Good morning, everyone.

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 Warren to give the first presentation recognizing a day of compassion.

Thank you, Council President.

This is beautiful.

Whereas Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lamas are a manifestation of compassion and spiritual leaders of Tibet, and whereas his holiness was recognized as the reincarnation of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at an early age and devoted his life to the study and practice of Buddhist philosophy and the promotion of compassion, inner faith dialogue, and mutual respect.

And whereas following the invasion of the Tibetan people by the Republic of China in nineteen fifty and the Tibetan Uprising of Nineteen Fifty Nine, he fled into exile as he has since worked to preserve the Tibetan people's cultural, religious, and historical heritage.

And whereas the Dalai Lama has traveled extensively throughout the world, including Minnesota, fostering greater understanding, tolerance, harmony, and compassion amongst people of all faiths and background, and whereas in 1989, his holiness was awarded the Noble Priests Peace Prize for advocating peaceful solutions based on tolerance and mutual respect, and whereas his teachings on spectacular ethics, compassion, and emotional resilience have influenced educators, spiritual practitioners, and leading leaders globally.

And whereas over 5,000 Tibetans now call Minnesota home, contributing to the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our communities by working in hospitals, operating small businesses in Minneapolis, and attending colleges and universities throughout the city.

And whereas July 6th marks the 91st birthday of his holiness, the Dalai Lama, now therefore be it resolved that the mayor and the city council do hereby recognize July 6th as a day of compassion in recognition of his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama's 91st birthday in the city of Minneapolis in recognition of his lifelong dedication to peace, compassion, and nonviolence.

I believe there are a few people who would like to speak.

We have far exceeded that, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see so many members of our Tibetan community here.

I'm a proud Tibetan American, lifelong Minnesotan, and the current U.S.

National Coordinator for the Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group, the primary youth engagement and leadership initiative of the Central Tibetan Administration, which is the Tibetan government in exile.

It is an honor to be here today as the city of Minneapolis recognizes July 6th as the day of compassion in honor of the 91st birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

For Tibetans, the Dalai Lama is our spiritual leader, but his message belongs to everyone.

Throughout his life, he has reminded us that compassion is not simply a personal virtue, it is the foundation of strong communities.

It is how we build trust, bridge differences, and care for one another.

As someone who works with young people and communities across Minnesota, I've seen how powerful compassion can be.

It creates a sense of belonging, encourages understanding across cultures, and inspires people to serve something greater than themselves.

Minnesota is home to more than 5,000 Tibetans.

We're lucky that we didn't have all of them here today, many of whom who have built their lives here in the Twin Cities.

We are proud to contribute to the cultural, economic, and civic life in this region, and we are grateful to call Minneapolis home alongside so many vibrant communities.

I also want to recognize that just yesterday, the St.

Paul City Council passed a resolution recognizing July 6th as the day of compassion as well.

Together, the Twin Cities are sending a very powerful message that compassion, understanding, and the respect for our shared humanity are values that unite us all.

I would especially like to thank Councilmember Pearl Warren for taking the time to meet with our delegation, for listening to our community and for introducing this resolution.

Your leadership and partnership have made today's recognition possible.

On behalf of the Minnesota Tibetan community, I thank you.

Actually, he's my son.

And I am the vice president of Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota.

I just want to add, I I walk for old Dutch.

I think everybody enjoyed some good chips every day.

And I would like to thank all the council members for uh passing this resolution.

Uh, from all five thousand over five thousand dependents live here in Minnesota.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much.

We're gonna take a we're gonna take a photo.

You're gonna go back there?

Okay.

We're gonna take a photo.

I'm up here.

I'm saying it's my belt and hours that we're actually after this.

Thank you for coming.

Oh, um, but I would ask that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Next, we will recognize Power of the People Day with Councilmember Chavez.

Alright, yeah, we're honoring the 25th year anniversary of the power to the people stage and recognizing Sunday, June 28, 2026 as Power to the People Stage Day in the City of Minneapolis.

Woo.

Whereas the city of Minneapolis affirms its commitment to racial justice, gender equity, and liberation for all people, and recognizes that Pride Month began as a protest rooted in resistance to systemic systematic oppression and whereas Twin Cities Pride Festival, taking place on June 27th through June 28th, 2026, remains a powerful expression of visibility, solidarity, and collective action for 2S LGBTQIA plus communities across our region, and whereas the power to the people stage established in 2001 was created as an intentional and unapologetically platform to center the voices, artistry, and leadership of black, indigenous, and people of color, transgender, non-binary, and other historically marginalized 2S LGBTQIA plus communities and whereas the stage enduring impact has been guided by visionary leaders and community builders, including Nick of the Minnesota Men of Color, who create pathways for the space to be, and Rox Anderson of Rare Productions, who has held the space over the years.

These visionary leaders and community builders' work have amplified community power, cultural expression, and political consciousness, and whereas for 25 years, the power to the people stage has stood as a space of resistance, celebration, healing, truth telling, uplifting performers, activists, and organizers whose voices have too often been excluded from mainstream platforms.

And whereas the city of Minneapolis acknowledges that equity requires not only recognition but action and honor spaces like the power to the people stage as essential to dismantling system addict inequities and advancing justice and whereas the year 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the power to the people stage and provides an opportunity to celebrate its legacy while recommitting to the ongoing struggle for liberation and inclusion and whereas Nick Metcalf is hereby especially honored for his leadership, advocacy, and unwavering dedication to a bliff community through the power to the people stage and beyond.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the mayor and city council do hereby honor the twenty fifth anniversary of the power to the people stage and recognizes its lasting impact in advancing equity, representation, and justice within the two S LGBTQIA plus community and the city of Minneapolis.

And be it further resolved that the mayor and city council hereby proclaim Sunday, June 28th, 2026 as Power to the People's Stage Day in the City of Minneapolis, and be it further resolved that the mayor and city council call upon all residents to celebrate a blift and support the voices of leadership of BIPOC, transgender, non-binary, and marginalized two S LGBTQIA plus communities, and be it further resolved that the city of Minneapolis recommits to supporting community-led movements, cultural spaces, and policy initiatives that advance racial justice, gender equity, and the full liberation of all people.

This is a big day, and I hope that we get to see everybody on Sunday, and I'll first pass it to Roxanne.

Here, Rox.

And we'll have more resolutions to pass up too.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Chavez, for spearheading this, for getting it done and making it happen.

Thanks to the full body of the council and the mayor for recognition of this important work that we've been doing over the last 20 years.

Um, and that um I just really appreciate everybody being here today and showing up.

And I'll pass it to Nick.

Oh, I didn't know I was going to spell stays anything.

Sorry.

Thank you, everybody, and I hope to see you on Sunday.

I'll say a few words as I think it's important during Pride Month to recognize our leaders, our BIPOC leaders in the 2S LGBTQI movement who have led it literally led us through this moment.

You know, pride was an uprising, pride was a protest, and if it wasn't particularly for black and brown trans women that have led the way for people like myself to be able to be here and say that we deserve more, I think it's important to acknowledge on top of uh queer folks of color that have led this movement as well.

So I just wanted to wanted to say that as we are close to ending Pride Month this year, because it may be the end of the month, but it's not over, and it will continue to be prideful for all of our community.

So I wanted to say that today.

Okay, we'll take a photo.

Unless somebody else wants to say something.

No, no, no.

Sure.

Love it.

I'll just say a quick thing.

Hi everybody, I'm sure.

I'm the Two Spirit LGBTQA equity manager at the City of Minneapolis.

And we've had uh a long partnership with the Power to the People Stage with Rare Productions.

Um, and we will be the City of Minneapolis will be having our tables with the Power to the People stage this year for Pride as well, and we're really grateful um for that partnership, and to be there in particular.

Um, so go say hi, take in the music, come see and meet some of the folks who work at the city who will be there across a lot of departments who can share some stuff about resources that we have in community.

So that's another piece that we're excited about this year.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Thank you, and to all our staff that make this place run.

We'll take a quick photo.

Thank you.

Finally, I will welcome up Vice President Osman to recognize Somali Week.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm presenting here recognizing the 2026 Somali Week Festival.

Whereas Somali Week Festival is a vibrant celebration of Somali culture, heritage, and community recognized as the largest event of its kind outside of Somalia, drawing thousands of participant participants to Minneapolis each year.

And whereas this festival marks significant occasion for Somali diaspora providing an opportunity to celebrate Somali Independence Day, reflecting on the history, struggle, and uh triumphant of Somalia since independence 1960.

And whereas the Somali Week Festival showcases Somali art, music, dance, fashion, cuisine, fostering greater understanding and appreciation of Somali culture among all residents of Minneapolis and promoting multiculturalism and unity, and whereas the mission of Somali Week is to promote cross-cultural exchange and deepen the community understanding of the rich cultural heritage and significant contribution to the Somali American community, and whereas the Somali Week Festival aligns with Minneapolis' value of diversity, inclusion, and community celebration, reinforcing the city's commitment to recognizing and honoring the rich tapestry of cultural that can constitutes its population, and whereas Minneapolis is home to one of the largest Somali communities in North America whose presence has enriched the cultural, economic, civic, and social life of our city for decades.

And whereas the Somali community throughout its resilience, leadership, and vibrant cultural expression continues to inspire and contribute to the ongoing story of Minneapolis, enriching our city throughout its culture, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.

And whereas the Somali American community has demonstrated extremely resilience, unity and strength, continuing to celebrate its heritage, support one another, and continue to civic and economic and social life of Minneapolis during period tested by tested many immigrants and refugees and refugee communities.

And whereas Somali Americans continue to help shape the future of Minneapolis throughout entrepreneurship, public service, education, health care, arts, philanthropy, and civic leadership, helping build a strong city for future generations.

And whereas Minneapolis is strengthened by the relationship built among neighbors from money cultural and money background, demonstrating that our diversity remains one of the greatest sources of strength, belonging, and shared prosperity.

And whereas, throughout the leadership of community organization organizers, volunteers, artists, business and cultural institutions, and community partners, the Somali Week Festival has grown into a city-wide celebration that welcomes participation from residents and visitors, Minnesota and beyond, fostering broader connection and relationships.

Now, therefore, we resolve that the mayor and the city council do hereby recognize the Somali Week Festival 2026 as significant cultural event in Minneapolis, celebrating Somali community resilience and contribution to our city and promoting value of diversity, inclusion, cross-cultural understanding and further that July 1st, 2026 be recognized as Somali Cultural Day in the city of Minneapolis, acknowledging the enduring spirit, leadership and cultural richness of the Somali community.

Alright.

Thank you so much.

I do want to speak this important event.

We all know that many, many years uh we have been having this wonderful Lake Street uh event that has been happening.

I think many people have come through there and and really enjoy and learn.

And what else can you ride a camel in Minnesota Minneapolis?

That's where you can ride a camel.

So it's a it's it's a wonderful, wonderful event, and I'll invite you all to come.

And uh I do want to thank uh the organizers and of course the community members.

But one thing I really want to say that uh the Somali community was tested many times.

This is not the first time they have been tested.

We went through civil war.

We are very resilient.

One of the first press conference I did with the mayor, uh what I told uh Trump administration is here that we belong here and we are American like everyone else.

And I say this is home.

So I do want to pass it to uh Daut, who is the uh president of organizing Somali event.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Um thank you, everyone that's here today.

Um, like Councilmember Jamal Osma said Somali Week is locally made but globally recognized, anticipated, um, one of the largest celebrations, not just for the global Somali Diaspora, but for Minnesotans every single year for 23 years now.

Um, whether you are a Somali, whether you are a friend, whether you are a neighbor, um, we see we invite you to come celebrate with us this year.

Um, enjoy the music, the culture, come right a camel on Lake Street.

Um, I also want to seize this opportunity to thank the rest of the council members, the city of Minneapolis, meet Minneapolis, who's a proud partner of ours this year as well.

Um, this year's celebration is significant, however, and more meaningful than the rest of the years, as it aligns with our nation's 250th anniversary, which is the theme partnership, progress, and unity.

Again, I invite my neighbors, my friends, our city, and our state.

Um, so my week is proud to call here home.

Um, thank you.

Okay, y'all, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Thank you, everyone.

At this time, I'm gonna call this regular meeting of the city council for June 25th to order.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Palmasano, present.

Council member Chavez.

Present.

Councilmember Warren.

Present.

Councilmember Schaefer, present.

Councilmember Wandsley, present.

Councilmember Shakti.

Present.

Councilmember Whitey is absent.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Present.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Present.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Present.

Councilmember Vita.

Present.

Vice President Osman.

Hi.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum before we begin the meeting.

Let me remind members and the staff that this meeting is broadcast to enable greater public participation.

The broadcast includes real-time captioning as a means to increase the accessibility of the proceedings to the community.

Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so their 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 that, the agenda for today's meeting is before us.

I'm gonna propose one revision to the order of the agenda under our business housing and zoning committee and public health safety and equity committee reports.

We have two separate ordinances related to adult bathhouses.

These are listed as biz item number six and PHSE item number two.

If there's no objection, I'm going to propose that we take these items up together at the beginning of our reports of standing committees as it makes sense to discuss these items as one package.

Are there any objections to that plan?

Are there any amendments to the agenda?

Councilmember Warren.

Um, yes, I do have an amendment to um the agenda.

Go ahead.

Okay.

So I am bringing forth an amendment to um request that the audit and after action after action review um be committed uh be completed by March 19th, 2027.

This is um the amendment is the order of new business to request that the audit committee relating to MPHA's use of city funds.

Councilmember Warren has moved to amend the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Uh are there any other amendments?

Um I'm gonna call on the clerks.

Uh there is this World Cup.

President Payne, I think I can answer this question.

Okay, Councilmember Chowdry.

We're gonna take this up in our committee of the whole agenda as the items already on the agenda.

So I'll be making a motion to amend the item itself.

It's not an amendment to the full agenda.

Got it.

Seeing no other amendments, uh, may I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended?

So I'll move second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtime.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting is absent.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Council Member or Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries and the agenda is adopted.

The next item is acceptance of minutes from our regular meeting of June 11th.

May I have a motion to accept those minutes?

I move second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Council Member Chavez.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

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 the clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries, and those matters have been referred.

The next order of business is presentation of reports from our standing committees.

First, as mentioned at the top of our meeting, we're going to take up biz item six and PHSE item two, both of which are ordinances related to adult bathhouses and sex venues.

Just by way of background, these are in two separate committees because we are rearranging some of the code within business licensing and health code to permit for future regulations of bathhouses.

So this is not the full body of work that we are aiming to do.

This is the starting point for setting the foundation to do that for full regulatory framework around this body of work.

This is building off of legislation that I co-authored with then President Andrea Jenkins, where we stripped some of the uh stigmatizing language out of our health code.

Uh our community has been demanding that we fully repeal these regulations.

Uh today is a reflection of this iterative approach to that final destination.

And so uh as a primary author of this ordinance, I will move approval of both items and ask for a second.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

I'll recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Colleagues, today I want to talk about something that happened in the city before we were all on the council and why what we do today with these votes matter for the people who live through it, for the people who will come after us, and why this matters to particularly the 2S LGBTQIA plus community.

In June of 1979, members of the Minneapolis City Council voted against allowing a pride block party in Minneapolis.

That same month, the MPD's vice squad and deputy mayor entered a bathhouse in downtown Minneapolis drunk and harassed the men inside, vowing to come back and shut down what they called, and I'm quoting a whorehouse for men.

The police did in fact come back.

In December 1979, the largest raid on adult bathhouses in the United States history happened here in Minneapolis.

Two undercover MPD officers in towers began grabbing men.

125 people were ticketed, nine were charged with the felony crime of sodomy, and people who had gathered not to harm anyone, not to break anyone's life, but to be together in queer spaces were criminalized.

It makes outreach and education more hard.

And in fact, at that time, evidence did not matter, I guess.

And in 1988, Minneapolis formally banned bathhouses.

That ban has been on the books for 38 years.

These were gathering spaces for queer people, especially gay men, at a time when being out in public could get you fired, could get you beat, could get you arrested.

These are places of refuge, and I think it's important to acknowledge that these establishments were even picketed by signs that said AIDS kill and avoid gay bathhouses.

What we are doing today is clearing the path for a proper public health and zoning framework to follow in the future.

It is technical in nature, and it does not mean that bathhouses are able to open just yet, but today is a first step, and it will not be the last, but it is an important one.

I also want to acknowledge Brian Coyle, the first out gay member of the Minneapolis City Council who voted for this ban in 1988.

He was already living with HIV when he did it.

He was making decisions in the middle of a crisis with immense pressure.

And in the last year of his life, Brian Coyle chose to be public about his HIV status.

And I want to let people know that that took courage.

Brian Coyle didn't need to have the science that we have today, but what we do have now is science that can help improve people's lives.

We have prep, you equals you, and modern HIV prevention.

I also want to be honest about what I feel sitting here on the dais as the only out LGBTQ plus person on this council.

I say it because I know what it has meant for so many in our community to have no one in this chamber who could look at this ban and say, I know what it cost us.

I know who this band was aimed at, and I know that the hate that came with this ban was wrong and still is.

Someone who will acknowledge that bathhouse restrictions have a history that is intertwined with anti-2S LGBTQIA bigotry, in particular the history of homophobia in Minneapolis.

And today's vote is a step to try and rectify past harms.

In fact, when this ban first passed, the ordinance declared AIDS to be of particular danger to persons in this community.

This community, meaning the community I'm a part of and proud to be a part of.

It stated that this disease was found to occur in discernible population groups, and that the definition of high-risk sexual conduct targeted acts associated specifically with gay men.

To be clear, it was a law targeting gay men, and the city decided to put that law into code.

To everyone who was ticketed, to everyone who was charged, to everyone who was harassed, raided, and criminalized for being who you are.

I am very proud to take this vote for you and the entire 2S LGBTQIA community.

I urge my colleagues to support this today.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Okay.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thank you, President Payne.

I'll just keep my remarks brief.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Councilmember Chavez and every single councilmember that's been a part of authoring this ordinance.

Um these two ordinances are the first step.

They make some really important technical changes, and I just wanted to appreciate that this is taking place on Pride Month.

Um, what I had seen in two committees business housing and zoning and public health safe equity is something that I hadn't seen before in City Hall, which was an outpouring of our two S LGBTQIA community or queer community coming to City Hall, not only to share their reasons for why we need to support the repeal of this archaic bathhouse ban, but they were sharing honest and real queer stories.

There is a lot of beautiful storytelling that was happening.

People were sharing their experiences, they were sharing why they chose to leave states and communities that were not welcoming to them to come to a place like Minneapolis.

Because it is a welcoming city, because we are taking strides and steps to make it more welcoming, not only in name, but in policy, and that's why we took up this entire pride policy package today, and this is a key part of it.

And I think it's worth sharing that when this ban took place.

This is before we had uh medication like PrEP.

That is key in preventing the spread of HIV.

The science has caught up, the um health outreach systems are there, and it's really hard to keep this on our books when other cities have successfully had bathhouses that are safe that uh for community members that don't want to see them or be a part of them.

It's not bothering them if that's what some people are worried about, but it's created the places where people can feel safe in their queer identity and build more queer stories and continue to have that place of community and care.

So I'm proud to be a co-author on this, and I'm proud to support this too, and I hope to see this pass through our body today.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Please hold your applause, Councilmember Schaefer.

Thank you, President Payne.

I would like to just share a moment, take a brief moment to share why I won't be supporting this today.

And I want to be clear about something upfront, first and foremost.

Councilmember Chavez, thank you for sharing your heart.

Thank you for sharing about the discrimination and the hate that was experienced in times past around bathhouses.

Um Minneapolis is and must remain a city where LGPTQ people are celebrated, safe, visible, respected, and free.

And along those lines, I will be supporting the ordinances that Councilmember Chavez is bringing forward today around welcoming cities.

My concern today is not just with LGBTQ spaces, not with consenting adults, and not with whether or not Minneapolis is a regular welcoming city.

My concern is the deletions suggested today in Title XI, Chapter 219, which would allow in Minneapolis commercial operations for the purposes of permitting sex and allowing enclosures for a fee where people can go and have sex, basically allowing adult sex venues to operate in our city by striking these particular parts of the ordinance.

As a representative of Loring Park, the historic epicenter of LGBTQ life in Minneapolis, I have heard from many constituents who have questions about this proposal.

Some support it, some oppose it.

Some are still weighing the public health neighborhood regulatory and historical implications.

And some people actually have lived experience with this time and the three bathhouses that we had in the warehouse district.

Just yesterday, I sat down with a constituent who helped challenge Minnesota's anti-sodomy statute, and who served as an aide to the late Senator Alan Speer, the first openly gay man in the country to serve as state legislator and the leading force behind the 1993 Human Rights Act, which protected gay and lesbian Minnesotans from discrimination and was the first state civil rights law in the nation to expressly protect transgender people.

My constituent has spent decades in this fight.

He shared with me that many gay men in his own network either oppose the return of bathhouses or have real questions about whether this is the right path for a variety of reasons.

When someone who helps secure important legal protections for LGBTQ Minnesotans raises a concern, I think it is important for me to listen.

Additionally, given the city's city budget for it fall shortfalls in core city services and limited staff capacity, I don't think this is a top priority for expanding services.

On the eve of pride, this is a reminder that the LGBTQ community is not monolith.

Respecting this community means listening to the full range of voices within it, including people who fought for LGBTQ freedom for decades.

Thank you for my comp allowing me to share these comments.

Thanks.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Mr.

Chair, Council President, and Councilmember Chavez, thank you for hearing my concerns about retaining the work that I did about seven years ago on adult entertainment, more commonly referred to as strip clubs.

It's really important to me when we talk about adult entertainment that we are always protecting the safety of the workers and the health safety and the cleanliness of the venues themselves.

This action in front of us right now is adding my previous work instead from health to the license and business regulations code.

When I did this work, the city attorney at the time felt the health code was best fit.

It's okay for that to change.

My support of this is the goodwill and know that I have serious concerns still about how bathhouses will be regulated and how the city might do this better in the future.

I hope you will invite me to be part of that work, as a lot of work went into these regulations that are being moved from one part of the code to the other.

I'm pretty familiar with the risk environment and the policy framework of what we have in front of us today, and I would like to be part of that work.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Our LGBTQS Plus communities have long been advocating for this policy.

Our former president, Councilmember Jenkins, the first black trans woman to sit on this body, and in that particular leadership role, spent years advocating for this policy.

In no way possible, especially in the month of pride, where I, as someone who identifies as heterosexual, being able to say, you know what, I find that this is our priority for you, and to make a decision for communities who have said that this has brought nothing but stigmatization.

It's a reflection of a time in our local politics that it was driven by fear, a lack of understanding of a major public health epidemic that was AIDS at that time, and is those decisions that were rooted in fear that brought this policy into fruition in the first place, and we have the opportunity to actually repeal and have a heart reset and actually demonstrate alignment with our values of being a welcoming city for all of our communities, and that includes our LGBTQ folks.

And in that, I think it's also quite dangerous to use this line, and I think it's important to address this: the weaponization of hypersexualization of our queer communities as a means to also bring forward repressive policies that limits their existence and their ability to be in community with each other.

The idea that this policy has been repeatedly framed as facilitation of brothel or sexual activity as if folks just want to go out and have sex, which you know what?

Help maybe that might help actually bring more joy into our city.

But to say that this policy is essentially the facilitation of legalizing brothels is not what's happening.

So I just wanted to say that we need to be intentional.

I think it is been intentional to try to misconfigure the intent of this policy outside of what it is is which our communities, people who pay taxes, who help keep our city afloat, who help bring such life into our city.

If you can go and enjoy a drag show at Gay 90s or wherever else in the saloon, you should also be ever also should be able to stand up for the policies that makes those spaces possible, that makes the community that allows us to enjoy drag brunches on Saturday mornings possible.

So I just want to name my support of this policy, and it shouldn't have to fall on the weight of shoulders of our queer council members alone.

This is intersectional.

There's a shared responsibility, responsibility of protecting our LGBTQ plus communities, and this is one of the ways in which we can share that load.

And again, being in alignment with our city values.

So with that, I'm so grateful that we're able to actually do something right today and correct a period in our local history that brought harm, that brought shadows that was rooted in fear to actually transform that into a moment of boldness, of pride, of joy, of opportunity, and I'm so excited and so grateful that I could be on the side of the day is to support those efforts.

Councilmember Chavez.

Uh I think I'm next, right?

Uh thank you.

I just wanted to at least make sure that folks know that this won't leave bathhouses in the gray area.

We still need to work on zoning the safety and regulations combodent so bathhouse won't be able to open tomorrow or in the next week.

Uh my office and many of the authors have committed publicly, as I mentioned in committee and in a meeting with Mayor Fry to work closely with his administration and city staff on the next steps.

So I'm saying that out loud just so you can hold me to account to that.

I appreciate your comments, Councilman Pamasano coming to working with you on this as well, and anybody in this body as we figure out the next steps in this process that is really important to me and many people in this body.

So I'm saying that out loud so you can hold me to account.

Thanks.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Thank you.

And uh thank you, uh, Councilmember Chavez for uh taking the time to speak with me about my concerns.

I will be voting for this to go forward, but I still need my questions answered, and you explain that's gonna take time, but uh I have a lot of questions about this uh before uh the final floor is taken.

Thank you.

And then I added myself to queue because I just really wanted to thank all of the co-authors on this, uh, Councilmember Childry, Councilmember Stevenson, Councilmember Chuck Tai, Councilmember Wansley, and especially Councilmember Chavez, because um, you know, I I ended up being the lead author as a result of uh former council president Jenkins' leadership.

Uh and uh it's an honor to be amongst such a powerful group of people that are willing to bring policy like this forward.

Um, I want to give a special shout out to Councilmember Chavez because representation matters, but representation isn't enough.

You have to actually act on on on those values on that on what the community needs.

Um, and this entire pride and policy package is a real reflection of that action that we're taking, especially during Pride Month.

So I'm just really honored to be a part of this.

And seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Pomassano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

No.

Councilmember Schaefer.

No.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Abstain.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are nine ayes, two nays and one abstention.

That carries, and those ordinances are adopted.

Next, we will proceed with the committee reports, which are taken in alphabetical order, beginning with the report of the Business Housing and Zoning Committee given by that committee's chair, Vice President Osman.

Thank you, President Payne.

Business Housing and Zoning Committee will be bringing uh 27 items forward today.

Item one is the appointment of Eric Hansen to the position of Director of Community Planning and Economic Development.

Item two approves um entertain approves an entertainment upgrade for indeed brewing company.

Item three approves extended hours for rental hall license for million millennium event center.

Item four approves a land sale at 3726 Logan Avenue North.

Item five approves an ordinance related to tailgating.

Item six is an ordinance related to adult bath house.

This item was dispensed with with that at the beginning of this meeting.

Item seven approves an ordinance related to the moratorium on data center in the city.

Item eight approves a two liquor license.

Item nine approves forty-two liquor license renewals.

Item 10 approves a four gambling license.

I'm sorry, gambling renewals.

Item 11 approves a business license operating condition for wondercycled pedal cars.

Item 12 approves the business license operating condition for urban eats.

Item 13 approves 13 Minneapolis Workforce Development Appointment Board appointments.

Item 14 approves Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Housing Appointments.

Item 15 approves 16 Minneapolis Art Commission appointments.

Item 16 is an appointment to Minneapol Minnesota Ballpark Authority.

This was sent forward without recommendation.

Item 17 accepts workforce an opportunity act grant for US Department of Labor.

Item 18 authorizes amendment to the new nick new Nicolet Develop redevelopment.

Item 19 approves funding for 2116 Nicolet Avenue Project.

Item 20 approves appropriation from the U.S.

Housing Department of to CBED.

Item 21 approves rezoning application for 2007 Stevens Avenue.

Item 22 accepts the grant for NAPC forum conference.

Item 23 approves a depth mitigation for the rental reclaim housing portfolio.

Item 24 approves the staff direction related to the business regulatory environment in the city.

Item 25 authorized contract with MPHA for security and safety.

Item 26 authorize city census track tract ranking for the opportunity zone program.

And lastly, item 27 authorizes a contract extension with Gethrough Theater for 20 years.

With that, I will move all items for approval and pull item seven and six Adult's Bath House has already been voted on that.

If you have any question, I'm here.

Thank you.

Vice President Osman has moved approval of the committee's report, taking up items seven and sixteen separately.

Is there any discussion on the remainder of the report?

Uh Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Um I would like to um request a separate vote on item number one.

And I would also have a question about item number 25.

About the funding that is being provided from the city to MPHA.

Is this in addition to the five million dollars in annual funding that comes down from the city of Minneapolis?

Or is this just a disbursement of those funds?

Is there anyone who can speak of this?

Uh, Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you.

President Payne.

Um, and I of course will welcome staff, but this is from my understanding a reflection of the budget amendment that council brought forward.

If that's not the case, let me know.

Uh for it.

Thank you.

Okay, so uh councilmember Pearl uh my office with the support of council last year, um, brought forward a budget amendment uh reflecting the amount that's before us uh to go to the high rise council, which as you know houses many seniors and they have been dealing with some uh safety concerns, so this is to help facilitate some more safety resources to keep uh those high rises safe.

So that is going to all specifically the high rise council to manage.

Thank you for that.

Uh council member uh Robin Wandsley.

Um my question um lives in in the body of this that acts, what then was the five million that we have instrumented to Minneapolis Public Housing Authority utilized for, and then what type of oversight is being provided because I believe that a portion of that five million to balance the levy also included the support for security and security services as it relates to Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.

I will also invite uh staff to speak on this, but as someone who worked with council and the mayor to institute the five million dollar public housing levy, that was to go towards NPHA's now more than 200 million dollar capital backlog.

Um so we spent several years talking about how can we chip away at that, and the five million, which was included in the mayor's budget was a piece of that.

Um, in terms of the public safety uh allocation that you're referring to many years ago, MPHA did used to just request a separate levy dealing with safety, and they used to get about a million dollars uh from that.

The intention of that five million that was allocated had nothing to do.

Actually, that one million had lapsed, so they had to absorb much of their security costs within their existing budget.

So the five million that was appropriated by this body in partnership with the council, approved by the board of estimates and taxation was really tied to addressing MPHA's capital backlog.

And if I'm missing anything, Director Hansen or uh Director Poard, please let me know.

Director, uh Council President Payne, um council members, I'm Eric Hanson, the CPED director and uh councilmember Wandsley has it exactly the the city levies a five million five million dollars that goes directly to the public housing authority.

Um that does not hit the city's bank accounts, it goes right in PHA.

The PHA then reports back on a regular basis to the council and the mayor on what they do with those with those funds.

It's something managed uh directly through uh the finance department.

Um we can get you reports um on what they uh what they use the five million dollars for.

Thank you for that, Director Hansen, and thank you, Councilmember Wandsley.

Uh Councilmember Wandsley.

Oh, got it.

Okay.

Seeing no one else left in queue.

Uh I will ask the clerk to call the roll on the committee report minus item one, item six has always been already been disposed of.

Item seven and item sixteen.

Councilmember Polisano.

Aye, Councilmember Shada.

Sorry.

Council Member Warren, aye, Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye, Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Council Member Shuktai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Aye.

Vice President Osmond.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries.

Next, we will take up item number one.

Is there Councilmember Warren?

Did you wish to speak on this item?

Yes.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I thought it was very honest that you and I appreciate your honesty in talking about the fact that we did get off on the wrong foot at the start of my tenure here in serving in this council seat.

Because I really want to work on the economic development and livability issues that deeply concern specifically North Minneapolis and more prudently Ward 5, as that is an area of grave high concentrated poverty.

And I am deeply committed to rewriting the narrative of the things that are happening within our community to make those measures very realistic.

And the question that I asked of you when I asked what things have you done in order to implement some type of change so that we can see different results moving forward.

At this time, I cannot vote for your reappointment, but I am making a commitment to work with you should you be reappointed into this role.

Councilmember Rainbow.

So Director Hanson, I will be voting for you as I said uh the other day, but I just want to say again that I have some real reservations about uh the ability of your business license staff to adapt to the new changes we're seeing in the city with the gun violence around our license holders and I look forward to vote for you.

I have full faith in you that your leadership will do that.

I see I know our attorney's office is uh willing to work with us.

I see one of the attorneys here today, so let's make this happen.

Let's keep our communities safe.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chaktai.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

I um I am so excited to be supporting um Director Hanson's uh renomination and appointment today to continue serving over this the course of this term as the city's community planning and economic development director.

Um Mr.

Hanson, I want to thank you for your service to the city um and for uh you know being uh someone who who loves Minneapolis through and through and and the people that that call it home through and through.

Um it's uh it's always a joy to work with your uh your team and I have found some of the best partnership and the best collaborative work that um I've had the honor of of being a part of here um has it's always included your team, and and I don't think that's an accident.

Um thank you to um the the folks from uh your leadership team that are here today, and I know um I know there's I know that um we have just some really incredibly brilliant people that um that we're lucky to have served with us.

So um thank you, Mr.

President.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I just wanted to acknowledge a conversation that you and I had uh in private and acknowledge it publicly.

We were talking specifically about um building decarbonization, and we were talking back and forth about uh identifying the goal and the the year or the time uh when the goal needs to happen, and then making a plan back from that in order to have an actionable and clear plan.

So we were talking about uh getting fossil fuels out of buildings, but the same goes for affordable housing development for total housing production for all these things, which I know that uh we have similar values on.

So I'm looking forward to working with you and your staff on all three of those issues, frankly, and setting the goal that we know that we need of housing affordability, housing production, building decarbonization, these things, and working backwards um for actionable steps from here to there.

So looking forward to that.

Thank you.

Vice President Housman.

Uh, thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh, someone who worked um being a member and a five chair and the chair of a biz committee.

Let me just say this.

CBED is one of the best departments in our city, and um, you know, ever since I arrived, uh Eric, your commitment and your leadership has been excellent.

Let me just also give your stuff and wonderful professionalism and experience they bring and the commitments do, they do a lot, they do a lot of work.

And also I I made this comment on Tuesday that you know uh your personal commitment to the city for 20 plus years.

It's amazing.

And we're lucky to have you, and I'm making um another motion uh to move this forward for approval.

Um, and really um um thank you for your service and I will be voting for you, councilmember Vita.

Thank you, um President Payne.

I just wanted to say I had a really good conversation with Director Hanson yesterday.

Um I think the conversation was really focused on repair.

I was so excited the last um time that the director was before us for an appointment because the person before me was a person who understood the north side and not just the north side but ward four.

You all hear me say this all the time.

We're the forgotten ward.

So I was extremely excited uh to support him in his previous appointment.

I think what was happening now is it feels like the north side has been lost.

There were several things that I asked for specifically from the entire department that I hoped that when we got to this place, it it would be different, and that's vacant lots in North Minneapolis.

That is um a lot of the livability issues we see in my ward in particular.

We have some commercial spaces that are very underserved that need to be activated, and we need some innovation and a vision from CPED and from the community that ensures that that happens.

When you have one of the only areas in the city that has vacant spaces that can be utilized, that's a priority.

That that's an opportunity for us to build up this city the way we say we want to.

We um we also I think we've lost the way on how we collaborate with public safety in CPED with with different departments around the livability issues, and I want to see that on the front uh on the forefront of the next four years of um CPED and what is happening on the north side.

And I want to see the love spread.

I don't want to see the same people get opportunities through CPED for projects over and over again.

I want to see young up-and-coming people that we haven't met yet understand what's going on in CPED and listen to their vision and give them some lots.

And and there are certainly things that I'm proud of in CPED, the Minneapolis Homes program.

There are some things that I certainly want to see, and we talked about it yesterday.

You know, we keep having this roller coaster ride with grocery stores in North Minneapolis.

It's the food desert.

I'd love for us to work on partnerships with some big grocers and bring people in.

We have opportunity there.

How do we work as a department, as council members, as um a governing body to ensure that the north side is no longer a food desert or a pharmacy desert?

So I I look I'm looking forward uh to working together in the the next uh the next four years and hoping that you know some things are gonna change when it comes to the the work that CPED is doing on the north side, and I certainly will acknowledge that there are projects that are happening on in other parts of the city that have taken away from the north side over the years but there's got to be balance and there's got to be the right staff in place to ensure that we have that balance.

So um that's that's it for me I'm I'm I'm I'm going to support my colleague to the north and um not support this reappointment but hope that we can work in the future I think we shook on it yesterday working in the future to do some repair, set some goals and make sure that those goals are accomplished seeing no one else left in queue I will ask the clerk to call the role on item number one Councilmember Palmasano Councilmember Chavez.

Councilmember Warren Councilmember Schaefer aye Councilmember Wandsley Councilmember Shug Time Aye Council Member Chowdhury.

Councilmember Stevenson Councilmember Rainbow Council Member Vita No Vice President Osman aye President Payne Aye There are ten ayes and two nays that carries and our next item is item number seven moratorium on data centers on item number seven or Mr Clerk do we want to get an update on what this is our president I was just going to share because obviously we hear there's an alarm going off I think security is trying to track that down to make sure we have people who are connecting with MBC it may be because it is at least a distraction an opportunity for us to take a brief recess until that's been um addressed I can't tell you what it is right now but I know security is aware and they're looking into it.

Let's take a five let's do a ten minute recess.

Welcome back.

Our issue was resolved.

I will call on the clerk to take the role to verify the presence of a quorum.

Councilmember Palmasan.

Hi.

Councilmember Chavez.

Hi.

Councilmember.

Present.

Sorry.

President.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Present.

Councilmember Wansley.

Present.

Councilmember Shangtai.

Present.

Councilmember Whiting is absent.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Present.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Present.

Councilmember Rainville.

Present.

Councilmember Beto.

President.

Vice President Osman.

Is absent.

President Payne.

Present.

There are 11 members present.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.

We are on biz item number seven, which is a moratorium on data centers.

I will recognize Councilmember Palmsano.

Colleagues, I am really struggling with the need for this ordinance, and so I won't be supporting it today.

We already have a process in place that will be completed this fall to address the regulatory framework around data centers.

They're not built quickly, they don't pop up overnight.

By allowing this ban in the meantime, even with a carve out for moderate sized facilities in downtown, we send the message to the business community that business operations in Minneapolis aren't important or supported by this council.

We send the message that we don't want their investment and we send the message that they should take their business elsewhere.

Guess what?

They will.

I won't try to speak for any of my colleagues, but I will clearly say for myself that we have got to keep thinking outside the box for ways to revitalize our downtown and utilize some of this empty space.

The Groove Lofts project is a perfect example, and I look forward to more of that.

Reasonable data centers are another valid use of MT space.

We all know the financial outlook we're facing in Minneapolis, and it looks grim.

We need to make it as easy as possible to reuse vacant spaces downtown and bring their higher use back onto our tax roles so that that takes pressure off every single renter and homeowner in this city.

Our residents cannot continue to shoulder the burden of increasing property taxes just to keep this city going.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rainville.

Thank you.

I will not be supporting this.

I'm just troubled by it.

This is policy by fear, not facts.

It signals to investors that Minneapolis is not able or willing to regulate new industries.

When this ordinance uh I I think I have the microphone here.

I'm using a point of order for describing motives.

Yeah, Councilmember Chowdhury raised a point of order around ascribing motives around uh fear-based policy making.

I am ascribe motive.

That's a violation of our rules, and we would ask that.

Thank you for thank you for calling me on that.

I hope you call equally for everybody else when they have scribe motive.

So if I could finish, when this ordinance was brought forth, neither Councilmember Schaefer nor I were consulted by the authors, and our uh areas are infected, uh influenced the most by this, were affected.

So uh had I been asked, I would explain uh to the authors that there are many data centers, i.e., computer centers in downtown already, and they're not harming anything.

We have uh plenty of excess uh water supply and electricity uh in order to accommodate new growth.

And I and I do want to end by uh commending Councilmember Schaefer for authoring a legislative directive to have our professional staff look into this matter so we can make policy based on facts, not fear, Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thank you, President Payne.

I want to start off by thanking all the various stakeholders and advocate that have come to work on this policy.

We've engaged environmental groups, scores of constituents across the city, spoken to downtown stakeholders, developers, unions, trades, and so many more.

And we saw at the business housing zoning commit committee meeting community members of all ages and backgrounds come to provide powerful testimony about their real and valid concerns regarding the development of data centers and their various impacts on our communities for generations to come.

I want to be very, very clear.

Residents across the city of Minneapolis and policymakers across the city, Minneapolis and our state are closely watching the rapid expansion of data centers across the country and asking what this could mean for our neighborhoods, our infrastructure, and our future.

The data center industry, especially these new generation data centers that are not the data centers of years past, the enterprise level data centers that we do have existing in the city of Minneapolis, though that industry has shown over and over again negative impacts, especially in communities of color and communities that have been impacted by environmental justice injustices and created sacrifice zones.

There have been impacts on water resources and high usage of electricity.

And while we in the city of Minneapolis may have different conditions, these are the same companies that are looking to build new generation generative AI data centers in the city of Minneapolis.

And it's time that we update our policies to reflect the needs that are present before us.

Minneapolis residents are counting on us to put their interests first as large corporations rapidly push to develop these data centers.

And that's why this proposal is here for before us today.

This is not a ban on data centers.

Y'all, it's a five-month moratorium ahead of us.

It's not anti-technology, it's future-proofing our city.

It's a temporary pause that gives Minneapolis the opportunity to do what good government should do, gather information, engage the public, and establish clear rules before major decisions are made.

And as our advisory group on environmental action has sent us a letter in support of this moratorium, they say it really clearly with something that I agree.

This signals that the city is open to intentional and responsible business and not closed for business.

Any uncertainty that we as the city of Minneapolis may have around data centers was not born out of anything that we have as policymakers have done.

That uncertainty has come from the scores and scores of news articles and evidence of negative impacts across the country.

The reality is a single large facility today can consume as much electricity as tens of thousands of homes and uses millions of gallons of water annually.

And these facilities run 24-7.

And these projects rarely occur in isolation.

Industry experts describe a clustering effect where one facility attracts additional development.

Decisions are made, decisions made today can shape land use patterns, utility demands, and neighborhood impacts for decades to come.

And Minneapolis yet again lacks the regulatory framework for data centers.

Our zoning code doesn't even contain a specific definition for data centers, and we haven't undergone the work to fully evaluate how much power capacity we can give to the data center industry.

What does this mean for us in terms of water consumption?

What does this mean in terms of a data center that might be built downtown or a data center that is looking to be built in an industrial-sided area?

And these are questions that we're going to be pursuing in the next five months, and I believe that this temporary pause complements the policies that we're going to be working on, the policies that I'm co-authoring with Councilmember Schaefer.

This pause gives us the opportunity to address all of the gaps that we have and really robustly study water usage, energy demands, and land use concerns, and also have proof that the economic benefits are real.

We've heard over and over again that this is going to reduce greenhouse gases, that this is going to help our general fund and increase revenue for our city, that this is going to provide thousands and thousands of jobs, and I think that they should have to prove it first, and we should be eyes wide open before we sign up.

Before we sign up for an industry that we don't have policy to regulate, and so, colleagues, I ask you to support this today, and one thing that I'll also share is that we've made a significant compromise already within this policy that has addressed the concerns of downtown downtown data center development.

Councilmember Osman brought forward an amendment that brought an essential carve out for data center development up to 350,000 square feet in downtown, and that it's very likely not going to have any impacts on the development that's going to take place over the next five months.

And once again, our job as the city of Minneapolis is to look out for the public interest.

The job of big tech is not that.

They look out for their shareholders, and we should not be bending over backwards to the highest bidder, and we should be eyes wide open and fully understand what's happening with this industry, and we should bring all of our constituents along.

And I will say the bit the best antidote to fear is accurate and transparent information and governance.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Thank you, President Payne.

I just want to speak plainly about some of the things that we've heard in the chambers around data centers and kind of actually what's in front of us.

Kind of a rhetoric versus reality.

Some of this rhetoric has been amplified by the confusion, I think that we have around the differences between hyperscale and small urban data centers.

And I absolutely agree there are strong concerns around hyper center hyperscale build outside, but that's not what we're facing here in Minneapolis.

And I'd like to kind of just highlight some of those differences, some of those contrasts.

We heard that a data center could go up instead of a soccer field or instead of a playground, that we should ask our kids whether they'd rather have a data center or a park.

But that's not the choice in front of us.

That's rhetoric.

Here's the reality.

At this point, we're talking about a few unoccupied floors of a handful of downtown properties.

Nobody has brought the city or the park board a proposal to build on an open green space.

And if they did, we'd say no.

Vacant floors repurposed as small data centers have the potential to add hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial valuation.

Valuation that relieves the tax burden sitting on every homeowner and every renter in this city.

We've heard about this moratorium that Minneapolis is open for pollution and anything goes.

We've heard they will steal our water and our spike our electric bills.

That's rhetoric.

Here's the reality.

State law already requires that very large customers pay 100% of their own infrastructure upgrades.

These costs land on the data center, not the ratepayer.

State law requires clean energy standards.

A data center in Minneapolis will help us build the green infrastructure of our city for the future and support our climate goals through utility franchise fees.

A data center in the Dakotas won't.

A downtown data center uses as much water as a medium-sized apartment building, less than a golf course in our city.

Nobody's proposing we banned these.

They asked for us to vote against the moratorium.

And just two weeks ago, right here in Minneapolis, the AFL CIO delegates from around the country unanimously adopted a framework for responsible data center development.

A framework that pointedly did not call for a moratorium.

They called for what I am already proposing sensible regulation that captures the upside for our workers and the public and doesn't close the door on our collective prosperity.

When labor stands up and tells us a policy will cost their members work, we've got the conditional use permitting process.

We can say no to any project that comes forward in the next few months that doesn't serve the interests of Minneapolis residents.

I also think of Director Hansers Hanson's reappointment discussion in Biz Committee last week, and I mentioned it and I'll mention it again.

When asked what was needed to bring economic growth to Minneapolis, he said two things: resources like investment and confidence, a growing confidence in our city.

And he went on to say people are more likely to take a chance on investment when policy and process environments are clear and predictable.

A moratorium is not a clear and predictable policy.

So this moratorium doesn't add a single safeguard and may actually be a detriment to economic growth.

It turns away union jobs and investment in Minneapolis while we do the needed regulatory work that we've already started and will finish in a few short months.

Let's not do that.

Let's choose the version of this story where Minneapolis says yes to its own workers, yes to lowering the tax burden on its residents, and yes to a future where Minneapolis remains the economic powerhouse it has been since its founding.

Let's choose reality over rhetoric.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I want to bring a different perspective into the conversation of data centers that I think is oftentimes forgotten about or excluded when it comes to the development of data centers and where they are historically placed at across the country.

I have major concerns about data centers in general, and I'm concerned that without this moratorium, we are sending a signal that the green zones in both Southside and Northside Minneapolis are open to pollution, open to data centers, and open to uh the devastating impact that data centers have on our communities, whether it's rising up your electricity bills, whether it's light pollution, noise pollution, environmental injustice, those are major concerns that I already have, especially representing Ward 9, where we've had bituminous roadway, Smith Foundry, and major polluting industries that have had a devastating impact on the livelihood of the people that I am proud to represent.

I also want to mention that this data center moratorium, this temporary pause, whatever we want to call it, has a carve out for downtown Minneapolis already.

And I guess I am really concerned about one, that it has a car out for downtown because it makes me sad for the people that live in downtown, but also I am concerned that there is opposition to this ordinance with the carve out for downtown because I think it sends a very strong message that even with the carb out for downtown, we want to put data centers in other places in our city.

And I guess I've asked already in committee of where do folks want these data centers at.

If there's a carve out for downtown, does that mean that it's gonna go in my neighborhoods down Hiawatha, in the Southside Green Zone in Phillips and empty parts of land across our city that majority people of color live in?

I guess I haven't gotten an answer to that question that I've asked, but it makes you concerned that if we don't want a moratorium that already has exceptions for downtown, then where do people want data centers at?

And historically speaking, these data centers go into impoverished neighborhoods, especially where people of color live in, which you can look directly, at least I'll speak for myself in Ward 9.

So I have major concerns because history has shown us that polluting producing facilities have always been placed in a historically disenfranchised neighborhoods like the ones I represent.

And I want to be clear that without this moratorium, there is an ability for a data center to be built out instead of a playground.

There is an opportunity to build a data center instead of a soccer field.

There is an opportunity to build a data center instead of focusing on efforts to preserve water that is quite literally life.

There is an ability to build data centers instead of housing.

There is an ability to build data centers instead of using land and buildings to address uncharted homelessness that should be and is a priority for many of us.

And there's an opportunity to choose between data centers and protecting the health of our young people.

And I think that in this conversation, I really want to ask young people of this world: do you prefer using land for something that is going to improve the lives of many of our neighbors, or do you want to use land and buildings for data centers?

Do we want to use land and buildings in downtown to revitalize the economy of downtown to help improve the lives of people across our city?

Or do you want to use space in downtown for vacant data centers that aren't gonna bring vitality and economic development to our community?

I just wanted to at least bring that perspective because I hope that one proud to author this with Councilmember Chowdhury, part of the work that she's doing here.

But I guess I will just press my colleagues that are working on the zoning and regulations part of the data center moratorium to please be in conversations with my office in that future because I have major concerns about the ordinance and what it means for my constituents and if we are opening up opening up a door to say that data centers are open for the Phillips neighborhood for vacant lands in my ward, who is very concerned about data centers and the pollution that many different industries cause to my community.

So I guess I'll support this today.

I'm an author, I'm proud of this work, and I want to mention that I hope that we take the zoning part really seriously in the next few months as we get it right, because I will be very concerned if something is brought forward that is gonna have a detrimental impact on the people that I love and represent.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um I will be supporting the moratorium, and the reason why is because I want to be very clear that I want to send a message to big tech corporate developers who want to build data centers in our city to know that this council would not simply just be rolling out the red carpet for them.

Residents should have a say on a building that will potentially use, in some cases, the equivalent of 40,000 uh measures of energy used to power our homes in a six-month moratorium provides our city and the time to gather that input from our residents, from our community, from each other, and use that to put forward strong regulations that put our residents first, and not that of big tech corporation shareholders.

Additionally, I have heard from my colleagues that these data centers come with many benefits, specifically for property owners and taxpayers.

Um, and I actually want to ask a question to Councilmember Chowdhury.

I know you're the author, but also the IGR director, but one to gain some clarity.

Is it my understanding that the state legislator, I believe either in 2023 or recent years, they actually authorize tax breaks for data centers.

Can you please provide clarity on that?

Yes.

That's my understanding that they have authorized tax breaks for data center development.

Thank you for mentioning that.

So with that, I don't know if it's a lack of awareness, but again, data centers have received significant tax breaks from our state in order to build here.

And I know many of our state legislators are already working to try to roll back some of those breaks, but the reality is that these data centers receive significant public dollars.

And instead of subsidizing these data centers that have significant impacts on our resources to our state and aren't essentially attractive, I would much rather see hundreds of millions of dollars that have been used to subsidize these data centers to actually go to local government aid, something that has been a share priority for our city.

And if we have received increases in local government aid, that would give us the opportunity to direct um those dollars to needed areas such as affordable housing and public housing, to economic development, and to other critical programs that actually meet the needs of working class residents.

And I think the basis of this or the hope, the great hope of data centers in the economic rhetoric around it, is that it will be this massive economic generator.

But what is actually underpinning this is trickle down economics, which time and time again have shown do not work.

The idea that profits from data centers are going to essentially help us solve critical issues like our housing crisis or the uh environmental justice issues that our city um is continuing continuing to wrestle with, um, the reality is very clear that it it will not.

There's so much data already existing across the country that shows otherwise.

What in reality we need to actually do is bring in additional revenues, and I think there has been shared agreement around that because our city is facing a bleak financial future that currently our working class residents are going to have to bear the shoulder of.

We've said that many times, and is from my understanding, my colleagues who are supporting this moratorium, that is that is the hope.

The trickle down uh gains from these data centers will relieve the the financial pressures that our residents in ordinary residents are experiencing, but that is just simply not the reality.

And that is also why I'm championing revenue revenue generation pro uh proposals that we've heard reports on, um, that essentially aims to tax the rich.

And by that, we could bring in millions of dollars in additional revenue to support the needs of our residents.

Point order, we're not talking about tax and the roots, we're talking about.

Uh, Councilmember Rainville, do not disrupt me.

This has nothing to do with this quorum.

I want to continue my speech.

And I will encourage you to turn your mic off.

Thank you.

With that, I'll point out, Councilmember Rangel, stop interrupting me.

We will keep the topic, we'll keep the conversation on the topic, and we will let one speaker speak at a time.

So, first that we've talked about many times before around how we can actually bring in additional revenue, and we have five proposals that our staff have helped to craft that gives us a pathway forward to do exactly that.

Also, it's important to acknowledge that surrounding jurisdictions around Minneapolis have easily put in one-year bans to study this issue.

Some of those places are even republicanly republican uh dominated.

So I recognize that this is such an unpopular issue.

People do not want to rush into just welcoming data centers and not acknowledge the disastrous impact that they can have, and they're taking immediate action.

And our residents and the public have asked us to do the same, and I join you all in that demand.

And that is exactly why I'm supporting this.

So thank you so much to Councilmember Chowdhury and Council Member Chavez for bringing this forward and giving us the time needed to think about this process very clearly and soberly, and while also pursuing the things that actually gets to where we agree, which is bringing in more money, not tax breaks, not subsidies for companies that promise trickle-down supports, but we never see that come into fruition.

I'm excited about that work that we could do together.

And I'm excited that we get to join the list of dozens of other cities to put these moratoriums in place.

Thank you.

So this moratorium will have zero impact on downtown data centers.

Um, but the actual place where data centers of the scale that we are contemplating need to have some focus regulation around, is actually my ward.

There's slices of production and processing across the city, but the largest continuous area is in ward one.

Um if you look at our our permitted uses table, there's not even a contemplation of data centers.

We have conditional use permits for crushing and processing of concrete for a green elevator for high-impact production and processing, as noted in some of those specific examples, but there isn't even uh a reference to data centers.

Uh, there is a reference within the public services and utilities section around principal electricity generation and there being a conditional use permit for that.

But I think the point here is that we are at like great litigation risk here because if we were to classify a data center as a um principal electricity generation use, especially if they were to be utilizing some of the uh fossil fuel uh generated electricity on site, uh, we we could get sued by one of those users to that would claim that the data center is the primary use, not the the energy generation.

So, the point of this is to have the runway to develop that regulatory framework, and I think that uh to the point that Councilmember Wandsley was raising, is that how revenue is generated by these entities is very much germane to how we regulate this, and that we need to have a comprehensive view of how these fit into that broader framework.

Uh this moratorium gives us the time to have that conversation.

So I will be supporting this, and I just wanted to really emphasize this is actually not about downtown.

This is about those of us who have industrial zoning in their ward.

I have a ton of industrial zoning on my ward.

I know that each of you has at least some uh industrial zoning.

Not everyone, but most of us have at least some industrial zoning.

That's what this moratorium is about.

It's not about downtown.

Uh I will recognize Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I need to start off by naming something that no one is naming so far, and that's that my constituents and people from across the city are so so clear that they don't want data centers at all.

And so we're here sitting talking about, well, we need to this, that, and the other thing when it comes to data center regulation.

But my constituents are telling me no data centers at all, period.

Um so we are we are not in line with our community.

We are not bringing our city along in this conversation in the slightest.

Um I told this to the labor groups that came to me.

I told this to the business groups that came to me.

I said, you need to go out and convince my constituents that what you're doing is gonna be good for them.

Because they're telling me that they don't want this in the slightest.

Uh and so I I'd really like to center the fact that uh that our constituents are reaching out, A, and that B, a recent poll came out that showed vast majorities of people across the state oppose data centers outright.

Uh, this is where our people are.

Can we listen to our people for a second and say, let's take a five-month pause outside of downtown to think about this a little bit longer?

Uh so if we're not bringing our constituents along, what are we doing?

Next, we need a framework that's gonna work for everyone, and that is already stepping outside of what our constituents want.

Me even saying we need to build a framework that works for everyone is not where our constituents are.

Our constituents are at hell no.

I'm saying we need a framework that works for everybody.

This is I'm I'm acknowledging that this is already out of step with where our constituents are.

Um, there are so many basic um, you know, just common sense things that we need to be considering when it comes to data centers.

Can we and should we require that they have uh battery backup so that uh in extreme events they're not adding extra draw onto our electrical system?

Can we or should we uh require them to build out renewables equal to their um their power usage?

Can we or should we have them contribute to our climate legacy fund uh in order to fund uh electrification and energy efficiency across the city?

I mean, these are very basic things, and and this comes in a backdrop of an economic situation now where these data center companies, Google, others, they are dying to build data centers.

They want to build data centers everywhere, anywhere and everywhere.

We that means that we have a chance to ask for something from them.

Let's be let's be good uh at representing our constituents, let's be smart in representing our constituents and actually get something out of this.

We don't need to chase a cheap dollar of, oh, did you see how that building sold for more money?

Why don't we get buildings that sell for more money and things that are contributing to our city, whether it's revenue, whether it's meeting our climate goals, whether it's um you know bringing people downtown or refurbishing buildings in a way that uh can be useful for other uses that are people centered rather than computer centered?

Uh there's just so many basic things that we can be doing here and that we should be doing here, and that we can get done in five months.

It'll be a bit of a lift.

I recognize that for the authors.

But in five months, we can come out and get a much better deal for Minneapolis than we would if we just say laissez faire, go for it, guys.

Um, and to that point, I've had many conversations uh with labor groups, with business groups, and most recently with Excel.

Uh, and I I'd like to say I've uh all pleasant people, all very nice people to sit down with.

Uh, and all of the arguments kind of come back to this.

It's just trust me, this time is different.

Trust me, we're just gonna this one is not gonna be a boondoggle like the last one.

This one is not gonna rip you off like the last one.

Just just trust me.

Uh, and frankly, I I just don't trust industry to have our best interest at heart.

I trust industry to have their shareholders' best interests at heart.

And so let us on this dais have our constituents' best interest at heart and come up with a framework that really works for everybody.

Uh let's let's trust our guts on this and know that uh industry in the past has looked out for industry, and we, the city council of Minneapolis, need to look out for the people of Minneapolis.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rinville.

Thank you.

The simple point I'm trying to make is all these concerns could be addressed, should be addressed, will be addressed without the use of a moratorium.

No one on this dias is gonna trade a playground or a soccer field for a data center, but we can do all this without using a moratorium.

Vice President announcement.

Thank you so much, Council President.

I do want to circle back about this topic.

We we discussed money money times, and um I want to thank Councilmember Chowry first for bringing this forward.

Uh, this issue for what uh data centers are new and Minneapolis uh definitely needs uh stay ahead of what's happening with this is unknown territory for all of us.

Um data centers do use a lot of power, they do use a lot of water, and so we need to study the impact.

You know, we can't just let free for all without having policies.

Let's just say this.

We don't have any policy at all right now in the books for data centers.

Um and data centers are not the same.

There are of course those huge hybrid scale, um, and those small ones that can come to downtown that can use those buildings and you know create uh re find reuse for those kind of buildings.

You know, one of the things that I had talked to, I talked to the business community, I I took a tour to data center uh city of number, you know.

I talked to the author uh who was uh planning in the beginning to be this this to be it for for one year, and that's why I think the compromise is the best way to go forward.

We're just buying time for six months for the staff to do their job to put the policies steady and and bring that forward.

It's just a smart move.

That is just a smart move.

And um, I think the small pro downtown project that are 350,000 square feet are exempt.

So the downtown is getting the data center.

Period.

Um, yes, I agree with my colleagues downtown is recovering, and I think reusing this buildings can help the tax base and and support and reduce uh the this levy we continue to raise for homeowners and renters.

And also we also approve uh full steady, as I mentioned, for the staff to deal with this.

Um I think the goal is simple.

Six months to create a small rules that project that protect neighbors and infrastructure while allowing responsible investment.

Um so this was a compromise that worked for business community, and this is a compromise that worked for our neighbors.

No one wants unknown um technology without any oversight to come to the neighborhood.

And six months is not that much time.

It's already what, five months are left, I think, the time that's being set, in my opinion.

So the downtown is getting what's once.

We're just protecting the neighbors, and so they can come and and and do businesses based on the policies that we set.

So I hope all my colleagues will support this.

This is the best compromise we can come up with.

And I do thank the main author who actually left where she was and met us when we were asking.

We did the legwork, we talked to the business owners, we did the data centers, we want the businesses to come, we want the downtown buildings to be reused, and also we want to be responsible as our elector officials to protect our residents and to protect our neighbors and not let free-for-all uh type of thing.

And I think this is uh really common sense, and I hope all of you can vote for this, uh, so uh we can end the conversation.

Thank you, Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thank you, President Payne.

I wanna just first start off by saying that when I'm up here, I'm not Orreen Chowdry, the person, I'm Aaureen Chowdhury, the council member who represents 34,000 plus people, as I know all of you are.

And what I'm hearing from people in our communities from the town halls that I've hosted, the office hours, the testimony that we've gotten is that they have very real concerns and they want to see a pause.

They want us to take a common sense pause.

I've also had several constituents call me pretty frustrated, um, that we aren't taking a longer pause, that we didn't do a full one-year moratorium, and that we are doing a carve out, and that development is going to happen.

And I've walked them through the fact that, like, in order for us to get a strong, meaningful policy, and in order for us to include you, is that this body needs to be able to work together to get what the people of Minneapolis deserves.

And I think that's a key part of this pause for our governing work that I feel like is important to highlight.

We have an array of perspectives here on this dais.

And all 13 of us and our mayor aren't none of us are experts on data centers, and the research on this industry continues to change and come forward each and every single day.

And this gives us an opportunity to have this pause, create time for breathers, and create time for us to have our concerns addressed and most importantly, do it in the public light and move forward together on common sense, strong regulations on this industry.

And I genuinely do worry if we don't have this pause, we aren't going to be able to accomplish that.

I think they go so hand in hand for our ability to govern and represent the people of our communities.

And I'll just say this: I care way more about the the people of our city than I could care about this industry.

Every argument against the pause has hinged on the fact of like, well, I'm really worried about this industry and them wanting to come here.

I'm worried about the people of our city who are concerned about what this means for future planning.

I'm worried about the people of our city that are seeing just 20 minutes away, community members in Invergrove Heights having to come into a city council meeting and demand that they have a public hearing opportunity and their government leaders aren't listening, and them feeling like they don't have trust in us to lead with them to do this work transparently in a moment where this industry is of the most foremost discussion and a concern across the country, especially when we face our largest existential threat, which is climate change now paired with this new unregulated world of generative AI that is impacting every sector of life and society and has some real ethics concerns, and this is something that we can do at the local level to address those concerns, and I think it's worth noting that this is also not a partisan issue.

We have Democrats, Republicans, independents across the board agreeing.

How often does that happen in the United States?

Not often, and I think that should be telling.

I also think it's important to contextualize that we are not the only ones that are taking up a common sense pause.

I just checked today.

There are 88 total jurisdictions in the United States that are doing this.

This is a fact of life for this industry.

So I'm sorry.

Because this is what steps local governments are taking.

22 minutes ago, there was an article posted about Asheville, North Carolina, an area that has a metropolitan size population similar to ours, doing a one-year moratorium.

Denver, Colorado, on May 21st, when we did our introduction, they did a one-year moratorium.

We're talking about five months with a carve-out.

The other thing that I want to say is like there's been a lot of amazing, how would I describe it?

Amazing promises and benefits that are allotted to us.

It's gonna reduce greenhouse gases, geothermal, general fund rescue, but the proof hasn't been made yet.

And the last thing I'll say a conditional use permit process is actually not strong enough to provide denials if we don't have policies that allow planning commissioners to give um to give reasons based in our code to give a denial.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President.

Um this was very, very uh, this has been very difficult for me.

Um, because A, I don't like the word moratorium, but um I went to Juneteenth festivals.

We've had a lot of them around the city.

I told people before that we were gonna party all the 10th of June, and we've been successful in doing so.

Um, but while I was there, I got this flyer, and there were some people who were up on the stage and they were talking about banned data centers, the consequences of these AI data centers.

And um, I was just sitting over here tickled to myself because it says every chat GPT um curi uh quarry uses 16 ounces of water, which is probably more water than people drink in a day, right?

But there's a funny little meme that goes around on social media that says drink water and mind your business.

It's but you got to look at social media to see that, which basically then means like get rid of your phones, everybody close your computers.

This city council meeting is no longer being lively broadcasted, like we have to look at what our consumption looks like as individuals, right?

And what that means for how we go about our day-to-day business, if we are interested in banning data centers or banning, you know, the development of certain technologies, then we gotta scale back on the amount of technology that we use.

That means that we could go back to the Dewey Desmo system, and that would require that people would actually have to read and think and not watch television and not entertain themselves with frivolous foolishness, you know.

You would actually have to talk to someone and not text them.

You would actually have to be forced to turn around and talk to your neighbor.

Talk to your neighbor, talk to people.

If we are concerned about the hyper-scaled use of what these things look like, but because of the rapid movement of technology and individuals, you know, not wanting to do a lot of the, I was so happy to get an encyclopedia britannica as a kid.

Okay.

That I was able to sit down with my encyclopedia Britannica and my family, and we went through the encyclopedia and we put, you know, uh little pieces of paper in there and bookmarkers, and we read and we researched different information, you know.

My kids at a very young age, we sat around in a round table and and and did round robin reading of the book Delphi.

Why?

Because TV wasn't an option for me when raising my children in the house.

So we we actually read books.

So, but right now everyone and and children from the age of three or four until senior adults are all have these devices in their hands with every filter and every app and every and it has to come from somewhere.

So if we don't want it, then everybody should chuck these things away because my gosh, today this is part of the issue.

We could be upset and frustrated about it, but I know that there's millions of Americans that would not want to be anywhere without their phone.

Without a way for someone to track them, contact them, mapping their things in their cars, being able to figure out how to get here and there, whatever, because thinking independently takes too much work and too much practice.

So we could be frustrated if we want to.

And we could say, uh, this is bad, this is this and this is that, but then we have to ask ourselves are we going to be free thinkers or are we going to depend on someone else's ability to think for us?

I can't support the word moratorium.

That's the problem that I'm struggling with.

I do support the efforts of people thinking freely, though.

I think it's a big deal.

I think people should work harder at that.

Thank you.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the role on item number seven, the data center moratorium.

Councilmember Palmasano.

No.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

No, Councilmember Schaefer.

No.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtime.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

No.

Councilmember Vitaw.

No.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are seven ayes and five nays.

That item carries.

Next, we will take up item number 16, which is the appointment to the ballpark authority.

I'll just note that there was some conversation in committee about uh stripping someone from this committee, just so that the body is aware.

This is uh appointment that is made by the governing body of the city of Minneapolis according to Minnesota Statute 473.755.

Um, and the previous appointment had expired and it was an open seat.

And so going through our standard ABC appointment process, uh, I nominated Jim Davney to serve in this role.

Uh I came to Jim Davney as a nomination because I knew the importance of the ballpark tax to uh providing a sustainable future for HCMC funding.

I know that that did not uh prevail in the state legislature, and so I actually reached out to the uh house tax chair to get some guidance on what were the dynamics that were happening at the legislature that could have led to this being a sustainable source of funding uh and how who would be a good person that I could make a nomination to this body for so that we had somebody who had knowledge of the legislative process who understand the understood the importance of HCMC and an emerging topic was around the potential strike that was gonna happen at that time uh with the concession workers at the twin stadium.

They have since voted on that strike and have actually taken some strike actions.

I think that it is critically important that we have somebody in this role that has a really strong understanding of our legislative process at the state capital who would be a strong advocate for HCMC as a uh the the safety net hospital for the entire upper Midwest uh and the the urgency around a viable, sustainable source of funding for that.

Uh it may or may not be the ballpark tax come the next legislative session, but it does need to get figured out by the next state uh legislative session because although we were fortunate to get some one-time funding to preserve HCMC for an additional year, that is not sustainable funding, and so we that's something that's critically important for us to figure out.

I think that this role uh could be very powerful in figuring that out at the next legislative session.

Therefore, I nominated um uh Jim Davney, former uh House representative, former chair of the education and finance committee, uh served on the property tax and local governance finance division and the jobs and economic development and finance division.

He feels like the right fit for this moment.

Um, that's why I nominated him, and I will move approval of his nomination and ask for a second.

That's been moved for approval and second Ted, I'll recognize Councilmember Vita.

Uh thank you, President Payne.

Um, I'm gonna be uh offering an alternate nomination.

Um I've uh a substitute nomination after a conversation that I initial conversation that I thought went well with uh council president Payne.

I was surprised to see this nomination come forward anyway.

Um, you know, President Payne, you've said today that representation matters, and that's what this means to me with this committee.

So I talked to President Payne because I have been contacted by the Minneapolis NAACP about the only black person, person of color on this ballpark authority commission being removed.

And so I had what I thought was a reasonable conversation with President Payne.

I found out that President Payne had never even spoken to the person that I'm gonna be nominating today.

So all the things that he's mentioning right now, um, it just feels it feels disingenuous because he doesn't know if the person who was sitting on the committee has the same views or has the um is is capable of what he's saying he needs out of this appointment.

So I was disappointed to find out that President Payne didn't even talk to colleagues before he went and talked to someone that is not a part of this body and does not have a vote.

Um, and so I'm going to be bringing something separate, something an alternative, and I hope that my colleagues support me in this.

You know, with a body of people that are primarily people of color, I hope people understand that, you know, we don't get opportunities all the time.

A lot of us don't even know that the ballpark authority exists.

And so to have a black man that has been committed to this position, done this work, and and wants to serve again on this, um, it's important to me as a black woman servant, as a black woman who ran for office because I know how underserved we are as a community, and and how strongly representation does matter, that it's not words that that representation matters means votes sometimes.

It means um removing your ideology from decisions and actually doing what's right for for people that we serve in this community.

You know, this is not about Jim Dabney for me, but it is about representation, and it is certainly um something that I will continue to do on this body.

I I also want to say thank you to Councilmember Chavez and Chuck Ty for listening to me over the past few days about this, you know.

What I what I think is truly disappointing is some of us have to face the black community in our wards, and some of us do not.

When things like this happen, I get approached by black people as a black representative of this body.

And so when anti- what what appears to community as anti-black things happen, I have to answer to that.

I don't have the luxury of going back to a ward that is a predominantly white ward.

When I go to the grocery store, I have to face members of the NAACP.

When I go to the library, when I'm walking on the trails, I have to face people in my community who feels like this body is making direct attacks at the black community.

And so that's what I'm speaking up about here today.

I really hope as a body, we recognize that that some of us have a community to face when we go home.

And no, they don't call the council member who is a person of color that voted against something that they care about.

They talk to the council members who they know is on their side, and I really wish we can put an end to doing this and and have a conversation behind the scenes sometimes and talk through these things and be more reasonable when we come out here because the community is watching, and people really do feel hurt by a lot of these decisions we make.

I also want to just note before I close that you have before you a uh letter from the NAACP that was addressed to the council president and to the mayor regarding this matter.

I would like you colleagues to take a look at this again.

I would like you uh to support me in my nomination uh for um for justin and and hopefully the council president's nomination fails.

And and I also want to say I have asked the mayor to be told this if it does pass.

I have personally asked him to be told this if it passes because I strongly believe in Justin Baylor's nomination.

Councilmember Warren.

Second the substitution.

I second that um nomination of Justin Baylor.

And I am um standing in support of my council colleague um Latricia Vitaw.

Um of the things that I wanted to bring out that that stood out to me in this letter because I was not um you know very knowledgeable about this ballpark authority.

That was not something that was in my purview.

So I know it's probably not something that's in the purview of a lot of our um constituents in the fifth ward that they would have written more letters to support Justin as the work that he does as a business owner and you know, an entrepreneur in the fifth ward, um, providing a lot of instrumental guidance to a lot of our community members there and really uplifts the narrative around self-sufficiency.

Um so the ballpark authority oversees significant public resources and contracts that directly impact neighborhoods across Minneapolis.

This is what this says in the in the fourth paragraph here of this letter that came from the NAACP.

So when major decisions are made regarding contracts development or changes at our ballparks and surrounding public spaces, our community strongly desires a consistent and representative voice at the table.

Ensuring diverse representation helps prevent the exclusion of communities of color and guarantees that opportunities of economic participation, community benefit, and equitable outcomes are actively considered, and that is extremely important, especially being that at this time we have powers that be that are trying to um, you know, reverse the impacts of DEI and all kinds of other things.

So we have to be very intentional about who we are placing in positions of leadership to ensure that there's equal representation across um across, you know, boards and committees and things like that that can speak value to to the representation that is needed.

And the Baylor family and Justin Baylor specifically have been very instrumental within my community and in the fifth ward and a residents of the fifth ward and really work hard to uplift and empower everyday residents of the ward and throughout the city of Minneapolis.

So I am pleased to support them.

I am pleased to argue the fact that we deserve to have very diverse representation on this ballpark authority.

This is not taking anything away from the candidate that my council president uplifted, and thank you for bringing attention to this individual.

This is not taking anything away from their skills or qualifications.

Um, but I am just really wanting to ensure that we maintain representation on boards like this that are going to bring light and diversity across our city, and that we uh we have that equal representation.

It's one seat.

Thank you.

Uh, before I recognize council member wansey, I'll just note that we have a proper motion on the floor for Jim Davney as the nominee that's been seconded.

That's what we're discussing right now.

I'll recognize Council Member Wandsley.

Council President, can we clarify?

Because I thought I offered a substitute to yours and it got second.

So that was on the floor.

We have to dispose of what's before us, which is the nomination of Jim Daphne before we take up that alternative motion.

That's not true.

Mr.

Clerk.

Mr.

President, a substitute is in the nature of an amendment and could be considered to the base motion that was properly moved.

Um I would say that I consulted my colleague.

We heard the councilmember Vitaw said she had a substitute.

She discussed that.

I didn't explicitly hear her say she moved a substitute.

I did hear councilmember Warren say she seconded, and then she spoke.

Uh so I don't know that we clearly heard that there was a substitute motion that had been made.

I think that that's a point of order that would need to be clarified.

Just want to clarify that Councilmember Vita moved the substitute and it was seconded by Councilmember Warren.

Mr.

President, yes, it's a it's a substitute, which is basically amendment to the pending motion.

So you'd have to dispose of the substitute before you took up the underlying motion.

Okay.

So we are now discussing the substitute motion, and we will continue the conversation by recognizing Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um I'm glad that Councilmember Warren referenced the letter that we receive uh by the Minneapolis NAACP.

Um I was also going to reflect it in my comments, but the section you read is actually pertinent to why I'm actually supporting uh Council President Payne's motion, specifically the Peace Works as the ballpark park authority oversees significant public resources and contract that directly impact neighborhoods across Minneapolis.

So acknowledging the authority and power that this commission holds.

And it's very true that it does.

And more important than ever, I think we should consider how this uh could be used as a tool for um advancing the urgent needs around our community, such as sustainable funding for one of our core public institutions that serve many of our most vulnerable residents, including um our black working-class communities.

And as Council President Payne um referenced, I'm specifically thinking of HCMC, our public hospital, which was just on the verge of closure a few weeks ago.

And while the state legislator did pass a short-term uh bailout for that hospital, it does not permanently solve the funding crisis for it.

And HCMC has long served as a primary point of care for many of our Black residents and other historically underserved communities in Minneapolis, providing essential services regardless of a person's ability to pay.

And the ballpark uh authority has a role to play in securing a more permanent, sustainable funding solution for this vital public institution.

And for me, I think we should be putting representatives on the ballpark authority that see it as a public asset, and that being HCMC, and that it should be leveraged for the public good and should be tirelessly fighting for uh increased funding for that institution as well.

So that is why I won't be supporting the motion brought forward by council member uh Vitaw.

Um I will be supporting the underlying motion made by councilmember uh president, sorry, Council President Payne uh to advance uh Jim Daphne because I also believe he shares that vision.

Um, and I absolutely believe that we should be leveraging um our commission such as this uh to bring in uh public resources that support public institutions.

Um, and I think this is a great opportunity for us to do that.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Yeah, thank you.

I just want to tell thank you to um both the NAACP and Councilmember Vita for um daylighting this situation that I was unaware of.

Um and I want to be clear that everyone on this board supports um HCMC, and I think we don't know which each of the specific ballpark authority appointees may sit on that issue.

But I did have the ability to call Mr.

Baylor this week and just check in with him and see that this was something he still wanted to do.

He still wanted to serve, and um his family has given back to many communities across this city, and um I am very proud um to support him in this substitute motion and feel that he um number one should have been aware of his removal and and number two um is the the person I would like to support to stay on that board.

Thanks.

Councilmember Rinva.

Uh thank you.

I will be supporting uh this underlying motion to keep Justin Baylor on the sports uh uh ballpark authority.

He has all the skills needed to do that job.

Uh and it's the county's role, the county lobbied to have that tax extended and then go to the hospital.

The ballpark authority had nothing to do with it.

Uh had they been involved in that, Justin would have had the skills to do that.

I support this brilliant young black man to keep his job.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thanks, President Payne.

I just had some clarifying questions.

So I heard the removal from the seat.

Can I it's my understanding no one's being removed from the seat.

Could you explain what's happening?

Is the term just over?

That's correct.

The term ended on December 31st, 2025.

It was an open seat subject to nomination via this process.

Okay.

So it's an open seat now.

Okay, so then how does appointments work?

Uh Mr.

Clerk, would you like to speak to that process?

Mr.

President, I certainly can.

Uh this is an appointment that's made uh by state law as you cited earlier.

So I'll try and repeat what you already said.

The governing body of the city has the authority to make an appointment.

The governing body is the combination of the legislative body, this body, the 13 member council, and the mayor.

So it takes the action of the council and the mayor to make that appointment.

We have historically uh allowed the president to bring forward the nomination consistent with the powers that the uh president has given under the council rules to bring forward recommendations on committee structures, committee memberships, appointment to external boards and commissions.

And so that has been the process consistently followed when this appointment procedure has been used for this particular body, and that seat as council president noted was vacant as of the end of the term at the end of last year because of the activity that dominated the beginning of this year in the city.

Um we did not take action right away to bring forward a nomination.

Uh however, once you know the metro surge was done and we were back in our normal committees, we brought that forward.

We shared that with council leadership.

Uh the president then brought forward a nomination that's in front of you now.

As you know, the process is the nomination is simply a motion.

Uh it is subject to the approval of this body by a majority vote, and then it goes to the mayor for the mayor's consideration.

The mayor as always has three options approve and authenticate with the signature of the mayor, veto and return with his objections in writing, or take no action and allow the council's vote to be deemed approved.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I think it's really important that we're accurate up here.

I think saying removing someone, like holds this like assumption that something is being done against someone, and that's clearly not what's happening.

So I think we're it's important for us to be accurate that a term ended and there can be a new appointment made, there could be an existing reappointment.

I think that's key.

Um I also just a little surprised to see a substitute motion.

I didn't know that like this was going to happen.

No one talked to me about it.

Um, but we're having the discussion now, so that's factoring into my decision making in this conversation.

And then I just wanted to ask another clarifying question to anyone on the body about like the ballpark authorities role in the HCMC conversation.

Um is anyone able to speak to that a little bit?

Uh yes.

So the ballpark is statutorily required to maintain uh a level of maintenance investment.

Uh that's a large a large part of what this governing body is determining is that capital planning.

Uh however, what's unique about this moment in time is that the ballpark tax that was allocated by the state legislature when the stadium was originally built is serving both that ongoing maintenance mandate as well as that service.

And the bonding for the stadium is nearing uh completion, and therefore the state legislature has to decide what the future of that uh ballpark sales tax is.

They could continue it, they could reappropriate it, they could end it.

Uh that is very much in the air right now.

Uh, and I think it would be vital vitally important that we have somebody with that legislative knowledge of how the state's taxing authority is applied, plus the relationships at the state capitol to be a powerful voice in shaping the future of that ballpark sales tax, especially in light of the fact that HCMC, although was saved for one more year, it was a one-time appropriation.

We're gonna be right back to where we were a year from now with HCMC being on the brink of closure if it's not resolved in the state legislature.

Okay, that's helpful.

And like, I mean, my experience at the state legislature in past legislative sessions is that members of the ballpark authority oftentimes have conversations with chairs of the tax committees both in the Senate and the House.

So I imagine that there would be a key role that's played, even if it's through relationships on this board.

So thank you for that um question.

It's our answer, it's clarifying.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

You know, here's why I support this substitution, which is maintaining Mr.

Baylor's um appointment here.

We ask a lot of things to our appointees of boards and commissions.

Um we ask their time, we ask their energy both to show up for meetings and beyond them.

Um I did ask around about Mr.

Baylor's appointment here, about his participation, and here's what I got back.

I got it back that he is a great member of this ballpark authority.

He served on a special committee to select public art that honors black baseball players.

I mean, that's really important considering this body is largely old white men.

And I know I'll get in trouble for saying that, but um, you know, he has great attendance, he has the business experience and acumen that he lends to an audit committee here.

He currently serves as the secretary of this board.

What else can we ask for in an appointment?

We need some, we need to help support people who have given their time when we've asked them to.

Um, I value not changing it, and I really value how he has shown up and participated on this ballpark authority.

Thank you.

Councilmember Warren.

President Payne, I'm sorry I didn't have my mic on here.

Um, funny, funny story, but a true thing.

Um, I had the honor and privilege of awarding some of the staff that is underneath the tutelage of Justin Baylor with um with uh with a life-saving award, um, sponsored by the Broadway business, West Broadway Business Coalition, um, a security guard by the name of Ridd.

I don't know if you all remember Ridd, but Red went viral during Operation Metro Surge.

Rid was given direct instruction by Mr.

Baylor about protecting the space at the McDonald's that is directly in front of my my home and my ward there to help keep our residents and neighbors safe.

When we're talking about advocacy for health, wellness, and sustainability, and even what it looks like, the fight for HCMC, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Justin Baylor has that mentality, understands what support and stable infrastructure of health and wellness means to a community, because I see how the employees conduct themselves underneath his tutelage and his establishment.

I know that Justin Baylor has a deep rooted commitment to this city and to this community to empowering residents and ensuring that they have everything that they need to be successful in their endeavors.

I applaud the amount of scholarships that his organization has extended to the amount of young people who have come through his establishment and been employed, that he sees that they have the ability to further their education and also walk in the steps that he has walked in in order to become self-sufficient himself.

So, and and again, this takes absolutely nothing away from the individual who is being nominated, but this highlights the individual that I know who has been a strong representation in this community and speaks value and also makes that same type of effort infectious among his employees and individuals that work alongside him.

So I know that he would champion these issues, that he has championed these issues, and that he will continue to do so going forward.

So I urge my colleagues to really stand with the representation.

We want to protect our neighbors, we want to uplift our community members.

We want to make sure that there's equal representation on boards and commissions, and this is one that we want to make sure that we do not abstract this opportunity so that we have that type of stability in this in this ballpark authority appointment.

Thank you.

Councilmember Vitah.

Thank you, President Payne.

I I want to um, you know, just specify that no, Justin is not being removed from the board, but Justin certainly was not, did not have a conversation with the council leadership to discuss if he wanted to be put back on the board, where he stands on this issue that's not an issue of HCMC and North Memorial.

Right now, they are in the merger with Sanford Health, and we don't know what the outcome of that is going to be.

What all these assumptions are being made.

It is giving me the ick because no one in council leadership talked to Justin to see what his position was about um HCMC or anything.

The council president told me no, he did not talk to him that he talked to Jim Dabney, though, and I told the council president that I have been working on a tobacco initiative with Justin, the only black person on this board, and he said, Well, Jim Dabney will help you.

Jim Dabney is not a black man.

The tobacco issue is not a Jim Dabney issue.

And if we were going to just go and pick a former legislator, I would have suggested Joe Mullery.

He's a North Sider.

I like him.

He's got legislative experience.

If that was the goalpost for who was gonna be on here, is what it sounds like.

It doesn't sound like we even, I mean, I don't even know what the checklist was for somebody getting on this board, except for this.

I don't even understand this rationale really behind HCMC when that's not the place we're in right now.

This is a bunch of what ifs with HCMC.

This is not valid, in my opinion.

This is really just talking about something that happened this year, that's over, and we don't know how it's gonna present itself in the years to come.

Colleagues, I really really hope you will support me in um this nomination for Justin Baylor to serve on the commission for the next four years.

I'll just add myself to the end of the queue here just to say this is nothing against Justin Baylor.

This is about uh a structural analysis of our safety net hospital and how it's on the brink of collapse and how we need to have a very focused and intentional effort around saving that using every viable path.

So um uh councilmember Vita.

I'm gonna say this one more time because this there is been said here that misinformation is going out about him being stripped and of the committee and all this.

The real misinformation going out here is that this appointment has nothing to do with getting the ballpark tax extended.

This is up to Hindepin County to do.

This has nothing to do with Mr.

Baylor serving on the ballpark authority.

Period.

I don't know where that misinformation is coming from, but it's not real.

See no one else left in queue.

I'll ask the clerk to call the role on the substitute motion for Justin Baylor.

Council Member Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

No.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wandsley.

Nay.

Councilmember Chucktai.

Councilmember Chowdry.

No.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Nay.

Councilmember Rainville.

All right.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Nay.

President Payne.

Nay.

There are five ayes in seven nays.

That motion fails.

We will take the underlying motion, which is uh the nomination of Jim Daven.

Uh the queue reset.

Is everybody wanting to still speak in this order?

All right.

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

You didn't.

Is there a motion?

Yes.

Yes.

It's under Council Member Palmasano.

Is to appoint Jim Dabney.

Yeah.

Uh we don't have an appointment right now, right?

Um, correct.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

No.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Can you clarify what we mean we don't have an appointment right now?

The seat is vacant, and we're making an appointment to that vacant seat.

No.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shuktai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

No.

Councilmember Vitaw.

No.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are eight ayes and four nays.

That item carries, and that completes the report of the Biz Committee.

The next report is from our climate and infrastructure committee, which will be presented by that committee's chair, Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you.

Uh President Payne.

The Climate and Infrastructure Committee is bringing forward 20 items.

The first is the Van White Memorial Boulevard Resurfacing Project Approval and Assessment.

Number two is the West Fulton Neighborhood Improvements Phase One Project Approval and Assessment.

Three is the appointment of Public Works Department Director.

Four is 35th Avenue North Flood Mitigation Project Acquisition of Temporary Construction Easement.

Five is cooperative agreement with Minne Haha Creek Watershed District and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for stormwater best management practice.

Six is bicycle advisory committee appointments.

Seven is pedestrian advisory committee appointments.

Eight is University Avenue Southeast and Fourth Street Southeast Master Utility Agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Nine is 35th and 36th Street Reconstruction Project Acquisition of Permanent and Temporary Easements.

10 is First Avenue North Reconstruction Project Concept Layout and Acquisition of Permanent and Temporary Easements.

11 is a bid for pump station six electrical room rehabilitation.

12 is bid for 35th Avenue North Flood Migation Project.

13 is a bid for small diameter sanitary pipe cleaning and televising 2026 project.

14 is contracts for 2026 through 2029 vehicle auction services.

15 is freightly water maintenance facility roof and masonry repair phase two.

16 is pump station number three, wet well rehabilitation project.

17 is bid for Logan Park Industrial Phase One, Green Stormwater Infrastructure and Landscape Plings.

18 is a contract with FOF Infrastructure and environments, LLC for Engineering and design Services of 22nd Avenue Northeast Storm and Sanitary Sewer Reconstruction Project.

19 is Oliver Avenue South Flood Mitigation Project, Permanent and Temporary Easement Agreement with Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

20 is the public engagement and redesign of Highway 280, which is a resolution expressing support, or specifically expressing concern about the redesign of Highway 280.

With that, I will move approval of all items, um, and with the exception of number three for a separate vote.

Councilmember Wandsley has moved approval of the committee report, separating out item three for a separate vote.

Uh, is there any discussion on the remainder of the report?

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I just want to say that I am ultra excited for the work to be done on Van White Memorial Boulevard and the street resurfacing project.

Thank you, Public Works, for all of your due diligence and hard work there in ensuring that we have a healthy roadway over there.

Thank you.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on the report minus item number three.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Council Member Shaves.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wandsley.

Aye.

Council Member Shaktai.

Aye.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Is absent.

Councilmember Rainville.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 ayes.

That carries those items are adopted.

Next, we will take uh item number three, the appointment of our public works director.

Mr.

Sexton has joined us in the room.

I'll recognize Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um, we had great conversation in the Climate and Infrastructure Committee amplifying the leadership qualities that Director Sexton has demonstrated during his tenure.

Um as our uh public works director, um, he earned unanimous support of that committee.

Um, and I think it's just been a testament and and really exemplifying um, you know, the day to day issues around public works and infrastructure of the potholes and and making sure that you know sanitation um is is moving along or in terms of services and also connecting it to issues around equity and disparity as well.

And um I know I amplify his leadership in navigating the George Floyd Square assessments as being uh of tremendous value of making sure that we apply an anti-racist analysis and an equity focus on how we do key resurfacing projects.

Um, but also there was number uh numerous examples also leveraged in terms of how traffic calming is an extension of equity work and make sure that everyone has access to walkable uh and and pedestrian friendly streets and making sure our bikeways are clear and all those things.

So um I wanted to make sure that I could get in queued to move approval of this item um in support of Director Tim Sexton's nomination.

Um, and I I really hope uh we can earn the rest of this body support as well.

Second.

Uh, before I recognize Vice President Osman, I want to acknowledge that we've been joined by Councilmember Stevenson and check to see would you like your uh vote recorded for the consent items on this?

Yes, please.

All right, without objection, Mr.

Clerk.

Uh, Vice President Osmond.

Uh thank you, Council President.

I uh what I'm not on the CNI or the committee.

Uh I'm not a member of that, but I do want to talk in favor of your support.

I think you know, since you arrived your short time, you have demonstrated really great leadership.

Not just uh, you know, um uh talking about it, but actually being there.

You put your comfortable shoes, you did walk along with me.

You have seen things that we witness every day that are some challenges that our community face, especially when it comes to addiction and then and unhouse folks and and just uh entire, you know, um difficulties.

You have seen that you talk to the residents you that's what we want every department to lead to do.

You know, you know.

You are someone who, you know, uh love the city that came from the city that are really connecting, not just the council members that represent the residents, uh, but also connecting to the citizens of our our city.

So I I am glad we have you and and I will fully support your nomination.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on item number three, the public works director.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Are you aye?

Councilmember Shavis.

Council Member Schaefer.

I Councilmember Wansley.

Aye, Council Member Shugti.

Aye, Council Member Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

All right.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Hi.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 eyes.

The first unanimous one, huh?

I'm not your coworkers.

We can get along.

So sorry.

Next we'll have the report from our committee of the whole.

Oh, Councilmember Quansey.

Yeah, I'm just trolling, but I just want to acknowledge or record that Director Saxon was the only one who got that round of applause.

That's I'm in infrastructure for you.

Now let's stop.

Okay, okay.

Uh next we'll have the report from our committee of the whole.

Palmasano, raise a question.

Um Palmasano, you're in queue for priority question.

Yes, Council President Payne.

I was just speaking with the chair of the public health and safety committee.

I really need to catch a plane flight, and I was wondering if the body would be willing to take up the vote on PHS that got forwarded without recommendation.

That's item number 23, the shot spotter vote out of order.

Because I will need to leave, and I very much want to weigh in on it.

Typically, when people leave and come back, their vote is able to be recorded.

Mine will not be able to be that way.

Uh, without objection, we're gonna we can take up uh what what was the PHS item number?

Item number 23, item number 23.

Um, we will take this up separately and solely at this time.

Is there any discussion?

I'll recognize Councilmember Chavez.

I thank you, Council President Payne.

I want to check in with Councilmember Palmasano.

I have remarks to make, but if you need to leave, I uh do you have enough time?

No, I we have I have 12 minutes before I'll be quick.

Thank you.

Uh colleagues, at the June 3rd PHSE meeting, a proposed three-year contract extension was brought forward.

There's an audit report on Shot Spotter due to be brought forward in August.

So I, along with other committee members, had concerns about a long extension before the findings of the report were to be available at the June 3rd PHSE meeting.

I committed to supporting a one-year extension as a compromise position.

I will be voting yes on that one-year extension today.

This will allow the council to use a city auditors' findings to determine the best path forward beyond the next year.

I would also like to keep it would also keep the current services in North and South Minneapolis in place.

I said then and I will say once again today, I do not like Shot Sputter.

I do not support the use of shot spotter.

I still hold those positions, but I believe that this one-year extension compromise is a good middle ground.

With that said, I'll be voting for PHSE item 23.1 to extend the contract by one year, and I hope that we can all unite on this item.

Additionally, uh and differently, number 23.2, however, would expand the geographic location area of Shots butter into ward nine and ward 10 further.

I will not be voting on the expansion, in my opinion, without knowing what the auditor's report will say.

I do not feel comfortable allocating additional city resources to expanded program around which there are still many outstanding questions.

So with that clerk, I would like to split the votes on item on these items.

So there's two different votes and we'll approval of item 23.1.

If I can get a second.

We will take up uh these as separate votes.

So uh we are discussing 23.1.

Uh, recognize council member vita.

Thank you.

Uh President Payne.

So 23.2 is the is the expansion, and what wards are those in?

So 23.2 is an expansion and further into ward nine and ward 10.

And so the nine and 10 council members don't I don't support it.

Oh okay and I want to be able to move forward on the north side and current south side one so those services aren't last on lost there.

So there's the reason of splitting the votes today if that makes sense.

Got it yes thank you.

Councilmember Schaefer yeah I just wanted to point out there's a little bit of bleed in the expansion onto like the other side of Hennepin.

East Isles for sure I'm not sure how far north north it goes but I just wanted to point that out it doesn't it doesn't see no one else left in queue I will ask the clerk to call the roll on item 23.1 the one year extension of shot spotter.

Councilmember Palmasano aye councilmember Chavez.

Aye councilmember Warren Councilmember Schaefer aye Councilmember Wandsley Councilmember Shugtai aye Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye Councilmember Stevenson aye Councilmember Rainville Councilmember Vita aye Vice President Osman.

Aye President Payne aye there are 12 ayes.

That carries and then we will take up item number 23 point two and I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you Council President Payne as I mentioned earlier 23.2 would expand the geographic location coverage areas further into ward nine and ward 10 I cannot support that expansion especially when there's an auditor's report coming before us in August I'm happy to entertain this conversation after that report is brought before us but I could not support this contract today.

That being said I'll move to deny this item and if that does not prevail someone else can make a different motion.

Second yeah I just wanted to um ask councilmember Chowdry her position on this expansion.

Choctai sorry sorry sorry Choctai sorry I didn't mean to catch you on the run.

Wait can you uh you should also have said um her name right sorry Councilmember Chogtai whole other part of the city uh all good um yes so this this expansion um in is it includes uh an expansion into the 10th ward I'm not going to be uh supporting that um because I as as council member chavez mentioned we have an audit report coming I'm a member of the audit committee I represent this body as one of the two members um on the audit committee and and I want to see that audit uh before we are expanding the the coverage um while maintaining uh current coverage so um I hope that answers your question yeah thank you council member Chogtai and I um very much want to and support where we need the additional coverage and when the data shows where that is but I will respect your position as the primary council member of this expansion and um wait for the audit report thanks Vice President Osmond yeah just a quick comment I think that if you listen to the presentation for the um let's let it uh uh report um the city doesn't have a lot of information I feel like uh the there this uh especially the police um the shot spotters they can't even tell us what benefits it's bringing uh there's a lot of data that's missing on this so without knowing any information and missing this gap of uh is this really solving crime is this really helping us um until we get that report I think it will be uh not a great idea to just expand without really knowing the benefits of it so I support the motion to to deny this uh council member chowdry.

Since I was asked my opinion, I'm voting no on this.

Okay.

Councilmember palmasano.

Okay, so perhaps the vote is a foregone conclusion here, but I do want to say why this is important to me and why I support the expansion of shot spotSpotter.

Yes, it's in into areas that are not my ward, and I appreciate that those whose wards it's in do feel differently about this shot spotSpotter is a preventive tool for MPD.

At its core, it's about giving a sense of location and accuracy.

It narrows down an area where multiple 911 calls come in about gunshots, and the police have a better idea of where to respond when they have that data.

So it does impact everybody, in this case in the fifth precinct, in terms of how we are using our police resources that are on patrol in the fifth precinct.

It helps quickly collect bullet casings to be used as evidence along with auditory evidence that's captured by the technology itself.

That can help us allocate resources to the most impacted areas.

This evidence leads to successful investigations and gun crimes.

They help us to charge cases.

These are the things that make it a good tool for MPD.

And in terms of expansion, we talk all the time about making data-driven decisions.

This recommendation is to expand the service area that is supported by the data.

If we want to commit to listening to the data, we can't only do that when it's convenient.

We need to listen even when the data supports something we don't want.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wansley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um, I think there has been shared agreement around finding better preventative tools to actually reduce gun violence in our communities.

Because we all have that priority of keeping our community safe.

Where there is division is whether or not ShotSpotter has actually been advantageous to meeting that goal.

And we've even seen some openings of looking at better alternatives, such as uh just this past budget cycle, this body allocated $2 million to the non-fatal shooting task force uh to be implemented here after seeing phenomenal success across the river in St.

Paul.

And since its implementation in less than two months, that task force is nearly double the rates of case closures for non-fatal shootings, and we're seeing ripple effects in reducing gun violence all throughout our city.

Um now we're on track to see significant progress, like what St.

Paul has experienced.

And guess what?

All for the low price of less than one percent of the police budget.

All that to say, I think it's important that we do our due diligence to ensure that ShotSpotter is actually delivering credible outcomes for our residents if we are going to continue investing in it.

And that is why, as other council members referenced, we are asking for the city auditor to give us that thorough analysis and report back before we make long-term investments in a tool that even right now we know has not been functioning.

Um, Minneapolis had once had some of the worst uh solving rates when it came to homicides and non-fatal shootings in the country.

And mind you, all of this happened while we had a contract with sound thinking for ShotSpotter.

So we already have existing data that shows it was not helping our residents be safe, it was not reducing gun violence, but it definitely was uh adding to the bottom line in increasing that for sound thinking.

And I know they have a reason for why they would like to continue um in partnership with the city, but that does not mean we have to also buy into that.

But I absolutely agree.

I think we all need to be looking at cost-effective measures, and that includes a preventive strategy of actually addressing from a data-backed standpoint how to reduce gun violence in our communities to keep all of our residents safe, regardless of where they live in our city.

And we do have even in the most recent months other alternatives to point to um that are more cost efficient and actually are delivering credible outcomes, and that's why I would like to see this body spend more of our time focusing on, especially as again, we're approaching a potential 30 million dollar deficit in our budget with the police department reflecting nearly 23 million of that deficit alone.

So that's why I'll be supporting uh Councilmember Chavez's motion to deny this.

Councilmember Palmasano.

How are you on time?

I really need to go, so I would like to take the vote, but I want to respect there's other people in Q.

I'm gonna stand over by Council Member Chavez.

Okay, Councilmember Vitaw.

Thank you, President Payne.

I just wanted to quickly say that the presentation we received on SHOSPORT certainly showed that the non-fatal shooting task force benefits from technology like ShotSpotter.

Until the audit report tells us different, then I believe that ShotSpotter is a tool to help solve crimes in Minneapolis.

Certainly a tool that saves lives.

So I'm looking forward to the report.

I support what uh the council members here today are saying that they don't want to extend it.

It doesn't affect my war, so I'm fine with that, but I want to make sure that we base the decision on data and not just assumptions made by other cities.

People investigate crimes differently.

And what I heard in that presentation was that shot spotter was a tool that is going to help this task force to be better.

Councilmember Schaefer.

I just wanted to say thank you, Councilmember Palmasana for bringing up how it affects the fifth precinct.

Um I know how overworked and stressed and burdened many of them have been.

And um, so I will be supporting this.

On the motion to deny, which an I vote would deny, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Palmasano.

No.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

No.

Councilmember Schaefer.

No.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

No.

Councilmember Vitock.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are eight ayes and four nays.

That motion carries, and item 23.2 is denied.

And we will return to our regular committee report order.

Uh and we will have the report from our committee of the whole given by that committee's chair, council member Chowdhury.

Oh.

Thank you, President Payne.

Just give me one second here.

All right.

The committee of the whole is bringing forward three items for today's council meeting.

Item number one is a legislative directive related to the Minneapolis Police Department's changes and interim chief updates.

Item number two is returning a staff resolution authored by councilmember Warren.

And lastly, item number three approves a World Cup events permit for the Minnesota United and Brits Pub.

This item has been updated.

There's a RCA, revised RCA before you.

And expand the area in which we are approving these deviations so the event can determine how they want to set up.

They're likely not going to use all of the space, but this provides some helpful flexibility.

So I will move that revised item for approval and I'll move all items for approval and return item number two back to author.

Councilmember Chowdhury has moved the uh report with a return offer and author for item number two.

Is there any discussion?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Council Member Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 ayes.

That carries and that report is adopted.

Next is the report of our Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee, which will be presented by Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, President Payne.

Just wanted to note that the chair and vice chair are both outdoor for travel.

And so I'll be presenting the community the committee's report.

It has six items to bring forward.

The first item is approving a legal settlement, federal insurance company versus Fournier Network Solutions.

Item two is approving a legal settlement with John Clausen versus the City of Minneapolis.

Item three is approving election judge and deputy city clerk appointments for the August 11, 2026 state primary.

August 4 is accepting a gift from local progress for Council President Payne and Councilmember Chavez.

Item five is workplace advisory committee appointments, and item six is a contract with Guy House Inc.

to provide ERP system implementation professional services.

I'll move approval of the full report.

Councilmember Vita has moved approval of the committee report.

Is there any discussion?

Councilmember Warren.

Discussion, I was coughing in it, hit the thing.

Sounds good.

I will ask the court to call the roll on the ELR report.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shug Time.

Aye.

Council Member Chowdry.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman is absent.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

That carries.

Finally, we have the Public Health, Safety and Equity Committee, which will be presented by that committee's chair, Councilmember Chavez.

I'll note that we disposed of item 23.

Thank you.

Yeah, I got it.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The public health safety and equity committee is bringing forward a variety of different items.

Item number one grants consent of the mayor's nomination of Rachel Sayer to the appointed position of emergency management director.

And I'll move that for a separate vote at the end to make a motion.

Item number two is an ordinance related to adult bathhouse and sex venues, but this item was already dispensed of at the beginning of the meeting.

Items 3.1 and 3.2 are ordinances to the all gender and sexuality welcome city ordinances.

I have an amendment for 3.1 and you have a copy in front of you.

I will then move the committee's recommendation, but I'll make this a separate vote.

Item number five accepts the National Environmental Health Association and FDA retail flexible funding model grant and authorizes an agreement for the grant.

Item six accepts Bloomberg Philanthropic Grant for youth climate leadership and engagement and authorizes a contract for the grant.

Item seven accepts a gift from the National Association of County and City Health Officials for Damon Chaplin Commission of Health to attend the NACCH0360 conference in Lexington, Kentucky.

Item eight is accepting a gift from the Government Alliance on Race and Equity for three racial equity inclusion and belonging to staff members to attend the region.

Five learning exchange and detroit Michigan Conference.

Item number nine, approves five appointments to the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities.

Item 10 approves nine appointments to the Public Health Advisory Committee.

Item 11 approves seven appointments to the Mapis Advisory Committee on Aging.

Item 12 approves 11 appointments to the homegrown Minneapolis Food Council.

Item 13 approves two appointments to the community commission on police oversight.

Item 14 approves six appointments to the safe and thriving communities work group.

Item 15 authorizes a memorandum of understanding with the University of Minnesota to work with capstone students at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Item 16 approves the legislative directive related to off-duty police regulation.

Item 17 approves a direction to a city attorney's office a motion related to off-duty police management.

Item 18 approves the legislative directive related to an alternative site for police officers to use for gun range activity.

Item 19 approves a staff direction to research and analyze the organizational structures of institutions that provide comprehensive public safety services.

Item 20 directs the city clerk to formulate a plan and recommendation to update the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances to wherever practical remove gender specific requisits and code uh with the consultation uh actually collaboration with the city attorney's office.

Item 21 calls on the Minnesota legislature to explicitly establish local authority to protect transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive residents equal access to restroom facilities.

Item 22 approves a legislative directive related to gender neutral restroom access and centerization efforts and opportunities.

Item 23 has already been dispensed of, which was the shot spotter contract.

Uh item 24 authorizes a contract with emergency management services, International inc.

and after action review Services.

So with that, I'll move approval of all items, except I'll put out pull out item number one for a good thing.

Um, and number three uh for separate votes.

Councilmember Chavez has moved approval of the committee report minus items one and three, and we've dispensed of two and twenty-three.

Is there any discussion on the reminder of the report?

Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you, President Payne.

I do want to note just for the public record and for our clerks, I I thought my office submitted the revisions for items 16 and 17 related to off-duty.

And I just want to say thank you to my colleagues on your support as we continue figuring out how we enact full fuller oversight over this program that we're constantly seeing issues with and that taxpayers are constantly having to foot the burden for at one point uh four million.

And also uh please make sure to add council member childgery.

So again, I thank you all for your support on those items.

Um I also wanted to reference item numbers 18 and 19 related to the alternative gun range and office of community safety restructure.

This was also a byproduct of many conversations that we've had, both behind this diets and on this diet around the future of the gun range at the uh fourth precinct, but separately to what is the future of the Office of Community Safety.

Uh, I know several weeks ago we did not move forward a resolution um asking the mayor to carry out a national search for that position, and many of my colleagues highlighted that we actually need to do a more thorough analysis of its future.

What are we actually gaining?

Um, is there a you know a need for a continued evaluation around how we would like to see this operate, um, and advance those recommendations to the mayor, who ultimately has control um to implement them.

So these directives were really a byproduct of collaborative conversations and active listening to my uh fellow colleagues around um how we can uh work together on addressing two critical components around our public safety services and um departments and operations.

So I just want to acknowledge that and thank you to my colleagues for all the input and feedback that helped shape those.

So uh that's all.

Councilmember Warren.

So are we pulling those items for a separate vote, or were you just articulating around those items?

Yeah, I was just giving context, no need for a separate vote.

Okay.

I want to say at this time, thank you, Councilmember Wandsley, for um uplifting and sitting down and talk with me about the alternative gun range locations, and really, um, and council member Chavez as well, um, really hearing me as I was articulating how important that is to um the North Side and our community.

I mean, you sometimes got to eat an elephant one bite at a time.

So I will um walk with you on this journey as we look at alternative gun range locations and expand our efforts on what that looks like.

Um, you know, sometimes no is not hard.

No, it's a slow yes.

We'll take that slow yes, okay.

Let's let's start working together.

Teamwork and make a dream work.

Um, and I'm also um proud to um stand and co-author um with you as well on the off duty regulation and oversight legislative directive as we are examining how we can better be of support to our officers and what their um what their identity looks like in and out of a uniform and how they are able to you know really expand how they show up for for a community.

Um, I think it's important information that we need to bring forward, especially in lieu of a lot of other things that are happening around the city, you know, they're people too.

They're they're they're not just superheroes in blue suits, but they're people too.

And so um they should, you know, be given some some different type of insight and privileges, and we as a city should be more open and communicative.

I think I was really shocked to learn that even if an officer is not in uniform.

This was the thing that, and I I shared this with my council colleague.

Even if an officer is not in uniform and something is happening in the city, if they do not step forward and support in that situation, and someone recognizes them as an officer, like they are penalized for not stepping forward.

So you don't have really a choice to not get involved when you don't want to get involved.

If you just want to say, you know what, I don't want the risk of someone saying that I may be in the wrong for trying to step forward and protect or provide some type of support.

And that worries me because that that takes away, you know, um, from a lot of different things, but then also, you know, impedes upon a lot of other liability, and um I'm I'm ultra concerned about that.

So I'm really excited to see what is brought back in this um in this legislative directive that we are putting forward here, and um really trying to dig in and do some more research about what that means and what um what things can come out of that.

So thank you for bringing that forward.

I appreciate that.

Um again, I just want to aid and be of great support to um to our our you know protective service officers, our community service officers, and um to our city as a whole.

Thank you.

Seeing no one left else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the role on the report minus items one, three, two, and twenty-three, with the inclusion of councilmember Warren Whiting and Childry on items 16 and 17.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye, Councilmember Warren, Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye, Councilmember Lonsley.

Aye, Council Member Shugtai.

Aye, Councilmember Chowdry.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye, Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye, President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 ayes.

Those items carry.

Next, we will take up item number one, the appointment of our emergency operations manager.

Uh I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I'm proud to move the approval of the appointment of Director Sayre for emergency management department director.

If I can get a second, I second that.

Uh colleagues, there was unanimous support in the public health safety and equity committee committee for Director Sayre.

And I just want to say thank you so much for stepping up to the plate to continue to want to serve Minneapolis.

There have been so many emergencies that have drastically impacted our community members here in Minneapolis and outside of Minneapolis, and you have always been here willing to hear our concerns and have always been willing to take questions and reach out to figure out what we can do to make this city a better place.

So I'm just proud to support your nomination.

And not only for the work that you do for the department, but also the work that you do with city employees, and I mentioned this in the public hearing.

I have deep respect for you and the work that you do with SOG and our employees here beyond just in your department.

That is something that will always go a long way for me because city staff are really important, and I know that they feel really supported by you.

So I'm just proud to move this nomination and very want to report back the positive comments that were reflected in the committee.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thank you, President Payne, and thank you so much, Director Sayer, for your service for stepping up and saying I want to keep on doing this really critical work in the city of Minneapolis.

I just want to take a moment to say that I have deeply deeply appreciated getting to know you and seeing the work firsthand under your leadership out of emergency services department over this last few years.

Um it's to me still something I'm wrapping around my mind, the amount of emergency tragedy, unrest, injustice that we have experienced as a city, um, and it's been extremely difficult, and we've talked about that, and I think it would have been so much harder if we didn't have your leadership there to prepare our community members and to prepare us as council members.

I think one of the things that's so important is being able to know what everyone's assignment is, being able to get information and act in real time.

I felt like in the really hard moments where we had to come into City Hall and step into 392 and talk about what's going on, whether it's the uh mass shooting and enunciation during the ICE occupation and the aftermath of the ICE occupation, having that space to hear from you and your team and just have that touch point was really important.

Um I am excited for the future head.

I love the goal that you have of making Minneapolis uh the most prepared for emergencies and disasters.

I think that's like such a wonderful North Star for us to head towards.

It makes me wish that you worked here during COVID 19 because we were really, really struggling.

Um, and I saw that on the inside when I was a policy aide here.

And I think that just says a lot about your work.

Um, I look forward to the opportunity for us to educate our community together about what emergency services does and how it's important that neighbors, especially now that they are even more organized, are a part of that plan and that resiliency to be the most prepared.

So just thank you so much for your service, and thank you so much for stepping up to the plate for this, and I'm so excited to vote for you today.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren, Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wansley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Uh.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 ayes.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Next, we will take up item number three, and I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Uh thank you, Council President Payne.

I'd like to split the vote on this.

This is two different ordinances, and I think these two different ordinances deserve to be spoken about separately to give justice to the work that's happening today.

Okay, we will take it off.

Item three as separate vote.

We would take off item three as separate votes.

Item 3.1 and 3.2.

Is there any discussion on item 3.1?

Yes.

Uh Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, colleagues.

I want to acknowledge the historic nature of today's meeting.

As a body, we are moving forward on the pride and policy package, a set of ordinances, policies, and directives meant to create a more welcoming, safe, and inclusive Minneapolis for two S LGBTQIA plus residents.

This uh package ensures that the city of Minneapolis supports and protects our community.

I want to let you all know that we already passed four out of the six items today, and now we're going on to the final two.

Uh before I begin my remarks, I want to give a big shout out to council staff who worked so hard on this package.

Ivo Rernandez from the Ward 9 office, Kai Shelley from the War 10 Office, Amy Diaz from the Ward 12 office for the work on this package, including Brendan Garcia from the Warrun office in particular helping with the Bath House ordinance.

I also want to send a big thank you and appreciation to the city attorney's office, including City Attorney Anderson, City Attorney Abelson, city staff from the administration that joined us in the work group meetings leading up to this pat to these ordinances, and co-authors, Councilmember Chowdery and Councilmember Chugtai.

There was a lot of work that went into these ordinances, a lot of work from our staff that we're really proud of, and I just want to at least acknowledge the moment we are in today with the uh passage of these ordinances.

I'll speak to the first ordinance authored by myself, Councilmember Chugtai, Councilmore Choutery, and Council President Payne.

This is 3.1 that I pulled out for a separate vote.

Uh for the first time ever, this ordinance enshrines a statement in city code affirming that to us LGBTQIA plus residents belong in Minneapolis.

I also we have a further amendment to this, so we'll be moving this for approval with the amendment here.

It establishes in City Code that Minneapolis is a safe haven for gender-affirming care.

It establishes in city code that Minneapolis is a safe haven for intersex health care, which means that Minneapolis is joining a very short list of cities that have put explicit intersex protections into local law.

This is a big deal.

It prohibits city resources and city employees from interfering with anybody's ability to receive gender affirming or intersex care.

It prohibits the city from accepting or distributing grant funds that would require the city to limit rights of individuals based on gender, gender expression, gender identity or sexual orientation.

It prohibits data sharing agreements that could be weaponized against two LGBTQIA plus people.

It requires city employee health plans to provide coverage for gender-affirming care and the healthcare needs of intersex community members.

It requires all gender ADA accessible restrooms and city owned and lease buildings, gender neutral signage on single user restrooms and prohibits denying anyone access to a restroom consistent with their gender identity in city facilities.

And it establishes a complaint and discipline process for violations.

Colleagues, we are living at a time and a moment in this country where there's a deliberate coordinated federal assault on the lives of 2S LGBTQI people, and specifically on our trans neighbors.

We are seeing federal agencies threaten to withhold funding from institutions that serve transgender youth.

We are seeing executive orders targeting gender-affirming care and intersex care, but we are also seeing the city of Minneapolis today responding with love, care, and protection to every 2S LGBTQIA person in Minneapolis who has ever wondered whether Minneapolis will show up for you.

I hope today's vote shows you that in part we are committed to that.

That Minneapolis will always choose to protect and welcome our community members and our neighbors.

I look forward to the day a young queer person will open our Minneapolis Code of Ordinances and see a statement that says that you are welcome here forever.

I am also thinking today as we take this vote about Relasia right, Savannah Ryan Williams, Sam Nordquist, Renee Good, every trans person, every queer person, every member of our community members who has been taken by hate and discrimination in this country, including Minneapolis.

I wish they were here with us today as they got to see this historic vote happened before this body where they would feel heard and seen by our city.

And I want to be clear that this federal government can issue every single executive order they want.

They can strip funding, rewrite definitions, erase our neighbors from federal websites, but they will never break our community.

They will never break trans people.

They will never break any of our two S LGBTQIA plus people in the city, in the state, or this country.

And I want the federal government to know that they cannot come into Minneapolis and tell our neighbors that they do not belong here.

Not on our watch, and not when Minneapolis is the beacon of hope for safety for our community.

And lastly, I want every trans person and every queer person to hear this.

We are not done.

This ordinance is not the ceiling, it is the floor, and we will keep building and we will keep fighting, and this city will keep showing up for you.

And I need to finish it with this.

Trans lives matter, and trans people will always be here forever.

I urge support.

Really want to thank Councilmember Chowdery, Councilmember Chucktai, and Council President Payne, and our city staff who have made this vote happen today.

Councilmember Chuck Dai.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Over the last few months, it's been one of my greatest joys to get to work on the Pride and Policy Package alongside the Ward 9, Ward 12, and Ward 1 offices.

And I'm thrilled that we were able to bring forward this set of six policies before the body on the eve of pride and during Pride Month.

And I think it's really a reflection of what this month is all about, right?

It's about celebration.

It certainly is about community.

And it's it's about the fact that every uh every victory that centers the humanity of our sacred and beloved and cherished to us LGBTQIA plus community um is hard fought and and hard won.

Uh and that in in this month that we get to both honor um how hard the fight is right now in this unique moment as uh our as a as a an authoritarian federal government and and its allies in in states across the country are um are carrying out a coordinated um vicious and ugly uh attack um to erase LGBTQIA plus people um but in particular trans and gender nonconforming people out of life all together that in this moment what we are choosing to do is demonstrate that here in Minneapolis um we will always be a beacon of of hope and of safety for for our community um and for uh every member of our 2S LGBTQIA plus community so um as as more and more of our neighbors from around the country are are coming to Minneapolis and to Minnesota um in seek of commun in in search of community in search of safety um we are so proud to welcome you um and we are so proud to to be your neighbors and um and I'm I'm thrilled that we're gonna get to demonstrate a piece of that up here on this day as today thank you Mr.

President Councilmember Chowdry.

I think my colleagues said it best so I won't say too much on it.

I just wanted to say um thank you to every single person that was a part of this policy um I really really loved the town hall meeting that we had at queermunity I thought there was like such valuable feedback and it like felt really good to go line by line on policy with our 2S LGBTQIA community that just offered a lot of great insight that we were able to bake into the policy um and just shout out to shout out to all the orgs that are doing the work right now to make sure that people are well resourced and well educated um I think it's also just extremely powerful that we are the second ever jurisdiction in the United States to take up policy protecting intersex community members so huge thank you to Tigers for their work and their education um our I know our intersex uh community especially our youth really really deserve to have uh a voice and a say in their future and uh really feel empowered in their identity so I just feel really proud of this and I'm excited to just celebrate this Pride Weekend knowing that we as a city council um pass such a significant package of policy it's gonna just make the celebrations even sweeter.

Councilmember Warren Thank you Council President Payne I just want to say this love is abundant don't act like it's gonna run out if you give it to somebody this is beautiful um I'm proud to see this go forward but love is abundant it truly is it's not gonna run out there's gonna be plenty of it to go around share it be welcoming be inviting you know and and just love people not because you should but because you can you know not because you should or it's the right thing to do but because you can it's an easy thing to do so no it's not gonna run out love folks be open be welcoming and that's it this is this is good thank you for this and all of your hard work colleagues I'm okay with the flag being right there I'll ask the clerk to call the role on item 3.1 Councilmember Chavez.

Councilmember Warren, Councilmember Schaefer.

Council Member Won's Council Member Shugtai, Council Member Chowdhury Hi.

Council Member Stevenson Council Member Rainville, Council Member Vito Vice President Osman.

Hi.

President Payne There are 11 eyes that carries and then we will take up item 3.2 and I'll recognize Councilmember Travis.

Thank you, Council President Payne this is the final item in the Pride and policy package.

This is the gender-inclusive language ordinance being brought forward by myself, Councilmember Chucktai and Councilmember Chowdery this ordinance updates the rules of construction, which is the interpreted rules that apply to every ordinance in Miapa's code, meant to remove outdated binary gendered language.

It's a really important ordinance because there is a lot of language that is just quite frankly very gendered across our court of ordinances.

And we want to make sure that at least legally, whenever any gender is mentioned in our court of ordinances, all genders are should be interpreted as that definition.

Earlier today we passed the staff direction directing the clerk alongside with assistance from the city attorney's office to do a plan uh that would be able to look at all the gendered language that we have in court of ordinances and then present that plan before the council on how we can create a robust plan to make sure that all these other ordinances get addressed because as mentioned in the committee, there was a lot of ordinances that already have very like he-him oriented language that should just not exist.

So really uh glad and move this for approval.

Uh that's item 3.2 has been moved for approval and been seconded.

Uh seeing no one else in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the role.

Councilmember Shabbos.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Council Member Shagtai.

Hi.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 eyes.

That carries, and that completes the full report.

The next order of business is noticeable introductions.

We have one notice today.

Vice President Osman gives notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting of the City Council the subject matter of an ordinance amending the licensing and business regulations code, adding a new chapter 270 establishing licensing requirements to bail fugitive recovery, commonly referred to as bounty hunters.

And I will recognize Vice President Osman.

Oh, thank you, Council President.

I am uh introducing notice intent.

Looking at the license rules for fugitive recovery agents are also called as bounty hunters.

Uh people in our neighborhood deserve to know that anyone in this kind of work is following clear rules and operating safely.

Right now, Minnesota has almost no standard for this work.

That means anyone can show up with tactical gear and claim an authority as we have seen during the ICE search.

Um this folks, bounty hunters, were going around and saying they're gonna go.

I guess they invited, as we know, you can read the letter, a paper.

They invited um the individual who came to our city uh to uh you know disrespect the Muslim Islam nation by burning the Quran and and coming here, and he was able to get on a vehicle with a bounty hunter and say we're gonna go hunt Somali illegals.

And this bounty hunters have shown um that um that they are above the law and uh something has to be done in city of Minneapolis.

And um when you know ARMIT um activities happen is in our community, the city has the duty to make sure that the accountability and oversight is met.

Um this notice simply begins the process of understanding what authority of the city has and what local license system we can look into it.

Our goal is to protect the residents, prevent confusion, and make sure everyone operating our city follows clear clear rules.

We will be gathering information, looking at what other cities have done.

We're talking to I'm talking to city attorney.

I welcome all council members to really work on this and um just the bounty hunters have no uh author, like they they basically have shown uh during the ICE search that they can go out and pull out a gun and stab anyone and pretend to be ICE.

So these are folks that are working in our community.

Uh and what I understand is that uh bounty hunters are not part of the Bell Company, Bell Company.

Bell company hires them to go uh, you know, um uh arrest or hold uh individuals.

So um this is uh work in progress, and I'm hoping that we can find a way to protect our residents and making sure that um this is a successful process.

Uh thank you, Council President, and everyone is welcome to be to work with me on this item.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Thank you, President Payne.

Also, thank you, Council Vice President Osman for bringing us forward.

I'll start by saying that bounty hunting exists because of the cash bail system as you alluded to, which is fundamentally racist and equitable and has just been overall bad for public safety.

And that said, until we abolish the cash bail system, which has been a loan fight in our own city and across the country, we will continue to have bounty hunters whose sole job is essentially to traffic humans right back into our broken judicial system, and also as long as bounty hunting is legal, um, it needs to be heavily regulated, and these efforts allows us a pathway to do that.

Um, also, as you highlighted, Council Vice President Osman, the incidents earlier this year with bouncy hunters riding through our communities targeting residents alone-side right-wing influencers was incredibly disturbing and highlights how much we need accountability around anyone in this business.

I'll also name that earlier this spring, one of my staff members here at City Hall had a bounty hunter pull a gun on her and a group of bystanders who were walking down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon, and the community members attempted to flag down uh MPD officers and sheriffs who were circling around the area but were ignored.

The sheriff's office eventually responded to the victims, including my own staff member as well as other witnesses who unfortunately had to see this scene unfold and they apologize for failing to protect them in that moment.

I will know MPD has never reached out nor offer an explanation or apology as well.

So, all those things make it very clear to me that there is a need for more regulation, enforcement and accountability in this area, and thank you to Council Vice President Osman again for bringing us forward.

And if you will be open to it, I would love to be added as a co-author.

Yes, please.

Excellent.

Councilmember Warren.

I just have a quick question.

So how do we know the difference between who these people are and who anybody is?

We don't know.

Hopefully, this policy could clarify.

Oh, okay.

I just that was just my question.

Because I don't I don't know how to tell the difference between who is who we just don't know.

Sorry, I don't understand.

That notice is hereby given, and no further action is required at this time.

The next order of business is the introduction and referral calendar.

We have one item today.

Council members Wandsley, Osman, Chavez, and Chowdhury move to introduce the subject matter of an ordinance amending to licensing and business regulations code for first reading and referral to the business housing and zoning committee, adding a new chapter 342 regulating operation of autonomous vehicles for commercial purposes.

May have a motion to approve this introduction.

Some move, some move second.

Okay.

Uh is there any discussion?

Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Hi.

Council Member Warren, Councilmember Schaefer.

Hi.

Council Member Wandsley.

Hi.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Is absent.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are ten ayes.

That carries, and that item is referred to the business housing housing and zoning committee.

The next order of business is resolutions.

We have three resolutions on our agenda today, all of which receive presentations at the beginning of the meeting.

Do council members have any additional comments to add?

Seeing none may have a motion to adopt these resolutions.

Oh, Councilmember Warren.

I just want to say that I got the award today for the largest gathering this year so far.

Thank you.

May I have a motion to adopt these resolutions?

So move.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Hi.

Council Member Wandsley.

Hi.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Council Member Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

That carries, and those resolutions are adopted.

Next, we have the order of new business.

We have three items today.

The first two are the receipt of the mayor's uh nomination for Dr.

Reginald Freeman to the appointed position of fire chief and then Enrique Velazquez to the appointed position of regulatory services director.

I move to refer these nominations to the Public Health Safety and Equity Committee and Business Housing and Zoning Committee for set the setting of public hearings.

May I have a second?

Is there any discussion?

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Councilmember Warren.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Wandsley.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Hi.

Councilmember Rainville.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

That carries, and those nominations are referred to the appropriate committees.

Next, item three under new business was added at the beginning of our meeting by Councilmember Warren, which move who moves to amend the agenda to include, well, uh to request the audit committee an after action review to be completed by March 19th, uh, 2027 and reported to the city council through appropriate standing committee.

Uh Councilmember Warren, would you like to speak to this item?

Yes, I would.

Thank you.

Um Council President Payne.

Um, so before you is um a motion for me to amend the agenda under the order of new business and request the audit committee to move forward with an audit on relating to MPHA's use of city funds.

And I just want to say that this request is not about um assigning blame, it's about accountability and transparency and ensuring that residents receive the safe and dignified housing that they were promised.

So when public dollars are invested in a community, the community deserves to know what happened, what worked, what didn't work, um, and what must be done differently moving forward.

Um this is specifically highlighting a lot of the issues at Heritage Park that residents have raised serious concerns regarding their housing conditions, maintenance, communication, and accountability, and those concerns deserve an independent um review.

I had a resident um come to me and state that he had had a housing inspection um less than a week ago um by section eight, and they came into his home and stated that his home passed an inspection, and when I reached out, they stated to me that this individual had never complained about any of the housing conditions that he was experiencing at Heritage Park, and I want people to really know and understand what housing insecurity means.

Housing insecurity means that residents won't complain, they won't speak up, they won't say anything because it means that they may be unchosen or seen as unfit to be stable for them or for their families, and this is a very very vulnerable position for individuals to stand in when it talks about stability for families and for community, especially because I believe that safe suitable and sustainable housing is the first tier of public safety.

So I am proud to champion this work.

I know that council member Chowdhury had asked to be a co-author on this um on this request in this audit, and I am open to accept any other council colleagues who would like to co-author this body of work because I believe that this truly not only helps support Heritage Park, but it also supports um what is happening in full transparency in the scope of work for our city as it pertains to our relationship with MPHA and um their regulatory and oversight um issues that they have in with respect to the work with the city of Minneapolis.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wansey.

Thank you, President Payne, and also thank you, Councilmember Warren for your leadership on this issue, and I'm very supportive of it.

Um I drive by Heritage Park frequently when I'm headed to North Minneapolis.

Um and it's just been disheartening to see the clear changes over the years as a result of divestment and the lack of care for that uh property and the residents living there.

Um I know uh the things we're seeing unfold there today is likely rooted by decisions made many years ago, specifically referencing in 1995, um the establishment of the Holman decree, which led to the demolition of 770 units of public housing.

And in lieu of that, locals leaders made a variety of promises and commitments that they would expand housing access to marginalized communities and were uh revitalize that um that land and that housing that was once they're in publicly owned, they will revitalize it and make sure that residents would have the highest quality of housing that they deserve.

Those promises though did not materialize, and it's now 2026, and it feels like the conditions that led to the home in lawsuit, um, which essentially was families having to live in deplorable conditions.

Um those same developments are playing out once again, um, nearly 30 years later.

And it's just shameful that uh with Heritage Park, which was built with the promise of not repeating the same mistakes of forcing public housing residents to live in substandard housing.

We're still seeing those things play out, and it is my understanding that half the units that are currently there are vacant due to unlivable conditions.

And this is despite investments that uh the private developer has received from the public to rehab and revitalize and activate those units so that residents can get the quality housing that they deserve and that they were promised.

So I hope that this request for audit can share more light into how we can ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.

I know I'm taking this in light with uh redevelopment efforts that's being advanced forward in my own war with Glendale town homes, and it's um the mishandling of public housing like what's taking place in Heritage Park that is creating justifiable fears for my own residents residing at Glendale about what will happen to them.

Will they also face a similar fate as many of those living in Heritage Park once it is privatized?

Um, and I I want to make sure that I'm part of any efforts to strengthen oversight over Heritage Park because I know that ripples out to the rest of our city and also strengthen oversight over our entire public housing so residents are not forced to live in substandard housing.

Um and this gives us an opportunity to do that work, and again, thank you for that leadership.

And if you also will be amenable, I would love to be added as a co-author.

Clerks, Councilmember Chowdhury.

Thanks, President Payne.

Um, yeah, Councilmember Warren have appreciated the long discussions we've had over the weeks about Heritage Park and what community members in your district are facing.

Um I think it's like a clear showcase of what it really means to have a tale of two cities in Minneapolis.

Some people have secure housing, um, great amenities, they're cared for, they're heard, and then community members here in Heritage Park are forced to live in the shadows with roofs with holes in them, um, living in molded conditions and just having to bear the brunt of uh being in a state where there's just so much disconnect between all of the levels of government um that have allowed for this to continue.

And one of the things that I hope we figure out in the audit is uh the city's role in this and the ways in which there was uh excuse me, I'm having a hard time talking when I'm hearing others talk.

Um as I was saying, it it's important for us to see what the city's role was in this, and then I also think this is a good moment to highlight that their families continue to live in molded apartments right now.

Lar families are living in molded apartments and are getting inspection fatigue because our city inspectors are going in there with masks and protective equipment, but they don't have that.

And MPHA does need to step up and get them adequate housing and housing that fits the needs of the size of their family, and that's currently not happening, and that needs to be brought to public light.

So thank you, Councilmember Warren, and I'm looking forward to being a co-author on this.

Uh before I call on Council Member Rainville, I'll note we've been joined by Councilmember Chugtie.

And I don't did you miss some votes, Mr.

Clerk.

Okay.

Councilmember Rainville.

Uh Councilmember Warren.

Please add my name.

I stand with you.

Councilmember Vita.

Same.

I just wanted to co-author this with you, Councilmember Warren.

I know it's been tough for you and the community.

I am so proud of the work you're doing in protecting these families.

I think the North Side is also proud of the work you're doing.

And if this audit is a way for us to figure out what needs to happen and how we get to help these families, I I know the spotlight now is on here at Tish Park, but I can only imagine that there are some other places that are suffering also.

And so I'm really looking forward to the results of this audit and hoping that it is going to uh show us the work ahead for housing.

I'm certainly a fan of building new housing, but I think this audit can give us an opportunity on preserving what we have now.

And so thank you for being the leader on this.

Councilmember Warren and I greatly enjoy your spoken word video about Heritage Park.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Yes, I would agree with that video.

It was very informative, and thank you for taking the time to do that.

I also would like to be considered a co-author on this.

Really want to support you in this work.

I had a couple questions, and I'm not sure if you can answer them, but what is the time frame that you have directed staff to look at?

Is it kind of like five years?

You know, this audit is it gonna go back 10 years?

I know you're gonna have it for sure cover the time frame of Heritage Park, but um if there's any more further information you can get around that, I would be curious or you know, just make sure that we dig as deep as we need to uh to make sure you find out what you're looking for.

Um, and then I would be really interested in like their their balance between maintenance and capital.

So, thank you for that, Councilmember Schaefer.

May I respond, Council President Payne?

Um through the president.

Uh council member, I um have spoken with the auditor, and we will sit down and have an opportunity to meet and talk about what the work plan will look like going forward.

It is a request.

Um, but it will depend on what and how that that information comes down.

So great, yeah.

We'll be meeting in the future.

So if anyone is interested in joining to pose any questions during that time, I'm completely open to that.

Thank you.

I added myself to queue actually to speak on that topic a little bit.

So uh in the past, the city council has requested uh action by the city auditor.

That the auditor has been responsive to those requests in the past, but we don't technically direct the auditor.

We make a request and the auditor can choose to accept or or or modify that request.

I'd like to be a co-author as well, especially as the chair of the audit committee, because I want to be able to be a part of that conversation to make sure that um we get some resolution to this community, whether it's through an audit or any other action that we can take on this body.

So I would be glad to be a co-author with you.

I thank you all humbly for all of your support.

Thank you.

Uh with that, I will ask the clerk to call the role.

Um council member Chavez.

Just what I'm like.

Oh, Councilmember Chavez.

One thing just to make sure that microphone.

Sorry, I just want one obviously I love this and I'm supporting it because I think it's important uh that something gets done.

I just want to make sure that we vote on the correct thing.

And I want to make sure that, like, on the RCA, what's on the item description is what we're voting on today to make sure that it is the request.

So I just whatever we need to do to make sure that's happening before the vote, I just right now.

I just want to make sure that's happening, Mr.

Corps.

Mr.

President, yes, the item came forward very late, and we didn't in the clerk's office have time to assist with it.

This is actually a resolution.

So if you look at the RCA that's attached to the motion to amend the agenda that had already passed within the text of that RCA under the box that says item description, it talks about a resolution that is requesting the audit committee to request the auditor, reflecting that, you know, scope of authority to conduct this independent audit, and it goes on to explain the how and why.

The clerks have intended to just take the resolution, which is the proper form, and form that as the action.

So I think probably the body is clear.

What we're asking for is for the audit committee to ask the auditor via a resolution to consider this independent audit of the housing authority as already described and discussed.

What's yes?

I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Wandsley.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugtai.

Aye.

Council Member Childry.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Councilmember Rainbow.

He's over it.

Time for lunch.

Council Member Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Is absent.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

That carries our next order of business as a request for closed session.

Before I recognize the attorney.

Can we recess for closed session?

Mr.

President, I'm sorry.

Um you had asked me about votes that perhaps Council.

Shugtai.

So we had the introduction and referral calendar that was missed.

I assume you would like to just be a vote yes on that, which changes that to 11 ayes.

All three of the resolutions were passed while you were out of the room.

I assume you'd like to be added as a yes, 11 ayes on the three resolutions.

New business one and two, which are the referral of mayoral nominations to respective committees, adding makes 11 ayes.

Thank you.

Alright, without objection.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

Uh, now our next order of business is a request for closed session.

Before I recognize the attorney and we recess for closed session, I'll ask if there are any announcements from council members.

Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, President Payne.

I don't have an announcement, but I do have a question uh based off the the um the matter with the ballpark authority.

So it did there was talk around the person's term ending, but I want to ask the clerks or maybe the attorneys for clarification.

I thought that the current person sits until a new person is reappointed.

Can someone find that out for me if that is the case for the ballpark authority?

So my question is does the current occupant continue to serve until they're replaced?

Mr.

Clerk.

Mr.

President, I will endeavor to look that up as quickly as I can.

The ballpark authority is not a city board, it's an external board to which we have one appointment.

And so I'm not as familiar with their bylaws.

They are posted to our website, and I'm pulling them up now.

Just to see if I can quickly find it.

I don't I don't see in the bylaws that I'm looking at right now anything about um vacant vacant seats uh holding over or people sitting in vacant seats holding over.

It may be, and I could certainly research that and get back to you, but at a quick glance, Mr.

President, Councilmember Vitae, I don't know.

Can can you please get back to me?

Because I think that is different from the term has ended, and the person is not sitting in the seat versus the person is currently in the seat until it's replaced by a new appointment.

So is whenever you can that'd be greatly appreciated, Mr.

Clark.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Yeah, I just wanted to let everyone know, Councilmember Rainville and I are hosting a data centers discussion this evening that will really uh just have some real experts on hand for one hour.

Don Kohlenberger, who is a construction industry consultant that has worked on the Daytons Project and Mayo Clinic Square Block E.

We have Catherine Huffro Hoffman, who is the CEO of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Ag Advocacy.

And obviously, you know, we know that their um MCEA has been successful in obtaining some temporary injunctions against several proposed data center developments around the state.

So that'll she will be also on hand.

Also, is John Marshall, Regional vice president of XL Energy, as well as um Dan McConnell, business manager of the Minneapolis Building and Trades Council.

We're going to be really timely, one hour, but we're really thrilled that these experts are here, some of them actually on opposite sides of the aisle on some of these issues.

So we want to have a balanced discussion that will really lead us into greater dialogue and respect around the different viewpoints on this and lead us to greater um understanding.

So we're really excited about that.

And of course, Pride is this weekend.

Thank you, President Payne for organizing the parade, and I'll look forward to participating with my colleagues.

I don't know if this is in order, but I'd like to ask if we could go to lunch before the closed session.

I was going, my intention was to recess before closed session so that we could take a quick lunch, although the city attorney messaged me saying that it should be very, very brief.

Um my colleagues are never brief.

You all have abused my patience in these meetings.

Every single one of you.

You're welcome.

Uh so I'm going to continue with my original plan to recess prior to closed session.

So once we're done with announcements, we'll take a 30-minute recess.

Yeah.

I object to 30 minutes.

Okay.

Do we want 45?

Yeah, at least 45.

All right, 45 minutes recess after we finish announcements, but we're already trying each other's patience on that.

So uh Councilmember Chow Tree.

I'll keep this try to keep it brief.

Um, like so many Wolves fans this morning.

I woke up with a gut punch when I heard that Nas Reed had been traded.

Honk, if you love Nas Reed, we're all honking today.

Nasreed meant something.

There are a few times when one person can bring together a city and a state that he did.

Hear the words of Nas Reed meant more, hear the words of Nas Reed meant more than just a name.

They meant hope, they mean passion, they meant community.

Nasreed was an undrafted, undrafted and signed by the Timberwolves in 2019, and an undrafted player fighting for a roster spot, giving everything he had and eventually becoming a part of something great that resonated with the city and state.

Minnesota could see itself in Nasreed, overlooked, determined to prove people wrong.

And he was the NBA sixth man of the year and a key piece of the most successful era of Timberwolves basketball of all time.

And a really big day deal for the city of Minneapolis.

He's done a lot of work to support our local Indigenous youth and also expand financial literacy programming in Minnesota.

And I I think we we owe it to him and our community here in Minneapolis and Minnesota to give a moment to a great player that brought a lot of joy to our community.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Councilmember.

Chowdry.

Nas Reed started acting funny when his braids was too tight.

I don't know.

I love, I love my Timberwolves basketball, man.

But I think this last season, his braids was a little taunt, and to say he started acting a little different.

So I was concerned.

But I do wish him love success in all of his endeavors.

And I do, I do love Nas Reed.

You know, I just think we missed something a little bit.

But I wanted to make an announcement that on Tuesday, the 30th of June, from 5:30 p.m.

to 7.30 p.m.

Um, my office will be um joined by a number of city departments.

We are having a community meeting at um at Summit Academy OIC.

And um the purpose of this meeting is to provide the residents, the stakeholders, and community partners with updates regarding Heritage Park.

We'll be there to answer questions, um, identify some actionable next steps.

The receiver will be present, the property managers, some community advocates.

So we're going to everyone here is welcome to come and learn and listen if you so desire.

Um, the current property management team, um reg services, our health department, a lot of individuals are coming, and I'm trying to um promote continuing to do these meetings.

The last meeting we had on the eleventh of May, we had about 17 residents present, um, both old and new residents.

Um so this is open to everyone.

Um bring your questions, bring your comments and concerns.

We had a great meeting.

I'm looking forward to another great meeting.

Um this Tuesday coming up.

And yeah, have a wonderful pride weekend, everybody.

So excited for the parade and all the other community festivities.

Okay, with that, we've completed all items on our agenda and we'll now consider the request for a closed session, which is to receive a briefing on the charge of discrimination, Minnesota Department of Civil Rights.

Before I move to close the meeting, I'll recognize the city attorney to provide the legal basis for the request requested closed session.

Thank you, Council President, Council members.

The next item on the agenda is the charge of discrimination, Minnesota Department of Civil Rights, charge number two four-five two two four.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney.

I move to close the public meeting as authorized under the open meeting law, specifically Minnesota Statute section thirteen D dot zero five for the purpose of receiving a briefing on the litigation matter of the charge of discrimination, Minnesota Department of Civil Rights, charge number twenty-four-five two two four.

May I have a second to that motion?

The clerk will call a roll.

Is absent.

Yes.

All right, all right, all right.

Tech team, we're ready.

The time is now two fifty five, and the city council has reconvened an open session following our closed session.

I'll ask the court to call the roll to prove a presence of a quorum.

Councilmember Palmasano is absent.

Councilmember Shamez, present.

Councilmember Warren.

Present.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Present.

Council Member Wandsley.

Present.

Councilmember Shuptime.

Present.

Council Member Whiting is absent.

Council Member Chowdhury.

Present.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Present.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Rose.

Councilmember Vito.

President.

President Payne.

Present.

There are ten members present.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum, and I will recognize Councilmember Chuck Pai.

I move that all claims against the City of Minneapolis, including any claims for attorney's fees and costs asserted in Minneapolis Civil Rights Department charge of discrimination number 24-0524 be settled in the amount of eighteen thousand dollars payable to the complaint in the in that matter, and seven hundred fifty dollar administrative fee payable to the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights from fund number zero six nine zero zero one five zero zero one zero zero one four five four zero zero.

The city attorney's office is authorized to execute any documents necessary to effectuate the settlement.