Public Health Safety and Equity Committee Meeting Summary - September 9, 2026
Public Health Safety and Equity Committee Regular Meeting - September 9, 2026
The Public Health Safety and Equity Committee met on September 9, 2026, with Chair Jason Chavez presiding. Five members were present, establishing a quorum: Councilmembers Payne, Beta, and Chavez; Councilmember Whiting and Vice Chair Stevenson were absent. The committee approved the consent calendar and adopted an ordinance related to neighborhood policy board elections. Chair Chavez also acknowledged several shootings that occurred in Minneapolis during the previous week.
Chair's Remarks on Recent Violence
- On September 2, 2026, a mass shooting occurred in the Lowering Park neighborhood. Three responding officers were injured: one sustained an apparent non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg, one underwent surgery, and a third was evaluated for an apparent non-life-threatening injury. Four additional people with apparent gunshot wounds were taken to the hospital; one died at the hospital and another was killed at the scene.
- On September 5, 2026, a woman was left in critical condition after a shooting in a parking lot near 44th Avenue North and Lindo Avenue North.
- On September 5, 2026, a man was shot on I-94 Eastbound between Portland Avenue and Chicago Avenue.
- On September 6, 2026, two men were found with suspected gunshot wounds in Diggy Town near the University of Minnesota East Bank campus.
- Chair Chavez expressed condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those killed, and to everyone recovering, including injured Minneapolis police officers, responders, and medical professionals.
Consent Calendar
- Item 2: Accepted a grant from the Subaru Loves Pets program to support animal care and control.
- Item 3: Accepted Resolution 2026R201, a Gary Sinise Foundation First Responder Outreach Grant to purchase portable radio kits.
- Item 5: Accepted reimbursement from the Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education for approved trainings.
- Items 6, 7, and 8: Accepted donations for staff conference attendance.
- Item 9: Approved two appointments to the Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities.
- Item 10: Waived the residency requirement for current Public Health Advisory Committee member Tavia.
- The consent calendar was approved by voice vote without discussion or any items pulled.
Public Comments & Testimony
- The public hearing was opened for the ordinance item, but no members of the public signed up to testify. After multiple calls for speakers, the hearing was closed with no testimony offered.
Discussion Item: Ordinance on Neighborhood Policy Board Election Location
- Staff presented an ordinance affecting the policy board for the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP).
- The policy board membership includes the mayor's representative, a Minneapolis City Council representative (currently Councilmember Warren), a Park Board commissioner, Hennepin County, the Minneapolis School Board, and eight neighborhood representatives chosen by election.
- There are six policy board districts for the city plus two at-large members.
- The ordinance would remove the Community Connections Conference as the designated election location, allowing the policy board and city to determine the best location for future elections.
- The change also ensures elections for neighborhood representation take place in even years; if the Community Connections Conference returns, it could still be used as the venue.
Key Outcomes
- The consent calendar was approved by voice vote.
- The ordinance regarding neighborhood policy board election location was approved by voice vote; no opposing votes or abstentions were noted.
- After the vote, the committee found no further business and adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the regular meeting of the Public Health Safety and Equity Committee for September 9th, 2026. I am Jason Chavez, the chair of this committee. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify a quorum for this meeting. Councilmember Payne. Present. Present. Beta. Present. Whiting is absent. Vice Chair Stevenson is absent. Chair Chavez. Present. That is five members present. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. I remind my colleagues that we'll be using speaker management today, so please make sure you're signed in. Before we begin, I'd like to start by acknowledging the tragedies that have affected Minneapolis in the last week. On September 2nd, 2026, there was a mass shooting in the Lowering Park neighborhood. Three officers were injured in the response. One sustained an apparent non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg. One underwent surgery, and a third was evaluated for an apparent non-life threatening injury. Four additional victims with apparent gunshot wounds were transported to the hospital. One of those individuals died at the hospital, and another was killed on the scene. On September 5th, 2026, a woman was left in critical condition after a shooting in the parking lot near 44th Avenue North and Lindo Avenue North. On September 5th, 2026 at 94 Eastbound between Portland Avenue and Chicago Avenue. A man was shot. And on September 6th, 2026, two men were found with suspected gunshot wounds in Diggy Town near the University of Minnesota East Bank campus. My thoughts are with the families, friends, and loved ones of those who were killed, and with everyone recovering from their injuries, including the Minneapolis police officers who were injured, those who responded to the scene, and the medical professionals helping throughout all these entire tragedies. So I'm also gonna pull up the cue. Great. So our consent agenda. Item number two accepts a grant from the Subaru Loves Pets program to support animal care and control. Item three, Rescence Council Resolution 2026R201 and accepts the Gary Sinese Foundation First Responder Outreach Grant to purchase portable radio kits. Item five accepts reimbursement from the Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education for approved trainings. Item six, seven, and eight accept donations for staff conference attendance. Item nine approves two appointments to the advisory committee on people with disabilities. And item 10 waves of residency requirement for current public health advisory committee member Tavia. Colleagues, are there any discussion on any of these items or would like anybody like to pull an item out? All right. With that, I'll move approval of the consent agenda. If I can get a second. See no further discussion on the motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Any abstentions, those items carry. Next, we'll have to take our public hearing.
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