Order all call, please.

Councilmember Bowie.

Council President Acre.

Here.

Um, Councilmember Joast.

Councilmember Coleman.

Here.

Councilmember Kim.

Here.

Council Vice President.

Yang.

Here.

Councilmember Johnson.

Here.

Seeing six present, one absent.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, everyone.

We have three items on our full agenda today.

We're going to start with a mid-session legislative update.

Excited to welcome General Rourke, our head of intergovernmental relations, to tell us how wildly we're succeeding at the legislature.

Thank you, Council President.

Hi, everybody.

Jennifer A'Rourke, Director of Government Relations, here on the job two and a half months, I think.

So it's a pleasure to be with you this morning.

I think at this point in session, it's super timely to be conversing about what's going on up there.

I prepared a slide deck starting with the state uh legislature.

A lot of the focus and what I've um prepared for is on that.

I ended with uh a slide on some of the federal goings on and uh welcome your discussion and uh such on all of it.

So my first slide is really uh just kind of setting the table, uh, offering up the legislative landscape where we're at in the process right now.

Uh full screen.

Thank you.

Uh this Friday is the third deadline, and what that means is um bills are supposed to be in an omnibus bill, committees, their legislative committees, um, the ones that have a budget or think that they have a budget, will have put together an omnibus bill, maybe an omnibus trans omnibus transportation bill, an omnibus public safety bill, uh tax and bonding bills.

Uh for a lot of those committees, this Friday is a big deadline.

And the tax bill and the bonding bill really play by their own rules and won't be out for another couple of weeks.

But for a lot of uh omnibus bills, that deadline is this Friday.

We are seeing those coming together, and you know, when those come out, we review those to see if our smaller requests have made it into a bill.

Um, there's a whole lot of up in the air, what's going on from for folks like me who do uh lobbying or whatever, because on the House side, and jumping right into it on the Republican side, they have said they don't want to have any omnibus bills and they don't want to spend any money necessarily on the DFL Democratic side.

There is a desire to do some of that.

So you know, we have uh an omnibus public safety bill out this week that um because it's public safety and whatnot, that one will probably move forward.

But on the transportation side of things, I know the Democrats would like to put one together, but House leadership on the Republican side with uh co-chair John Kosnick has said he doesn't intend to have an omnibus bill.

So I think what we'll see is some of um some omnibus bills out there.

We've been tracking them already, and I think they'll come to a head uh eventually in the next two weeks, and it'll be one of those things that leadership decides when they ultimately are trying to figure out a way how to get through the end of session.

And Ms.

O'Rourke, just as context for our priorities or just in general, what is the advantage or disadvantage of of having an omnibus bill or not?

Great question.

Uh, you know, it's sort of I think of our priorities sort of as like a tier one and a tier two in terms of what kind of attention they're getting, you know, whether it's a big deal or controversial to other people, and there's a whole lot of things I think for local governments across the board that fall into that second tier, just because you know we're operating government, whether you're cities or counties, and um our stuff isn't always so sexy, right?

You know, um I'll use some of us might like to differ, but to us it is, but not to everybody else, and I'll use one as an example.

And this is really getting into the weeds.

There is a bill um brought forward that we testified on a number of times, and it has to do with non-fatal shootings and the program that we have in our police department.

The county testified on it a number of times.

Hennepin in Minneapolis did.

Uh the mayor did some lobbying on it in terms of outreach and whatnot.

The police chief and others have testified on it.

Um, that's a pretty small potatoes for a lot of folks, and that's an example of uh a bill item that is actually in an omnibus bill right now.

It's made it into the omnibus public safety bill on the Senate side, excuse me, the House side.

Um, and we're hoping that gets across the finish line just because there's been good um bipartisanship on that, it's statewide.

Uh so when it comes to that, we're making sure that we don't get penalized for being good at our jobs.

Uh, is the East Metro and making sure that any money that's out there uh is still something we are up we can apply for as opposed to the rest of the state.

Um just trying to piggyback or replicate the work that's already been done in Ramsey County and the city of St.

Paul.

Does that answer your question?

Really helpful, thank you.

Uh, you know, roughly we have roughly one month left or five weeks.

Technically, they need to end on May 18th, which is a Monday.

You're all very familiar with the concept of a special session where it's kind of like going into overtime to complete their work.

You know, in a in an election year, that's really just something that isn't doesn't happen very often just because there's just so much pressure and they want to get out of there.

So we really expect session to be over that week.

The budget forecast is something we always pay attention to just because it dictates whether or not they're able to do more spending or not.

Last year was the last year was the budget year.

This year's supposed to be the bonding year.

Um the governor did put forward a small supplemental um bill a few weeks ago.

Um, I think it's possible there will be some spending.

You know, another trick that we've seen, good trick, if you will, is they take they sometimes go back and look for funds that have not been spent yet.

Uh this is something they've done uh for sure in the workforce area where uh we have Chair Pinto.

Uh the committee was formerly chaired by Commissioner Ja Zhang.

So we have some real advocates and partners in that space to work with, but you know, dollars that haven't been spent there, they might go take another crack at those and uh try to repurpose that money.

The same thing sometimes happens in the housing space.

Uh I don't need to remind you, but the legislative uh majorities in both bodies are you know virtually tied and tight.

Um the Senate has the one vote majority with the DFL control and the House it is tied, and um you know, you just see a lot of day-to-day bickering and a lot of day-to-day positioning on whether it's issues or uh committee control.

You really see that playing out, and a lot of people um you know crossing their fingers and pledging to go work really hard on elections and try to come back next year with um either Republican control or democratic control, right?

And you know, somebody that's been in this business for a really long time.

I'm always just sort of eyes open on what are the other big issues are out there and who's getting what the Hennepin County sales tax for the hospital and HCMC.

Um, you know, I think that's something that will be in play at the end of session.

Uh the county modernization.

If you've uh paid attention to what's going on for counties with the federal government and just what's been happening in Minnesota, there's a lot of computer systems that everybody jokes about it, but it goes back to the 80s, and you know, they use terms like Oregon Trail and DOS or DOS systems.

It's a really big problem for the counties and an expensive one too.

Um I think they're ultimately gonna get um some help in that area, this legislative session.

Uh the governor's supplemental budget we touched on, and then I just you know, revenue raisers.

I think there's always um proposals out there, particularly on both sides to raise a little money to try to do some things.

I put sports betting on there.

I don't know that I don't think that will necessarily happen, but I think it's always important to pay attention to because it's an area where if they did raise some money, they could put it towards some of the things that we prioritize.

Uh we can dive in here on some St.

Paul bills that we're either leading on or that we're closely um tracking.

Uh the first two bullets deal with the River Center complex, um, one being the sales tax extension on the half cent sales tax.

Um I'm gonna touch on the common cent and the half cent here, but uh you all know the difference there.

That half cent sales tax extension goes back to the mid-90s and set the uh city up for what you all know as the STAR program, but then also was put into place back then for uh paying off the bonds on the River Center complex.

Uh that bill is um that will introduced last year, Senate uh Senator Papas brought it forward, so that's why it has a lower number, uh, 2657, and then Representative Hollins has that on the uh House side, she introduced that this year.

We've been working closely with Papas' office on that.

Um we expect a hearing probably in the next 10 days, I would guess.

And that's a good example of something not necessarily having to make deadline.

Um it needs to make sure it meets the tax chairs at deadline.

Uh the appropriation bonds, as you um all know, and the mayor shared with you.

That's an ask for the state's contribution on the river center complex.

Um Perez Vega has been our leader on the House side on that, yeah, but uh has not been introduced quite yet.

Uh, Senator Umu Verbettin introduced it last year's Senate file 3113.

Um, I would point out that's a good example of the bill was introduced, and we're sort of using it as a shell, if you will, for a delete all amendment and to bring that forward too.

That did get a hearing last year, obviously, new administration, different deal with um the wild over there and whatnot.

So we'd be looking to get a hearing on that as well, but haven't had one yet.

The next bullet is the Komozoo Big Cat exhibit.

Uh, that will be eligible for the bonding bill and um knock on wood.

Um those guys have been working hard.

Um West Seventh Utilities.

That bill's um been introduced, and we expect to we are getting a hearing next Tuesday, the 21st on the House side.

Um I expect we'll get one on the Senate side as well.

Uh Senator Pappas, as you know, is the bonding chair and has um been a big supporter for the city in this space.

This uh to point out, madam chair, is the utilities underneath the West Seventh project, and a lot of you have been involved with that, but um a lot of legislative support and just folks that want to step up and be helpful there.

Uh the state the next bullet is you know, this is this is a good example of a statewide project where we step up if asked um the statewide lead pipes replacement.

This is another bonding ask, pretty big, um, pretty big one.

But um, yesterday, our uh general manager of the regional water, she testified in support of this, did a great job.

Um, and uh Sydney Jordan and the House and then from Duluth, Jen McEwan have been the leaders on this bill.

Non-fatal shootings.

We already we kind of touched on that.

Um representative Frazier and Senator Clark are not um East Metro legislators, but introduced this bill and have been good partners for us in this space.

Uh we do have a sales tax clarification that we'll be introducing.

Uh this is a late introduction because it has to do with the uh court case from a few weeks ago and seeking clarification on that.

Um the next two, the Komozoo Geothermal and the Heights Geothermal are two projects that knock on wood, are they are included in the uh Senate uh RD R D.

It's the um it's an energy account renewable development account.

It's a special, you've always heard of general fund dollars.

There's an RD account that is specific for these kinds of projects.

There's an omnibus bill where we have both these projects included, at least on the the Senate side.

And then the final bullet on here, um, I don't know that this is going.

We're we still have our fingers crossed on this.

Uh there's legislation introduced statewide last year that would allow local agencies to be reimbursed better or easier by the Department of Public Safety when it comes to rallies at the governor's mansion or protesting at the Capitol and whatnot.

Uh Senator Umover Betton uh got that bill introduced, and then uh police chief from New Prague, named Representative Steer introduced it on the House side.

That's something that came forward, I think, from the Carter administration.

We've been super supportive of it.

Um, we're hoping to get that amended into a bill yet this year.

And then I just included a bullet on defense just because when you're uh a city like us, you're either you know, sometimes a target or there's mysterious language that shows up in a bill that um is obviously um targeted at something the city did.

So there's a few of those out there that we're working on.

Any questions on this slide?

Yeah, Vice President Hang.

Thank you, Council President.

I have a um a question about the reimbursement to the local agencies.

Can you share with us if we currently get any sort of reimbursement from the state at all?

Uh thank you for those specific actions that I'd be glad to follow up with you, uh, council member.

I don't have a direct answer on that.

Um, I'd want to make sure that we are giving you accurate information.

What our bill does is establishes a new program.

And even in reading the bill, I've asked myself, like, I wonder if we've ever been able to get this.

I'm guessing the answer is yes, because of joint uh mutual aid and joint powers agreements, but uh for some reason we're seeking it to be more specific.

Okay, thank you.

Ms.

Bowie.

Thank you, Council President.

I just have a question.

Um, and excuse me, I'm a little late here, but I was looking to see if it was covered um before, but I'm just curious, was there any conversations or any actions at the state level around creating a cannabis tax on a local cannabis tax?

I know there's some cities across Minnesota that like has a cannabis tax, but St.

Paul doesn't have one.

No, we do zoning, we just pass our zoning um laws for it, but they're I'm just wondering if there's any bills for other cities to actually create one.

Uh Madam Chair, Councilmember, I have not seen any, and I'm that's an easy one for me to do some quick research on with the League of Cities or some of our other partners.

I would point out there was a local cannabis tax cities were allowed, were given a portion of that.

They called it local cannabis aid when they first um legalized this a couple years ago, and then they took it away like two years later.

So our our platform actually uh doesn't speak to a local tax on it, but it speaks to getting back the local cannabis aid, and I just don't think that's gonna happen in this kind of legislature.

Thank you.

Seems that anything named local blank aid is just there to be taken away.

Is that right?

Sorry.

Okay.

Yes and no.

It's a hilarious joke.

Any other questions before we move on?

All right.

Thanks, Director.

I wanted to share with you a few of you have been at the legislature on our behalf already this year, so I want to uh start out by saying thank you, and also just share with you some different ways.

Uh the mayor or others have been up there either testifying or working with legislators.

Um Operation Metro Surge bills, you know, this is a huge priority, and I think is one of our um top five that we identified with your help in the platform.

The mayor's been um testified a couple of times in both the House and the Senate.

Uh, you know, fingers crossed and whatnot, the bills that seem to have the most um energy are ones that would be helping small businesses and maybe setting up a grant program at Deed for that.

The mayor testified early on on speed cameras um and allowing local governments to have that.

I don't think that is gonna be included or make it across the finish line.

Uh Council President, you helped us out uh or helped the city out.

We were able to testify on some local control gun bills, and the mayor did as well.

You know, that's an important one to be on record with, and um, I don't know that that's gonna make it across the finish line either, but again, an important one to be on record with.

Um, you know, and frankly, a good uh it's been a good place for us to show up with the city of Minneapolis in that space.

We've written numerous letters of support for different um projects, whether it be policy or funding.

Uh the police chief's been up there testifying on the non-fatal shootings.

Uh assistant chief Ford testified and did a couple of meetings with us uh with different even Republican legislators on just capital security and the city costs there.

Uh I shared with you about uh general manager of ASCII testifying on lead lines, and um just wanted to let you know we're often part of efforts with uh the League of Minnesota Cities or Metro Cities in terms of work up there.

We share a lot of information back and forth and even partner with the counties sometimes on that space.

So I wanted you to know that.

Uh meetings with Republicans and Democrats have been occurring uh on the River Center complex.

Um, and that's a chance to for us to kind of uh you know weigh in on Operation Metro Surge or put forward some of these other public safety um bills.

And then frankly, the last one just on this slide is um wanted you to know the mayor was out in DC a few weeks ago.

Um you may have seen it on your social media, but it was a pretty key time and uh it was time well spent.

She was able to weigh in with um Congresswoman McCullum's office and the senators on some of the CDS CPF, which stands for congressionally directed spending or community project funding, um, also known as earmarks back in the old days is what they called those.

Ums Coleman.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for this.

Um could you just have a little tiny bit more about why speed cameras are going anywhere?

I get a lot of questions about that, so I think it'll be helpful to be able to provide more information.

Yeah, thank you for that.

I'd be um so this goes back to like the first week we were um in this job at the Capitol.

There's legislation um a few years ago that created some pilot projects in the city of Minneapolis, the city of Mendota Heights, and then they left room for a county to participate in this.

And it was the idea, you know, going back 10 years ago, speed cameras were um super frowned upon by a lot of partners, even the the police didn't necessarily want that.

I think because they've had a harder time, you know, they have less police than what they used to.

Um that part of the capital community has been more open to it, and I think they've had they've been pretty happy with the results of that pilot over in Minneapolis.

Uh so representative uh Samantha Sensor Murray brought forward language this year in a bill to make that statewide.

So you would still need um the partner of um your local police or the county, uh, whatever police the county sheriff's office to do that, but I don't think it's likely to become law at the end of the day this year.

Just a quick follow-up on that.

Is your sense that it doesn't?

Is it has it gotten more controversial than expected?

Is it that there's just not it's not a top priority for most people?

Do you think it has a chance in the near future?

And as a follow-up, do the pilots that some cities have been had the advantage to have to end when they don't extend this.

So, for example, does Minneapolis continue to have red light cameras as an ongoing pilot?

Yeah, um, Madam Chair and Councilmember, that's a great question.

I'll start with the last one.

Like, does their pilot or authority and at the end of um I can get an answer to that quite easily?

Um that's a great question.

I just I think sometimes the way it works in the transportation committee is if it's not a priority of the chair and that caucus that um they just kind of set it aside or say this isn't the year to do that.

You know, interestingly enough, I was at Ramsey County when this first went through, and we didn't necessarily have the partnership of our um local law enforcement to do that.

So we were just sort of watching it and a little bit saying, like, think about us if you're gonna involve a county.

Uh the state came in at the last minute, like they sometimes do with a bill and say, Oh, there's a cost to it.

And um, I remember talking to Senator Dibble, and you know, it was his decision because it was his bill, and he was like, There isn't enough money to include Ramsey County.

So that was our answer at the time.

Surprisingly, now there is no cost to it.

There's no local, there's no state cost to this program if it went um if it if it went statewide.

So, you know, I'm thinking maybe in the next couple years we may be able to move this forward.

Um, and it's probably a smart policy area for you know folks like you to be in that space with community and and whatnot.

Um, I know speaking to you as always um I was gonna say women and a lot of people with small children, but like people are driving faster and faster.

And I've raised kids that are driving faster and faster.

And um, and it's it's it's a tricky thing, it's not great.

And this is some folks' attempt to quell some of that in neighborhoods and whatnot.

Thank you.

Thanks for the questions and the great answers.

Um, I see Ms.

Johnson, and then I think um Mr.

Greenfield might have had something to say, and he does not have something to say about that.

Um the pilot program will expire.

It's in statute on in 2029.

I have firsthand knowledge of what's included in that statute.

Um Ms.

Johnson, and I think we should keep going.

Yeah, I just I guess it's not even really a question, it's more of a note.

I think um one of the things that I am really interested in exploring is just the ways that this body can be helpful.

I think a lot of the work over the next couple of years and even just like the communication between our state delegation and the city and county electeds, just are maybe different than how it was in the past, or even just more so because so many of us are like actually, you know, speaking on a regular basis.

And so I I appreciate you know, just seeing how many people have been to the Capitol.

I don't think I've been tapped to do anything uh since I've been here to like actually be beneficial or helpful in that way.

And so I'm just more so just saying like I think it'd be really interesting to see how and where, you know, uh like for example, like the 40 million dollar request that was coming up for emergency rental assistance, like that's something that at the state, you know, I was watching and just kind of wondering, you know, how to be helpful, where to tap in, operation metro surge bills that are coming through.

Like I kind of mostly just see them on the press conference or something that I'll see the aftermath.

And so it's really putting that out of like I think it's really great that more people are getting out to actually experience testifying on the on the house floor and the senate floor.

Um, but there might be ways that council can be tapped in, even if it's not in that direction, or if it's like, you know, in conversations that we have with our current electeds separately, I think the same could be said for DC.

Um, I know that the city of Minneapolis does council that they do bring their council leadership to um DC for the same purposes, and I think that's an addition to the the mayor's work as well.

And so just thinking about that as a compliment.

I know we have the National League of Cities and the League of Minnesota Cities.

I don't necessarily know to what extent we as a body are involved heavily in some of the nationwide conversations, but it's just something to think about in the future and something I think worth mentioning.

Thanks, Chair.

Feel free to respond and or keep going.

You know, I'd be just real quick on that.

Thank you, Councilmember, for bringing that up.

I heard like a couple of different ways for us or you all to plug in better, both like physically up there or participating up there, but also where we show up and how we show up with some of these other associations that frankly we're paying for in a membership with the National League of Cities, Metro Cities, the League of Minnesota Cities.

I know some of you have board membership on some of those, and I think there's opportunities to involve others in that space.

Like push those into other people's agendas to make sure that you know we're in a better space or a different space for 2027.

And I would just well, you know, welcome your partnership.

This we're about we've still got like a third left of this legislative session, and I think there's ways to plug people in.

Still, so thank you.

And let's let you um thank you for the questions and the answer.

I also think that involving us more in the discussion about the policy committees at Metro Cities would make us those of us on the boards of those entities feel like it's more meaningful because we're we're truly channeling what the city as a whole wants on those bodies.

So love that idea.

And um, to Chair Johnson's question, please do continue to keep us involved during the last third, having those specific invites to come and testify in a particular bill or write a letter is really helpful.

Okay.

I think we'll let you finish your slides and then hold our questions just to make sure we get through.

If that's all right with my colleagues, thank you, Council President.

We've covered a lot of what's on this slide.

I just always like to throw in a miscellaneous um slide just um to pick up a lot of the pieces we uh talked about the Hennepin County proposal a little bit.

Um let you know about uh there's always defense or fix it kind of issues, you know, too that uh I'm working on this week.

Some of our friends have are suggesting changes to the copper wire um work that the mayor Carter's administration works so hard on.

Um so we're trying to be a good partner in that space.

Um and um oh, I have checked the platform.

That was a little note to myself, just in terms of other bonding and policy issues, but you know, it's no secret, and I know the same thing happened on the other side of the river.

There's always the city's priorities, and then there are local bills that our legislators bring forward for um things that they'd like to secure state bonding dollars for too.

So knock on what and everything.

I think there'll be a bonding bill this year, even though many times there isn't in this election year.

I just feel like with Senator Pappas leaving and leadership in the House, you know, changing a lot, and even Governor Walls, I think there's an appetite for certain people to have some maybe legacy, if you will, and I don't want to jinx anything by saying that.

Um and then I did include on here uh we referred to uh Metro Cities, you know, they have their annual meeting tonight, it's in Roseville.

I'll be attending.

Um, they have a spot on their board for the government relations position, and then I would just share there is another Minneapolis and St.

Paul Eve also each have a spot on that board.

St.

Paul doesn't have that spot filled right now, so we should talk about um we should talk about um how we fill that or how you fill that.

Uh I wanted to just touch on quick um, you know, legislative retirements, but also legacy opportunities, but then also leadership opportunities.

There are a whole slew of retirements happening.

Um I have a PDF that I can uh share with your offices if that's helpful, you know.

But obviously the ones that are most key for the city of St.

Paul and whatnot, uh Senator Pappas um leaving is um um, you know, a big deal.

Representative Maria Issa um Presvega um leaving the legislature is a big deal.

She's the delegation chair right now.

Um two names I think you probably know representatives Moeller and Son Sandra Feist have are Ramsey County legislators, but have been really key on a lot of our immigration and public safety and domestic violence and crime, um crime victims um rights kinds of issues they'll be sorely missed.

Um, and then um, you know, I just couldn't not share Senator Rest is the tax chair.

She's long time been an urban um or core city supporter, um, is really understands uh things like you know, TIFF and um the struggles on redevelopment and whatnot.

So she'll be missed next year.

But I also wanted to point out, you know, these are opportunities for um other legislators to move up, whether it's uh getting a gavel or finding another committee um place.

One I've always noticed that we've at least in my couple of years working for either the county or the city.

We have not had a St.

Paul person on the tax committee, and you know, in terms of growing your own, that's an area that I've had some little side conversations, but I think it's a really great area of growth.

Um important for us to have our people in key places.

Um represent Meg Lugar Nikolai.

Now she's on the Transportation Committee, which is just awesome because um she's an advocate for our projects, but you know, up until her getting elected, we didn't have somebody on the transportation committee.

So I just point those out as examples in another way of showing up and working with using your relationships to help people see other ways they could show up for us as a city.

Um it's not just about introducing and pushing bills.

Thank you for pointing that out.

I'm not I wasn't aware of several of those points.

Thank you.

Yeah, uh, you know, the same thing applies to the federal level, frankly.

Um, and this last this last slide's really shifting gears, but a lot of we referred to the community project funding um projects and the uh the term earmarks uh that's these um eight that you see on this page.

I didn't include dollar amounts, but about a month and a half ago, Representative McCullum opened what we call the portal for the city and um local other local governments to advance ideas for them to include in um appropriations bonds.

What's super interesting in this administration uh with everything going on with uh you know the Trump administration and the slowdown with the actual budget, these um these projects have been um a little bit just held out differently, and you know, in the seven years they've been around, um both Democrats and Republicans have used this process and have both benefited from it.

So it's almost like a safer place to play, if you will, or to move things forward in the federal process.

So we put forward 10 projects.

Um McCullum's office advanced eight of those 10, which is just outstanding.

Uh, she's only able to advance 20, and if you think about it, she's got um Washington County and all of those cities to um work with there.

So these same projects sort of were sent forward into the Senate, Senator's Club Sharon Smith's offices.

We have not heard back on those yet.

Um I want you to know we know we work super closely with the grants office that's part of the finance team.

They know these projects inside and out, which has been great when it comes to filling out the applications.

Um so that's my way of saying I don't want to go really deep on any of these projects.

Um I'm not the expert, but I'd be glad to follow up if you have more questions.

And brings us to the question slide.

Thank you so much, Doctor, and especially appreciate your time when it is a very busy time for you, and when I know you're doing a ton of good work.

Um I would look to my colleagues to see what questions there.

Ms.

Coleman.

I just have a quick question that is maybe a little bit outside of the scope because it's not a St.

Paul priority, but I've been lightly following Representative Greenman's legislation that would prevent um local governments from entering indentities around data centers.

Do you and might I've been seeing that it might not go through.

I'm just curious if you have any information you can share about that.

Uh thank you for the question.

Um, and it's um it's a super interesting topic.

I haven't attended very many hearings at all on that, letting some of our statewide partners handle more of that.

I've um, you know, when bills like that pop up, my first go-to is somebody in the city to see does this affect us?

Uh so the city attorney's office and our um PED inform me like we don't do NDAs, um, so I've had to pay less attention to it.

I I think that's maybe one that um would be on the list for like the end of session that some folks are gonna really want.

Um so sorry I don't have more for you on that.

Thank you.

See this kim.

Yeah, if I can just briefly add to that.

So part of the origination came from Northern Minnesota and Duluth, St.

Louis County, their county commissioners signed NDAs regarding a data center that is going in.

So you know, it's not obviously originated by any of the legislators that are in that area, but seeing sort of the threat in the areas or opportunity for data centers to come into communities and you know, apparently forced the county to sign an NDA over sort of not discussing the project.

So I think it's definitely one to one to watch, and I don't believe there's can you give us a sense if there's going to be um conference committees this year and what we can expect from that?

Because again, like I've spoken here before, it's like you know, nothing's on the table but through conference committee, everything is kind of on the table, right?

That's when there isn't a compromise that happens, and so leadership from caucuses come together and sort of compromise with the governor.

Can you speak a little bit to like what not necessarily what could be taken up, but just like what is the possibility of conference committee this year, and if you have a sense of how um contentious the end of this year may be.

It seems pretty smooth ceiling right now, but I you know knock on one.

So to the question will there be conference committees?

Um I like to be optimistic, and to me, a conference committee is a way of um having transparency and allowing the public to participate.

Um so I want there to be conference committees, um, and I'm hopeful that those sorts of things do get some see the light of day in a conference committee.

Um I don't know if I'm answering the question enough.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thanks, Ms.

Cameron.

Um any final questions.

We don't have to take the full time because we can give more time to someone else.

Um doesn't look like it.

I want to thank you again.

And um, as Chair Johnson pointed out, please please let us know how we can help you help us, help you help us in the last couple weeks here.

Okay.

Thank you very much, and thank you, Council.

Thank you.

And with that, we will make a not even hard, just a pivot uh to uh Ms.

Burt to talk about the um harm reports uh from the reparations committee.

Welcome up and excited to hear about this.

Great, thank you.

Um good morning, council members.

Um, what I want to do today is essentially provide a summary um of the harm report project and the services the vendor will be providing.

But uh just to uh you know, before that, maybe provide a little bit of a quick uh recap of um you know kind of how we got to this place.

Um in April of 20 or April 23rd of last year, 2025, the reparations commission itself uh recommended that the council conduct a uh harm report uh to examine you know what may be some harms the city of St.

Paul uh may have uh been involved with relative to descendants of slavery.

And in August of 18th, the council uh through the procurement process produced and issued an RFP in 2025, and then that RFP had closed on October 3rd in 2023.

Um we had a number of applicants, and uh who arose to the top is um um who we have recently signed a contract with.

And um again, the city's objectives as you can see from the slide uh of the harm report is to develop a comprehensive evidence-based report documenting historical and ongoing harms impacting descendants of American chattel slavery and to guide equitable city-related policies and reparative action.

The vendor who we selected is um the African American redress network um arm for short.

And for the last six years, they've essentially led uh some very impactful uh reparative uh justice policies.

And uh what they may very well be known for is in 2020 uh they produced um a harm report study for Evanston, Illinois that documented housing policy from 1919 to 1969, uh leading to uh the first uh um you know reparations related program, but that clearly looked at uh documenting housing redlining discriminatory related policies.

And uh based on that work, it kind of set a precedence um all over the country, and they have since worked with other cities like Detroit, Kansas City in 2024, and Park and Green Belt, Maryland in 2025.

Um, you know, I think their team really consists of five experts, some are lawyers, uh, some have a lot of expertise around the matter of reparations because they've worked quite a bit uh with United Nations who themselves have been you know asking the the entire question of reparations for those of African descent.

Um now their particular methodology to this research is looking at uh data collection, taking a deep dive into some uh histography analysis, and that's a very big term.

I had to wrap my head around, but that's really looking at uh, you know, what uh is the connection of past historic injustices to contemporary um I guess you could say inequalities and kind of making helping to draw that link.

Um also looking at quantitative data around housing matters, for example, I should say, for example, around housing matters, education, healthware, um, health care, income, um, but looking across different sectors to see uh where those alignments uh can be met as they do that histography analysis, and then um again taking another deep dive into archival and genealogical research to really um validate that historical context that they're basing their research in.

Um another part of their methodology is um um really doing some uh deep community engagement, and that itself will involve oral histories, interviews, uh focused groups.

Um they're also looking at uh because they are um I guess you would say more an out-of-town agency, um, looking at um hiring and a local internal uh research liaison uh who has some trust and connections within the community to kind of help bridge that that gap, um, as well as uh meeting um out in the public with various stakeholders and other groups uh who have you know pretty much been on the ground uh working on this issue in some form or fashion, and then the final aspect of their uh methodology work is just connection and coordination with the government, you know, entailing the uh reparations commission itself uh doing ongoing collaboration work uh through that body, uh certainly uh with staff and uh county or I mean staff and um council members and um you know any kind of structured communication and transparency, just you know, informing us all of what it is they're doing with their research and continuously having uh touch points.

Um Ms.

Burchusman question where is the AARN based out of?

You know, they are um actually working uh in partnership out of Columbia University, um and uh the the contract itself, as you would notice, is through Columbia University.

So they're out of New York, um, and they have a collaboration kind of partnership where they're kind of working the back end of a contract itself.

But uh they are based out of New New York.

And thank you.

And then do we know who the on the ground because it seems like some of this is qualitative and quantitative research that can happen anywhere, but as you pointed out, some of it really has to be very localized.

Um do we either know who the liaison is or do they intend to spend a certain amount of time here?

Um they do have within their contract um in which they will spend some physical time here in the twin cities, um, but you know, um, you know, some aspects of the work will be through the liaison uh doing that groundwork.

Uh some of the work will entail uh more online um, you know, connecting through teams, for example, but uh there will be select times in which they will be here physically, yes.

Thank you.

Other questions, Ms.

Booy.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Burch.

I do have a follow-up question about that.

Um that was, you know, I I didn't get a uh a clear answer in the beginning of the scoping of the contract, but is there part of the 229,000 for the contract?

Is there um is it itemized for travel budget?

Because I imagine that there is gonna have to be some type of substantial travel, and do you know what how much is itomized for the liaison?

Is that part of the contract as well?

Um they did submit a budget um in which there will be uh some itemized travel.

Um I I can't recall off the top of my head that is not um within this contract, but they did give us a submission or a summary of um you know of travel that would consist of their entire team.

So uh the budget itself can't um you know sustain uh that large of a team that consists of five consultants uh to travel in on a regular basis, but they do have some select times in which they will be here.

Any other questions before we move on to the next slide?

Oh, sorry, vice present.

Thank you.

Council president.

Uh, thank you, Veronica, for your presentation.

I was just wondering, can you give us a um I don't I don't believe this was covered, and so I'm curious to like can you give a recap on how many contractors there were um for for the bid, and then were there any contractors that were local as well.

Um yes, I'm trying to recall.

Um I do believe there were um maybe about four or five contractors.

Um I'm trying to think how many were local.

Um I think at least one, one maybe two were local that that stood out as local uh contractors.

Um however the selection committee uh that really kind of fell to this particular group uh was really impressed with the work that they um did previously, for example, in Evanston, um, Illinois, uh, recognizing that even some of the other vendors, you know, themselves were looking to the initial work of this particular uh uh contractor and what they were engaged in.

Okay, thank you.

Ms.

Johnson.

So thank you.

Um and thank you, Veronica, for I think for this presentation, as well as just being able to include the actual uh content behind their their submission.

I um I think to the pieces of like uh the the network and kind of just to speak to the the work of African American Redress Network.

So um a lot of the entities that applied locally, it's my understanding that they actually referenced ARN and some of the proposals.

So it was either work with ARN, the entity that actually does the work or work with the local entity who's just gonna go and turn around and work with ARN.

And I think one of the things that's really important about uh that piece is just that this is the entity that has done harm reports for previous cities, a lot of those cities in which members of our commission are in direct communication with.

Um, and so I think that this um that this commit this actual network too also has a pre-existing relationship with some of the um commission members to where that that won't be as big of a learning curve despite being remote.

With that, I think also just putting into light the the resumes that are attached for for Dr.

Mayan and for um for uh Mr.

Hand for Hansford as well.

I think that um they were submitted in alliance because they are actually on they're the leading scholars that work with ARN, and so for the who's and I think the the what of the discussions and I think really what I hope to see is some of the next steps, noting that the contract start date I think is today on the timeline for slide.

Um I think what I'm really excited about and just kind of looking at the project timelines, right?

Like there's an extensive piece on this proposal, and I you know, as someone who's not on the committee, not being able to see the full scope of what had of what the other applications were, but um, you know, looking at the community engagement approach as well as just their promise on their work line, their work plan, their timeline.

Um, I think it's really getting at what some of the commissioners have also echoed that they would like, and just looking at their you know, month one and two deliverables.

I know here in St.

Paul we have a specific approach, and I guess one thing I would say we should probably follow up on um with them is to understand what that timeline is for that on-site person and to know who that person is and um how they're planning to do the community engagement work because I know that's really important to the commission.

So I I definitely want to know like when those things are happening, what the kickoff meeting really looks like, the you know, I think a lot of this communication comes back to communicating with the commission too.

But I think um just making sure that we are aware of what the uh community engagement process ends up looking like is gonna be really important.

So being the therapist start date, I think is today.

I what my hope would be that we would hear from ARN directly about how they're gonna actionalize some of their work plan.

And so uh whatever that looks like, whether that needs to be formally requested um by council members.

We you know, I I look to you kind of to share with us what you feel comfortable with.

Uh, but I think one of the things will be really helpful to include all of us on the front end versus sharing it like a week out while we're doing an event in your ward, um, want to hear about it.

So just some of those things I think will be really important.

But to Arn's credit, I mean this is a particular type of work that needs someone who can go deeper, and whether they're based in New York, um, they've been at Columbia University to actually be able to do this work, and it's a specialty and a lot rides on the product of this harm report, I think.

Um, and so it's what's kind of cool to see that this was the same entity that did work in Evanston, the same entity that has done work in different cities across the the country related to this.

But yeah, they were mentioned several times in other proposals as a partner because it's kind of the partner you work with.

Thanks.

Yes, and and if I can just follow up uh with that, Councilmember Johnson, you know, I think another attractive uh point to their proposal was really kind of their collaborative nature, and as I've been talking with the uh lead researcher uh who's currently a professor at Columbia University, uh that's essentially their MO.

So they they really do understand that here in St.

Paul, we've been very collaborative in working, you know, across the commission itself and across um, you know, working uh along council alongside with council members, uh just really building consensus um as much as possible on the front end.

So they're very adept to that.

Great.

Why don't we let you finish up this slide and then we can kind of open it up to additional questions?

Okay, um, my final slide here um again is just looking at how we're uh phasing uh the work of their uh scope of work, and again, uh phase one and three is looking at the um examining harms assessment, doing that community engagement setup, some initial archival and genealogical research.

Uh the next phases four and five is that uh oral history and historical context, and six is uh more of the impact analysis across various sectors um in which they will work uh closely with the community to identify you know what are the most important sectors you really think we should be examining, and then the final phase is uh their actual uh policy recommendations, their implement implementation plan uh that they would recommend uh to the commission and to the city council, and doing some public engagement, helping to explain their research findings uh more broadly out in the in the public.

And as uh council member uh Johnson alluded to the time frame we're giving them for this work is a whole year starting today, uh April 15th until April 14th of next year.

Um again, um, you know, the contract itself is aligned with milestones of um aligned with deliverables uh of the project and the outcomes, the policy outcomes is again uh significant because it will verify historical harms and present a documentation of that and quantify uh disparities across these key sectors, and then um more significantly uh create an action an actionable uh reparative framework that's in alignment with um the UN or international um uh standards around restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guaranteed of non-repetition.

So um, but again, if there are any other uh follow-up uh questions, I can answer those, but uh we will definitely uh be working very closely uh with council members to execute this work.

Thanks for the very hard work on this, Ms.

Bird.

I see Ms.

Johnson has a question or a comment.

Yeah, I just um I was just curious more so uh the itemized budget.

Are we able to see the itemized budget budget?

I just noticed that it's not in the application material itself.

Um, the itemized budget.

Um I let me check with procurement on that.

Um I can get a copy of that for you.

Uh, but again, the itemized budget is still a bit of an approximation, at least you know, how we set up the the contract itself.

Um I think it is in the contract, is they would receive a payment um in incremental phases based on the milestone of the work they produce uh uh within the scope of work itself.

So yeah, as a brief just follow-up, I think um the the budget itself was submitted as a separate file to this one.

So just being able to see important idea with the 220,000, 229,000 price point.

Um it was a discussion at great length with the commission about whether or not they wanted to give some from the scope because the bid came back higher than what they had originally planned for that.

Originally the conversations were around 175,000.

Um, but the scope of what was accomplished in this uh in the request that we put out as a city, there was more value in actually being able to do the full the full budgeted amount, and this was what came back in the bid.

And so I think it just would be helpful for folks to understand how they broke down those costs.

Okay, even if obviously their projections are not actuals, their budgeted expenses are not actuals.

Um, but I think just being able to see how ARN divided up that versus the the work itself would be helpful to get at some of the pieces around transportation, around how much they're in protecting and research, about how much they're projecting for that individual partner.

And I just don't see it in the information we have here.

And so if it is publicly accessible in the sense that like I know this is now because this is the selection that we put in, but if um we can get the the budget that was submitted as a separate file, I think it just would answer any questions that people have about that amount.

Um so whatever can be shared would be great.

Yes, I could certainly follow up with that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I just have two comments.

One, I want to uh really commend the uh the team, you, Ms.

Bird, and the entire commission for the thoughtfulness of how this contract is laid out.

I especially appreciate the timelines with milestones and payment tied to deliverables according to those milestones.

We have seen recently with another contract that um we ended up making payment without getting what we needed in that contract, and I just want to make sure that um applaud you for doing that and make sure that the commission continues to um hold the contractor accountable for those deliverables before payment is made.

Very difficult on the back end to get the payment back if the when the work is is not done.

Um, and then uh second of all, I I really appreciate I appreciate what you said, Ms.

Johnson, about the um experience of ARN.

It seems like um we've really made a great decision here.

I would say that given that they've already worked with so many other cities, Evanston foremost among them, probably that have now moved towards policy based on the harm report.

I think sometimes you you go forward with a report, you're not exactly sure how it's gonna tie into the policy you may want to pass afterward.

It would be great for the commission to have a conversation if they haven't already with Evanston or Casey or Detroit, some of these other cities to say what do you wish you maybe had learned from the harm report or data you wish had been in there that would have informed your policies later on that maybe we should ask for now because I I think we have that experience we can learn from.

So just a suggestion.

Ms.

Coleman.

Thank you.

Also, just a quick comment.

I'm really excited about this, and also just want to say a huge congratulations.

I um have been lucky enough to get to work with Professor Hansford a little bit in the past, and he's so brilliant.

And the fact that St.

Paul is going to get to benefit from his brain on this is such a huge win for all of us.

Um feel really uh really excited and really optimistic about where this is gonna go.

So just a huge congratulations.

I'm excited to uh see what comes out of all of this.

Ms.

Bui, thank you.

And I just want to say a congratulations too on the work.

I know it's been very, very tedious process, um, especially for your large contract um of this um magnitude.

I also had a chance to connect with Dr.

Hansford um actually two years ago at the United Nations permanent forum for people of African descent.

I actually should be there right now, but that's a whole other story.

Um, but uh actually it's so fitting that our contract is starting today because they're in a group chat right now in Geneva talking about how they're going to continue on their research and expand some of their their research, particularly here in the city of St.

Paul.

So I am happy to hear that our work is going to have national, even international attention.

Um last or the first time I had a chance to connect with uh Mr.

Hansfield was actually him re um giving a survey results of the Kansas City Harm Report where they did a sustainable goals assessment or audit, excuse me, and also like just looking at the city of San Francisco and connecting with the former council member Robin in the city of Ebiston and how that harm report actually influenced their restorative housing program, which they actually had shared that we were actually way more progressive in for thinking with our inheritance fund, which is pretty much does the same thing.

Is for the very things that you mentioned, Council President Acre.

If we can actually look at ways that we can deepen the scope, one of the things that I noticed in the scope that it looks at like health, it looks at um income, it looks at education, but it doesn't have anything in here about public safety.

And when I think about in terms of harms and like historical harms and historical context for many of the activists and historians in St.

Paul, uh, you know, it should be it should be important that we center um the people's descendants um experience with our uh public safety, um, frontliners, also the criminal justice system, as those are also factors that goes into people's experience of life.

Thanks, Ms.

Bowie.

Yes, uh that's a uh if if I can address that.

Yeah, uh, that's a very good point, Councilmember Bowie.

Uh those are just examples that they've uh provided.

Uh they um I do believe there is uh within the contract itself, uh, the idea of public safety as well as uh like you know, neighborhood infrastructure and so forth and so on.

So there are you know a number of sectors that they are looking to um discuss with the community, look at what should be prioritized, and um, you know, frame their research uh definitely around there.

And uh to you, council president, um, in terms of you know, aligning uh uh, you know, the milestones with the um, you know, uh the payment itself, uh one thing too to help to kind of secure that is just providing more of the payment at the end, which is where you know the biggest bulk of the work is in the final uh research product.

So um again, just trying to put in some some safeguards.

Um but uh with that, um, you know, there isn't a follow-up from Ms.

Bowie than Ms.

Jose, and then I think we'll leave it there unless there's anything burning after that.

Yeah, and I just wanted to reiterate too, because I see part of the scope is a kickoff meeting, and I know Veronica, you've been connecting with the council members around what will be a good day.

Um if you can just make sure that we are like working ahead of time.

I would love to at least plan for a kickoff that's at least a month out before we figure out the date, just so we can be able to connect with the partners.

And also on the on the uh conduct oral stories and the community engagement.

Um I I also would like to lead on, particularly on like the stakeholders and just doing some work beforehand, so they're not touching the ground doing a kickoff and then trying to learn and like who's the who we already have a lot of valuable uh connections and stakeholders that really is eager to be part of this work.

So we just want to make sure we can you know, you know, eliminate any, you know, um gatekeeping, I should say, around when it comes to whose stories is told and who can actually be part of the the process.

Thanks, Ms.

Bowie.

Ms.

Just thank you, Council President.

I just had a quick comment similar to what the council president said um with the work that um this group has done in other cities.

It would also be interesting to know, and maybe you know, the commission's already exploring this, but like what policies they implemented as a result of the of the um report that they received, and just you know, how are any of those things, any of those policies working, just any anything else we can learn?

It sounds like Councilman Ruy also has a relationship with folks in some of these cities.

Um I that would just be something I'd be interested in knowing more about.

Okay.

That's a very good idea and maybe a good um opportunity to invite some of those before the commission itself and um hear directly from them.

But uh I think um that will kind of bring my presentation in to a close and just um to put on uh the council members' radar, you know, I again I will be following up with you uh just in regards to uh orchestrating some more upcoming listening sessions.

Uh we do have one hosting uh being hosted by uh Council President Acre coming up oh I think on the 27th.

So I want to continue following up with you.

And um, and then finally, too, um, as I touch base a bit more with you one-on-one, uh, just letting you know as well of some um recommendations also coming from the commission about some um policy recommendations around uh anti-black hate crime uh resolution are looking at um moving through the city council um as well as support of a Ramsey County uh appropriate response related resolution.

So I'll I'll get more into that as I meet with you, but just wanted to put that on your radar.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Burt.

We'll let uh Ms.

Johnson have the final final word.

Sorry, but um not really.

I uh wanted to just make a recommendation to this body.

I think that you know, one of the things I think will be helpful for us as well, and as we gather understanding, is to think about and consider uh bringing on or having like either a virtual presentation from uh some of the leaders in Evanston.

I think that like just being able to continue to educate ourselves on some of the questions that we're asking here around policy.

One of the distinctions in Evanson right is that the council member who was there also led a lot of the work as a result of this harm report.

And so much of the work is directly from another local government colleague to another, and so I think sometimes also hearing about what they learn would be very beneficial to this body and um and to the public, right?

To people who maybe aren't uh visiting and as as in the weeds on the reparations commission's work or maybe not doing it every day.

We have an ability to create a public record of that as well.

And so if there is any space for this committee, I think appropriate place for it is the policy committee.

If there are openings and if there are um uh opportunities this year to squeeze it in, even asking for 30 minutes or so or 45 minutes a slot for uh for one of the leaders or a couple leaders from respective cities who have implemented them based off of the harm report, right?

Uh I think could be worth our time and might be worth uh discussion at in this space, just so we can we can ask them directly.

Thanks, Ms.

Johnson.

I agree, and we definitely have room on the calendar, so we'll follow up on that.

Ms.

Burt, thank you so much again, and please extend our thanks to the commission for all their hard work.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for your partnership, and um we're moving forward with some um exciting work.

Thank you.

And with that, we will pivot once again with the last 17 minutes to Mr.

Greenfield.

And I know our hope is to also have some time for discussion, so yes, we'll do our best.

I will move rapidly here.

Um I apologize that I that printed slides were not made available, um, but this is meant to be more of a facilitated conversation anyway.

We're trying to save trees also.

And and save trees, you know, balance it out with the other presentations.

Um so I'm intending to serve uh kind of a facilitator role in this conversation, you know, largely due to time, but also to receive direction from you as council members to explore this conversation about potential reforms to the charter.

Um I know in my initial conversations that I've had with some of you, some of you already have ideas that you are interested in bringing forward to the charter commission.

So this is also intended to elevate those ideas, but not necessarily take a position on them and or explore other areas of governance for potential reform as I have reviewed the charter and um you know been in this role for a little under a year.

So some very brief background that we're all familiar with.

We're a home rule charter city, uh, which is a creature of state statute.

Uh a home rule charter city can exercise powers in their charters so long as they do not conflict with state laws, and that the provisions can specifically restrict the powers of a city, which would result in voters in our city having more control over the city's governing powers.

Our city charter is 57 pages covering 18 chapters.

We exist within a strong mayor's system, one of only four in the state, where the mayor is responsible to the council for the operation of all agencies and departments.

The mayor can generally appoint and remove subordinates and is not a council member, but can veto council legislation and admit it prepares and administers a budget that is subject to our approval.

And the Charter Commission is a statutorily prescribed um entity uh and governed entity.

Um so the charter commission's duty is to study local charter and government.

The commission is required to meet once a year.

It functions um in practice like a standing constitutional convention.

If we think of the charter as our constant a governing document or constitution, this is the standing body that can propose charter changes at any time or have changes brought to them, which uh is part of this conversation.

Um they can also meet upon presentation of a petition presented by at least 10% of registered voters according to the last annual city election or by resolution as discussed of majority of the city council.

Uh two processes by which we can amend the charter through the Charter Commission, amendment by proposal, and amendment by ordinance.

Amendment by proposal is the process by which a charter commission may propose amendments to the charter at any time, or a citizen petition can be brought forward.

The amendment goes to the city clerk who notifies the council, who then provides for the election if the proposal is meets the legal requirements.

That's not fully what I'm interested in discussing here.

Obviously, as as the policy committee, we're more interested in the ordinance route.

I specify the details by which the charter is amended by ordinance.

I'm not going to go progression by progression unless there's an interest in doing so.

But in short, and the way I will summarize this process is we bring things to the Charter Commission that then sets forth a statutorily prescribed set of deadlines by which they have to review and then return the potential change to the council after that time.

So either the council then decides to submit what potential amendment amendment to the charter is made as originally proposed, or the commission's substitute amendment.

This is an example of one amendment that we're very familiar with, an amendment to our charter by ordinance establishing the process by which we impose administrative citations.

So this is just an example of the way that the charter has been amended recently to provide for ordinance language that exists not just on a policy basis but also on a governance basis, you know, a way that we can enforce our city ordinances and recoup revenue as a penalty.

Mr.

Greenfield, in your previous slide, did you say that anything that comes back then has to be submitted to the voters?

No, not necessarily.

There's a pathway that I'll describe later.

Things that can come back to us we can take up, and that's what uh for Minnesota Statute Section 410, 12, subdivision 7 discusses.

So within receiving the Charter Commission may direct the city council to amend the charter by ordinance, separate from a voting proposal.

Within one month of receiving a recommendation to amend the charter by ordinance, the city must public publish notice of a public hearing.

Hold the public hearing within at least two weeks, but not more than one month after the notice is published.

And within one month of the public hearing, the city council must vote on the proposal.

In order for the amendment by ordinance to the charter to be effective, all seven members have to approve the ordinance, and the mayor has to sign the ordinance and not veto it.

The ordinance must be published as in the case of other ordinances and becomes effective 90 days after passage, approval, and publication, unless a later date is provided.

So again, this is a very high-level overview.

I'm happy to go more into specific details.

But what I'm intending to bring forward to this conversation, um, and this is the piece that allows even an enacted ordinance to be then brought to the voters for approval, like administrative citations was within 60 days after passage and publication.

Um so I identified in reviewing the charter, you know, two large governance areas of the, you know, where the charter and where we as council could take opportunities to explore potential changes to the charter.

I kind of have them loosely uh organized into both executive governance uh areas as well as uh legislative governance areas.

I apologize for the look of jeopardy, but that's kind of the method I'm trying to go of, I think, with the remaining part of this presentation.

Um in terms of executive governance areas of charters.

I've specified and and hyperlinked the ones where I feel we've seen some potential challenges, or there's ways that we kind of have to operate within these structures in our relationship with the mayor's office.

And so I'm happy to dive into you know what why I've identified these specifics as the possibility of you know a potential charter reform or a proposal uh to be brought forward or something that's worth further study.

Um I'll note that on the right side of the of the slide here, um, we kind of are you know at the top, two right columns.

These are the principles I think of the strong mayor system in action, uh, particularly you know, charter section 3.014, where the mayor has the charter prescribed duty to direct and supervise the administration of all departments and agencies.

Um, and then you know, the Navy blue column in the middle there talks about our appointment process, um, you know, by which the mayor submits uh you know the city attorney for approval with the advice and consent of the city council.

You know, that's something that happens at the outset of a mayor's term, but is you know, potentially something that we could build in additional parameters around confirmation, as we've seen from a you know a city across the across the river.

Um, and then you know, the bottom are more you know, actions that the mayor's office takes as part of their authority, um, you know, particularly the veto process, the process by which um boards, commissions, and legislative advisory committees are established, and the the baseline mayoral duty of um recommending a budget for adoption by the city council.

Um, and then the latter two um areas in the bottom right, the city attorney uh of chapter five and chapter nine of executive departments.

Um and then the latter two um areas in the bottom right, the city attorney uh of chapter five and chapter nine of executive departments, those two are areas where um they are in within the charter, but they are subject to the direction and supervision of the mayor, um, unless other unless otherwise prescribed by law, specifically in chapter nine.

So uh this is kind of where I would say there are governance areas of the charter within the executive branch that we see a lot of interaction with.

We have our policies um, you know, potentially exist within this space, but you know, the balance and and that exists between two co-equal branches is something that we can you know pursue through the voters or through the charter commission if additional you know clarification or need uh is is um is needed in that process is still open to us through the charter commission to address these areas of the executive.

So I'm happy to like pull up any specific text off this table to dig into um specifics.

Um but I think in the interest of time, I'm just gonna pivot to the legislative chart unless there are questions specifically here.

Okay.

The governance areas for the legislative branch that I've identified.

Um there's a variety of different sections that I think relate to potential reforms for our legislative powers.

We have the distribution of powers at the outset.

We have a part-time council prescribed by charter.

We have a process by which we fill vacancies on the council is prescribed by charter.

And as you can see, as we move through, it's a variety of organizational, procedural, and policy making um structures in place within our charter that would allow us to uh you know that are possible pathways to explore moving forward.

Um this is not all-encompassing, but I did note far more possible, you know, not just technical changes to these to these ordinances as brought forward by staff, you know, as a possibility, but also potential balance of power governance areas that are a little bit more weighty and substantial.

And so I think with this point I've had uh received some input from council members about areas that they're potentially interested in here.

Um, but I'm curious as to you know, since we are our own body, what people are thinking about the the these powers that I've identified and whether they have their own thoughts or questions.

Great.

Thanks so much, Mr.

Greenfield.

Um, and is that the end and now it's discussing the case?

Functionally, I mean there's policy chapters of the charter, but I don't have time to discuss those.

Well, thank you.

Um that was a lot and a little, and I look to my colleagues for discussion questions, ideas.

I don't know where the daily double is, I'm sorry.

Uh looking for the daily double.

I see Ms.

Johnson, Ms.

Boolean, then vice president.

I will take, no, I'm kidding.

Um one of the things that I just I really think that it's uh important to know, and this is probably not genuinely a question, it's more so just something that I think as we continue to talk about changes to the charter and or the charter commission and engaging the charter commission, it's just that you know, this this community-led commission so often meets very few times in the year.

And I think going to the charter commission or asking the charter commission or being able to have communication with the charter commission to do anything seems to be like this really long process, but also just there's like the inability to have uh you know things brought to the charter commission that potentially could not be approved, or even just to hear the discussion or hear what the conversation is like.

And I just want to express my interest in like being able to really utilize more that ability for these community members to ask themselves the hard questions and really be able to use the full weight of their appointment.

Like I think that there's just a lot of things here, right?

So looking at the governance areas and a lot of places where the charter is the governing document, and then you go into the weeds of just when was the last time these things were changed, altered, uh looked at, even discussed publicly in their meetings.

That would be a question, you know, that I have of like not just anyone fishing expedition, but like so much of our city's history, how many times have the charter actually changed uh substantially and not just like in a short word.

And I think just really being able to dive into that is like a really underutilized and undertapped ability that we have here, um, then not we at the council, but definitely the commission and the city uh folks that are here that are representing this on the charter commission.

It just feels like sometimes there's like a hesitancy to just ask the commission on certain things.

And um, you know, there's been a lot of in there's a lot a lot of conversations that have happened over the last few years, but so much of the substantial changes happened many, many years ago.

Um, some before I was even born.

And so being able to have uh have an extensive conversation on all of these things.

I would be curious as to just understanding like how much, you know, how many times the charter commission has met over the last decade, and in what capacity have they discussed things as substantial of substance and of not.

And just like if there's interest, especially from the current commission on like talking about some of these things.

Because some of the changes, you know, yes, there's a formalized process.

It's also not harmful for them to discuss things like uh, you know, our strong URL system.

It's not hard to discuss things like part-time versus full-time council.

I think some of these things that really just people have hesitancy around bringing up or even just asking the question.

I just think that that's an underutilized and undertapped resource that holds a lot of power, like looking into the charter and our governing document and all the things that it covers.

I just think we should be really relying on their expertise more than we are currently.

Thanks, Ms.

Johnson.

Ms.

Bowie.

Thank you.

I just uh just gonna give a comment to it.

Um I think just getting my my initial reaction is just I would love to uh continue on these conversations in the org um committee meeting because it just like each topic or each section you can dive into, and I think um over the past two years or even you know, more than that, there's been conversations amongst council members around some of these reforms.

So um, you know, I'm I'm happy to listen to see what rises to the surface.

But I did want to just share.

I do think um, I do think there should be a robust conversation, maybe.

I mean, if now or even in the org meeting around the interpretation of the charter, because I do think like there's a lot of things that is up for interpretation.

I know we've been using the phrase um for St.

Paul that we're a strong mayor city, but when you think about like who actually adopts the budget and who actually has like adoption power, like I kind of see my interpretation would be like we are actually a strong council in mayor city that the mayor proposes, but the council has the power and authority to actually adopt.

Um, which you know has a there's this interchangeable um discussion around how who actually has power and what does that mean and authority and um so I I do think that conversation is important because that actually helps influence how we actualize our power and also dig deep into you know what are all the different tools that we have to actually advance the policies that we want to see or even advance even the budget process, which we have already um brought some changes in terms of you know the mayor doesn't set the trajectory around when we can start discussing budget, council has that power and we've utilize those tools.

Um so I do think this is like really good refresher to really um dive deep into what our powers are, but I don't really have um I don't have like a strong sense or reaction to reform I would want to see right now.

Thanks, Ms.

Bowie.

And I will say, as usual, I think we've been enough more than we can do with timing.

Um but I think the purpose of this was to be very much a high-level general table setting, if you if we will, and to give some of these ideas, and then I think we will likely want to come back to your point to have further conversation.

And I think some folks at the table have specific proposals, but um, I also appreciate your point that it is actually a strong mayor dash council system is the name.

Um, but sometimes it's always abbreviated to strong mayor.

I'm not sure why.

Um, so I appreciate that point.

Vice President Yang and then I saw Miss Joseph.

I think Ms.

Coleman.

Thanks, Council President.

I will make mine quick.

I uh really appreciate you, Tim, and also y'all, you Jay, for all of your work and um really digging into this topic and um to you for doing the presentation here.

To me, this is uh a very timely topic for the council to be having um for many reasons um that I care deeply about, and uh, I'll just name that for me at Operation Metro Surge just really um elevated the importance of us going back and reevaluating and also also figuring out how we can revise our rules here to actually work for us in our community so that we can do the work that we want to for our residents.

Um one of the um things that I well, two of the things that I wanted to bring up regarding that is um I know that we like at the table here.

I brought up the the question about when we when we approve ordinances, do we necessarily need to have the 30 days to go into effect in order um to pass in order for a new policy to go into effect?

And I am very opposed to keeping the the language as it is because I think that I know that there definitely are policies that we want to go to have go into effect immediately, like for example, when we wanted a ban ice from our city-owned lots and um city properties, and so I that's one that I am very interested in looking into, and then also I just I recently learned that in Minneapolis they have a um uh I suppose like you know, a different uh route that they can go and passing their ordinances on a quicker timeline if there's you know unanimous support from their entire council, they don't need to have like go through their regular route where I think maybe it might be three readings, it could um they can shorten it um and also still do public hearing at the same time.

And uh, and so I don't have the details for that.

I'm gonna have to look into it somewhere, but it was really interesting.

Um, council member Kim and I, we learned about that during Operation Metro Surge.

And so um for me, like I'm interested in us having an alternative option like that available, especially for situations where it is a crisis that we are are living in, and and I've um been through two of them already.

Pandemic, Operation Metro Surge, and I hope that we don't have another one, you know, coming up.

And so the last thing I'll mention is that for five years I've always had annual conversations with my colleagues at the table about the council members going full-time and also getting a salary adjustment that really is um uh that matches um the amount of work that we're that we're putting into our role as council members, and also as a is dignified pay for us too.

We are always fighting for for workers um and our staff to have dignified pay, and I just want to name that for us as council members.

This is definitely not a part-time position.

I see um so many of us here doing work that is very similar to other local governments, like our Minneapolis council members and also Ramsey County Commissioners who are doing full-time jobs, also getting um much more pay than we are, and we're all representing very large populations and doing a lot of important work for our city.

And so in Minneapolis, they every time um they have a um in a new election cycle, then they do a study um for elected officials compensations to make sure that they're always keeping up to pace with it.

And I think that that's something we should definitely do here in St.

Paul.

I don't know the last time ever that a study was done, not only for council members, but also for the mayor too.

And so um that's something I wanted to bring up.

So those are the changes that I would really love to dig into.

And I also want to name that the one of the reasons why um the the charter commission doesn't meet a lot is because like I just remember a few years back, they mentioned they only want to meet whenever there is an item that council members have unanimous support on because whenever that we make our final vote um or take a final vote, we have to have unanimous support in order to amend the charter.

And so um the the biggest issue that's um that's been before them has been around administrative citations, and um and it's I don't recall how many meetings they've had during like my seven years here on the council.

However, I do think it's really important for us to at least have a pod within the council here that's always regularly talking about the charter and how we um we'll want to modernize and also just like make sure we're um amending our rules to make it work for us um so we can better function in the city here.

Thanks, Vice President.

I think we'll go to Ms.

Joast and Ms.

Coleman, and then we may try to wrap there, given that we're definitely gonna have to have follow-ups on a number of these, and thank you for bringing up some very specific suggestions um and for your leadership on some of these issues for a very long time.

Ms.

Jost.

Um thank you, Council President.

I just had well, a couple quick comments.

Um Mr.

Greenfield, thank you for putting this together.

I find it very easy to follow, and just the way that you've outlined um the charter and how it works is super helpful.

So thank you for doing that.

Um I also just wanted to add, if I think most of you know this, but um there's new charter commission members that were appointed last year.

Um I'm trying to mix my ears up.

So I just wanted to point that out that out too as we're thinking about you know how they work and and to your point, Councilvice President Yang.

Um I I that is my understanding too, that they they like to meet when something is before them that has council support.

I my understanding is there was some frustration under the commission where there were times where they thought there was full council support and then there wasn't, and they want to make sure they're being most efficient and making the best use of their their time too.

Thank you.

Yeah, helpful, very helpful context.

Ms.

Coleman.

I'll say this super quickly.

I'll echo the things and then just say that you know, we're 50 years in, I think, to our strong mayor-council system.

And so thinking about opportunities to, you know, like I could totally imagine taking a piecemeal approach, sort of, you know, thought here, thought there going forward.

But I could also, it seems to me that there would be a lot of benefit in looking at people who have maybe modernized or updated a charter in the last 50 years and sort of doing some best practice investigation.

I would imagine that Minneapolis did a lot of this when they made their transition in 21.

So maybe we can crib from some of their stuff.

Um but you you know, I would just be very, very curious what what cities who have made significant charter changes or adopted a charter in the last 20 years, what they have looked like and where there are differences and what we might be able to learn from from them.

Thanks, Ms.

Coleman.

Fifty years is even before I was born, and I almost never had the chance to say that at this table.

So that I should take advantage of Mr.

Greenfield, any closing thoughts?

These are my or next steps.

Next steps would just be where we can take direction.

You know, either we can get direction from you as council president or as a collective to study certain areas of the charter, suggest potential changes, either as standalone items or you know, um, as council member Coleman was talking about a broader holistic look.

Um we could take direction to do more of a historical analysis.

I'm happy to take that on.

You know, I'm eager just as much as you know, all seven of you are to explore these governance issues.

Um, you know, I think I'm meeting the friction between principle and policy and practice, I think, um, quite often, and the charter is a great place to start for resolving some of those frustrations that seem to bubble up to the surface time and time again.

Um, and the other route that we could take is elevate a potential proposal within this space, you know, as policy committee.

Um, we still have opening dates, you know, throughout the summer and into the fall where we could you know potentially devote 60 minutes of time on one or two sets of proposals.

Um, I I think also part of this conversation, some of these will have budget implications, you know, potentially compensation study, that type of thing.

So we can sequence you know, a future charter conversation around uh a broader holistic or strategic package, you know, on actions that we're taking as council.

Great.

Thank you for these very clear, uh clear breakdowns, as Ms.

Joe said, and also clear next steps.

And I I think I would say to my colleagues, as you reflect on this, um, talk to me, talk to Mr.

Greenfield, especially if you have specific ideas that we want to get on the policy committee calendar or specific items to study.

We do still have a number of open spots, and we want to make sure we're making the most of it.

With that, thanks everyone for your patience.

Sorry to go over again, and uh we are adjourned.

Sorry that that was so left.