gives us the authority to do so, and that's something we should be proud of. And with that, I'm gonna have Director Harrington of Neighborhood Safety Department open us up. Hi everybody, I'm Amanda Harrington. I'm the director for neighborhood safety. Um, I just want to acknowledge the staff from neighborhood safety that are here today. Many of them have personal reasons why they do this work, and all of us care deeply about protecting and supporting this community in whatever ways safety means to all of you. In particular, we're prioritizing gun violence prevention, and I need to say we couldn't do this work without the community organizations that we partner with, and so there's a number of organizations present today, some of which we contract with, some of whom advocate for gun violence awareness or safety reduction in a number of different ways, and I think we should just take a moment to thank all of those organizations who show up and do this work every day. Thank you. We don't have a lot of time, but if any of the organizations feel called to speak about your work or the reasons that you do this work, we would love to hear from you. I think we have Molly Chase from Moms Demand Action to kick us off. Thank you. The first time I set foot in City Hall was last August after the enunciation shooting, there was a press conference.
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