Saint Paul Budget Committee and City Council Policy Committee – October 21, 2026

On October 21, 2026, the Saint Paul City Council held two sessions: the Budget Committee reviewed the Office of Technology and Communications (OTC) proposed 2027 budget, followed by a City Council Policy Committee discussion of standard operating procedures for honorary street co-naming. Both were discussion and informational sessions; no formal votes were taken. The provided agenda listed only the Budget Committee item, while the raw transcript also includes the Policy Committee meeting.

Budget Committee: OTC 2027 Budget Proposal

• Roll call showed five members present (Coleman, Kim, Jost, Noecker, Johnson) and two excused (Vice Chair Yang and Councilmember Bowie). OTC leadership presented the 2027 budget proposal.
• OTC Director highlighted 2026 as a recovery year after the city's cyber event and noted that 60–70% of organizations that experience a cyber attack have another within six months. The department said 30% of staff have more than 200 hours of banked vacation because of the workload.
• Proposed 2027 general fund changes include an increase of about $1 million; three new enterprise portfolio governance FTEs; three GIS analyst positions moved from Public Works on a budget-neutral basis; a $100,000 request to implement the cyber after-action improvement plan; and reductions including a deputy director position, a management assistant, two vacant positions, $105,000 in website vendor support, and roughly $67,000 in professional services.
• OTC reported a 2026 protected variance of about $60,000 tied to cyber recovery costs. Two security operations analysts fielded more than 3,000 security alerts in 2026, about 60 per week, and acted on about 1,800; tooling documented at least eight similar attacks that were automatically stopped.
• Other OTC updates: an after-action report recommended 42 tasks to prepare the city for future incidents; Project Bedrock will modernize the city's core network and infrastructure with core work in 2028–2029; OTC launched an AI Helpbot/support front door and St. Paul.gov 2.0; and HR requested 2027 funding to modernize the payroll/timekeeping platform.
• The central service fund is proposed to rise by more than $2 million, driven largely by Microsoft enterprise license increases, security-related licensing, global hardware price increases, and the addition of the Polly permitting/licensing system. PEG cable revenues are declining. OTC said local peers have seen Microsoft agreement increases of up to 30%, while hardware costs rose 15–25% globally; St. Paul's hardware increase was closer to 10%. OTC expects the market to stabilize in 2027 but said AI demand makes forecasting uncertain.

Questions and Discussion

• Council President Noecker asked how the three enterprise portfolio governance FTEs would work. The Director explained they would create a citywide governance structure, including an IT strategy/governance lead, a product council lead, and a portfolio analyst, to manage a portfolio of about 250 requested or in-process projects and stop disconnected technology purchases.
• Noecker also asked about the $100,000 after-action funding and the central service fund increase. The Director said the money would cover contractor support, project management, and one-time appliance upgrades across 42 tasks, and that the initiative will ultimately cost more than $100,000.
• Councilmember Kim asked whether the governance FTEs were the same as the GIS positions. The Director said they are separate; the three GIS analysts currently work in Public Works, and centralizing them would add capacity beyond the city's current two-person GIS team.
• Kim also asked about outstanding cyber-event costs. The Director said OTC had no outstanding expenses and had paid its last third-party attorney bill; the city's emergency management office manages citywide reimbursement and spending questions.
• Councilmember Jost expressed support for the staffing proposal, saying understaffing can create overtime and lacks redundancy in critical technology and security roles.

Policy Committee: Honorary Street Co-Naming SOPs

• In the second session, the Policy Committee discussed whether and how to restart honorary street co-naming. The council adopted a resolution on September 9, 2026, to restore the practice subject to council approval of standard operating procedures; no additional co-namings can be approved until those SOPs are adopted.
• Public Works representative Randy Newton shared a partial inventory of 13 known co-named locations, with eight resolutions located, adopted between 2012 and 2017. Most segments were under a mile and were signed at four or fewer intersections. Public Works recommended limiting co-namings to continuous street segments, using logical and consistent sign spacing, capping signed intersections at four, requiring a whereas statement explaining the choice, and having Public Works review locations and intersections in future resolutions.
• Councilmember Bowie presented a proposal to route applications through the Heritage Preservation Commission and PED, with criteria including significant contribution to Saint Paul, geographic connection, historical or cultural significance, community support, and optional council sponsorship. Councilmember Johnson's proposal, based on Ward One's draft with her office's edits, included similar criteria plus a 10-year sunset, no taxpayer funding, and a reviewing commission to be developed by staff. Both proposals made clear the co-name would be honorary and would not replace the legal street name.
• Assistant Mayor and PED Director McMahon questioned the proposed use of the Heritage Preservation Commission, noting HPC is focused on the built environment and on permanent street renamings, which have much larger resident impact. Councilmember Johnson also opposed placing the process with HPC, favored a 10-year sunset, and said her office's suggested edits were not incorporated. Councilmember Jost opposed restarting co-naming entirely, arguing resources should go to public safety and infrastructure needs such as pedestrian crossings, street lighting, and street markings. Councilmember Kim noted both proposals are honorary only and asked about differences from the petition-based street renaming process. Council President Noecker said third-party review was important to avoid political naming decisions, and raised the need to vet negative history and prevent a slippery slope with limited staff capacity.

Key Outcomes

• Budget Committee: No vote was taken. The OTC budget proposal will continue through the city budget process, and OTC committed to sending written follow-up answers to council questions.
• Policy Committee: No vote was taken. Councilmember Bowie will continue working with the administration and council colleagues to refine the SOP proposal. Unresolved items include the review body, sunset provisions, sign and cost specifications, public safety concerns, county-road requests, and whether and how to vet honorees' full histories.