The Saint Paul Public Safety Committee convened on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 12:30 PM in Council Chambers, City Hall, to review the city's Community-First Public Safety framework through a cross-departmental summer recap. The meeting featured presentations from Parks and Recreation, Fire and EMS, the Office of Neighborhood Safety, and the Police Department. Chair Anika Bowie led the meeting; six members were present (Bowie, Coleman, Jost, Kim, Noecker, Yang) and one absent (Cheniqua Johnson, excused). The meeting lasted approximately one hour, with discussions focused on youth engagement, safety interventions, and program impacts.
Parks and Recreation – Director Andy Rodriguez
Fire and EMS – Assistant Chief Jeremiah Melquis and Deputy Chief Jamie Smith
Office of Neighborhood Safety – Director Toy Vixavong
Police Department – Commander Jeremy Ellison
Roll call, please. Thanks, Chair Coleman. Here. Councilmember Johnson. Councilmember Jost? Here. Councilmember Kim. Councilmember Naker? Here. Councilmember Yang. Here. Chair Bowie. Here. There are six members present and one absent. Councilmember Johnson is excused. Item number one is SR twenty-six-two zero four community first public safety cross-departmental summer review. And I just wanted to just give some context, particularly for our meeting, because we have uh, as you see in your materials, we have several um packets from each department. And as we are, you know, nearly a month into the school year and entering the fall season. I really wanted to take the time and the opportunity to really reflect on our youth programs. Um, you know, here in the council in our committee meetings, we've had robust conversations around our recreation hours, staffing, uh, city programs, whether they're reaching the people that need some the most. Uh so with that, that is why I invited police, fire, parks, and also Office of Neighborhood Safety here to provide a recap, a summer recap of our uh city's community first public safety framework, and learn, you know, from some of the the work that they've been doing, also addressing some of the service gaps, uh, and also giving them the opportunity to see how we're carrying some of the lessons from this year to next year. Also, want to recognize uh Councilmember Kim and her office for hosting the Youth Summit or the youth uh state address, um, and then gathering a lot of that important information. Uh this committee meeting will provide somewhat of a like a high-level picture of some of the things that the young people have talked about that they appreciate what our city provides. Um also we have four presentations here at your seats. So we have an order. I want to make sure uh folks can follow well. So we have the St. Paul uh parts and rec. We're gonna have from speaker director Andy Ragrubius who is here. The second uh speaker will be from the fire and emergency medical services with assistant chief Jeremiah Melquis and Deputy Chief Jamie Smith. And our third present presenter will be the Office of Neighborhood Safety with Director Toy Vixa Vong, Vixavong will be presenting as well. And then lastly, we'll have our police department commander Jeremy Ellison here. And I just wanted to also highlight we have here uh Molly from the listening house, she's the executive director. Uh, will not be presenting today, but it's open for a follow-up meeting after this committee, and there's some materials um included in your packet. Um, a last closing kind of statement here before we get started. We only have one hour, and I just want to make sure every department has the opportunity to present. I am asking for council members to hold their questions and comments during the the end of the presentation. So, not the entire presentation, but each department. Um, I will open up the floor to have more of a focus, you know, round of questions towards the end of each department's presentation. And our goal here is to listen to you know, not only just activities, but really get an opportunity to understand the services. And like I mentioned, you know, most importantly, this is gonna be a focus on impact. So we're gonna start with our parks director um to get going here. So welcome, Director Rages. Thank you, Councilmember Bowie, council members. Um just want to recognize everyone in the room, park staff, uh, ONS, PD, FIRE. Um we all work very uh hand in hand throughout the summer months. Um, a lot of cross-departmental work, um, and you'll see that flow throughout uh each presentation. So just want to acknowledge that up front. Um as you can see from the title slide here, you see FIRE and our aquatics team who work together this summer, which we'll we'll talk about more uh in a coming slide. But a great example of collaboration and partnership.