Good morning everyone.

My name is Elliot Payne.

I'm the president of Minneapolis City Council.

And at this time, I'm gonna call this regular meeting of the City Council for July 30th to order.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye, here.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Present.

Councilmember Wandsley is absent.

Councilmember Shugtai is absent.

Councilmember Whiting.

Present.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Present.

Councilmember Stevenson is absent.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Present.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Present.

Councilmember Palmasana.

President.

Councilmember Chavez.

Present.

Vice President Osman is absent.

President Payne.

Present.

There are nine members present.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.

Before we begin the meeting, let me remind all members and staff that this meeting is broadcast to enable greater public participation.

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

Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captures 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.

And before I ask for a motion to adopt the agenda, I have one additional uh one addition.

Uh as you know, last week our last meeting, there was a vote on the SkyDo drone program that resulted in a tie that did not dispose of that item.

And so you'll note on the public agenda that um SkyDio is before us once again under unfinished business.

Uh there was a question on the dais during that meeting from Councilmember Chavez about a previous action that also tied.

Um we have since identified that action, and that is printed out in front of us.

Uh that is the uh resolution requesting a national search for community safety commissioner uh at that at the May 21st meeting that uh was brought forward by councilmember Wandsley and also resulted in a tie.

However, that was not brought forward to the next regular meeting under unfinished business.

That was an omission uh that uh resulted from a clinical error, and so I am recommending that uh the resolution is uh well the resolution is in limbs file 2026-00653.

There's a printed copy in front of everybody on the dias.

Umce it resulted in a tie vote uh and we weren't able to dispose this item, it should have returned to the council's next regular meeting on June 11th.

Since that didn't happen, I am suggesting that we add that to consideration for today's meeting under unfinished business uh so that we can do a final disposition on that action.

I'm also gonna recommend once we get to unfinished business that we do a proper motion to dispose of those, and maybe I'll seek the clerk's advice on whether we should delete those from the agenda, refer them to staff, whatever the appropriate motion is when we get there.

Um is there any objection to that plan?

Seeing none, may I have a motion to adopt the agenda including that addition?

So moved is there a second.

Second the clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson, aye.

Council Member Rainville, aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Council Member Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are ten ayes.

That carries in the agenda is adopted as amended.

The next item is acceptance of the minutes from a regular meeting of July 16th.

And I have a motion to accept those moment.

Minutes.

So moved.

Second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Council Member Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

Uh that carries.

And the minutes have been accepted.

Finally, we have the referral of petitions, communications, and reports to proper committees.

May I have that motion, please.

So moved.

Second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmisano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes.

That carries and those matters have been referred.

The next order of business is the presentation of reports from our standing committees, which are taken in alphabetical order.

We will begin with the report of our business housing and zoning committee, and I will call on Councilmember Chowdhury as the vice chair of that committee.

Thank you, President Payne.

The Business Housing and Zoning Committee will be bringing forward 20 items today.

Item number one approves the mayor's nomination of Enrique Velazquez to Director of Regulatory Services.

Item number two approves a wine and strong beer with general entertainment for Strange Loop Laboratory.

Item number three approves an interim use permit for people serving people at 219 Fourth Street South.

Item number four is an appeal from FGNC regarding the 3,000 Mini Haha Avenue Democracy Center.

This item was sent forward without recommendation.

Item number five is a rezoning and alley vacation for the democracy center at 3,000 Mini Haha.

This item was sent forward without recommendation.

Item number six approves five liquor licenses.

Item number seven approves 32 liquor license renewals.

Item number eight approves a gambling license.

Item number nine grants business license operating conditions for Bloomington Commercial Kitchen.

Item number 10 amends the 2026 license fee schedule for tow truck service fees.

Item number 11 authorizes a contract amendment with McPhail Music Center.

Item number 12 accepts and authorizes the state of Minnesota grants, state minute Minnesota grants for employment services.

Item number 13 authorizes DTAP program funding recommendations.

Item number 14 accepts a bid for replacing floor boxes at the convention center.

Item number 15 delegates authority to CPED director for the ownership or the owner occupied rehab programs.

Item number 16 accepts and authorizes the water efficiency grant program from the Metropolitan Council.

Item number 17 authorizes a contract extension for the Green Belt Development Project.

Item number 18 approves a staff direction related to rental properties.

Item number 19 authorizes program changes to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund or the AHTF.

And lastly, item number 20 authorizes program changes to the naturally occurring affordable housing or NOAA program.

With that, I will move forward all items for approval.

Um have a separate except for items four and five, and then have a separate request a separate vote on item number one.

So that's one, four, and five.

Councilmember Chowdhury has moved approval of the biz report minus items one, four, and five.

Uh and before I call on members for any questions on the remainder of the report, I'll recognize that we've been joined by council members uh Chuck Tye and Stevenson.

Uh is there any questions or comments on the remainder of the report seeing none?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shangtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Council Member Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shotan.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 11 ayes.

That carries.

Uh and we will next take up item number one, the appointment of Enrique Velazquez for the director of regulatory services.

Is there any comment or discussion on this item?

Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Oh, Councilmember Vita.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um, I I really just wanted to take a moment to recognize Director Velasquez and express my sincere appreciation for your leadership to the city of Minneapolis.

Thank you so much, Director.

Uh, we spent Friday afternoon in ward four and had a great time walking around the ward, looking at a lot of the livability issues that uh my community face faces every day.

You've always been amazing at checking things out and understanding talking to folks and understanding where they are and what they want the city of Minneapolis to look like for them and their family.

So I really do appreciate the time we spent in Ward 4 on Friday.

You're one of the kindest, most thoughtful leaders.

And you know that if you spend two seconds with you that you care about every single person in this city.

And the love is reflected in how you serve every single day.

You care about the people that you work with and that work alongside you.

You lead with respect, compassion, and understanding, and you understand that strong organizations are built by investing in the people that make them successful.

That's huge for a leader, and I appreciate that about you.

I um ran into somebody who works in your department coming out of the elevator, and I'm certain we spent an hour talking about how good it is to work with you and how you treat them as a partner and the time that you take uh to build them up as an individual, but also the entire vision for their department and the city of Minneapolis, they see in you the care, and so that inspires them to care.

So thank you for that, Director.

Um what's always stood out to me is your responsiveness, whether it's a question from a council member, a concern from a resident, or a challenge facing the department.

You're someone who listens, you followed through, and you work tirelessly to find solutions.

You never shy away from the difficult conversations.

They typically are when it comes to war four.

Thank you for being able to actually make me compromise a lot.

Uh Friday, you just had so many ideas that I'm so glad that after the drones didn't pass, you had already started thinking about what next steps are for getting policy and implementing some programs that can help.

So when challenges arise, you seem to have good solutions.

And um, I love how you take responsibility too for the decisions that you make.

Uh that's what good leaders do.

Um, you don't pass the blame or avoid accountability.

You face the problems head on, and you work to manage things better.

Um, director, you're a visionary, and sometimes being a visionary is hard.

Um you have consistently looked beyond the immediate challenges to think about how we can build a stronger, more effective city for the future.

Your leadership has helped move forward Minneapolis while keeping our residents and employees at the center of every decision.

Leadership is not just about making the easy decisions, it's about showing up every day with integrity, humanity, and a commitment to serving others.

You embody that Enrique.

You embody all those qualities.

Minneapolis is better because of your leadership, and I'm grateful for everything you've done for this city, for this department, and for the people that call Minneapolis home.

Thank you.

Thank you for your service, thank you for your dedication, your partnership, and your unwavering commitment to this city.

Thank you.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you, Director.

Um, unfortunately, I will not be able to support your appointment today.

Um, and I want to let you know the reasons why we got a letter from our AFSME workers in your office, and and we had a meeting and discussed that, and I I appreciate uh you coming and talking with me directly about this, but the facts from from this letter are just really uh not acceptable.

And so, does this individual effectively resolve workplace issues?

No.

Does this individual communicate workplace updates and issues in a clear and timely manner?

No.

Um we talked about this, you told me that there are some disciplinary issues happening in the department.

I have no vision into that.

I I just have to take you uh at your word that that is what's happening.

And at the same time, I don't think that our employees, our staff are vindictive people who are who are making things up.

So I I two these two truths have to be true at the same time.

Um, and so I I really urge you to do better by the staff.

Um you you can.

I I I very much appreciate our conversations.

I appreciate you as a person, and I know that you can do better, so I urge you to please do that.

I I've we've counted the votes, we know you're gonna get appointed, and so um this is me saying asking you to step up to a higher level that I know that you can do.

Um, on top of that, uh, we have encampment reporting ordinance.

It's not a suggestion, it's an ordinance.

It has to come every quarter, and we currently have not had one yet this year, and we are in July.

Um this is not this is not uh acceptable.

This is not a choice about whether it gets presented or not.

Um so I'm asking you to please um level up to the level that I know that you can do.

Um when it comes to management and when it comes to meeting this ordinance on time, these are vital things, these are not peripheral things.

Um so I will not be supporting your appointment today, and I'm asking that uh we work together on ways to improve relations with our staff.

We cannot function in this city without them and uh improve reporting on encampments.

This is an issue that is deeply affecting our city, which you know extremely well.

Um it it for these reasons I will not be supporting your appointment.

Uh I will note that we've been joined by Vice President Osman, and I will recognize Councilmember Rainbow.

Uh thank you.

Uh uh director, you have a very, very hard job, but yet your professionalism shines through all the time.

I feel your relations with your staff are exemplary, and I will not be uh second guessing your management decisions.

I really appreciate the dignity that you bring to the homeless and campus situation.

It's horrible.

There are people who are addicted.

We have sex trafficking, we have crime killings, shootings, but yet your approach to that is I'm very, very grateful for your approach because your approach is very, very dignified.

So thank you so much for serving the citizens of Minneapolis.

I will be voting with you today.

I will support you.

And again, thank you so much.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Thanks, President Payne.

Um thank you, Director Velazquez, for your service to the city of Minneapolis.

We had a really good conversation in my office, and I thought it was a really important one.

We got to be very, very candid with one another.

It's no secret that the job of the regulatory services director is extremely difficult.

And that's why I do thank you for your work and for deciding to step up to the plate again and come before this body for a nomination uh process, which it's no secret, that's not easy either.

Um, so I just wanted to appreciate that.

Um I want to give you a lot of uh props in your ability to listen and also your ability um to really see through the HRT team and grow it, and also kind of wrap your arms around all the work within the regulatory services department, be it inspections, be it animal care and control, um, be it doing constituent cases uh as council members reach out with our job of serving the 450,000 plus residents across the city of Minneapolis.

I think I think you know that I'm I'm struggling in in my decision and my choice because nothing is black and white.

There's a lot of nuance here.

Um I appreciated when you came to committee, you shared that your charge was to communicate transparently, collaborate within the city with external partners, and do the right thing no matter what.

And I believe you will be the regulatory services director for the next foreseeable term, and I only wish you the best in achieving those goals to its fullest extent, and I will support you fully in order to do that.

Today, however, I am wrestling with some of the places where I feel like that charge did fall a little bit short.

That's hard for me to move ahead with an affirmative vote, and I'll just share you and I talked about this one.

It's it was the office and I had reached out about the growing number of people who are facing homelessness over on CEDAR and 26th, the number of phone calls that I got from constituents within my ward and outside of my ward, that was just like help.

Like things are getting to a boiling point.

And working on the city council, that's a familiar type of phone call that just gets your cortisol levels going, and you need to get out there and you need to start connecting with department heads and trying to figure out what we can do.

And we I'd reached out, and then I felt deeply surprised by not knowing what the plan was moving forward and seeing that we were going to do this bust of open-air drug markets in that specific area.

Um I think that was a point of communication in place where we could have really worked together where that surprise didn't occur.

And I will share like I've had to have a lot of hard constituent conversations across the board.

Again, going back to what's the right approach to address homelessness and if the city is going into a place where we're just criminalizing people far too much and not seeing their humanity if we're going back to this era of war on drugs.

And you know, I believe in I believe in you in standing up to do what's right.

And I and I will support you in doing that in the future.

I understand the seat that you sit in.

So I will be there for you in that regard.

Um I think the other place that we also talked about where there's an opportunity for growth is just like the mixer views within your department.

And I think like you're someone that committed to me that that's something that you'd absolutely step up to the plate to do, and so I'm looking forward to that doing that.

Um then the last thing is we talked a lot about how the same problems keep on coming up year after year, and what do we want to get done at the end of four years, right?

We hear over and over again we need to bring people inside, we need to triage folks and get them to housing.

The navigation center continues to pop up.

The question about tiny home villages and safe outdoor spaces, safe parking, thinking outside of the box, like actually getting to the root.

Um, the issues with inspections, uh, the way that we can serve our constituents.

I think I think we can get there, and I'm willing to work with you to get there.

Um I appreciate you stepping up to the plate.

Uh I'm not able to give you an affirmative vote today, but that's not a reflection of my willingness to work with you and just the growth that I think we have between the Ward 12 office and Enrique Velasquez the director of regulatory services, but also what we can do for the city.

I will note that we've been joined by Mayor Frye.

Um and colleagues, you may have seen Councilmember Paul Masano get in cue and then bump out.

She had gotten in cue for Mayor Frye.

So I will recognize Mayor Frye.

Council President, thank you for recognizing me and thank you for deviating from the um sequencing uh on your screen.

Uh Chair Payne uh Vice Chair Osman, uh, members of the city council, uh, it is really my pleasure to have nominated Enrique Velasquez for uh the director of regulatory services.

Uh, he is someone that approaches his job with such incredible compassion.

Uh the issues that he is handling are they neither lack complexity nor do they lack difficulty.

Uh and whether we're talking about inspections, uh traffic enforcement, um, or we're uh talking about the very difficult issue regarding uh encampments, open air drug markets, and homelessness.

This is a these are issues that oftentimes don't just touch one department, they don't even touch one jurisdiction.

Um the vast majority of social services lie with the county.

Enforcement lies both with our city, it even lies with the state at times.

Uh and so it takes a lot of work together.

And Enrique is someone who is a tried and true collaborator.

Um he has shown that time and again.

And if you look at the stats, while we haven't solved these issues, we have not.

And there is room for improvement.

The progress is unquestionable.

Virtually every one of the data signs shows that unsheltered homelessness is dropping in some cases substantially.

Uh the statistics show that we're housing more and more people every single month in many cases than we ever have before.

That's due to Enrique.

That is also due to other departments.

That is due to other jurisdictions throughout the state.

It's due to a partnership.

Uh and Enrique is nothing if not a true partner in this work.

Um he's led long-term effort to create single consistent rental license licensing standard.

Um he's worked to insist that we were bringing MPHA properties into the city's rental licensing and inspection program.

That works that work really reflects his belief that resident, regardless of age, race, gender, ability deserves a safe home.

Uh and his leadership also expends expands way beyond housing.

Under his direction, you may know that animal care and control has become a model nationwide for compassionate community-centered service.

The division has expanded access to low and no-cost veterinary care, strengthened partnerships.

Uh, he's also helped a whole lot uh with public safety innovation uh through an innovation initiatives like traffic traffic safety camera pilot and and civilian crash investigative pilot.

He has really embraced some new ideas to make sure that we're delivering services more efficiently and more responsively.

He strengthens partnerships with city departments and with Hennepin County with other state agencies.

He's brought it.

And those that have worked with him understand that he is a really thoughtful and caring person.

I have heard from staff indeed who adamantly disagree with the letter that you got about the work that he has done and how committed they are to working with him and for him, unprompted.

And so I am certain that the experiences that you've had with him, if nothing else, they're kind.

Every city clears homeless encampments.

Every one of them.

This is my position.

This is a position of virtually every single mayor out there.

You know, and so I I understand the frustration because you all council members, you're hearing it directly from your constituents.

You are in deep touch with the grassroots of your wards.

And thank you.

Thank you for providing the additional urgency, genuinely.

It is felt, and we're doing everything possible.

And I know that Director Velasquez is doing that as well.

Thank you so much for your time.

Simply put, he's a person that has demonstrated vision, experience, and a whole lot of leadership.

Uh, and he has my full support.

Council members, thank you so much for your time.

I asked for yours as well.

My apologies.

I'm gonna jump here.

I I did not expect uh you to have zero resolutions uh before the council meeting, and so we have another meeting that I'm simultaneously at.

Thank you so much, Councilmembers.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Um I just want to say thank you, Director Valquez, for your unwavering support in everything that I have been embarking upon in Ward 5, specifically around Heritage Park and your you know.

We okay.

Okay.

And um and um just just your leadership and your thoughtfulness and being solution-driven, answering the questions, coming on the tours and showing up for for all of the meetings that we've been holding there with community.

I appreciate it.

I look forward to the work that we will continue to do together here at the city, and you know, showing up.

So I appreciate you, and I just wanted to say thank you.

Oh, thank you.

I mean my comment on um last I believe this meeting.

But I do want to make one just kind of mention one more time that I fully support you, Enrique.

I really like your leadership.

Um I say it was unfair when we decided as a city to uh you know give you the homeless outreach team uh department from the health department to services with less resources.

Uh your team has demonstrated very humane way to reach to the folks that are there to really connect with them to you know uh make over 400 connections um and help as much as uh they can minimize uh uh how many homeless uh folks out on the street and give them the help they need.

I think this is uh uh one of the challenging issue in our city, and we need more resources, speaking on the budget.

Um we cannot, you know, we we're not the county, but we have to play this role because this folks are um struggling with addiction, and drug dealers are you know doing all kind of horrible things to put these people through this kind of condition is uh right now we are dealing with under the bridge situation where people lost their lives, this overdoses, this traffic accidents.

Um this is a municipal, uh this is some more uh other agencies, other government uh need to involve more.

Uh you have been coming to the community meeting, having that conversation, also you know, playing that uh city spokesperson to go talk to the county, uh Metro Transit and others to really address this issue.

I think what you need is uh uh more resources to tackle this issue.

If we really mean that we're gonna help our residents that are struggling, but also keep our community uh, you know, less uh drug, open drug use, uh less needles, less health and safety of well-being of our community.

Uh we need to put all the resources, as much resources we can in this issue.

You have heard me many times talking about a specific issue that some neighborhoods are struggling.

Not every city is dealing with uh, you know, the so-called open drug use.

Um right now, go ahead, you know, walk to war six on um Franklin and see that you you'll see that that's that's visible.

And those are victims themselves.

Those are victims.

They are being taken advantage of, uh, being drugged, and uh and it's it's not acceptable for well-advanced society to have um that kind of condition uh for human beings.

So um I encourage you to do continue to do what you're doing, uh, to always reach out to uh colleagues, ask resources, and um, and I'm hoping that uh in administration leadership, especially uh Margaret and Sakalah leadership and also mayor's leadership could help you address this uh uh unhoused shelters uh in a humane way, in a respectful way, and uh I look forward to working with you uh next four years.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chuck Tat.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I am going to be uh supporting Mr.

or sorry, Director Velasquez's uh nomination today, um, so that he will hopefully continue serving over the course of these next four years over the course of this term as the director of the regulatory services department.

Um so I want to join my colleagues in in sharing some flowers about the work in the regulatory services department that is going really well.

Um in particular, I I want to thank the um inspections team and um NU director for your work um with my office uh in in best serving the residents of Ward 10.

Um as you know, we are the second most renter-dense ward in the city, um, home to the um this some of the city's um larger concentration of naturally occurring affordable housing um and that tenants uh across our city live in conditions that we would describe as undignified and inhumane um inside of their properties, living in conditions that um that we ourselves would never choose for for ourselves or our loved ones.

Um the the partnership and the urgency that you demonstrate that matches my offices, that matches the residents um that that we're seeking to serve together is uh is deeply appreciated.

It is um it is transformative in the work that we're able to do to ensure the dignity of of the people of our city.

I really really appreciate that partnership.

Um my big uh concern about some of the work that's moving in the department, and I've had the opportunity to share this with you, and I do believe that um that we're gonna continue to partner um through difference and and find the best path forward that um that serves that serves the people of our city that um that gets to better outcomes for it's for some of the most vulnerable people in our city, but the way um that the direction I see our city moving right now as it pertains to responding to unsheltered homelessness breaks my heart.

Um if we believe that every person is worthy of dignity, if we really really truly believe that.

If we believe that every person is worthy of dignity, if we really really truly believe that, if we really truly believe, and I do and I know you do, that substance use disorder is a mental health disorder, just like anxiety, just like depression.

If we believe that no person in the richest country in the history of the world should live in worse conditions than refugee camps in war-torn regions, if we really, really believe that every person is worthy of dignity just because they're alive, just because they exist, then the way that we are approaching homelessness is inconsistent with those beliefs.

It's inconsistent.

If we believe that human trafficking is happening, and I know it is, I know you know it is, then the way we're approaching this issue is unconscionable.

We're not protecting anybody.

Moving people into the shadows, moving vulnerable people into the shadows, does not ensure safety.

It does not house people.

It does not address substance use disorder.

It does not address the core problems as to why they're living outside in the first place.

And yet, that approach, because it's it's consistent across the country, we know is one that continues to fail.

Criminalizing homelessness is a failure everywhere.

We try it.

The only thing that helps house people, the only thing that contributes to a reduction in homelessness is more housing, is more services, is more upstream solutions that prevent homelessnesses in the first place.

Criminalizing people does not get us to a better solution.

I know you know that, and we see that everywhere in the country.

So this war on homeless people has to end.

Because stripping people of their dignity, stripping people of their humanity by by saying, oh, they just don't want help.

It's unconscionable, and it's not working.

And we have to do better.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I'd like to echo what my colleague, Councilmember Vita said, and I cannot say it better than that.

I won't try and restate what she said.

As a leader and a person, we couldn't ask for anything more than the consideration, the thoughtful approach, the intelligence paired with the compassion.

And oh, by the way, the lived experiences of Enrique Velasquez.

You have a hard job.

It is such a necessary and important one to keep our city functioning.

And your employees are on the very front lines of this work.

I see you support them, help them to handle tough situations.

And some days they're all tough situations.

I'm handing myself to Q, uh, Director of House because I will be supporting you today.

Uh I also want to uplift some of the sentiments of my colleagues.

Um it was good to be able to speak with you one-on-one about the AFSME letter that gave it a lot more nuance to the picture.

But I do agree with Councilmember Stevenson that that's something we have to work on.

Uh, one of the bigger topics that I have in this role is how do we create a culture of accountability?

And so much of that conversation is centered on the police department, and everybody knows the the challenges in the police department and accountability.

But that doesn't only exist in our police department.

They're just the ones with the guns, right?

And so as we think about accountability and discipline and the seven tests of just cause and making sure that we're consistent in how we're delivering that.

Um that's as true in the police department as it is in every other department, and we should be partnering to make sure that we have a strong and accountable uh accountability system throughout this entire enterprise, especially in regulatory services, because you are out in the community in a way on the front lines, similar to MPD, just without the guns, right?

Um, but there are life and death consequences to your body of work as well, especially as we think about these living conditions, whether they're in uh an apartment that doesn't have heat or water, or whether there are unsheltered neighbors.

Uh and that's the other piece, too.

I'm actually gonna lift up some of the words of the mayor.

Uh this is a bigger problem than one department.

And I don't think the city is being successful at addressing this.

Um I am not gonna be able to say it better than Councilmember Chugtai.

She expressed my sentiments perfectly.

We are failing this community profoundly.

Um I don't see that as your personal failure.

I see it as our institutional failure.

And why the regulatory services department has been appointed the lead for something that is as challenging and complex as unsheltered homelessness with the intersectionality of mental health disorders, the intersectionality of substance use disorders, the intersectionality of uh unequal society that you know has wealth and inequality never seen in the history of humanity, we're the wealthiest nation that has ever existed in the history of humanity, and we have the biggest disparities that has ever existed in the history of humanity.

Why is that a regulatory services challenge to solve?

Um, that is completely insane to me.

And I think it's a failure of this institution.

And I what I would like to see beyond this conversation in your appointment is is this something that should live at a deputy COO level so that we can have that cross department collaboration.

Should this live in the mayor's office?

Because this isn't just um because you know there's debate here.

We should was it a mistake to move it from public health to regulatory services?

I believe in a public health approach to homelessness, but it's bigger than the public health department, right?

Um this maybe ought to live at a deputy mayor level as we see in other jurisdictions, so that we have that enterprise-wide approach.

What we're doing right now is not working, and you have been set up to fail in what we're doing.

And I I'm not going to use that as a reason to vote against you, but it is a reason to say that what we have right now is unacceptable, and we need to change that.

So that that that's my sentiment on that.

And I'm hoping that you'll be a great governing partner in figuring out what that better path is.

Uh and I see councilmember Schaeffer.

Uh, I just want to state again that your work in your department has been invaluable to ward seven in these last few months, as we have really tackled a lot of resident issues within our ward that have been very significant.

And I just want to publicly say that you are really making a difference.

And I have been thrilled to work with you and will be continually supporting you in the years ahead and hope that our partnership will continue to grow even closer.

But I can tell you that your work in the last six months has had and will continue to have really great impact in the next few weeks, you know.

Um, as we head into some of these things, and I just want to tell you um loud and clear that um you have been really a key partner and have been very effective in trying to strategize around issues my residents have been having.

So thank you, and I look forward to the next few years.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk call the role.

Councilmember Warren.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye, Councilmember Shuntai.

Aye, Councilmember Whiting, Councilmember Chowdhury.

Nay, Councilmember Stevenson, no, Councilmember Rainbow, Councilmember Vita.

Aye, Councilmember Palmasano, aye.

Councilmember Shamez.

No.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are nine ayes and three nays.

That carries.

Next, we will take up uh before we take up actually item number four.

I want to recognize uh Vice President Osman to share how he would like to vote on the consent agenda.

Oh, thank you, Clerk.

Um the consent agenda all I except um no four, was it nine?

Yep, no for nine, please.

Thank you.

Uh next we will take up item number four.

And council member Chowdhury, should we take four and five together or as separate items?

Um we can take them together.

Okay.

If the body wants to split it down the line, that's all right too.

Okay.

Um I will recognize Councilmember Chowdry.

Thank you so much, President Payne.

And I just want to start off looking at this item.

This is the conditional use permit, preliminary plat site plan review appeal.

And I I first want to start off by giving giving a big thank you to the folks at the Hook and Ladder and in downtown Longfellow, the businesses and the community members in the area that have reached out to my office that have reached out to Councilmember Chavez.

He represents the area in the ninth ward.

I say that all my constituents are always over there.

So, and I'm always over there.

Um, so it's a huge part of our community.

I I want to I want to thank them not just for coming to speak to these items, but also the number of years that they've put into this city.

Um, the care that they've put in to our community.

Hook and ladder has consistently been an inclusive place for all people in our LGBTQIA community, in our immigrant community, in our community of artists.

It's become a really important hub, and I would say the same for all of the other um businesses in the area, be it Solcana Fitness, Moon Palace Books, the Coliseum.

Um I think it's been it's been really really important to ground us in the fact that you can't just talk about 3000 Mini Haha and the Democracy Center without talking about the immense pain that came from the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers and the violence of those officers onto community members throughout our city following protests of that police murder and leading to the uprising, leading to the burning of the third precinct.

And I will never sanitize that history, and I think it's always important to speak to it.

And Hook and Ladder and the businesses in the area have deeply struggled over the years due to impact and just the trauma, the trauma of a community experiencing this.

And I also want to highlight some positives.

The community has been really coming together in downtown Longfellow to come back to be strong, to be vibrant, to create places and spaces for people.

I mean, it was amazing during the World Cup this year, seeing uh Nuevo Camp Campo, the the area that had had a building was burnt out, now is a grassy field turned into a place where community members can gather, um, have a place to sit, watch the World Cup, and then visit the businesses in the area, soul of the South Side in the area.

And I say all of this to say there have been so many concerns about the design of 3000 Mini Haha Democracy Center, especially the alley vacation, the site plan and concerns that this is going to further be a negative impact.

And I just want to say to the council members that are here listening when you when you have not only one business reaching out to you, but you have several businesses, an entire corridor reaching out to you, sharing their concerns and community members that are your residents saying we are worried about the future of this area and how this project might impact it.

You can't take it lightly.

And that's why in committee, Councilmember Chavez and I tried to get some extra time to work out some more details to see what we can do in regards to the planning.

And unfortunately, that was voted down.

And I I want to just share to those who are tuning in either here or are listening.

It's clear that the way that the design is is moving forward.

That's just based off of where the will of this council body is.

Um I I believe in the democracy center.

I do think it's a great activation for the area.

I do think that the way that engagement with you all and other local businesses and community members has not been great.

And I have not been quiet about that.

And I'm disappointed that we aren't able to make more of a difference here for you.

However, I do want to share with the body and those who are listening.

I do have a motion that does create a condition that I think could provide some more chance for us to bring some things together.

It's not everything that the community has asked for, but it is something.

So I'll just read it out to my colleagues here with the denial of the appeal.

We're putting I'm moving to put a condition that says the applicant, which is the city, shall within one month of the date of the certificate of occupancy being issued, consult with the businesses in downtown Longfellow and the business district and finalize and implant uh implement a plan for public use of the redeveloped surface parking lots on the 3000 Mini Haha Avenue and 30 30 33 Snelling Avenue parcels, including ADA accessible parking spaces at a minimum during the times when they are not being used by a city occupant.

This puts in writing that there will be a shared use agreement for parking, and that there will be a definite definitive and transparent time in which that will be implemented.

And it does also say that the business district must be consulted in planning this out, creating a place for engagement and for stakeholders to be consulted because that's just been an issue right at the top.

We're just not bringing enough people in the neighborhood together as we're making these choices and decisions, and we got to change that moving forward.

And I hope this condition isn't the only place that it's gonna be.

I'll continue to advocate for that and colleagues.

I I ask for your support in this today.

Councilmember Chavez.

Uh thank you, Council Council President Payne.

Uh first, I want to talk a little bit about the democracy center, the election voter service center.

This was a project that I initially did not support.

I did not vote in favor of it for a variety of concerns that I had.

Part of it was my opinion that there still isn't enough community space, although I am excited for the community space component because I think that's a good community asset, the component of uh windowless components of the democracy center, the election voter service center, whatever we want to call it.

Um I had been expressing those concerns for a very long time.

Uh I do think that staff did hear some of those concerns that I had and they were able to address those particular concerns.

Um, so I was happy to see them make those changes to the windowless stuff that was happening.

I did not want to have uh location on Lake Street that would not be helpful to the community, and I think that they've been working harder to address some of the concerns that I've had.

So I least want to thank staff for that component.

Um I really am looking forward to the community component.

Like I said earlier, I think that is something that will be a big asset to the community that I represent in the ninth ward.

Um, and I also want to talk about the history of 3000 Haha.

I think as we take this vote today, and as we hear from neighbors and business owners in the area, I think the last thing that I want is a project in the community that I represent that is gonna cause more frustration, more opposition when it's a project that I hope brings everybody together.

Um so I guess what my ask is I hope my colleagues will support this motion.

I think it's a middle ground to address the concerns that some of the folks in the community are asking for.

And I want to be clear, it's not gonna make everybody happy.

It just won't be.

It's not gonna be everything that everyone's asking for, but I think it tries to do this approach of not stopping a project that needs to happen to activate the Lacree Corridor, but also addressing some of the concerns that even folks that want this project to have want to happen are showing their frustrations.

So I guess what I what I'll ask my colleagues is to please support this motion so then we can approve the rest of the project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Chavez, I am in Q here.

So my comments is uh those council members, there was a background conversation.

Uh and thanks to Councilmember Charlie leadership, uh able to talk to the staff and go through uh this uh motions.

And um they have not shown any um uh uh you know resistance on this.

So uh I think this is uh something that will show that we are supporting the small businesses at the same time, just making the community a lot um you know comfortable.

Um community should be trusting us and should be trusting the government.

Um, you know, as a as a council, I think this language makes it um uh working, it makes the relationship uh work uh better and it secures a lot of uh maybe not having ADA um uh parking.

I just can't imagine that we are the city, we enforce the ADA uh policy, but just to put it in the letter and let the community know we're here to work with you and we are um supporting the small businesses and we want to make sure we you all good neighbors and we we are a great community that's moving forward and progressing and uh I would encourage uh uh the colleagues to uh work uh uh with us.

And this has been uh cooperation uh from councilmember uh Chowry and my office and to speak to the uh staff about this.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Uh next in line is Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you.

Colleagues, two things can be true here at the same time.

We can absolutely support the downtown Longfellow Business District and do whatever we can to support their success, given the history of 3000 Mini Haha and its impact on their livelihoods.

I give all that due deference to the council members who re represent the community in this vicinity.

And we can also build a democracy center that meets our needs of our city and brings an incredibly valuable and important asset to this area, and that is something to celebrate today.

We would, I need to point out we would never put a condition like this on any other applicant.

It's only because the applicant here is the city.

We would never do this to any other applicant.

But these two things, supporting the downtown Longfellow Business District and building a democracy center are not mutually exclusive.

Um we're going to do both of these things at the same time today, which is good.

We have this condition to allow for shared use of the public parking areas of the democracy center that we will figure out after it opens.

We have been good partners here, listening to community concerns and responding with modifications to our plan to our own detriment.

We've made modifications to our plan.

My biggest worry is that any further delay would have a cumulative effect.

It would mean the democracy center wouldn't be ready for the next presidential election.

We need to have full occupancy ahead of that election in order to accommodate things like early voting, etc.

Um, we are finally in a place to meaningfully move this space forward from being a fire-damaged building to something that is important for us and for the community.

I wanted to thank our architecture group and all of the time they've spent on this and all the time they've spent in community working out issues for this.

It's been a long road.

There have been a lot of votes.

It's been delayed for even more conversations at Planning Commission.

It's involved one of the largest community conversations about a building in my time here on city council all over the city.

This building is not what it was.

Thank you to Councilmember Chowdhury for developing this plan.

I do see it as a compromise that I can support.

Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you, President Payne.

And I'm going to say something that I think this entire body unanimously agrees with.

I think Minneapolis is the greatest uh city in the world.

Uh, and we have seen this site specifically be used as a prop uh for ultra-conservative MAGA Republicans uh consistently.

Uh and I think this is a version.

I know I heard it on the campaign trail, as I've heard it from many of my residents, uh, that we have to ensure that to be the greatest city in the world, we are doing things that that meet that that standard.

Uh and I think a version of this where we have seen this building um sit here at as a burned-out site of one of the hardest moments in history for our city.

Uh, and I am deeply grateful for for my council colleague to the left here uh figuring out uh an opportunity, figuring out a compromise that continues to move uh this project forward uh so that we don't have to continue to relive um a version in our city that that doesn't represent the the best of of what we can be.

And so thank you for figuring out an opportunity and a compromise to continue moving this forward and ensure that there isn't any more uh uh undue delays on this project.

So thank you.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Uh thank you, President Payne.

Just wanted to just get in cue again to just add a little bit more context to this process.

Uh when this arrived at the planning commission, it was wholly unacceptable.

Um approach by not just the hook and ladder, but several other businesses in the business district that they had not been consulted with as it came to the design of the the democracy center and the impacts on them.

That's and not consulted enough, not brought in enough.

And that was wholly unacceptable.

This is after all the democracy center.

It's ironic for us not to do the engagement that's necessary moving on this.

And we have to, in this moment, as we take this vote, make a recommitment as we embark on the journey of building this out that we do engage with the community in the area.

And if we don't it's going to it's it's just deeply upsetting for me, and you know you'll be hearing from me.

Everyone will be hearing from me, and I want your support in ensuring that that we don't have to do that moving forward, that we can be proactive here.

And that delay in the planning commission was absolutely necessary to forge the conversations that needed to have happen to move this along.

It was just absolutely not in a place where it needed to be.

I think the other thing to share here is downtown Longfellow, this area has felt so so overlooked.

And I've heard comments here and there where people and folks are just like, oh, this is just like one business that's speaking out.

And I just want to clarify it's not just it's not just one.

Like hook and ladder is an anchor business for this area.

If something happens to the hook, it impacts everyone.

If something happens to the Coliseum, it impacts everyone.

There's a whole business district behind behind them.

And there is also a lot of work outside of this that we as a body need to do, and I am asking you to show up for and supporting downtown Longfellow and bringing it to vibrancy.

Like the business group there is called Longfellow Rising for a reason.

They want to see a future here that supports every single community member, whether they work, play, or live in the area to be supported in an area that is deeply diverse and has a lot of folks who are working people.

So we as a city do need to start having a new chapter and opening up this working on this democracy center and also supporting downtown Longfellow with the magnitude that we support other business districts because personally, from the engagement that I've done in this area, we are just not meeting the moment as a city in terms of the support that we can do here.

And it really does go back to the corner of the burnt third precinct being left blighted year after year, barbed wire left on, like that's just not okay.

And people have not forgiven that yet.

And I I agree with my constituents, they haven't been given a reason yet.

There is absolute repair that needs to be done, and that proactive work on this democracy center and how we support economic development and vibrancy in this area is how we do that repair work.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Yeah, is there anyone from CPED here that I could ask some questions of I guess I'd like to know maybe um councilmember Chowdhury or Councilmember Chavez, you can step in and answer some of these.

But I'd like to understand with this parking, is this going to be installing meters then that the businesses would use in the evening, or can you speak to the costs around, or is this just gonna be a free parking councilmember Chowdhury?

Yeah, it it looks like we do have Andrew here from planning.

Maybe you want to speak to that, but it's my understanding that there was always an intention from the city to have a shared use agreement for public use on the site.

There hasn't been any conversations around metering.

So I could pass it, I can yeah, pass it to staff.

Uh Councilmember Payne, uh, excuse me, Council President Payne, Councilmember Schaefer, uh, Andrew friends with CPED planning.

I'm sorry, Councilmember Schaefer.

Could you repeat your question?

I would say I just was I was just wondering if there was any plan as we look to this transition and discussion that you're going to be having with the community.

If these were going to be metered parking lots, then for evening use, or if there was going to be a cost associated with these spaces to the business district or those that use the spots.

Uh councilmember Schaefer, that would be entirely up to property services.

Um, so property services is the the property owner and the applicant here.

Um, and so they would they would need to work with the businesses um to come up with how the shared use agreement is going to function.

That's not something that would be regulated by CPED.

Okay, because I think most of our parking in this maybe like ask you this question.

Do we have other agreements like this where we allow organizations to use our parking lots that are not metered?

Councilmember Schaefer, I I think that would have to be directed to property services.

That's not something that CPED would regulate.

Well, I think it's an important point in this discussion because obviously there's it's my understanding, you know, that most of the city and our city owns land.

We either have city parking lots that are, you know, serviced with payments, or else our parking meters.

And so I'm just trying to get a sense.

Is this um setting a precedent?

Uh councilmember Schaefer, from from our perspective, this would not be setting precedent uh for any other type of future application.

Okay.

That's helpful to know.

Um I just think that parking on our streets and parking lots throughout the city are really an important part of our revenue stream.

And for us to be inconsistent in that feels a little um hard to swallow.

I think, you know, 31st and lake, we lost all our parking, uptown, we lost a ton on Hannepin.

Um there were no concerns then.

Um so I appreciate the needs of parking.

I really do.

I've talked about it.

So I I appreciate the needs of the Longfell district um and it and the importance of those small businesses to that.

But I do think there's a question here around maintenance.

And obviously the meters is how we maintain our parking lots.

The cost is how we maintain some of our street stuff.

So that's my big question here is um maybe you can give us some more background on that, but um I I'm not I'm I don't know what the answers to that.

It sounds like you don't know whether you're gonna meter them or not.

Uh thanks.

Thanks for raising those concerns, Councilmember Schaefer.

Um that would be up to property services as as the property owner to make those decisions.

And I I know they're listening here, and um they they should be able to follow up with you at a future date.

Okay, well, it's hard for me to cast a vote without knowing that.

Does that make sense?

Because I think that's kind of an important part of the equation in some ways, um, because we do want to support our businesses.

I think this is a valid request.

But at the same time, we have costs um as well.

And we don't want to um be inconsistent as a city.

Thank you.

Understood.

Thanks.

Councilmember Rainville.

Thank you.

I'll be I'll be brief.

I I just want to uh give my appreciation to Councilmembers Chowdhury and Chavez for working with the community on this compromise and at the same time keeping the long-term goals of the city of mine uh with with equally with the local business community.

I'll be voting for this.

Councilmember Chavez.

Uh thank you, Council President Payne.

I think for me it's this is a unique circumstance.

This is Lake and Nahaha area.

This is an area that was on fire.

Buildings throughout Lake Street in this area were set on fire.

This is a business area that was devastated by the uprising in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd that caused a worldwide racial reckoning.

This is a unique circumstance.

This is an area that has faced so much trauma, and I think that's something that I want to recognize.

And I will say that there has been other uh initiatives about free parking in uptown on Fridays.

So this isn't like a new thing.

Uptown gets to free parking on Fridays, I think is was an announcement made years ago, a couple of days ago.

I mean, a couple this year or something, but so I would say that it isn't just uh on the Lake Street part that I represent.

So there has been precedent in the past.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you.

Um I I just wanted to raise that um Councilmember Schaefer, you brought up some really excellent points on parking policy in general and the value of our parking lots and the public space that we dedicate to parking in general.

Um we dedicate quite literally hundreds of millions, probably hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public land to parking, uh, and that has a huge maintenance cost.

And so I would be really interested in exploring uh discussions on um parking metering and revenue for parking in general across the entire city with you.

Um I did want to mention the free parking in uptown.

Um I as much as I personally don't uh believe the city should be providing as much free parking as it is uh to provide it in uptown and then not provide it in Longfellow is uh uh a little odd.

So I will be supporting this.

Um, but I I'm being genuine.

I would love to work with you on parking policy to recoup the immense cost that we're putting out for parking across the entire city.

Councilmember Trump Talk.

But you know, I want to start first start by talking about the I've heard a couple a few different times uh over the discussion on this item uh that this is um this framing that this this piece of property is just like any other city-owned piece of property.

And it's it's really important because I know the the staff team working on this, council members um who directly represent this area, all have a shared understanding that that really has been shaped by the impacted community um that that this is not just any other piece of property.

Uh and and to treat it as such is a mistake and one that just leads to more heartache for for every person involved in the process.

So I think that we should stay away from words like precedent, we should stay away from words like um consistency uh because this is this is uh a unique situation.

Um, I want to talk about the parking fund.

So um all revenue that is uh generated by parking in the city goes into the parking fund, which is an enterprise uh fund here at the city.

The parking fund um uh took uh a hit just like any uh any other um any other one here at the at the city uh when COVID happened um and this is um the revenue that the city collects from parking has bounced back um in in a way that that we we haven't seen other other aspects um and the health of the parking fund is is incredibly excellent.

Uh revenue generated there is able to be used um in lawful ways in accordance with state law in other aspects of our city.

And so um I want to alleviate concerns here about what this could possibly do to the health of parking revenue.

I don't think that's a concern here.

Um and then wanted to lift up that uh just this year in the mayor's um annual state of the city address, he announced um an initiative to um to bring free parking to uptown.

Um that's a loss of revenue for the city, and if we can do that for uptown because we want um the the economic vibrancy of uptown um to be prioritized, and you know, I can disagree all day and night about um whether a free parking space is going to contribute to to economic development and um activity in in the area or not, but but that's that's a choice we did make, and we chose to invest in uptown in this way.

Um and as the person that represents the vast majority of the uptown corridor, I would find it to be incredibly um disingenuous for for us to not also um for me to not also be a um an advocate for making sure that that the Longfellow community is getting its needs met, um given all that's happening in this in this corridor.

So um so wanna wanna encourage all of my colleagues to join me in in um in supporting this compromise path forward.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Uh thank you.

Yeah, just a couple of thoughts, and I'm fully supportive of the democracy center.

I will be supporting this amendment.

But I just want to clarify a couple of things that were said.

Um the uptown free parking is um Friday, Saturday nights, and it's ending in a few weeks.

And it's probably the it's not all of Uptown.

It's um Lagoon and Lake Street for a maybe a span of three to four blocks on each side of Hennepin.

So this is a targeted area for a short amount of time for this summer.

Um that's a different situation.

Um I am not concerned about parking revenue from the democracy center.

I'm that's not uh, you know, could it be um impactful?

What I am concerned about though is the idea that we have we are consistent that we have a process that businesses and investors in our city can know that this council will not willy-nilly change direction on this or that, depending on a variety of circumstances.

That if we have a parking policy throughout our city, we should follow that.

And I was encouraged to hear that this is not an unusual use case.

And I would like to see where those other use cases are in the city.

Um from maybe that's a staff follow-up.

Um but I would like to grow in my own education of what is our process for allowing this kind of arrangement because it should be a process and it should be predictable so that all of us can stand up here immediately and not have to have a discussion around asking questions about parking, but that we all know what is our process and and this is not unusual.

And so, yeah, I will look forward to having some more information about that.

But it is extremely important to have a consistent process in my mind when we make decisions.

And so I'm really excited that this is going to be moving forward.

This is long overdue, and um, I'm really gonna be um you know looking forward to seeing this um come to life.

Seeing no one else left in queue, um, we have items four and five, five with the amended uh item number four in front of us.

I'll again uh council member chowder.

Do you think it would be appropriate to take all this up as a package?

I do.

Okay.

On that, uh the clerks will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shugti.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vitaw.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmisano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shabbat.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries.

Uh and that completes the Biz report.

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

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The Climate and Infrastructure Committee has 13 items to bring forward.

Number one, dinner denord commercial block event permit.

Number two, uh banana ball games block event permit.

Number three, Skyway Easement for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

Uh number four, Metro Green Line Extension, subordinate funding agreement.

Number five, Minneapolis Street Lighting Plan Amendment.

Number six, Cedar Lake Road Bridge Project Overpass Agreement.

Number seven, cooperative agreement with Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority for the Grand Avenue South Bridge over the Midtown Greenway.

Number eight, Metropolitan Council Municipal Infiltration and Inflow Grant for in cure cured in place pipelining.

Number nine, bid for 2026, 2027, public works tree removal and disposal.

Number 10, bid for the installation of green stormwater infrastructure for the West Fulton Neighborhood Improvement Project.

Number 11, Columbia Heights Membrane Plant Roof Replacement.

Number 12, contract amendment with C.S.

McCrossen, Construction Incorporated for Bridge 9.

Number 13, Bicycle Advisory Committee appointments.

I'll move approval of the report.

Councilmember Stevens has moved approval of the committee's report.

Is there any discussion seeing none?

I'll ask the clerk to call the rolling councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shungtai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shabbat.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are some eyes.

That carries, and the report is adopted.

Next, we'll have the report from our committee of the whole given by the committee's chair, Councilmember Chowdhury.

President Payne, thank you.

The committee of the whole will be bringing forward three items for to today's meeting.

Item one approves the special law related to food hall licenses.

Item number two is a grant application for national integrated ballistics information program from the U.S.

Department of Justice.

This item was sent forward without recommendation.

And lastly, item three approves a staff direction that analyzes information related to legislative budgets.

With that, I'll move all items for approval except for item number two, which I will now pull for discussion.

Councilmember Chowdhury has moved approval of the committee report, pulling item two for a separate discussion.

Is there any discussion on the remainder of the report?

Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on the report minus item two.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shang Tan.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

All right.

Councilmember Children.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Pomassano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shandes.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

All right.

There are 12 items.

That carries.

Next, we'll take up item number two, and I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Colleagues, I will not be supporting this grant application today.

The memo sent to us by staff states that there are no alternative funding sources to maintain the NaiBIN access.

I just want to disagree with this assessment.

The city council has already passed an off-duty work ordinance designed to recoup fees in general, fees that could reduce the burden on taxpayers.

That ordinance has not been implemented.

So before I can even accept that we have no choice here, I want to understand why a council proof tool that could address these problems in terms of recouping fees and addressing our tax issues that we're struggling with as a city, why that's not being taken seriously or even implemented.

We could have already been recouping off-duty fees, but the refusal to implement the ordinance means that our residents are subsidizing side gigs for the Minneapolis police department.

Additionally, why was this not included in the proposed budget last year?

If we were to lose direct access to the Naibin network by the end of 2026 due to the system incompatibility, why was this not a priority for MPD before this grant application?

Why was this not included in the proposed budget?

Why is this the first time the council has publicly heard of this?

And what would be the plan if this grant application was not made available to the city?

I will once again mention why I am against this grant application.

And I want to be clear, it's not just about words.

The notice of funding opportunity for the fiscal year 2026, NIBAN modernized explicitly states the program's statutory purpose and program goals in terms of investigating, quote, crimes committed by quote illegal aliens.

I don't consider the community I am proud to represent as quote illegal aliens.

And it further describes its authorizing statute to provide funding to quote locate and apprehend, quote, aliens who have committed crimes in addition to being, quote, unlawfully present, language that I will continue to reject and call dehumanizing and unacceptable.

The statute, this notice of funding opportunity operates under is a section which is titled The Bridging Immigration Related Deficits Experience Nationwide Reimbursement Fund.

I believe that as I said this week, we have a duty to ensure that when we are applying for or accepting federal funds, that we do not use a city's name, resources, or partnerships to a funding framework that dehumanizes stigmatizes our immigrant residents here in Minneapolis, and that it does not make our community members feel more targeted.

The notice of funding opportunity explicitly lists immigration law enforcement operations among the granting agency stated funding priorities.

And as I said last time, I do not and I will not accept the premise implicit or explicit in this or any federal funding instrument that immigrant residents are a threat to public safety, requiring locating and apprehending.

I will continue to condemn the hateful and anti-immigrant rhetoric included in this program NOFO.

But most importantly, I will be very clear that I do not trust the purpose of funding outlined in this NOFO by the federal government.

They came to Minneapolis saying they were gonna come after quote criminals, but what they did was come after mothers, fathers, children going to school.

And I know that I've had to do over the past few days a lot of education here on the Dais and education outside of the Dais about why it is unacceptable to call people aliens, why it is unacceptable to call people illegal, why it is unacceptable to um, you know, that considering people that are immigrants criminals because they're immigrants, that's just wrong.

Um additionally, I'll mention this part.

You know, according to the Star Tribune reporting, the occupation of Minnesota disproportionately impacted the Latino community the most, which was around 90% of those who were kidnapped by the federal government in Minnesota from December 1st, 2025 to March 10th, 2026.

I do not accept that.

And I accept the the words in this NOFO.

I do not like the purpose of funding stated in this NOFO that talks about immigration enforcement, and I just think it's wrong.

There could have been different ways to fund this program.

There could have been conversations happening last year about how we could fund this program, and that just didn't happen, at least with my office.

So I will just not be voting for this.

Councilmember Schaeffer.

I uh definitely hear the concern about the harmful language contained in this notice for the $300,000 NIBAN grant.

No one on this body wants to devalue, dehumanize or demonize anyone because of their immigration status.

We are 13-0 on that.

The question before us is whether applying for this grant would make the city complicit in the current Federal Administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies or violate our separation ordinance.

Our city attorneys have answered that question publicly, explicitly and clearly.

It would not.

MPD will use this grant solely to investigate shootings that occur in Minneapolis.

That matters because gun violence has become so common in our city, I fear we are becoming numb to it.

My question is: where is the same concern, same passion, same age and urgency and outrage over the unacceptable numbers of shootings in our city?

Two weekends ago, two mass shootings left more than a dozen people injured, one person dead, another unable to walk.

Those are shootings that make the headlines.

We rarely hear about the others.

Also, we all received the report of a local business being shot at in the middle of the day about 10 days ago, around the same time as these others.

The restaurant holder told us that someone fired into his business for an apparently no reason.

And a bullet missed one of his employees by only a few feet.

Imagine the horror and the trauma that employee carries, wondering, what if I had been standing over there instead of right here.

Imagine the burden of the business owner, wondering if he should continue doing business in our city because now they have to ask their employees to come to work when they no longer feel safe.

The shell casings we have heard left behind are like fingerprints.

NIBAN can help MPD connect a gun to a crime, connect related shootings to one another, identify the person responsible, and prevent that person from doing it again.

MPD needs access to NIBAN because we need to get shooters and the guns they use off our streets.

We can accept this grant without compromising our values.

Our resident safety is too important to reject a useful tool without a compelling reason.

We have also heard from Commander Brown that we would lose access to the nine-bin cyst service at the end of this year without the needed upgrade.

We are also facing the prospect of unprecedented financial pain.

We have heard about the roughly three 30 million plus shortfall ahead of us, and we will face extraordinarily difficult choices in the coming months.

We cannot afford to turn up our noses to $300,000 because we dislike who occupies the White House or who leads the Department of Justice.

This is hard.

But we need every available resource that can make Minneapolis safer, especially when accepting it does not require us to surrender our values.

Thank you.

Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, President Payne.

I I just had a quick question, and I don't know if uh Commander Brown can answer the question.

Um I think uh Councilmember Chavez made a great point about this not being an MPD's previous budget, just wondering if you could speak to that.

Why wasn't it in the budget?

Commander Brown.

Thank you.

Thank you, President.

And uh through the chair uh council member of Utah.

So excuse me, still haven't found my voice yet.

Um we did not know up until this year that the federal government who had been funding it through MPD to have their own have the NIBAN system, that they were gonna remove that funding.

So when we found out that that was the case, uh understanding that it was fairly short notice in agencies across the U.S., because it's not just Minnesota, it's across the U.S.

uh would have to start funding it fully themselves.

That's when the DOJ provided this grant.

And this grant is not for all agencies that have NIBIN.

This is this is for a selected 170 different agencies that have the that are eligible to apply for this non-competitive grant.

So we were the the grant became available at the 26th of June, I believe.

And so this was a fairly short notice uh for agencies to do so.

And that is why.

Thank you.

That's it.

Councilmember Trunk Time.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mr.

President.

Um I wanna start with talking about Naiben access for um for the city.

And I I asked some questions about this um during committee of the whole earlier this week, but um the I've since then had the opportunity to talk with some some folks, and I'm hearing um, I'm hearing that you know, perhaps the police department or um you know some members of the the police department as they're having conversations with um business owners in in my ward uh that have been impacted by recent gun violence.

Um I hear uh members of the police department telling um my those impacted community members, my constituents, that without the passage of this item, the the violence um that they have experienced will never be solved.

And I think that kind of that kind of misinformation and disinformation have an impact, and so it feels really important to correct the record up here while I have the opportunity because this is my one of my few opportunities to correct the record um against some like some pretty significant disinformation about the importance of of uh night access.

Um as we as Commander Brown spoke to us about um from the dais on Tuesday, um the city isn't going to lose NIBAN access by applying or not applying to this grant.

Applying or not applying for this grant has no impact on the city's ability to access this system.

The city can continue to do so by either finding a different source of money, and we'll get into that in just a second, to pay for this modernization work that needs to be done, or um, several of the the partners that we work with on forensics, like the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, have NIBAN access themselves.

We can continue to utilize the resource without having to um to accept money um from the federal government from this in this particular grant.

I'll also note the city could find a different source of revenue to um to pay for the the modernization work.

For example, right now the Minneapolis police department spends approximately in the ballpark of $600,000 per one week on overtime alone.

Half of that, three and a half days of overtime could pay for this entire project.

You have the money.

Find it somewhere else.

The second piece that that I want to name here in this discussion is uh I think I'm about to do the most Minnesotan uh politician thing on the planet, and I think I'm gonna invoke Paul Wellstone.

Um so you know, prepare yourselves.

Um, but my my favorite Paul Wellstone quote is about um, you know, if we don't fight hard for the things we believe in, at some point we have to uh accept that we don't really believe in them.

Uh I think it's incredibly powerful and one that I reflect on often.

The residents of this city believe in protecting our immigrants, immigrant neighbors so much that they will put their bodies on the line that two of our residents lost their lives standing up for the people in our city.

That's how much we believe in it.

But our government is gonna say that for a measly 300,000, we're okay with the assertion that some people who live in our city because of the color of their skin are illegal aliens, that we should be in the purpose of funding, it talks about the importance that the purpose of this funding is to help help local jurisdictions better cooperate with the federal government to carry out immigration enforcement proceedings, immigration enforcement actions.

That's the purpose of this funding as well.

And so we're gonna we're gonna abandon the things we believe in for $300,000.

But the people of our city will give their lives to stand up for their beliefs.

That seems inconsistent to me.

So unfortunately, I can't support this today.

And it feels really important to me also then to name that uh that I you know I think there's some disinformation happening as well.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh seeing no one else left in queue.

I see VP in the queue, but I don't see him in the chamber.

So member Rainville.

Thank you.

So, Commander Brown, I I don't want to put you on the spot here.

Uh, but it's my knowledge that this overtime costs is driven by the lack of 911 responders that we have to pay 911's responders to answer emergency calls.

Is that true?

Commander Brown.

Thank you, Council President, through the chair.

Um, Councilmember Ringville, that is that is correct.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Thank you so much, President Payne.

Uh I think for me, the contention that I have with this is not with Naiben, right?

I see the value and the resource, absolutely.

I think it's important to state because I have had residents reach out to that believe that like if we don't apply for this grant, it's just gonna cease to exist.

I think me and others on this body and the police department can agree that's not helpful for residents to believe that NIBAN's gonna cease to exist if we don't apply for this.

That's like that creates just lots of alarms for people.

I think others have done a good job of laying out we have like uh budget choice before us, right?

It's $300,000 from our coffers, city general fund, wherever maybe we need to move things around.

We oftentimes move things around for public safety.

We have a long history of that, especially as it comes to the police department.

Or it's to take the take this potential funding from the federal government, right, that hasn't been granted to us.

There's also a chance it won't be granted to us.

We know that the president of the United States and the DOJ is not really a big fan of Minneapolis, even if we were invited for this.

And we also know that this administration is purposefully not giving funding or resources to its political enemies and detractors.

That's that's the reality of 2026.

For me, the purpose of funding and the Biden Act and the language in which this came from is extremely egregious and deplorable, and I the term illegal alien is not just a legal term of art.

It's a slur.

It is an absolute slur.

Calling people illegal illegal aliens is dehumanizing, degrading, and it creates a permission structure for violence against them.

It just does and it has, and we've seen it over and over again.

And so there's a policy choice here today is do we apply for grants where the purpose of funding has slurs within them?

It's just really just starkly what's before us.

And I don't think it's just about rhetoric, I don't think it's just about ideology, I think it's about a governance approach and what we give a permission structure for and what we don't.

If this purpose of funding looked different, like the burn grant.

Um, if it came from a different bill, it would have my support.

But it doesn't.

And I can't sit on this body and give a permission structure, create a permission structure here to say that we're applying for grants with slurs in them.

Vice President Osman.

All right.

Um thank you so much.

I have a comment and then I have a uh one clarification from from the staff.

Colleagues, the way I understand this language or this grant is that first of all, we apply all kinds of grants from the federal government.

We apply housing grants.

We apply roads, highways.

There is all kinds of grants that makes our city keep moving.

And also this administration has used a language, and I'm sure, I'm sure if we look in deep other grants, we will find similar language.

So where do we stop?

If we start reusing grants, we're not going to be operating.

And we're not capable of getting serving our resident the best way.

We can we need the assistance from the federal government.

Even though federal government has attacked us, even though they have used language, it's called democracy.

You can wait through the election process and maybe administration will change, maybe will not.

But one thing I will tell you is that the way the government, our local government set up, is we rely on the state and the federal government's support to operate our city.

If it would have been something similar to that, we we had the right to reject that.

But this grant specifically have not said anything about immigrant enforcement.

I have received calls from the community members this morning thinking that we are voting on accepting this grant will result in ICE arresting our community members.

That is misinformation the way I understand.

And I would like the the either the city attorney or the staff to kind of clarify about that and get the misinformation out.

Will this result immigrant enforcement accepting this grant?

Ms.

Shuttle.

Good morning, members of the council.

It's a pleasure to be here with you again this morning.

My name is Amy Shutt.

I am a lead assistant city attorney through the chair, uh, Vice Chair Osman.

Your question was will our application for this grant require us to perform any kind of ICE enforcement.

I have legally reviewed the terms of the grants NOFO and all of the documents referenced in the NOFO and all of that the documents referenced therein for any terms and conditions that are what my office is calling problematic.

So anything that would uh require us to violate the separation ordinance or anything that would be antithetical to the values of the city.

And it is my opinion upon um doing that review that there is nothing in this NOFO or in our application to this NOFO that would require us to violate the separation ordinance to perform any kind of ICE enforcement or to otherwise um require staff to act in a way that is antithetical to the values of the city.

Thank you so much.

That's exactly what I thought.

And even if that was the case, you wouldn't even approach applying that because that will violate the city uh separation ordinance.

So my final comment is that colleagues, we can be angry with the federal government, the way they treat people, the language they use, but uh voting down this will only hurt us and hurt uh uh not benefit um the work we're trying to do, which is uh to accept this grant so we can do better processing on criminal activity.

So I would say um uh I am an immigrant, I'm someone who has been um uh communities that has been targeted in city of Minneapolis.

Uh but I think you have to wait on how things come.

This is coming separate um uh angle, and it's not nothing to do with ICE enforcement, and I think we should vote on it, and um this is uh money that will come to our city to support the work we do for our citizens.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I think Councilmember Osman already said most of what I was going to say.

Um we are not abandoning our values or beliefs here because the terms of this grant do not require that.

And I would be happy to entertain a resolution condemning language and requiring the city not to be required to violate a separation ordinance, but I fear that the confusion around this grant is made by rhetoric on this dais, not by the requirements of the grant, and not by our city attorney who has said basically the same thing in committee of the whole again for us today.

We are accepting federal money for a lot of other things, mostly money and public works.

And ask that we move forward.

Thank you.

I'm out of the queue now.

Councilmember Palmasano has moved approval.

Did I hear a second?

Second.

Okay.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you.

Um Council President Payne.

It pains me to know that there is language that is marginalizing and disenfranchising members of our community because of the simple fact, and like I said, this at our committee of the whole, meaning I don't know any aliens.

I've never seen any before in my life.

You know, these are residents of our city.

And when I think about supporting the national integrated ballistic information network, I'm thinking about how many of my neighbors and community members are sitting and waiting for justice to be served and for someone to support the cries that have for far too long gone unanswered on our community.

I'm thinking about how specifically in North Minneapolis, we have buried so many sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers who are still waiting for a phone call that says somebody has been arrested in with with respect to what has happened to their loved one, right?

They're waiting for those answers.

They're waiting for a response to be given to them.

And this is not about a cre increasing arrests for the sake of just arresting people.

It's about connecting evidence that is left behind at crime scenes and linking it to shootings that involve um firearms and giving the investigators the tools that they need to be solution solution driven more quickly before people get away.

So I think about these things.

I think about families that are still searching for justice, like the family of Anaya Allen, Trinity Smith, Ladavion Garrett.

I'm thinking about those babies whose murders still have not been solved here recently, and people are just running around here free, you know, and that people need to have a peace of mind knowing that someone is being held accountable for the wrongdoing and the pain that they have inflicted upon our community.

And it doesn't make a difference what race you are, what sex you are, what any of the none of that stuff makes any difference at all.

If you have harmed someone and taken a life or inflicted pain upon the community, then you need some time to sit down and self-reflect.

And that's just where I sit with it.

So this is not about picking out or picking apart anything.

This is really about bringing answers to families who have cried out for far too long about wanting justice for their loved ones who have lost their lives due to acts of gun violence, and that's where I have to sit with it at.

Councilmember White.

Thank you, President Payne.

Just have one question for our city attorney here.

Thank you, uh, city attorney.

Shut just have a quick question here.

In your legal analysis, um, is there language contained in either the no-foe or this grant application uh that violates or that would have our city violated separation ordinance?

Through the chair, council member whiting.

No, there is not.

Um we review the grant and the application for concerns like that, and frankly, it wouldn't get to you if it had a requirement to violate the separation ordinance.

Perfect.

That's all.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chal.

Um Thank you, Council President Payne.

I mean, I keep hearing the point being made about not violent separation ordinance, and I think that just means I need to do another another notice of intent and strengthening our separation ordinance.

That's one.

Second, and so to be clear, if this isn't violate our separation ordinance, then we gotta make it stronger again.

Secondly, I think we're asking the wrong questions.

We're asking if we would interpret us as not having to enforce federal immigration law.

I think the actual question, and what I actually want to work on, because the reason I didn't bring forward the resolution on like attaching it to this is because I it needs to be workshop more, and I'm happy to bring it back next time because what we're not asking for is what the federal government expects of us if we accept this money.

And that is what my actual concern is.

If the federal government is going to expect us to do federal immigration enforcement, that is a concern that I have.

And if we ask them, they will say we have to if we accept this grant, I bet.

So that is what I am concerned about about us applying and accepting this funding.

And you know, if we want to make it about rhetoric, it's not about rhetoric.

I'm happy to bring that resolution forward so we can get answers.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I want to go back to what Councilmember Um Chug Tai said earlier about if we really believe the thing that we say that we believe.

Um we are in a historic time, that time when our actions are under different scrutiny and have different meaning than they would in a in another time.

And it um I hesitate to use the word unprecedented times because you can't have an entirely unprecedented times for the last decade or so.

But we are in a time in this administration in the same exact year that ICE invaded our city uh and took our neighbors and killed some of our neighbors.

We are in a time when our actions have different ramifications.

Uh, and we have to do things a little differently uh in response to the fact that we are not in normal times.

We are not in a time when you can overlook certain things where putting up your nose at different moral issues is acceptable.

We're in a time when we need to stand for what we believe.

We need to actually in ways that are meaningful and in ways that um that sometimes cause us discomfort, stand up for what we believe.

And in this case, we believe that all of our neighbors have a right to be here and we love them and they are important members of our community, and uh we don't want to go along with this evil federal government uh in even the rhetoric that they say about them.

Um so yeah, it's it's just a different time.

We're not in.

This isn't 2012, you know.

We're we're we're here in 2026 in Minneapolis after the invasion of the federal government, and it's just time for us to say, hey, we're not even gonna accept this rhetoric.

And I understand that uh, you know, on a balance sheet, rhetoric doesn't show up.

Rhetoric doesn't matter on a balance sheet, but you know what?

We're not balance sheets, we're people.

And rhetoric matters a lot to people.

So um we can and we will find other money to keep this um the NIBAN access going.

We don't need this money.

There's there is 300,000 in the couch cushion uh in this city.

Uh the Harley Davidson's alone.

Let's sell those guys, and then we can have this fully funded.

I mean, it's it's just it really is that simple.

Um let's let's stand up for what we believe and let's find money, particularly the Harley Davidson's um to fund NIBAN access.

We are not we're not interested in lowering our public safety.

We're just interested in standing up for what we believe in.

I added myself to cue because I I shared some of the remarks related to this on Tuesday, but um just zooming out again.

I I'm not questioning the legal analysis of our city attorney's office.

I'm profoundly concerned about how the federal government will assess this.

Um and just to put it into context, uh the New York Times did some recent reporting on some of the charges that were brought forward for ICE observers.

And they were comparing and contrasting how the DOJ has operated in the past compared to how they're um conducting themselves now.

Historically, they don't bring criminal cases forward unless they know they have the evidence to win in court.

That's led to more than 90% of defendants pleading guilty or being convicted at trial.

Uh in this New York Times reporting, they assessed 558 charges against legal observers.

They've only gotten 246 that pled guilty and four convictions.

This is this is a very divergent track record from how the DOJ typically operates, and it's a representation of the fact that they bring spurious charges and they conduct themselves not grounded in the rule of law, but clearly through political motivation and retaliation.

As best evidenced by the mass resignation of our U.S.

attorney's office earlier this year, particularly after the murder of Renee Good and when the Trump administration was trying to pressure the attorney's office to actually investigate Miss Good's wife rather than the agents that murdered her.

Mass resignations because some U.S.

attorneys that I don't agree with actually they actually hold themselves with some integrity.

And so what we're left with in our current attorney's office is whoever the backbenchers are who want to sign on to this administration's agenda.

And this agenda is overtly authoritarian.

It's overtly racist.

They are pushing rhetoric around white genocide.

It's disgusting.

And all you have to do is look at the White House Twitter feed or the Department of Homeland Securities Twitter feed to see their Aryan propaganda around what kind of country they want to see for our for for the rest of us.

And I'm not even going to entertain attaching my name to that project.

That's why I'm not supporting this.

And so with that, I see Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Payne.

Just have a question for our city attorney here, City Attorney Abelson.

I have a question broadly about your kind of legal understanding.

And again, I know this is probably a cold call kind of question, so if you don't have the answer, I apologize for putting you on the spot here.

Do you know of any federal law, any state law, any city law that requires a city jurisdiction to be commandeered by the federal government to engage in in federal law enforcement action?

Chair, Councilmember Whiting.

I first I don't want to answer to any law because there certainly are states where they require their law enforcement to assist the federal government.

That is not the case in Minnesota.

We recently also got a very good decision from the district court here.

Um rejecting the federal government's challenge to our separation ordinance because the federal government does not have the right to uh commandeer our police force uh for immigration enforcement.

Thank you.

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

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shuntine.

Nay.

Councilmember Whiting.

All right.

Councilmember Chowdry.

No.

Councilmember Stevenson.

No.

Councilmember Rainville.

Councilmember Vito.

Aye.

Councilmember Pomasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shamez.

No, no.

Vice President Austin.

That was the term.

President Payne.

Nay.

There are seven eyes and five for AVS.

That item carries.

Next we is the report of our Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee, which will be presented by its chair, Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee has 10 items to be bring forward today.

I think all are non-controversial here.

First is a legislative process reform research and recommendation recommendations request.

Item number two is a bid for the fire department training apparatus expansion project.

Item three is what we think is the last small contract amendment with Shaw Long Quist for the City Hall Restack Phase Three Project.

Item four is a contract with Saba Software for Enterprise-wide performance management system support and maintenance.

Item five is a legal settlement with Cameron Cacini.

Item number six is a legal settlement that is a workers' comp claim of Terrence Floyd.

Item number seven is a claim settlement from the Minneapolis Convention Center claim against Northern States Power Company.

We are receiving money in that situation.

Item number eight is indebtedness and bond issuance authorization related to outstanding capital improvement bonds.

We had a short conversation about that in committee.

Item number nine is an appointed position in the health department for the director of environmental health.

That is just taking an old position and refreshing it.

Item 10 is an enterprise and labor relations committee work plan.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Oh wait, but I I move all of these forward for approval.

Councilmember Palmasano has moved approval of the committee's report.

Is there any discussion?

Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shangti.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Viton.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shamez.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Hayne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries, and the report is adopted.

Finally, we have the public health, safety and equity committee, which will be presented by that committee's chair, Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The public health, safety and equity committee is bringing forward seven items.

Item number one considers the mayor's nomination of Dr.

Freeman to the appointed position of fire chief.

This item was sent forward without recommendation.

And I will move that for a separate vote.

Item two authorizes a contract with Hennepin Technical College for the police cadet program.

Item three authorizes a contract amendment with GovWorks Inc.

to provide quality assurance software for 911.

Item four authorizes a contract amendment with the Center for Multicultural Mediation for Community Trauma Services.

Item five authorizes a contract amendment with the Mother's Love Initiative for Community Trauma Response Services.

Item six accepts a grant from the Minnesota Department of Health to provide a family home visiting services and authorizing an agreement with the state of Minnesota for the grant.

Item seven approves a legislative directive related to the neighborhood safety department contract management audit.

I'll move approval of items two through seven, and then I'll move uh item number one for a separate vote and discussion.

Councilmember Chavez has moved approval of the committee report minus item one.

Is there any discussion on the remainder of the report seeing none?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on all items except item number one.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shuntai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Beeta.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shavans.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

Those items carry.

Next we will take up item number one.

And is there a motion for item number one?

I will make a motion to move.

For approval.

For approval.

Is there a second?

Second.

Item number one has been moved for approval and seconded.

Is there any discussion?

Oh, I see Mayor Fry has joined us.

He's not in queue yet.

Do you want to jump in?

Mr.

Chair, yes.

Um and just assumedly we are talking about the read the nomination for fire chief.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, good afternoon, Council President, Vice President, uh, and Council members.

Thanks again for having me here today to discuss the nomination of our uh next fire chief.

Uh so when we started the search for this uh fire chief in the Minneapolis uh fire department, my top goal was to get someone into this role who could lead a team that has been known for its excellence, but also lead a team into the future.

Uh that's recognizing innovation and technology, that's understanding the managerial expertise that is necessary for this department.

And it's someone who understands the importance of integration of this fire department into a broader safety ecosystem.

Um during that search, we found a really strong uh field of impressive candidates.

Um there was an individual who rose to the top.

Uh and that's why we've nominated Dr.

Reginald Freeman to the position of fire chief.

Uh Dr.

Freeman's impressive resume is one that speaks for his itself.

Uh former chief of both the Oakland and Hartford fire departments.

Dr.

Freeman has demonstrated an ability to lead organizations and leave them better than when he started.

But even more impressive than his resume, Dr.

Freeman has demonstrated that he leaves an impressive uh uh an impression with those he works with.

I believe you all have access to the over 20 letters of support uh for Dr.

Freeman's confirmation.

These letters come from fire chiefs, firefighters, labor leaders, elected officials.

I spoke with mayors that he had worked with and for uh clergy, civil rights organizations, educators, as well as community leaders throughout uh the United States.

They speak to his integrity, his consistency, um, his servant leadership and also his passion for this work and people who he works with.

Um, something that also struck me as important is that this is not the first time that uh the doctor has interviewed for this position.

Um, I want people that want to be in Minneapolis.

Uh, the first go-around when he interviewed, he also did an impressive job.

Uh, but he wasn't selected.

Uh, and someone who steps up, uh, fails to get the nomination, and steps up again, signals someone that has commitment to this city and really wants to be here.

Um, if you talk to him, he wants to be here.

If you talk to him, he wants to have his family here.

He understands the importance of the work that we're doing.

Uh, and like I did, understands Minneapolis is a place where he wants to be.

Uh, and so uh I I want to thank uh our whole fire department.

I want to thank our commissioner who has uh done really a great job leading uh this uh this search as well as managing the office.

I want to thank Chief Melanie Rucker uh for stepping up over the last several months, leading this team, especially through the very difficult times of uh January and February of 2026.

Uh, that guidance will uh always be deeply appreciated, appreciated.

Um with that, um I it is with great previo privilege that I recommend Dr.

Reginald Freeman for confirmation as fire chief of the Minneapolis Fire Department, and I ask for your support.

Thank you for your time, Council members.

Councilmember Vito.

Thank you, President Payne.

Uh colleagues, I want to briefly explain my vote on the appointment of Dr.

Reginald Freedman as Minneapolis next fire chief.

This has been a difficult decision for me.

Uh I took this appointment very seriously, like I do all of them, because the leadership of our fire department directly impacts the safety of our firefighters and our residents.

I had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Dr.

Freeman, and I want to be honest that um I came away with concerns.

Some of those concerns relate to his professional experience, and others stem from our conversation about his vision and leadership.

I believe it is my responsibility to thoroughly evaluate every nominee and ask the hard questions.

During our conversation, we also discussed the lawsuit involving his previous department.

Dr.

Freeman shared that he was not personally named in the lawsuit, and that was not about him directly.

While I appreciate the clarification, I also share my concern that as the leader of the department, these events occurred under his leadership.

My concern is not simply whether he was personally named, but rather the women who were involved were adequately protected and supported.

We have deep respect for the women who serve in our fire department, and I want to ensure they are working in an environment where they are safe, respected, and treated with dignity.

I also met with representatives from the Minneapolis Firefighters Union to hear directly from the men and women who serve in this department every day.

Their support for Dr.

Freeman weighed heavily in my decision.

While I still have reservations, I respect the confidence they have in his ability to lead.

They share unbreakable bonds with one another and have built a culture rooted in service, trust, and teamwork.

I also want to recognize that Minneapolis is fortunate to have exceptional talent within our own fire department.

We have dedicated leaders who know our city, understand our neighborhoods, have built relationships with our communities, and know how to work within the systems and partnerships that already exist.

We are fortunate to have the talent, and I hope we will lean on I hope Dr.

Freeman will lean on the knowledge and experience of those already serving in this department.

Going into this process, I believe the next fire chief could come from within Minneapolis Fire Department.

We have a highly qualified internal candidates who step forward because they have dedicated their careers to serving this city and have earned the respect of their colleagues.

They understand the department's culture, the unique challenges facing Minneapolis, and the relationship they have built with our communities.

I want to acknowledge those internal candidates and thank them for their willingness to lead.

Their experience, their commitment, and institutional knowledge remain tremendous assets to this department.

Over many years, this department has made many meaningful progress in recruiting, retaining and promoting black, indigenous, and other people of color, as well as women.

The Pathways program has been instrumental in building and sustaining the diversity that the Minneapolis Fire Department is known for today.

It has created opportunities for people who may not have otherwise seen themselves in this profession, and it has helped build a department that better reflects the community it serves.

Without the Pathways program, we would not have seen the growth in the number of women serving in this department.

As we move forward, I believe it's critical that we continue building on that progress, not start over.

I also believe the women already serving in leadership positions within this department have played an important, important role in advancing this work and their experience and perspective should continue to be valued as we strengthen and grow the department.

Because of that, I will be voting yes to Dr.

Freeman today, but with hesitation.

My vote comes with the expectation that Dr.

Freeman will work to own earn the trust of the firefighters.

He will lead, demonstrate with strong transparent leadership, foster a culture of respect and accountability, improve morale, protect the progress this department has made, and always put the safety and well-being of both our firefighters and our residents first.

I also expect fairness from leaders.

Every firefighter deserves to be treated with respect, professionalism, and equity, regardless of their background or rank.

Those expectations are not optional.

They are fundamental to good leadership.

I sincerely hope Dr.

Freeman is successful because the success of our fire chief means a stronger fire department and a safer Minneapolis.

Dr.

Freeman, I know you're not here, but I hope you're listening.

I will continue to do my job by asking hard questions, monitoring the department's progress and holding its leadership accountable.

I will be paying close attention to how you lead, how you treat the men and women of this department, and rather you follow through on the commitments you have made.

I hope you earn the trust of this council and the firefighters you lead and the people of Minneapolis.

Thank you.

Vice President Osman.

Thank you, Council President.

I had a brief conversation with uh Dr.

Freeman.

Um, really impressed me.

His resume, uh, his uh international and national experience.

We are attracting one of the best uh and brightest people in the nation, and I think we are lucky to to have him.

I look forward to working with him.

Uh he we talked about, you know, uh staffing, uh the old equipment challenges that um how we need to upgrade uh fire department.

And also I talked to the um uh you know the fire union that are here to represent them.

They really had uh great things to say, and they were excited to work with him.

So I would say uh we're um lucky to have you.

Welcome, and we look forward um, you know, and your leadership to lead us uh a safer city, uh a better city, and uh and a wonderful uh fire department, city of Minneapolis.

So thank you, Council President.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Um, I want to echo a lot of what my council colleague uh Latricha Vita stated because that was what you say, chef's kiss.

It was great.

I appreciate that.

Um, but I I also had a sit-down and conversation um with Mr.

Freeman and Dr.

Freeman, and I also spoke with our fires union.

One of the things that really stood out to me was hearing this, and this wasn't the first time that I heard that, you know, it's difficult to attract people to want to come here to Minneapolis because they hear whatever hoop-a-la about the internal climate here in our city.

So, what that says to me is that we have to tighten up our ship because how we treat each other in our city and interdepartmentally is how other people will come, and they believe that it is acceptable that you are to be treating other people in inter-office or interdepartmentally that way, that that's accepted.

You know, um, my parents used to tell me, me and my siblings, we would quarrel and what have you.

You quarrel with your siblings at home.

They said when you go out into community or wherever else the case is, or you have company to come over, how you treat each other is how other people will believe that it's acceptable to treat people when they come into your home.

So now we got to tighten up how we look at home.

And we hit really have to make sure that we're making those concrete investments.

If we are saying that our internal candidates, because I'm looking across this dais, I think Minnesota is some nice, good homegrown talent, right?

So what I'm saying is if we're saying that interdepartmentally, when it comes to investing in individuals that are in our fire department, in our police department, in our emergency services department, if they don't have what it takes, that's our fault.

That's not anybody else's fault but our own.

So we have to make those concrete investments to ensure that we're investing in our homegrown talent and we are promoting them and elevating them and pushing them up so that they are able to reach the next pinnacle of success.

That's what we have to do.

It's nice to have other people come and we want to show off our city and what have you, but we also have to be proud of what it is that we create and we feed right here at home.

And I'm gonna say that with my whole chest, and that we take care of each other and and make those those those really quality investments in one another.

Um I know that Dr.

Freeman is not here, and it saddens me that he's not here because I like for people to be here so I can see the whites of their eyes and talk to them when we're talking about appointments and reappointments and things like that, because it's important that you are able to stand in the presence of individuals who are elevating you and and asking questions and again, those difficult questions.

And I did talk to him about those accusations and things like that, because those are those are important things to discuss.

And I believe that anytime there's something that's going on when you're talking to other individuals and leadership, that you should be able to have those type of conversations and getting clarity and understanding or agree to even disagree.

However, I value every um every service worker, everyone who works in law enforcement, everyone who works in our fire department here in any position of service to our community.

I value them and I value our residents.

And I want to make sure that whoever it is that comes into our city holds that same value and treats everyone with that same dignity and respect that they deserve because it is necessary.

It is not um an option, it's a requirement and an expectation.

And so I'm going to be leaning into my fire union to make sure that we're holding individuals accountable.

And if you see something and you don't say something, I'm pulling up.

The end.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chucktai.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I um really appreciate the the discussion um here today.

I had the opportunity to meet with Dr.

Freeman um yesterday, and um I I found the conversation to be um really wonderful, very insightful.

Um, and I think there are some really incredible strengths that Dr.

Freeman is bringing to Minneapolis.

Um, that the mayor to discussed here and and um council members have brought up in in discussion here today.

Um, and and I think that makes me excited about uh the future of this department and the direction it can go in.

I I want us to have the very best fire department in the world, because I believe we have the best firefighters in the world.

And I um I don't think that the growth in this department that really needs to happen um to level up is is going to happen without without uh without excellent leadership that matches the tenacity and the grit of of the firefighters that work in our department.

Um I also heard uh a couple of things that raise some concerns for me and and further solidified uh my my concerns about about Dr.

Freeman and understanding that I think this nomination is going to be approved here today.

Um I will not be uh unfortunately able to support Dr.

Freeman here today, and it is in part um because of um the because of his experience.

I um I think that this department is needing of of stability and someone who's going to be here for the long haul.

And I think that lots of uh the the majority of the leaders of the fire department, as well as firefighters are people who come to this department and stay here for a long time, spend their entire careers here.

And I'm worried about having um someone who's who's going to um who's going to come into this department and and perhaps not serve out the entirety of the term.

And I um I want to make sure that and that that just raises some concern for me.

More importantly, um I think it's his professional experience, um, in particular his professional international experience that um that I just can't look past.

Um in our conversation, I felt as though um I felt as though uh the the nominee dismissed um the legitimate concerns that that I brought up about um some pretty severe human rights abuses um that that happened um in the organization he was a leader in internationally um that forced the displacement of 20,000 um indigenous peoples from their homeland to build a uh climate catastrophe proof indoor city for the criminally wealthy.

I don't think uh that that's um it that's consistent with my values, and so unfortunately um I'm not able to support this nomination.

Um but I I wish um Dr.

Freeman the very best of luck as as he um embarks on this journey and offer myself as a partner always.

Um the fire department is one that's very near and dear to me, and um I wanna make sure that it is successful and set up um to ensure the safety of our firefighters as they as they carry out the important work uh uh on behalf of our residents.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Uh I am not a firefighter.

I don't purport to be a firefighter uh and and do not want to be a firefighter.

It is it is a tough job, and and I only uh give a tip a hat to what you all do.

Uh and so when making decisions uh uh of this, I think gravity that we all are are kind of weighing here, uh right.

I gotta lean on the experts.

I mean on the people that do this job day in and day out.

Uh and we have heard uh time and time again uh quite loudly, both from from our union, local 82 here, um, but but firefighters uh across the city of Minneapolis, uh I have yet to hear uh a negative word uh about uh Dr.

Freeman.

And so uh when we we when we kind of again look to these uh appointments uh especially in areas that I have no level of expertise, uh lean on those that that do.

And so uh I am basing the the large majority of this decision based on um the the advice that I've received from the people that do this job every single day.

And so I appreciate the work that you all do uh and the work uh uh of of being behind this chief and ensuring that we have a fire department that meets the professional standards of what this city deserves.

And so I know you all are doing it out day in and day out, and I thank you for that work and excited to excited to continue to see how we can best support you all in the work that you do.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rainville.

Uh thank you.

Uh and uh I appreciate uh the presence here today from the firefighters union, and I want to explain my vote.

When I first met with the chief, uh I was very literally because this is the first outside chief that this department has had.

And I have to admit, uh he did not impress me at all.

And especially his resume where he goes from department to department.

That that's troubling to me because I truly believe a fire chief should come from within the department.

I think that you come on the job together, you work together, you grow together.

The chief should come internally.

But after many conversations with the firefighters union and with Commissioner Barnett, and I appreciate your patience with me, Commissioner.

Uh you you brought me wrong.

And I I do hope the chief is listening today because it's very unusual to not have uh someone present here today.

That's also something I I look forward to having him explain why he couldn't take time off his busy schedule to come and listen to us in person.

That's that to me is troubling.

But I I just hope that the new chief understands uh and values the bravery of the Minneapolis Fire Department, how smart and wise you are.

You're a great, great group of people.

And my expectation for him while he's here is to provide the training and expertise as needed so that the next chief comes internally, comes from within, has ridden the rigs with you, slept with you, ate with you, fought fires with you.

That is so important.

I hope that can be overcome with this outside chief.

But I will be voting for him because I'm relying on your expertise.

That you know what's best for your department.

Thank you.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh, I want to echo it's it's really weird that he's not here.

Uh what's what's more important than being here right now.

This is I don't I've never applied for a job that I didn't want to sit on in the discussions about whether I got it or not.

Um, I came in here you you know, knowing I was gonna vote yes, and now him not being here is something that's really disturbing to me and kind of making me want to change my vote a little bit.

Um I have questions that I wanted to ask him.

Um does he plan on moving here full time with his family.

Uh we had a police chief who wasn't really here full time and he didn't work out very well.

So I wanted to know that.

Um, I I wanted to make clear to him in person that uh gender discrimination in the department is entirely unacceptable and that he needs to be on the lookout for that.

Um he needs to be he needs to be laser focused on that and and learn from his previous experience.

Um I never thought we should have gone outside of the department personally.

I didn't think we needed to spend money to go look for for somebody uh outside of the department.

I think we got great firefighters.

Um those are my concerns.

Um things that I really like about him, his work in Oakland with uh uh mental health response, I think is super valuable, super important for our context here.

Um I think the fact that he has such strong union support is really incredible.

Um and it's good, and and that has swayed my decision very significantly.

Um yeah, I I was impressed with him personally.

Uh so yeah, I guess all this being said is that uh he will get my vote today.

Um but I I have some serious concerns given today in particular, and I I will want to speak with him in person and and communicate those concerns.

Um but we need we need leadership in public safety in this city.

Uh we don't have a permanent police chief, we don't have a permanent commissioner of public safety.

Uh we currently don't have a permanent um fire chief, and so we we need some permanence in our public safety apparatus.

Um and uh and I I was personally previously impressed with uh uh Mr.

Freeman and um and I was really impressed by the support that he got from uh the union.

So I will be voting yes.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Councilmember Schaeffer I enjoyed also my time with Dr.

Freeman.

One thing that stands out to me uh when I asked him to describe what kind of leadership that he ha holds, he really used two words.

He said, I am a servant leader.

That's my style of leadership.

And the word servant has a negative connotation sometimes, but it's the basis of service, right?

That I don't just look out for my own needs, but I'm working.

I'm you know, my mission is to look out for the members that are around me, the needs of my team, not just my own.

And so to me, this is one of the most effective kinds of leaders that you can have, who is willing to lay down their perspective and listen to somebody else who is willing to consider all options and the and the importance of a team's perspective.

And then the second word though is leadership.

Every team needs a leader.

Fire crews know that day in and day out.

You don't have a leader, you're in trouble, right?

And so I feel like Dr.

Freeman is ready to lead.

And bringing in for somebody on the outside, you know, a leader is unafraid to address issues within the team that need to be addressed.

And just be able to really, whatever they may be, right?

And I think I'm really excited, not I think, I know.

I'm excited that um he will be and chose those words in his description of his leadership to me.

And so I trust him.

I'm gonna be watching for that and gonna be cheering him on because I also communicated the importance of time right now in our city around trust and our public safety leadership.

You know, it's a critical time.

And I tried to impose on him that you know, you really might have a little extra pressure on you, right?

Because of what we've gone through.

And that's not shouldn't be taken as a negative.

It's just that we care.

We care about our residents, we care about our team members.

We care that our leaders are demonstrating what it needs to be to be at the top spot, what everybody else on the bottom is doing.

So I'm excited to support him today.

And I also want to publicly thank you.

Uh, the leadership of the union for being here and your leadership throughout this process.

It matters, and it mattered to our council in our decision making.

Thanks.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Okay, thanks, President Payne.

Um I had a good opportunity to speak with um Dr.

Freeman.

Uh we spoke for over an hour.

It was really, really helpful to kind of just get to know him and then also take a look at the letters of recommendations that are pretty broad.

Um we kind of just got right to the heart of issues facing the fire department in the city of Minneapolis.

We talked about how we have been fighting each year to try to get the fire alerting system and have not been able to get it, and how that's something that I need him to commit to working on.

We talked about how our fire department for years has faced uh five to six million dollar overage year after year because we are just not investing enough within this fire department, and I I want to see more investment within the fire department, and that he's gonna need to fight for that and fight really, really hard because there were opportunities that last five years when we were in a better financial position to get that, and it didn't happen.

And we can't we can't keep on avoiding making these investments, especially in a time where our firefighters are expected to go to even more calls and unprecedented amount of calls that just keep on growing year after year with the same amount of staff.

Um and I also chatted with him about the capital investment budget.

I was like, yeah, we need to see some capital investment requests to improve the fire stations.

This is where firefighters live.

Um so we got right into the heart of it.

Um I really appreciated a lot of his responses and how he's thinking about it.

He seems like a very strong change agent as it comes to uh big organizations in local government and has a track record of it.

Um he had every time I asked him a question about how he would think through some of these issues, he was able to cite different instances that um came to mind, and that was really really valuable.

I also care a lot about what the people who do the work within the department have to say, and that there has been resounding support for him from there, and then he also highlighted to me when he was becoming the fire chief, I believe, in Oakland.

Uh, there the union there at the time did not support him.

And he highlighted that that uh same leader now is a city council member in Oakland and wrote him a letter of support.

So I think that just speaks a lot to the work and the trust building that happened.

I also shared how important it is for us to recruit um women, people of color, people from our community, uh, and also show deep care for our LGBTQIA community and gender expansive community, and he shared a vision for that, and he shared about his work that he's led nationally around DEIB and the fact that he co-founded a group within I believe in Oakland Fire for um women and non-binary firefighters, which I was like, wow, like this is this is the type of inclusivity we need.

Um, and he had measurable ways of also how he was able to create change standards so it was easier for firefighters to come into the department and get started.

So appreciated that conversation.

I'm looking forward to working with him, and we have a lot of work to do, and so I will be supporting him today and excited to do so.

Councilmember Chuck Guy.

Thank you, Mr.

President, and um I would be I'd be remiss if I if I didn't uh make mention of this here today, but um, you know, I think I think words are really really important, and I and I appreciate um I appreciate the answer that um Dr.

But you know, I think I think words are really, really important, and I and I appreciate I appreciate the answer that um Dr.

Freeman gave me about uh his commitment to being here in Minneapolis.

Um but actions matter so much more.

And I see a couple of act three actions here today that that stand out to me.

First, um, actions matter, and I see uh I see several members of our um of the uh uh firefighters local 82 here today, representing um the members of the department.

Because it's important.

That's why you made the time to be here today, and I I really appreciate that.

Thank you.

Second, I see the commissioner in the room.

I really appreciate as someone who's going to be overseeing um who currently oversees the department and will continue to and will um and the the new fire chief is gonna be a part of your leadership team.

It means a lot to me that you are here in the chambers, and you are demonstrating that this is important and you're taking it seriously.

That means a lot to me.

Thank you.

Um, to local 82 and to the commissioner for making the time to be here because it's consequential.

And just as importantly, the third action that stands out to me is that Dr.

Freeman himself is not here.

In fact, he's not in the city.

He's not in the state, he's not in the country.

He's in Saudi Arabia.

That is just that is important to me.

It stands out to me about what matters, what's prioritized, and what isn't.

And so I hope that in the actions that he will demonstrate as a new leader of the department, that that it will show me a different, a different version of Dr.

Freeman.

Um, and and I sincerely hope that for the sake of the department and and the sake of our residents.

Um, thank you, Mr.

President.

Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, President Payne.

Colleagues, I just wanted us to take a moment to um thank our assistant chiefs, Melanie Rucker and Wes Van Bickel, uh, for the service that they um they stepped up after Chief Tiner left, and they have really been holding it down in the fire department, doing a fantastic job.

They've both been in here before us many times, giving presentations and walking us through a lot of the things going on behind the scenes.

You know, uh Chief Rucker reached out about the equipment.

We got uh $500,000 worth of new equipment for the fire department, uh, a bunch of new jaws of life, and I got to go and test out some.

Uh, Councilmember Schaefer was there also, some of the new equipment.

And um, I just I just think it's important for us to just shout out the the folks who stepped up during this search period and who've done a great job leading the fire department during during this time while we have been recruiting a new chief.

So thank you to those uh those two chiefs for their immense service and the work that they've done and continue to do.

And I I certainly hope to uh I hope to see them continue in those roles and uh working on behalf of our fire department and the people of Minneapolis.

I second that seeing no one else left in the queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on item number.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye, Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye, Councilmember Shunto.

Ay, Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Children.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

Aye.

Councilmember Vito.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Shabbos.

No.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 10 ayes and two names.

That carries and that completes the PHSE report and all the reports of our standing committees.

The next order of business is noticeable ordinance introductions.

We have three notices today.

First, I am giving notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an ordinance amending the fire and police protection code, amending provisions related to the commercial hood and exhaust cleaning program.

Second, Councilmember Warren gives notice to intent to introduce at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an ordinance amending the planning and development code relating to ensuring the accountability of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.

Finally, Councilmember Warren gives notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting an ordinance amending the planning and development code, making technical changes to the process for conducting elections to the neighborhood revitalization program policy board.

These notices are hereby given and no further action is required at this time.

The next order of business is the introduction and referral calendar.

We have four items today.

First, pursuant to notice Councilmembers Chavez, myself, Wandsey, and Warren move to introduce an ordinance amending the liquor and beer code for first reading and referral to the business housing and zoning committee requiring any licensed premises that requires a dress code for entry to post said dress code.

Second, pursuant to notice, Councilmember Chavez and Stevenson move to introduce five ordinances for the first reading and referral to the public health safety and equity committee, amending provisions of the code related to no noise regulations to remove irrelevant content, organize the structure in a more logical format, add a clause regulating the sound the sounding of motion censored devices on private property and correcting associated reference numbers.

Third, pursuant note uh pursuant to notice council members Schaefer and Rainville move to introduce the subject matter of an ordinance amending the license and business regulations code for first reading and referral to the business housing and zoning committee, amending repealing and adding provisions related to rental halls and places of entertainment to create an event calendar, event center license allowing for the hosting of both public and private events.

And finally finally, pursuant to notice, council members Wansley, Chavez, Whiting, and Chowdhury move to introduce the subject matter of an ordinance amending the animal care and control code for first reading and referral to the public health safety and equity committee removing conditions and restrictions on pet ownership solely due to a prior conviction for certain felonies.

May I have a motion to approve these introductions.

So move to second.

Uh seeing no one else in Q or ask the call roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shunt Time.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Aye.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Pomasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

Aye.

There are 12 ayes.

That motion carries, and those are referred to the appropriate committees.

The next order of business is resolutions.

We have one resolution on our agenda today related to recognizing the 2026 Minneapolis Aquitennial.

Do council members have any comments to add.

Seeing none, may I have a motion to adopt this resolution?

No moved.

Second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye.

Councilmember Shuntai.

Aye.

Councilmember Whiting.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Vice President Osmond.

President Payne.

There are 12 items.

That carries and that resolution is adopted.

Our next order of business is unfinished business.

As I said at the top, we have uh two items now today under unfinished business.

Item number one relates to a proposed contract with SkyDO Inc.

for a drones as first responder pilot program.

At our last meeting, we considered a couple of different motions, both of which failed.

As a result, this item remains before us for action.

Mr.

Clerk, do you have any guidance on what a proper motion would be to dispose of this item?

Mr.

President, with your indulgence a bit, I thought I'd uh maybe talk about what a tie vote does.

There's been some confusion around that.

Um, and so I wanted to explain that a tie vote for council has both procedural and legal effect.

Um, under council's rules, a tie vote does defeat a motion because it lacks a majority.

However, it doesn't necessarily determine the outcome of the underlying proposition that's before you.

And that's because the city charter, our constitution provides that the council must act only by a defined majority vote that's embodied in an official record that can be presented to the mayor for his consideration.

So a tie vote does not achieve those uh uh outcomes or requirements of the of the charter and therefore is not dispositive.

It defeats the motion, but it doesn't dispose of the proposition.

And so that means that when there is a tie vote, the council may consider a different motion to reach a final decision on the matter before it.

So you asked, Mr.

President, what would be a proper course of action?

Um, a proper course of action would be a motion to achieve the opposite of the motion that failed because of a tie vote.

Um, a motion to refer to postpone to continue any of those sort of procedural motions would keep the motion alive, the the underlying proposition alive, um, subject to a final dispositive vote, um, or if the motion to approve fails, a motion to uh disapprove.

Often you'll hear the clerks say when there's a tie vote, move to delete from the agenda.

The standard motion delete from the agenda is the motion that would be dispositive because it would eliminate the matter from the council's further consideration.

So a motion to delete from the agenda or a motion to deny if the motion to approve is tied, or in the opposite case, if a motion to deny fails, a motion to approve could be considered.

I hope that's helpful to the body.

We have a few people in queue, not sure if it's for questions or motions.

I will recognize Councilmember Vito.

Thank you, President Payne.

Um I actually would like to make a motion.

I'd like to move to refer uh consideration of a proposed contract with SkyDO back to staff during the lengthy discussions at both meetings of the public health safety and equity equity committee and the city council meeting.

Council members raised several serious questions about both SkyDEO as the vendor and implications of using drones as first responders.

I hope this motion gives staff the time they need to respond to these concerns and uh potentially propose a path forward.

Council of Councilmember Vita has moved to refer this item back to staff.

It's been seconded.

I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

Um we're just speaking on number one of the motions or both.

Correct.

We're speaking on number one at the moment.

Which is the Sky Deal one.

Correct.

Okay.

I will save my energy.

Okay.

With that, we have a motion to refer item number one SkyDio back to staff.

Seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to follow too.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Council Member Schaefer.

Aye.

Council Member Shug Time.

Uh seconded.

I know I know I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I council member whiting.

Aye.

Councilmember Chowder.

Councilmember Stevenson.

Council Member Rainbow.

Council Member V Ton.

Aye.

Council Member Pomasano.

Aye.

Council Member Shabbos.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

There are two items.

Come on.

That carries.

Next, uh, as we discussed at the top, item number two is an item that was brought forward and it resulted in a tie vote.

It should have ended up on our agenda for the following meeting, which would have been June 11th, and it was not on our agenda.

Um, and so that's why we are taking it up here.

Uh and we did have a discussion with the clerk around what happened to make that not happen.

I believe it was partially an error as a result of the clerk doesn't get to take vacations anymore because he wasn't there for that meeting.

Um that's a joke.

Um this item we brought back to unfinished business for this meeting to make sure that we have consistency around how these motions um are dealt with when there are a tie.

So we do have to dispose of this and have to make a motion to do as much.

Uh and so I will recognize Councilmember Chavez uh to either make a motion or ask a question.

Well, I'm gonna make a motion to return this item uh back to the author, and if the author wants to work on it further, that would be great as well.

Um but I also want to make comments on process because I pointed this out last cycle and I brought this up and last cycle we were told this item was dead, though the previous one was dead.

And I I watched the recording yesterday.

So I just want to make it clear that we were told that last item was dead and somehow it's still on the agenda.

So I brought up the concern that this item wasn't automatically placed on the agenda.

So council president Payne, was it your oversight or what happened?

Because you're not explaining what happened.

Uh thank you, Councilmember Chavez, for being able to instead of jokingly explain it.

Uh the uh Mr.

Carl was not at the meeting where this resulted in a tie.

Uh and as a result, uh, and I don't remember if it was Ms.

Giesel that was clerking or Mr.

Daler, but um I think it was Ms.

Geezer.

There was a disconnect within the clerk's office on how that should have been brought forward to the next agenda.

Thank you.

Next time I just asked that you explain what happened because the public maybe thought you didn't add it to the agenda or they didn't know what happened.

I just hope next time we just I don't want to be a clerk myself.

I want to be able to just have it on the agenda and make sure that procedures followed equitably across everything.

So just one minutes.

Thank you for that clarification and question.

And actually that brings another um question, Mr.

Clerk.

Uh we have some a very small number of items that require a nine vote majority to pass, and if they failed, is that similar to a um what we're dealing with here.

Uh Mr.

President, no.

In that case, there's a defined majority threshold that has to be achieved and it failed.

So the item itself fails.

The the fact that a uh a motion ends in a tie means it didn't achieve a majority.

And a majority is always required to take action.

If you don't achieve that majority, the item itself fails.

A tie doesn't uh mean the underlying proposition that came forward has been denied, right?

A tie vote doesn't mean the opposite outcome is achieved.

So if a motion is made to approve a contract as an example, and the result is six to six, the council didn't by a majority achieve the motion to approve, but the outcome didn't automatically become a failure.

You'd need to introduce a motion to deny the contract and then vote on that motion because the motion in front of the body was to approve.

We act on the motion in front of the body, and a tie vote doesn't achieve the opposite outcome.

Uh thank you for that clarification.

Uh and councilmember Chavez made a motion to return the author, and I feel like I saw you wanting to make uh comment about that.

I just was gonna clarify uh return to author is specific and only tied to returning ordinances.

That's why I said earlier delete from the agenda is for everything else.

A return to author is only for ordinances.

Uh Mr.

Councilmember Chavez, would you like to um modify your motion?

Yeah, it's fine.

I believe uh is there a second for the motion to delete from the agenda.

Second second.

The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember.

No, I'm out you he has it.

Councilmember Warren.

Aye.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Aye, Councilmember Shangtai.

I councilmember Whiting.

All right.

Councilmember Chowdhury.

Aye, Councilmember Stevenson.

Aye.

Councilmember Rainville.

All right.

Councilmember Vita.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Aye.

Councilmember Chavez.

Aye.

Vice President Osman.

Aye.

President Payne.

All right.

There are 12 ayes.

That carries.

And that completes all of the business on our agenda, except we do have a closed session.

So before I recognize the attorney and re-recess for closed session, and actually what I will do is take a little pulse.

Do we want to have a lunch recess or do we want to power through?

I'm hearing people want lunch.

Okay.

I want to vote lunch.

Yes.

Lunch.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So before before I recognize the attorney and we recess for closed session, I'll ask if there are any announcements from council members.

Are there any announcements?

Councilmember Whiting.

Thank you, President Payne.

As you all, I'm going to say it every single time until August 8th.

Southside We Outside.

We are having a community barbecue.

I hope all of you to be there.

12 to 4 p.m.

Washburn high school, August 8th.

Thank you.

Councilmember Vitoff.

Thank you, President Payne.

I just wanted to thank the organizers of the very first North Side Jazz and Culture Festival.

It was literally the hottest day of the summer, but it was packed.

The North Side showed up, had a great time.

We got to listen to some amazing local artists, including Councilmember Warren's daughter, Anaya.

She got to sing a song that she doesn't normally get to sing, and she was so proud of herself, and I was so proud of her also.

She was fantastic, and so were the other artists.

I just wanted to take the time to thank the organizers of that.

And also thank the park board.

They let us use their um building and parking lot in a way that I've never seen uh on the north side.

It was a great festival, a great turnout, and um just wonderful energy.

Just just people out enjoying the north side.

We were over by the river uh by the old Riverview Theater, so lots of memory share with folks, and it was the first annual, and I'm already looking forward to the second annual.

Councilmember Chowdry.

Thank you, President Payne.

Uh July 31st, August 1st, and August 2nd is Nakomas Days 2026.

Be sure to come out and support our local businesses and community in the 12th and 11th ward.

There are events for families and people of all ages.

There's wonderful sales, um uh competitions, prizes, parking lot, parties, free concerts, you name it, just a really great time to do what Minnesotans love to do, which is go outside and enjoy eating good food, listen to good music.

So come down to the South Side.

There's a lot of Southside we outside moments happening in the upcoming weekend.

Councilmember Chavez.

Well, thank you, Council President Payne.

I want to invite the community to the Port of Horn Park Art Fair from August 1st to August 2nd each day from 10 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

Councilmember Warren.

Thank you, Council President Payne.

I um I so much enjoyed myself at um the North Side's first annual jazz festival.

Um it was an amazing time.

So if you missed it, we'll be back again next year.

Um I do want to also uh shout out that this is Black Business Week, which is the kickoff to Black Business Month.

So go out and shop with um your black businesses and um yes, support the businesses.

I think we were at the Coliseum, myself and Councilmember Chavez the other day, and um our mayor learned how to braid.

So I am excited to see what is to come from that experience.

So he was excited to learn how to do it because he's like, I got two daughters, I want to learn how to braid.

So go out, shop, support black businesses, um enjoy some of this good weather.

National night out is approaching us, so I know a lot of those festivals and activities are going on next week.

Get out, connect with your community members, you know, laugh, talk, eat some some good food.

Some people do big cookings for national night out, and sometimes you just get hot dogs and a bag of chips.

Either way it goes, it's all in love.

Be grateful, be thankful, celebrate, love on each other, and uh just stay plenty hydrated.

That's all I got to say.

The end.

Mr.

Carl.

Um I put on my sparkly tie for this.

So um I wanted to just offer a brief comment about today's vote on the Democracy Center, and I wanted to uh make that comment on the record.

As the city's chief elections official, I'm very excited to see that project move forward.

I know all of you are too.

I'm anticipating being in that new facility to welcome voters for the 2028 presidential election.

Um, as I shared in previous presentations, that central location in the city is going to improve our service to the entire community, and it will significantly increase overall accessibility to the ballot box for all voters.

I know that our elections and voter services team is eager to join the Longfellow neighborhood.

Um we're eager to be good neighbors, and we will absolutely bring a positive representation on behalf of the entire city enterprise to that area.

So I do appreciate sincerely council pushing that project forward.

The city and this council have always invested in elections so that every Minneapolis voter has the equal, free, and fair right to cast their ballot in every election, and that matters.

And so, as Councilmember Palmasono said, I would like to think this is a reason for the entire city to celebrate, and thank you all of you for your vote today on that project.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Thank you.

I'll echo Clerk Carl's comments.

Um, I cannot wait to move into the new Democracy Center and cast my vote there in the next presidential election.

But meantime, I had a terrific experience at the Early Vote Center at 908 East Hennepin this week.

Um I see other stickers here that show that others have also gone to East Hennepin to cast their ballot early for the primary that is August 11th.

Um there is there are few excuses to not be able to find a way to vote.

There are pop-up locations happening before the primary.

Um I had a wonderful voter forum or a forum in my ward last week with the director of election services, Katie Smith and her deputy John Martin.

Um, and it it was really great to see uh and get assurance, I think, for my um for residents across the city, actually, that were there on our election security and all of the different checks and balances that go into voting in our city.

So um a plug for voting early in the primary.

It was a wonderful easy experience.

I was in and out in five minutes, um, but for wanting to, you know, smile to everybody in that center.

And um, and I look forward to what's next.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Yeah, I just wanted to highlight two events.

One downtown is Savannah Bananas are this weekend, sold-out event for those of you that got tickets.

Great.

If not, there's gonna be a lot of street activities, um, blocks closed.

You can participate in the fun, even if you didn't get tickets.

And then secondly, we all had a hand in bringing back the Uptown Art Festival, and that is this weekend, starting Friday from you know, one o'clock to seven, Saturday, 10 to 6, and Sunday, 10 to 4.

So I'd encourage you if you have time, come back and see it.

It's gonna be exciting to see that back in the um community.

And um, you know, it's gonna be kind of the same lopit footprint for um those of you that may have attended um some of the Lopet events on the mall, and then kind of around that southern part of Lake of the Isles Parkway.

So hopefully you can come out.

There's also gonna be a lot of entertainment concerts and food trucks.

So lots of fun.

Councilmember Rainville.

Uh thank you.

I have two announcements.

Uh the first one, it it dawned on me this last week.

I've been doing a lot of community outreach uh with our police department.

Well, as we all know, public safety is such an important issue.

And for the first time ever in Ward 3, and and perhaps in the city of Minneapolis, uh the inspectors are both women.

So both the first precinct and the second precinct inspectors, the top cops are women.

So that just shows how far we've advanced in public safety.

And uh the second uh announcement is uh I'll let uh Letricia Vito car forth on it, but I did want to announce the passing of uh past city council member and county commissioner John Darris.

But Letricia, if you could say a few words about John.

I was just gonna say the same thing that um North Minneapolis lost a resident, a previous uh Ward for Councilmember John Darrell served in the 70s on the Minneapolis City Council and then went on to be the uh county commissioner and um we will miss John.

John was a gigantic man with gigantic hands.

I don't even know how tall he was, maybe six five, six six.

Um uh John was very gentle, very smart.

He had so many projects.

Uh we we went to a dinner last week and we were talking about some of the work that he's done uh in Minneapolis and in Hennepin County, and John will be truly missed.

His family still lives in war four, and um I just wanted to have us all take a brief moment of silence for John Darris, former city council member and county commissioner.

Thank you.

Councilmember Warren.

I'm sorry, I forgot an event.

Um this today will we're gonna miss it because it's at one o'clock, the VIP showing, but this weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sister Act 2 will be at Lunstrom performing arts, and my daughter is starring in that play.

There it is her last musical before she goes off to um school in New York.

So I wanted to just they're doing it.

This is uh Lundstrom's big productions, man.

They're so much fun.

If you haven't been to a production at Lundstrom, you are missing out.

So they're in the ward in the fifth ward.

I know Councilmember Vita has got some family members who've performed at Lunstrom.

There's lots of lots of the kids there are absolutely amazing, and the staff is great.

They do a lot of great work with those kids, so I wanted to shout them out.

And that Sister Act Two is showing this weekend there.

Councilmember Schaefer.

Uh, one clarification, it's not starting tomorrow, but it's next Friday.

Um, one weekend out if I wasn't clear for both events.

All right.

That is all of our announcements.

With that, we've completed all of the items on our agenda, and we'll now consider the request for a closed session, which is to receive a briefing on the litigation matter listed on the agenda.

Um before I move to close the meeting, I'll recognize the city attorney to provide the legal basis for the requested closed session.

President Payne, the next item on the agenda is the litigation matter of Assad Awajani et al versus Patel et al.

Your lawyers wish to provide a briefing to the council on this litigation matter accordingly under the Minnesota Open Meeting Law, Minnesota Statutes Section 13 D.05, subdivision 3B.

The council may, upon a proper motion, close the meeting for the purposes of attorney-client communication as permitted by the attorney client privilege.

In considering the motion, the council should weigh the right of the public to know what its government is doing against the need of the city to preserve the confidentiality of its discussions with attorneys.

Thank you, Mr.

City Attorney.

I move to close our public meeting as authorized under the open meeting law, specifically Minnesota State Statute Section 13 D.05 for the purpose of receiving a briefing on the litigation matter of Assad Owajin et al.

versus Biddle et al.

May I have a second to that motion.

Second.

The court will call roll.

Councilmember Warren.

Hi.

Council Member Schaefer.

Councilmember Shunton.

Hi.

Councilmember White.

Councilmember Chandra.

Aye.

Councilmember Raymond.

Hi.

Council Member Palmasana.

Aye.

Council Member Shaw.

Vice President Osmond.

Aye.

President Payne.

All right.

There are 12 hours.

That carries.

For the viewing public, I will note that the broadcast for this meeting will continue.

The time is now three.

And the city council has really been all these council member.

Present.

Councilmember Palmasano.

Present.

Council Member Chavez.

Vice President Osman is absent.

President Payne.

Present.

There are ten members present.

Let the record reflect we have a quorum.

With that, we've completed our business today with nothing further to come before the Council.

And without objection, this meeting is hereby adjourned.