The Saint Paul City Council met on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 3:31 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting included a regular business session and a special meeting honoring Black Music Month. All votes were unanimous (7-0) unless noted.
Immediately after the regular meeting, the Council convened a special meeting to recognize June as Black Music Month and honor seven awardees. Councilmember Bowie led the proceedings. A video from the Get Down program (St. Paul Parks and Recreation) was shown, featuring youth mentorship in hip hop. The following awards were presented:
Call the meeting of the same power City Council to order. Roll call, please. Yang. Here. Here, Coleman. Johnson, Just. Kim. Council President Naker. Here. Seven present, none absent. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining us at our city council meeting. We invite everyone to join us in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Consent agenda items two. Two through 27 are before you for your consideration. Is there anything to be taken off of consent? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Yang to approve the balance of the consent agenda. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. Seven in favor, none opposed. The consent agenda. Agenda is adopted. Item 28, Resolution 26-997, honoring and recognizing the National Holiday, Juneteenth, 2026 as an annual celebration of black freedom, liberation, and the resilience and resilience in the city of St. Paul. This is a really special occasion. We are honored to be passing this resolution, and I think also hearing a proclamation from the mayor. So I will look to Miss Johnson. Thank you. A proclamation from the mayor. Super exciting. And we'll also have a resolution in front of us. There's a couple of folks that I want to welcome up at this time. So Assistant Mayor Baker, but also our lovely winners from the Mr. and Mrs. Miss Juneteenth pageant, as well as we also have Vanessa Weir from the uh 30,000 feet as well. So we'll go through and um kind of go through an order from them, but at this time all of you guys can come up. Um a couple things happening uh today. Just we are taking a chance to recognize a national holiday. June thing, Juneteenth, 2026, while not only also my birthday, is an incredible uh celebration where we have an opportunity to talk about black freedom, liberation, and resilience in the city of St. Paul. 30,000 feet, Vanessa Young, um, Angel Jones from the Miss Juneteenth pageant, the proclamation that is signed that is signed today by the mayor's office and presented by our uh wonderful mayor, uh Mayor Herr and our assistant mayor Cedric Baker, um, the first African-American assistant mayor here in the city, is important because it's really going to highlight the fact that Juneteenth is a celebration and it's also a call to action. It's a day to honor the resilience, the contributions, and the liberations of black Americans while reflecting on the unfinished work of building of our community, freedom, opportunity, and belonging in a truly accessible and necessity here in the city. As we gather across St. Paul for celebrations, cultural events, um, and taking time to spend with our families. I really want to take this moment to encourage my colleagues and everyone in our meetings as well as the millions of viewers watching at home, that it's important to take time to learn about the history and the significance of Juneteenth and the generations that um of struggle, courage, and perseverance that has brought us to this moment. We wouldn't have a federal holiday if it wasn't for the literal uh centuries long time of when at one point in our country, not everybody was free. And so our collective freedom is deeply connected.