Budget Committee September 26, 2024   9/26/2024

Discussion

• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:00:30
    Good morning.
  • 00:00:31
    My name is Aisha Chugtai and I'm the chair of the Budget Committee.
  • 00:00:33
    I'm going to call to order our adjourned committee meeting for Thursday, September 26, 2024.
  • 00:00:40
    Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all council members, staff presenters, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation.
  • 00:00:51
    These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community.
  • 00:00:58
    Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast.
  • 00:01:08
    We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments.
  • 00:01:12
    At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify the presence of a quorum.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:01:17
    Council Member Payne is absent.
  • 00:01:20
    Lonsley?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:01:20
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:01:22
    Greenville is absent.
  • 00:01:23
    Fita?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:01:24
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:01:25
    Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:01:48
    Colleagues, the agenda for today's meeting is before us.
  • 00:01:51
    Are there any amendments to the agenda?
  • 00:01:55
    Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:01:56
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:01:58
    Yes, I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda to include a legislative directive as item number two.
  • 00:02:04
    Our colleagues should have this in front of them.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:02:10
    Vice Chair Koski has made a motion to amend the agenda to include a legislative directive as item number two.
  • 00:02:17
    Is there a second to her motion?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:02:19
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:02:21
    We have a proper motion before us.
  • 00:02:23
    I'm not seeing any members in queue for discussion, so Mr.
  • 00:02:29
    Clerk, will you call the roll on that motion?
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:02:34
    Lonsley?
• • 00:02:36
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:02:38
    Rainville is absent.
  • 00:02:40
    Vita?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:02:41
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:02:43
    Osman?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:02:44
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:02:45
    Cashman?
  • 00:02:46
    Aye.
  • 00:02:48
    Chavez?
  • 00:02:49
    Aye.
  • 00:02:51
    Chaudhuri aye Vice Chair Koski aye and Chair Tuktai aye there are eight ayes that motion carries
• • SPEAKER_07
  • 00:03:05
    I don't think Vice Chair Koski mentioned what the legislative directive was about, so for those watching at home, just very briefly, it's related to financial reporting and practices, we'll obviously talk more about it when the item's on the agenda, but just since those at home maybe didn't know anything, any context about the item.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:03:28
    Thank you, Mr.
  • 00:03:28
    Clerk.
  • 00:03:31
    The agenda for today's meeting is before us.
  • 00:03:34
    Today we are receiving two presentations related to the mayor's recommended 2025 city budget from racial equity, inclusion, and belonging, and from performance management and innovation.
  • 00:03:49
    We will begin with racial equity, inclusion, and belonging, and for that I will now invite Director Prince Corbett to begin that presentation.
  • 00:03:58
    Welcome, Director.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:04:03
    Thank you, good morning, Madam Chair and Council members.
  • 00:04:06
    Think of before I was the last time I was before this committee I was three weeks into this role.
  • 00:04:12
    And last week, happy to announce that I celebrated my one year anniversary so off probation.
  • 00:04:20
    And last time I always start these off with a land of labor acknowledgement before diving into it.
  • 00:04:25
    And every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this very moment.
  • 00:04:38
    Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hopes of a better life, and some have lived on this land since time immemorial.
  • 00:04:48
    Truth and acknowledgement are critical to building respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference.
  • 00:04:54
    I acknowledge and honor the Dakota Oyeate people, the Dakota people who are the original stewards of this magnificent land and vibrant waterways of Minneapolis.
  • 00:05:03
    I pay respects to their elders, past and present.
  • 00:05:06
    I wanted to take a moment to consider the treaties made by the tribal nations that entitle non-native people to live and work on traditional native lands as we consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together here today.
  • 00:05:22
    I recognize and acknowledge that most of what we know of the United States of Minnesota today, including its culture, economic growth, and development has been made possible by the labor of enslaved Africans, their descendants, and their ascendance who suffered the horror of the transatlantic trafficking of their people through chateau slavery, Jim Crow, and other harms that continue today.
  • 00:05:45
    We are indebted to their labor and their sacrifice and we must acknowledge the tremors of violence throughout the generations and the resulting impact that can still be felt and witnessed today.
  • 00:05:56
    I step into this space acknowledging that our ancestors, my ancestors, have worked and died and were born and worked
  • 00:06:06
    and died and were born and worked and died for the sake of this economic system.
  • 00:06:12
    Just taking a moment to acknowledge our ancestors and our forefathers, foremothers, forepeople here today.
  • 00:06:20
    So starting off, I would like to introduce our, I would say like we are gathered here today to introduce the 2025-2026 Race, Equity and Inclusion and Belonging budget that was recommended by the mayor.
  • 00:06:35
    So I want to acknowledge our current department's organizational structure.
  • 00:06:39
    Underneath the Director, reporting to the Director is our Senior Project Manager, Administrative Assistant, and Deputy Director.
  • 00:06:46
    Reporting to the Deputy Director is the Program Manager, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, Administrative Analyst, and LGBTQIA Equity Program Manager.
  • 00:06:55
    Now I'm going to give special acknowledgements to my team, because none of this work over the past year, over the past few years, could not have been done.
  • 00:07:02
    with our Deputy Director Jackson, Karisma Smith, who's our Program Manager, Sunu Shastu, who's our Senior Project Manager overseeing human trafficking and labor trafficking, rights and prevention, as well as Maud Livingston, our Admin Assistant, and then Tony Frazier, who is our Administrative Analyst.
  • 00:07:23
    and let me step back.
  • 00:07:24
    And also within this current structure you will notice the difference between last year and this year is that I reclassified one of our program manager positions and then also a project coordinator position to be equity and inclusion coordinators as we reorganize and restructure our department to be more internal facing and supporting and consulting all the other departments across the city.
  • 00:07:47
    So these objectives come directly from the Minneapolis Code of Ordinance Chapter 21, which establishes the responsibilities and duties of our department.
  • 00:07:58
    And key and focal to what our objectives are is to really develop, adapt, and integrate an enterprise-wide race equity framework.
  • 00:08:04
    and really coordinating and supporting efforts by all departments to increase race equity and our department sits in internal services because we are responsible for working with and through all the other departments across the organization.
  • 00:08:16
    This work is not done alone by nine people in an organization of over 4,000 employees.
  • 00:08:21
    and it takes all 4,000 employees support to be able to move the work and move race equity forward as we look at addressing racial disparities and inequities.
  • 00:08:31
    And I think key and central to the objectives is developing and adapting a race equity framework.
  • 00:08:36
    So with the race equity framework, which we will talk about a little bit later, so that everybody across the organization and enterprise have the same shared language, same shared knowledge, same shared understanding of what race equity is.
  • 00:08:49
    So in 2024, we've made some management decisions with regards to our 2024 budget.
  • 00:08:55
    So within some of the key management decisions has been with the Trans Equity Summit which will be occurring October 30th of 2024 at McNamara Alumni Center
  • 00:09:06
    The Trans Equity Summit is only budgeted at $15,000 a year, but the actual cost to produce the whole summit is over $100,000.
  • 00:09:13
    And we utilize some of our existing funding to be able to cover the actual cost due to the constraints of the gift solicitation policy.
  • 00:09:22
    So in previous years with the summit, additional funding was provided to the summit through soliciting gifts and there's a process that we have in place to solicit gifts for an event.
  • 00:09:32
    However, who we can solicit gifts from goes from this big thing to a very narrow because we cannot solicit gifts from any current vendors, any individuals who've had contracts in the past 12 months, as well as anybody anticipated of getting a contract within the next three months.
  • 00:09:50
    So with all of the contracts that we do throughout the city, getting to this and finding that would be super very difficult, so I decided to take some of our funding and be able to fund the summit so that we don't have to worry about
  • 00:10:01
    the extra administrative tasks that it would be to go through potential individuals that we want to solicit gifts from, checking our systems to see if they meet all of these constraints.
  • 00:10:11
    In addition, the racial equity training, the racial equity training is budgeted at about $30,000 a year to provide an anti-racism or race equity training for the entire city of Minneapolis.
  • 00:10:22
    Earlier this year, or actually it started at the end of 2023, all department directors and their direct reports went through metamorphosis, which is a six month anti-racist leadership training program, or learning program.
  • 00:10:35
    We just recently contracted with Good Works leveraging the master contract that they have so that we can work on developing a repair harm model training, a thoughtful confrontation model training, as well as a training for the race equity impact assessment that will be available for all employees.
  • 00:10:50
    The full cost of this contract to be able to deliver all of this work, which would include online training, it includes a train-the-trainer model, is about $115,000, so taking some of our salary savings and other fundings to be able to cover the cost for that this year.
  • 00:11:06
    And as I said earlier this year, we classified our program manager and project coordinator to be equity and inclusion coordinators.
  • 00:11:15
    Some achievements and risks for this year.
  • 00:11:20
    Back in, I want to say earlier this year, around January or February, we was able to participate in the Center for Economic Inclusion's Race Equity Dividends Index.
  • 00:11:30
    So we have that report.
  • 00:11:31
    That report measures our organization across 100 different metrics and looks at different metrics that we can embed within the city of Minneapolis to become a more anti-racist organization.
  • 00:11:42
    and we are looking at contracting potentially with Center for Economic Inclusion on how to incorporate those metrics into the race equity framework that we want to develop.
  • 00:11:52
    We completed an organizational assessment report when it comes to truth healing and reconciliation.
  • 00:11:58
    Another proud achievement when I started in this role and we were talking about racial healing, I had to put my hand up in the space and say, hey, do we have a definition of what racial healing is?
  • 00:12:07
    Is it conceptualized?
  • 00:12:08
    And we did not at the point in time, but now we have a definition of racial healing.
  • 00:12:12
    In addition, we have a draft Truth, Healing and Reconciliation framework.
  • 00:12:17
    We've provided a lot of consultation to internal departments, specifically a lot for George Floyd Square and Minnehaha 3000.
  • 00:12:24
    Our team meets with Alexander Cato anywhere from three to four times a month to provide the consultation to Alexander to embed Truth, Healing and Reconciliation within Minnehaha 3000.
  • 00:12:35
    and George Floyd Square.
  • 00:12:36
    One of the things that came from the George Floyd Square engagement is this Office Hours Group, which is a partnership with Cultural Wellness Center and Agape Movement.
  • 00:12:45
    And with the Office Hours Group, it was a group of community members, really diverse community members who live around the square.
  • 00:12:52
    to provide additional information around the projects connected to the people's way, the memorials, and the street redesign, and those individuals who show up at the office hours group have a lot more information, but they also share that information with their neighbors so that their neighbors are informed.
  • 00:13:08
    So really leveraging community, sharing information with community so that they can share the information out.
  • 00:13:13
    I would say some of the other achievements that we have had is collaborations and partnerships with other organizations that I'm going to talk about.
  • 00:13:24
    I would say my most proudest achievement or accomplishment has just been getting to know the leaders within this organization, the employees within the organization, and that our leaders and our employees are definitely wanting us to reverse
  • 00:13:37
    the harms caused by racism and it's evident in so many meetings that I have with individuals.
  • 00:13:42
    Some of the risks that we have is the city ordinance that establishes the duties of our department, getting us to stay within scope of those responsibilities and those responsibilities and those duties are really working internally within the organization and not to be as much external facing.
  • 00:14:01
    understanding last year and this year there were a lot of external facing programs or projects that we have and executing on those but restructuring our department to be more of the internal facing to provide the consultation that departments need and then being a new department ensuring that we are in compliance with all of our city administrative
  • 00:14:19
    codes and HR policies and I'm a big policy person.
  • 00:14:22
    I don't want to violate any policy.
  • 00:14:24
    It is my duty to make sure that we are hearing to all of our policies and going through all of those policies.
  • 00:14:29
    And being a new department, like having the infrastructure to be able to make sure that we're not violating and that we are in compliance with all of those policies.
  • 00:14:38
    So within our current organizational structure, we have an administrative analyst and an administrative assistant.
  • 00:14:42
    because we need to document and have all of our internal policies, how we store files, and all of those technological things.
  • 00:14:53
    And another risk is failing to leverage the support from internal and external organizations.
  • 00:14:59
    Over this past year, there's been a lot of support from a lot of different departments and a lot of external organizations as well, and not leveraging those relationships and those partnerships can be a risk for us.
  • 00:15:13
    Some of the lessons learned, I would say in late 2023, we had over 90 of our senior and executive leaders who went through the metamorphosis anti-racist leadership program.
  • 00:15:29
    And I quickly learned that many of our leaders are really hungry to lean into being an organization that undoes the harms of racism.
  • 00:15:37
    and earlier this year we contracted with Research in Action, a black, queer, female-led, multi-racial, gender diverse social benefit corporation to conduct an organizational assessment report for REIB.
  • 00:15:50
    This report included a historical narrative, survey results from a survey that we issued to administrative and elected leaders focusing on how REIB can better support the enterprise.
  • 00:16:02
    And one of the promising results from the survey was that over 60% of departments are seeking expert consultation from REIB department.
  • 00:16:10
    They really want us to be crucial experts that can help them develop and meet racial equity inclusion and belonging goals.
  • 00:16:16
    Some of those recommendations include introducing the racial equity trainings that fits the needs of the city staff.
  • 00:16:24
    to explain the social construction of race, racism, and how racism impacts the lives of everyone, including white people, black people, brown people, trans queer people, individuals with disabilities across the whole intersection.
  • 00:16:41
    One of the other recommendations is refining our existing key terminology and definitions through a race equity framework, reintroducing the REIB department within the city to clarify our responsibilities, fostering a positive work culture, increasing staff buy-in to increase willingness to work with our department, and continuing supporting the racial healing and reconciliation work within the community.
  • 00:17:05
    We are already working on planning and implementing some of the recommendations and action steps, including a plan to further develop the repair harm model, provide training and consultation to other departments on this model.
  • 00:17:18
    In addition, we are developing a re-introduction and re-branding plan that will include having more engagement with employees from across the enterprise.
  • 00:17:27
    One of the things that I wanted to highlight from this year when talking about reintroducing and rebranding, if you notice in the slide presentation there's a watermarked fist in the upper right hand corner.
  • 00:17:38
    We was able to partner and contract with Justiposition Arts earlier this year in creating a unique icon brand for REIB and this is that icon.
  • 00:17:48
    The fist representing solidarity, representing unity, representing the fighting for social justice, not only in this country but all over the world.
  • 00:17:56
    and I give much credit to Deputy Director Jackson who went on an environmental justice tour with the health department back in March and Justiposition Arts was one of the organizations that they stopped at and she was very impressed with the artwork and the young people so we was able this summer our whole team went over to Justiposition Arts for a tour and we just got this logo so I am happy and proud of that.
  • 00:18:20
    and want to have some acknowledgments as well because none of this work that we have done is done in a silo bubble within REIB.
  • 00:18:29
    And these are some of the people within the organization that have supported us.
  • 00:18:34
    Amy Schutte, our Assistant City Attorney, Sarah Riskin, Rebecca Fadumi out of the Mayor's Office and if you notice on the bottom right, smart sheets.
  • 00:18:44
    So one of the things that we are working on is how do we do more better project management, track our
  • 00:18:49
    How do we leverage Smartsheet more?
  • 00:18:52
    And M, who's a client development manager at Smartsheet, who works out of Seattle, we have been having training sessions with M. And M shared with me this week during a training session that we had, that M was like, listen, I love the work that you all are doing.
  • 00:19:08
    They was like, if I wasn't doing this work, I wouldn't want to be doing grace, equity, diversity, inclusion work.
  • 00:19:14
    and MShare that within that, the way that they get the opportunity to do the work is by helping our department figure out how do we leverage Smartsheet in a more effective manner as we do our work.
  • 00:19:25
    Another external partner not listed on here that I want to give acknowledgement to is the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, GARE.
  • 00:19:32
    Earlier this year Marsha Guthrie stepped into the role of Senior Director of GARE and this year alone REIB supported Alexander Cato in getting the 2024 Transportation Justice Fellowship that was offered through GARE and this information just hit my mailbox on Tuesday
  • 00:19:55
    So recently GARE put out applications for jurisdictions to apply for the Jurisdiction Evaluation Learning Exchange, which is a unique, transformative learning opportunity for jurisdictions to gain tangible evaluation skills while supporting their current organizational racial equity efforts.
  • 00:20:12
    This includes up to 55 hours of learning and technical assistance from October 24 through October 2025.
  • 00:20:19
    I applied for this on behalf of the City of Minneapolis in partnership with PMI and this past Tuesday I learned that the City of Minneapolis was one of 24 jurisdictions across the country that was selected to participate in this learning exchange.
  • 00:20:33
    This will provide REIB and PMI with technical assistance
  • 00:20:37
    and learning to help increase our organizational capacity for evaluating racial equity work and building capacity within this organization throughout the city of Minneapolis as we leverage evaluative thinking and systems change efforts and want to give a special thank you to Director Hasbargain because when I contacted her about applying for the opportunity she said absolutely no problem go ahead and go for it.
  • 00:21:02
    And so this shows our program and staffing summary.
  • 00:21:07
    Currently in REIB we have three vacancies.
  • 00:21:10
    We have an internal posting out for two of those vacancies.
  • 00:21:14
    And we chose to do an internal posting because
  • 00:21:18
    doing internal postings and sharing with our employees inside of the organization that we have opportunities that are available says that we care about our employees who are already here doing the work.
  • 00:21:29
    Some employees in this organization may be underemployed, some employees may have the skills to be able to do the equity and inclusion work but haven't had the opportunity so we want it to be intentional
  • 00:21:38
    with making sure that we're given an opportunity internal to our own employees first.
  • 00:21:43
    The final posting that we have we will be sharing out around November or December and hope to have filled probably in January or February and that's where we are at with our current vacancies.
  • 00:21:57
    So sharing some program updates, objectives around and then some of our newer budget proposals.
  • 00:22:05
    So with the anti-racism, truth, healing, and reconciliation curriculum, as stated, this program is budgeted at $40,000 a year and the actual cost is roughly about $135,000 to develop an anti-racism, truth, healing, and reconciliation curriculum.
  • 00:22:21
    I shared with y'all earlier that we are leveraging the Master Contract from Good Works to develop learning curriculum around the repair harm model, thoughtful confrontation model, and the repair harm model is our truth healing and reconciliation process.
  • 00:22:36
    Through this contract we will be able to have a
  • 00:22:40
    Train the Trainer curriculum.
  • 00:22:41
    They are going to provide materials so that we can share the information throughout the organization.
  • 00:22:47
    And in addition, part of the contract includes training on the race equity impact assessment that they will be helping us deliver and provide throughout the organization.
  • 00:22:57
    And then with the ultimate outcome is for all of our employees or as many employees across the organization to possess the skills and behaviors necessary to engage in productive and meaningful conversations.
  • 00:23:09
    So with the repair harm model, it is really when harm is caused or when we cause harm to individuals or individuals feel harm, a four-step process to repair the harm at an individual's social or community and even systems level.
  • 00:23:23
    And then with the thoughtful confrontation model, how do we go about thoughtfully confronting acts of racism when we encounter them or when we are the perpetrators who have caused the harm and confronting racism.
  • 00:23:36
    and this was identified within metamorphosis as we look at how to change mindsets, transform behaviors and change systems and focusing on the behavior aspect change.
  • 00:23:48
    And then within one of the programs that we had was the racial equity report which was budgeted at $30,000 a year and as it was written in the original program, the racial equity report was almost a report of community indicators that shows racial disparities and racial inequities.
  • 00:24:04
    and coming on board like a communities indicators reports as a city we only have so much control over community indicators.
  • 00:24:11
    But the racial equity dividends index report has a hundred metrics of things that we can control with inside of the city of Minneapolis.
  • 00:24:18
    It comes out as a survey, we answer the questions to the survey and then we get a report and it's my hope to come back in front of the AL committee at the beginning of November to provide an update and a detailed briefing to the AL committee about our report for the race equity dividends index.
  • 00:24:33
    and also the index when we look at the metrics within the index report we want to incorporate some of those metrics from the index into our race equity framework and hopefully being able to contract with the organization to help us create some more specific metrics for the City of Minneapolis.
  • 00:24:53
    And then with the racial equity impact analysis and then the strategic race equity action plan, this is budgeted at $40,000 annually.
  • 00:25:02
    So with the race equity impact analysis, part of that funding is going into the contract with Good Works because they have a great race equity impact assessment in which
  • 00:25:12
    individuals who went through metamorphosis were provided a training and overview of that race equity impact assessment by Good Works.
  • 00:25:20
    And we really want to develop one of the, with the race equity impact analysis,
  • 00:25:26
    One of the things that I've heard from a lot of my colleagues is needing more assistance kind of not only just with writing the race equity impact assessment, but how do we actually know the RIA is a good RIA?
  • 00:25:36
    Like, because people write RIA's and they may be on a scale of 0 to 100, some may be 5, some may be 25, some may be 50, some may be absolutely great at 100.
  • 00:25:46
    But we are working on developing a rubric for the RIA that would allow an individual just to read through a RIA and kind of make an initial assessment.
  • 00:25:54
    and from the rubric could say like hey this is a great REIA or hey you may need to go consult with REIB and do some more work on your REIA but our job is to provide the tools to help other departments in looking at how to assess some of the race equity impact analysis.
  • 00:26:08
    And with the SREAP there is further conversation like around the strategic SREAP around the strategic race equity action plan.
  • 00:26:16
    Back in March we presented to AO and provided a detailed SWAT and PESTLES analysis of the SREAP.
  • 00:26:21
    So looking at working with the AO Committee to figure out like the SREB and how do we actually have a more, what's the word I'm looking for, a race equity action plan that ensures accountability for all departments across the organization to advance race equity.
  • 00:26:39
    And so, for the mayor's recommended newer budget proposal, I'm going to turn this over to Deputy Director Michelle Jackson to talk about the race equity framework and the new budget recommendation from the mayor's proposed budget.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:26:58
    Welcome, Director.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:26:58
    Good morning.
  • 00:27:00
    Good morning Council President, Council Members.
  • 00:27:02
    My name is Michelle Jackson and I am the Deputy Director for the Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Department.
  • 00:27:08
    I'll be presenting for you today the racial equity framework portion in our budget presentation.
  • 00:27:17
    So in the first slide I'm presenting for you, it will cover Chapter 21 Ordinance, the collaborative process, we are including key components, the legal timeline, and an annual survey that we plan to incorporate.
  • 00:27:33
    Our proposed budget is centered around developing and adapting a comprehensive racial equity framework, as outlined in Chapter 21 of the Minneapolis Ordinance.
  • 00:27:43
    This framework will be critical in helping all city departments incorporate racial equity principles into their operations,
  • 00:27:51
    services, programs, and policies.
  • 00:27:55
    We will be working closely with a consultant to ensure the framework includes key lenses such as gender, multiculturalism, and intersectionality.
  • 00:28:06
    One of the foundational elements will be the defining terminology that will guide the city's work, ensuring consistency and clarity in our engagements.
  • 00:28:17
    In addition, we will conduct root cause analyses to identify the most pressing racial equity issues, helping us understand their underlying causes.
  • 00:28:28
    To further ground our work, we will create a legal timeline illustrating how laws have impacted race and gender, utilizing intersectional and multicultural lenses.
  • 00:28:41
    Lastly, we will design an annual staff survey to measure attitudes and understandings of the framework across the city.
  • 00:28:52
    On the second slide for you, I'll be covering increased awareness, institutional change, accountability, and data-driven decision making that will be incorporated in our framework.
  • 00:29:04
    Our racial equity framework will drive three core areas of impact.
  • 00:29:08
    The first is increased awareness and understanding.
  • 00:29:12
    The framework will educate staff by defining key terms and concepts related to race,
  • 00:29:18
    gender multiculturalism and intersectionality.
  • 00:29:23
    This knowledge will ensure that everyone across the departments are aligned on core principles.
  • 00:29:29
    Second is institutional change.
  • 00:29:32
    The framework will provide a structured roadmap for examining and reforming institutional policies and practices that may perpetuate inequities.
  • 00:29:43
    By embedding these principles, we aim to reform how decisions are made at all levels.
  • 00:29:50
    Third is accountability and monitoring.
  • 00:29:53
    This includes measurable goals and benchmarks that will allow us to track progress using the Racial Equity Dividends Index.
  • 00:30:01
    Additionally, we will emphasize racially disaggregated data collection, giving departments the tools they need to monitor disparities,
  • 00:30:10
    assess their impact and make data-driven decisions.
  • 00:30:14
    And I'd like to take a moment just to explain what we mean in the Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Department by racially disaggregating the data.
  • 00:30:23
    In our effort to implement the racial equity framework, it is crucial that we disaggregate the race variable by ethnicity and culture.
  • 00:30:32
    simply using broad racial categories like Black, Asian, or Latino does not provide an accurate picture of the unique experiences and challenges within these groups.
  • 00:30:43
    Race is a social construct
  • 00:30:46
    Race is a socially constructed category and within each racial group there are diverse ethnicities, languages, and cultural practices that shape lived experiences in different ways.
  • 00:30:59
    By disaggregating race data by ethnicity and culture, we can better understand the specific barriers faced by communities within these broad racial groups.
  • 00:31:09
    For example, the experiences of a Somali American may differ significantly from those of an African American, even though both are categorized as black.
  • 00:31:19
    Similarly, the health and economic disparities faced by Vietnamese American communities may be distinct from those faced by Chinese American communities, though both are classified as Asian.
  • 00:31:32
    Without this level of disaggregation, we risk developing one-size-fits-all policies that do not address the root causes of disparities for specific ethnic and cultural groups.
  • 00:31:45
    Ethnicity and culture often intersect with factors such as immigration status, language access and historical context.
  • 00:31:54
    which shape people's interactions with public service, economic opportunities and health outcomes.
  • 00:32:01
    To effectively promote racial equity, we need to collect data that reflects the rich diversity within racial groups.
  • 00:32:09
    This will enable us to design targeted interventions that are culturally responsive and ensure that all communities, especially those who are the most marginalized, are adequately supported.
  • 00:32:23
    Racial equity requires this nuanced understanding and disaggregating race by ethnicity and culture is the only way to achieve it.
  • 00:32:33
    As I move to the last slide that I'll be covering for you before I turn it back over to Director Corbett, I'll be talking about the objective, goals, and metrics we will be including in our racial equity framework.
  • 00:32:48
    Our goal is to develop a comprehensive racial equity framework that prioritizes intersectionality.
  • 00:32:55
    To achieve this, the framework must be accessible, actionable, and measurable.
  • 00:33:02
    The metrics for tracking our success will include, but will not be limited to, several key indicators.
  • 00:33:09
    They include the percentage of departments that adopt and integrate the framework into their policies and decision making,
  • 00:33:16
    The percentage of departments who agree that the guidelines for implementing the framework were clear and easy to follow The number or percentage of training materials that utilize an intersectional approach to racial equity
  • 00:33:32
    and finally the number of departments reporting enhanced alignment with racial equity goals in the operations.
  • 00:33:39
    All of the metrics that we will utilize for our racial equity framework will include metrics that measure for efficiency, efficacy and productivity and they will incorporate outcome metrics
  • 00:33:54
    For example, an outcome metric for our racial equity framework would be the percent decrease in public service access and outcomes across racial and ethnic groups or the percent decrease in racial disparities, excuse me, in public service access and outcomes across racial and ethnic groups.
  • 00:34:13
    And I'll turn it back over to Director Corbett to complete it.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:34:22
    Thank you so much Deputy Director Jackson and with that that concludes our 2025-26 Mayors recommended budget for REIB and we stand for questions
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:34:36
    Thank you for that presentation, Director.
  • 00:34:40
    Colleagues, are there any questions for the Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Department related to the 2025 mayor's recommended budget?
  • 00:34:52
    And this presentation, I will first recognize Councilmember Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:34:58
    Thank you Vice Chair, sorry Vice President Checktag.
  • 00:35:02
    Thank you all for this very thorough presentation.
  • 00:35:06
    My first question was actually going at the beginning.
  • 00:35:09
    I'm interested in knowing what's leading to the projected decrease for the 2026 budget.
  • 00:35:18
    I'm seeing it was around 2 million for 2024-2025, then that decrease in 2026.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:35:26
    Thank you Vice President, thank you Councilmember Wonsley.
  • 00:35:31
    The decrease I believe is from so within the
  • 00:35:38
    of the 2020, the 2.3 to the 2.1.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:35:41
    The 2.1 to the 1.8.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:35:44
    Okay, I got it.
  • 00:35:46
    So in the 2025, it's the 385,000 is the for the race equity framework is built into the 2025 budget and it's not into 2026.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:35:57
    And then going to the most recent slide, slide 16, I'm really interested in how that last bullet point of I get you all are turning more inward and you're interfacing with departments but will there be any metrics that also gather either quantitatively or qualitatively
  • 00:36:21
    the public's interactions with these departments as well especially those that do have more outward engagement because I think that often there is often a disconnect sometimes with what staff is perceiving to be as enhancement and then what we then hear from our constituents.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:36:42
    Yes, thank you Councilmember Wonsley.
  • 00:36:44
    Like with the race equity framework and looking at metrics is helping other departments as well develop their metrics.
  • 00:36:52
    Recognizing that some of our departments are more internal facing and some are more external facing.
  • 00:36:57
    So being able to consult with those departments who are more external facing about how do they capture those metrics within their department.
  • 00:37:04
    Does that make sense?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:37:05
    No, so I get that part.
  • 00:37:07
    It's the, with the, is there any also space for gathering on you all's end, the external feedback, because that's the disconnect, the extra, the more external, you know, facing departments will often say things are good.
  • 00:37:25
    And then you go out into the public, and the public said, I don't, that's, that's not our experience.
  • 00:37:31
    So I'm trying to reconcile that gap.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:37:33
    got it.
  • 00:37:35
    No it makes sense.
  • 00:37:37
    So if I understand correctly like looking at so some departments may report on the project of saying the community and public is saying this but when we look at the data and especially looking at it if we go into more diverse communities there may be something else that is being said and can our department
  • 00:37:51
    look at capturing that data.
  • 00:37:54
    I would say like within the metrics like right now with our department like in capacity no but looking at how do we ensure accountability that those departments and those projects are actually going intentionally into community.
  • 00:38:06
    And part of what I would like to do in some of those situations we also have to come back and do an annual report out.
  • 00:38:13
    and within an annual report and being able to capture those.
  • 00:38:16
    So we're looking at not for our department how to do it, how to work with other departments, but I think the missing link is how to ensure accountability because I'm seeing it in some spaces as well.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:38:28
    I just want to add a little bit.
  • 00:38:29
    So the metric, and these are only some of the metrics that we can include in the presentation.
  • 00:38:33
    We have a plethora of metrics.
  • 00:38:37
    These focus on the first year.
  • 00:38:39
    But our target audience is the community.
  • 00:38:41
    And in order to understand whether or not we are impacting people in the community through the framework within the departments, we'll have assessments for the departments.
  • 00:38:51
    And over time, longitudinally,
  • 00:38:53
    we will be able to incorporate the feedback of the community in relationship to the impact of the framework that we're creating for people within the department, the staff within the department to utilize for any programs, projects, policies and practices that reach the community itself.
  • 00:39:08
    Does that make sense?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:39:09
    Yeah, and maybe also just a follow-up question to that.
  • 00:39:13
    Can you all share if there's been any engagement with the oversight and evaluation division on the legislative side?
  • 00:39:21
    Because I get a lot of this is facing, interfacing the administration, but I think it is that accountability piece of maybe our oversight and eval can also be part of these processes and helping us shape like
  • 00:39:33
    the points of disconnection because that's where often we can come up with policies or like figuring out things or interjecting and saying again well you're reporting this data and we've seen this a lot with the surveys that go out around some of the projects and more sensitive projects that says this is the findings and then we go in our communities and they're like that findings was manufactured.
  • 00:39:54
    So just wanted to know if you all are interfacing with our oversight and eval because I know that's going to be a space of accountability that we can tap into on our side.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:40:07
    Councilmember Wonsley, we are not yet but we'll prioritize getting a meeting with the oversight and evaluation team within the next few weeks.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:40:13
    Awesome, and I'll facilitate that too through AO because I think it's important that that division is working across all departments on the administration side so that we can do our full due diligence under our oversight abilities.
  • 00:40:27
    Thank you.
  • 00:40:29
    That's all.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:40:31
    Thank you Councilmember Nexl, recognized Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:40:34
    Thank you Madam Vice President and thank you Director for the presentation and I know it's just a year but still welcome and it's great to get an update on the work that you've been doing and it definitely sounds like you've been at like
  • 00:40:50
    MOC speed here to get your team connected and connected with the city and beyond too.
  • 00:40:59
    So just really appreciate that.
  • 00:41:01
    I just had a question about the operating costs.
  • 00:41:04
    I see there's a pretty significant increase and you may have touched on this but I'm not sure a significant increase from 2024 to 2025.
  • 00:41:10
    It looks like an over 700
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:41:15
    Yes, in 2025 our operating costs may appear to have a significant increase in percentage change over the year and this is due to reorganization of some of our operating expenses as we aim to more accurately plan our expenses and our base budget.
  • 00:41:40
    However, our actual year-over-year spending has remained relatively flat.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:41:44
    Great, that's helpful.
  • 00:41:45
    Thank you so much.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:41:47
    Thank you.
  • 00:41:48
    Next, Director, for your awareness, we've got two additional council members in queue, more may jump in as well.
  • 00:41:56
    Next, I'll recognize Councilmember Jenkins.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 00:42:00
    Thank you, Madam Chair and Director Corbett.
  • 00:42:05
    I'm just curious, can you help me understand, I think on slide number four, reclassified program manager and project coordinator positions.
  • 00:42:18
    Does that eliminate the transgender equity position?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:42:22
    So the transgender equity position was classified as a project coordinator, right?
  • 00:42:30
    And for me coming on board, I was looking at classifications within our department and the project coordinator position actually was making less than the program managers, right?
  • 00:42:42
    so with the equity and inclusion coordinator positions the reclassification added some more salary for a little bit more equity within the work that we're doing and then one of the equity and inclusion coordinator positions that we will be hiring for will have a intersectional trans queer equity piece of work that they're doing but also one I don't want within our department when we're talking race equity and trans queer LGBTQ equity to be separate we have to be talking race equity LGBTQ equity together I it
  • 00:43:13
    When having an intersectional lens to our work allows for our departments in certain spaces not to just focus on race equity work in one space and LGBTQ equity work in another space.
  • 00:43:23
    But one of the within the positions that we do have with equity and inclusion coordinator there will be an intentional focus around the trans queer equity work.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 00:43:34
    Yeah, it's just been my experience when those things are intersected that
  • 00:43:42
    LGBTQ issues, particularly trans issues, are deprioritized, if you will, which is why those positions were specifically created for those purposes.
  • 00:43:59
    And, you know, just it appears that
  • 00:44:05
    That is what's happening.
  • 00:44:07
    The transgender equity coordinator has been let go of their position and now the position has been reclassified.
  • 00:44:16
    So I'm just concerned about the commitment to that community.
  • 00:44:23
    The community that I'm a part of.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:44:25
    Yes, Councilmember Jenkins, thank you for the concerns and
  • 00:44:32
    when doing this work and I pulled up the slide about how we look at race equity with the intersectional piece and we are and I've shared with folks I am centering race in all the work that we do and even when it comes to LGBTQ equity work I want to center race within that.
  • 00:44:46
    What I don't want to do is
  • 00:44:49
    have policy decisions or make recommendations or be in spaces where it's if we don't have the trans equity position in that space where our department is not going to talk about it.
  • 00:45:00
    This is what I'm saying.
  • 00:45:01
    And what I want is all our department, everybody within our department, myself, my deputy director as we are in spaces,
  • 00:45:07
    to bring up the trans equity issues.
  • 00:45:10
    So as I'm in spaces, um, having conversations and meetings and we're talking about our Safe and Thriving Communities report and the public safety ecosystem, I'm bringing up the trans- like, do we have the trans voice within that space?
  • 00:45:21
    As we're talking, I'm in spaces around climate equity.
  • 00:45:24
    Are we engaging the trans community around climate equity?
  • 00:45:27
    So sometimes if they're separate, and I understand what you're saying but understand what I'm saying, in order to
  • 00:45:33
    create and have everybody thinking about it.
  • 00:45:36
    It can't just be the work of one person.
  • 00:45:38
    And I want everybody on our team to have that intersectional lens where we're thinking about trans equity, where we're thinking about LGBTQ equity, because it shouldn't fall on one person to be able to do that.
  • 00:45:47
    Yes, a person that has a niche and a subject matter expertise, but it really shouldn't fall on one person.
  • 00:45:54
    It is all of our responsibility to push and advocate for trans equity.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 00:46:02
    I couldn't agree with that statement more however that's not my experience that that is the reality even within this department but we'll see.
  • 00:46:24
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:46:27
    Thank you Councilmember.
  • 00:46:30
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:46:36
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 00:46:39
    Thank you Director Corbett for your presentation and thank you for taking on this important work that continues to struggle.
  • 00:46:49
    Our city continues to struggle with racial equity.
  • 00:46:52
    I want to recognize our history and also the difficult job that you have.
  • 00:46:57
    So thank you for sticking with us and congratulations on your one year anniversary that just happened.
  • 00:47:04
    Could you go back to slide 11?
  • 00:47:09
    Yeah, so you meant you spoke briefly about the racial equity dividends index report Are you still able to complete this work due to the council action last week reducing your budget by close to?
  • 00:47:22
    $40,000 or you could could you describe for us what this means we've lost with this I
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:47:31
    I have to, Council Member Palmisano, thank you.
  • 00:47:38
    So when we did this presentation and started, yes, the impact of the budgeting decision of our budget impacts, this would be the one program that does impact.
  • 00:47:51
    So I have to look at some of, I mean anytime we're faced with budget cuts it's like okay how to cut a dollar here, 50 cent there in order to cover the cost of what it would be.
  • 00:48:03
    So that's what I'm currently looking at is like some of our projects and going into our detailed budget.
  • 00:48:07
    of like okay how can we save a thousand here, five hundred there in order to cover the cost of the consultation that is needed.
  • 00:48:15
    So with this index report, like the full report that they developed is for government jurisdictions and what we want to do the consultation on is working with the Center for Economic Inclusion on developing metrics that are more specific to the city of Minneapolis from this report that can go into the race equity framework.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:48:36
    Thank you.
  • 00:48:36
    Um, I'm curious also, do you feel you have the resources and funding to complete the vital truth and reconciliation work?
  • 00:48:46
    Um, you know, I know this is maybe more of a philosophical thought than anything, but when I look at like slide three, the objectives of your department, your focus really is more internal, right?
  • 00:48:59
    Um, processes and systems for the enterprise that guide departments and incorporating these principles.
  • 00:49:06
    I feel like overall this department's work is more internal than external.
  • 00:49:11
    And then I think you said it again on slide six.
  • 00:49:17
    So with this Truth and Reconciliation work that I'm not sure you have the resources needed to be successful in, we all agree that this kind of robust Truth and Reconciliation process is necessary and still needed, but I just sometimes worry if
  • 00:49:38
    we've tasked the correct department with it because it's external facing work and it seems like it will require some heavy partnerships with like NCR and other groups
  • 00:49:50
    to actually get this out.
  • 00:49:52
    So I apologize if I'm off base.
  • 00:49:54
    I'm just truly something I've been thinking about on a larger scale.
  • 00:50:00
    And just yesterday, Council President Payne and you and I had a discussion about how it fits within the proposal for reuse of the old Third Precinct building.
  • 00:50:09
    So I'm just curious what you think about the resources right now for Truth and Reconciliation.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:50:18
    Councilmember, thank you for the question with the truth and reconciliation
  • 00:50:29
    So within metamorphosis, we learned about 12 anti-racist behaviors, and part of metamorphosis is addressing behavior change.
  • 00:50:37
    One of the quadrants of the anti-racist behaviors is accountability and reparations.
  • 00:50:41
    It's a quadrant of four behaviors, and one of those behaviors specifically is seizing every opportunity to repair harm.
  • 00:50:50
    When I went through my previous organization we have set up healing circles in the community and I was just curious like how does a wound heal because if we're talking about healing when we get cut how does a wound heal and the first thing our body does is does its own internal process of getting whenever we get cut a process of getting all of those extremities little dirt debris or whatever out of its own body before the scab forms.
  • 00:51:13
    For me that was a revelation that when we're talking about healing
  • 00:51:17
    If we're not talking about healing within our own organization, it's difficult to talk about healing within the community.
  • 00:51:23
    When we talk about healing, the process that our own bodies do naturally to heal, it's dealing first internally.
  • 00:51:31
    And understanding that with a lot of the Truth of Reconciliation,
  • 00:51:35
    as it's been presented, it's been external, and yes, there is a need.
  • 00:51:38
    And the four-step process, and I think sometimes with the truth and reconciliation process that we have developed, a four-step process may seem really simple to people, but it can take years to go through that process.
  • 00:51:51
    And the first step, and I have it in front of me, is truth-telling.
  • 00:51:54
    And truth-telling is getting two people or two different opinions to be able to sit down and be able to tell their truths and has each other accept the truth.
  • 00:52:02
    and that process can take years depending upon how big the community issue is.
  • 00:52:07
    And I would say with regards to we're working on a Truth of Reconciliation framework and how to be able to share that framework internally within the organization and for right now I pulled up our our org chart because I wanted to highlight one thing about our program manager.
  • 00:52:22
    So in doing some reorganization and restructuring I'm having our program manager one of their responsibilities is really focusing on the truth healing and reconciliation and for right now because we have such a That we've been doing it within our department and have a lot that we've been invested over the past year I still want to find a way to keep that at least the external piece of truth of reconciliation with our department but also how do we take this model find a
  • 00:52:47
    there's also case studies like how do we know this thing actually works which can be like some years but then actually having the case study to be able to show like okay this is the process and this is how it works and I've utilized this process one-on-one with employees I've showed other leaders within the mayor's administration how to utilize this process where it's been utilized in a smaller group setting so it's internally how do we get to understanding this process and then being able to share externally
  • 00:53:13
    while at the same time working with our community so that they understand the process as well.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:53:19
    Thank you.
  • 00:53:19
    That's a great description.
  • 00:53:21
    I like your description about how a wound heals and how that applies.
  • 00:53:25
    I know that we're a little bit beyond our budget part of the conversation, but given this is a fairly new department and they're tasked with such large work, I appreciate the time to get your take on that.
  • 00:53:40
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:53:42
    Thank you council member.
  • 00:53:44
    Next I'll recognize council member Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:53:46
    Thank you.
  • 00:53:48
    I'm not sure why the conversation about 30k impact is being brought up when there was a reported surplus in your budget.
  • 00:53:56
    Not sure why the mayor would decide to cut that potentially from your budget.
  • 00:54:00
    Now, I do have a question.
  • 00:54:02
    Can you answer council member Jenkins's question?
  • 00:54:05
    Is the mayor proposing cutting the trans equity coordinator from the budget?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:54:10
    Councilmember Chavez, the mayor did not propose to cut the trans equity coordinator or reclassify the position to provide more equity.
  • 00:54:21
    Is the position not going to exist anymore?
  • 00:54:23
    It's equity and inclusion.
  • 00:54:25
    Councilmember Chavez, it's the equity and inclusion coordinator and one of the equity and inclusion coordinators with the position description is written is a focus on LGBTQ equity work.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:54:38
    The position of trans equity coordinator is no longer going to exist.
  • 00:54:43
    My apologies.
  • 00:54:44
    I'm just trying to understand what's happening here.
  • 00:54:46
    Is the position of trans equity coordinator going to exist under the mayor's proposal?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:54:51
    Councilmember Chavez, there never was a specific classification for a trans equity coordinator.
  • 00:54:57
    It was classified as a, the classification as a project coordinator that had a LGBTQ or trans equity focus.
  • 00:55:06
    So we reclassified it from a project coordinator to an equity and inclusion coordinator that has a LGBTQ trans equity focus.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:55:16
    Okay, that sounds confusing.
  • 00:55:17
    I have concerns about this potential move.
  • 00:55:20
    I'm not sure why there wasn't a request to add additional funding for a position as a broad position for LGBTQIA and equity support.
  • 00:55:30
    We're at a time in this country where trans rights are under attack as a member of the LGBTQIA community.
  • 00:55:36
    I myself know the privilege I have within that community and I know from many residents who are on Lake Street and feel unsafe because they're trans.
  • 00:55:45
    I've had many conversations with folks in the trans community about how they want to be better supported in the city and I don't
  • 00:55:51
    I have concerns about what is happening here especially when folks are being let go from the department and there is concerns in the office of public service not just their department about LGBTQ rights and trans rights in our city and there's allegations in general and that's
  • 00:56:08
    and then seeing that this position isn't going to exist and it's gonna be more brought over.
  • 00:56:12
    I'm nervous that we're gonna deprioritize trans people in our LGBTQ and equity work.
  • 00:56:19
    So that's, I would like to set up a meeting with your office and figure out what this actually means and the impact that it's gonna have in our services.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:56:28
    Thank you, Councilmember Chavez.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:56:32
    Thank you Councilmember.
  • 00:56:34
    I included myself in queue, just wanted to address the comments and questions made by Councilmember Jenkins along with just now Councilmember Chavez.
  • 00:56:50
    I'll start with just mentioning I've been here at the city now for nearing three years and I feel new here all of the time and I'm missing all of this historical knowledge about how things ended up in certain ways.
  • 00:57:15
    this is this these these positions that we're talking about the LGBTQIA plus equity program manager along with the trans equity coordinator those are two positions that that I can actually speak to particularly the equity program manager
  • 00:57:33
    as those came to exist as a result of council actions.
  • 00:57:41
    Councilmember Jenkins, myself and several others, I can't remember the full list of people,
  • 00:57:49
    author through our budget process, our annual budget process, the addition of the positions that we're talking about here and those moves didn't come out
  • 00:58:06
    of the City Council.
  • 00:58:21
    and then the work on the Trans Equity Council, the appointed board and commission that is specific to engaging with our trans community here in Minneapolis.
  • 00:58:37
    No one has more historical context on that than council member Jenkins does.
  • 00:58:41
    But I will share with you though that these positions came with a really specific legislative intent.
  • 00:58:49
    They also came with the intention of growing a body of work within this department over time.
  • 00:58:56
    And that vision didn't come out of nowhere.
  • 00:58:58
    It actually came from deep collaboration.
  • 00:59:02
    and engagement with the Trans Equity Council, which is appointed for the specific purpose of providing the city's policy makers with recommendations on how we better prioritize this community.
  • 00:59:17
    So there was a lot of work that went into exactly why these positions were created with a longer term vision of expansion of this body of work, as I mentioned.
  • 00:59:31
    when we appropriate money and we have really narrow legislative intent attached to that and then come to find out a year later or two years later that that body of work is just not going to be prioritized in the same way, much less aligned with the vision of where we were trying to go.
  • 00:59:52
    That's why you're seeing this reaction from this body.
  • 00:59:59
    I wanted to provide that context for you and also name that this is frustrating for really unique reasons here.
  • 01:00:14
    and I hope that you'll take that feedback and perhaps change course here.
  • 01:00:22
    I'll also mention in responding to Council Member Chavez's question, you mentioned that this Equity and Inclusion Coordinator is going to be a position that does equity work with a specific focus on the LGBTQIA plus community.
  • 01:00:43
    that feels contradictory to me to what you mentioned in response to Councilmember Jenkins' question which was I want all of these positions to have the primary focus of racial equity and be intersectional in all of the different marginalized communities.
  • 01:01:01
    So is there a primary focus on LGBTQIA
  • 01:01:07
    were equity work or not and I don't feel like I'm really clear on that.
  • 01:01:14
    So I don't know if you want to address that and then I see Councilmember Jenkins is back in queue with a further question or comment.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:01:22
    So was there, Council Vice President Chachat, was there a question or just a comment?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:01:27
    The specific question is can you help me understand that the information that feels contradictory but perhaps isn't and maybe I misunderstood.
  • 01:01:38
    You told Council Member Jenkins that you wanted this position and the department itself to have an intersectional lens across all
  • 01:01:50
    all markers of marginalization with the primary focus of racial equity work and that applies to this position of the reclassification.
  • 01:02:02
    And then you told Council Member Jenkins that this position will continue to have a focus on LGBTQIA plus specific work.
  • 01:02:11
    Is that the primary focus of this position as a result of reclassification or not?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:02:18
    The primary focus of one of the equity inclusion coordinator's positions is to have an intentional focus on LGBTQIA plus trans equity work.
  • 01:02:30
    I can resend out the position description when we had it posted last time, and I would also invite Deputy Director Jackson up to share when we're talking about the race equity with the intersectional, what exactly do we mean?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:02:46
    So I won't speak specifically to the position, but I'll speak to the goals of the department.
  • 01:02:51
    And so one of the focuses I have and I bring into this work is, and I'll use the context of LGBTQIA plus or trans equity in relationship to racial equity.
  • 01:03:03
    So we will be doing this work in our department.
  • 01:03:06
    There will be a specific primary focus on doing trans equity work and LGBTQIA plus work.
  • 01:03:13
    While we are doing that work, we will also do that from a racial equity lens.
  • 01:03:17
    And then when this focus is specific on a particularly marginalized racial group,
  • 01:03:22
    When we are doing that work and focus on racial equity, we'll be doing that with a LGBTQIA plus or trans equity lens.
  • 01:03:30
    And so intersectionality becomes a major component of all the work we do, which is why we are working to develop a framework that makes sure that in all of those components, whether or not we have a program or an activity that focuses specifically on the trans community or the LGBTQIA plus community, we are still
  • 01:03:49
    looking at multiculturalism within that work.
  • 01:03:52
    We are still analyzing that from a racial equity perspective as well.
  • 01:03:57
    So the work that we are trying to do within our department with this framework is to assure that we are incorporating all of those lenses.
  • 01:04:06
    and all of the work that we do.
  • 01:04:07
    So ultimately, and the goal for most of us that do this work, is that we won't have to do that.
  • 01:04:13
    That we will develop a society by which we will be able to reach those people.
  • 01:04:17
    Now we are generations likely from the ability to be able to do that, but this framework and the goals of this department helps to push us in that direction.
  • 01:04:25
    So when you
  • 01:04:26
    When you want the clarity about primary work, we will continue to do primary work or focus primarily on the LGBTQIA plus and the trans equity community year after year in the work that we're doing.
  • 01:04:41
    And we will do that from a racial equity lens as well.
  • 01:04:45
    Don't know if that made it a little bit more clear?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:49
    I think my question was specific to the position, so no, but I appreciate you providing the bigger picture context.
  • 01:04:57
    Thank you so much.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:04:57
    Thank you.
  • 01:04:58
    You're very welcome.
  • 01:04:59
    Councilmember, I'm sorry.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:05:01
    No, no.
  • 01:05:04
    Councilmember Jenkins, go ahead.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:05:06
    Thank you, Chair Chiu-Chi.
  • 01:05:14
    I'm proud that my colleagues are demonstrating the intersectionality that you hope to have in your department.
  • 01:05:28
    I would posit that if I were not a part of this body, this conversation wouldn't be happening.
  • 01:05:37
    We would not have a focus on transgender issues at all.
  • 01:05:42
    And so my point is representation matters.
  • 01:05:48
    You must have someone at the table.
  • 01:05:50
    You can't just hope that people talk about these issues without having a presence there to understand what the issues are.
  • 01:06:05
    So again, I'm dismayed that it appears to me that the position that we specifically funded, entitled Transgender Equity Coordinator, is being reclassified.
  • 01:06:23
    And I think the Vice President asked the question,
  • 01:06:29
    Can this be revisited?
  • 01:06:31
    Councilmember Chavez asked to have a meeting and I would like to be a part of that meeting Councilmember Chavez if you are acquiescent to that.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:06:40
    I would love for us to be on their meeting together Councilmember Jenkins.
  • 01:06:44
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:06:48
    Thank you that we that with that we've reached the end of discussion and questions for you director.
  • 01:06:53
    Thank you for coming in to present your recommended budget.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:06:56
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:06:57
    With that, our next presentation is from the Performance Management and Innovation Department.
  • 01:07:04
    For that, I will now invite Director Kira Hasbargen, I apologize, our Performance Management and Innovation Director to begin that presentation.
  • 01:07:15
    Welcome.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:07:29
    I'm a little shorter than Director Corbett.
  • 01:07:33
    Thank you so much, Council, for having me here today.
  • 01:07:35
    I am excited about the opportunity to present to you the Mayor's 2025-26 recommended budget and provide you with an update on performance management and innovations work.
  • 01:07:47
    My name is Kira Hasbargen and I am the Director of the Department.
  • 01:07:53
    So a little bit about the department with the department overview.
  • 01:07:57
    I also celebrated my one year and three week anniversary today.
  • 01:08:01
    Three weeks ago I celebrated my one year anniversary in this position.
  • 01:08:05
    Last year I stood before you as a department of one.
  • 01:08:10
    I told you that my focus was on rebuilding the department in a way that will position the city as a preeminent authority in local government transformation and innovation.
  • 01:08:21
    As you can tell by the organizational chart up on the slide in front of you, I believe that we have the team to do just that.
  • 01:08:29
    I'm excited to talk with you about the accomplishments that we have been able to do over the nine months that we've had the majority of the team on with us.
  • 01:08:37
    One thing you will notice is that we did reclassify the Chief Resiliency Officer into a Deputy Director.
  • 01:08:44
    I spoke at length at that last budget cycle and went through the committee process to have that position created and then reclassified.
  • 01:08:51
    So, excited to have that position on board with us.
  • 01:08:55
    This staffing level provides performance management and innovation with the resources needed to continue the development of Outcomes Minneapolis, our city's flagship performance management program, implement the Safe and Thriving Communities report, lead innovation projects and community safety pilots,
  • 01:09:12
    integrate performance management metrics with the annual budgeting process and also implementing a city stat performance model that will help really shift our systems as well as supporting performance-based contracting.
  • 01:09:27
    We are committed to continuing our work at a high level and this capacity enables us to create a resilient and sustainable staffing model.
  • 01:09:39
    So why are we here?
  • 01:09:40
    Our mission, PMI's mission, is to collaborate with city departments, elected officials, residents, organizations, community partners, businesses, and stakeholders to push for bold new ideas and create a culture of data-driven community-centered service delivery.
  • 01:09:56
    How do we do this?
  • 01:09:57
    We do this with our approach that really looks at carefully exploring the issue and its unique challenges, understanding what has worked before and what others are doing successfully,
  • 01:10:07
    leveraging new relevant techniques that deliver meaningful solutions, providing structured project management to help drive outcomes, and to maintain a culture that demonstrates results.
  • 01:10:21
    So what are our priority objectives?
  • 01:10:24
    How do we really consider what work is going to be important for us to move forward?
  • 01:10:29
    The first is to drive data-driven and evidence-based decision-making that improves service delivery and advances city goals.
  • 01:10:37
    Our second is to enhance the quality of life for residents and eliminate racial disparities.
  • 01:10:42
    And our last priority objective is to embed a strategic human-centered evaluative approach within the enterprise.
  • 01:10:50
    We do this driven by our values.
  • 01:10:53
    One is data driven decision making, outcome based service delivery, equity, and continuous improvement.
  • 01:11:06
    So in late May, PMI launched our project dashboard.
  • 01:11:10
    We've shared some of these screenshots with the AEO committee before.
  • 01:11:14
    What the project dashboard really does is it enables us to show our impact by collaborator, outcome area, objective, and how we are doing, what our progress is on those projects.
  • 01:11:24
    And it's published on CityTalks, so it's something that any city employee can take a look at and really understand what our work is around.
  • 01:11:30
    In May we also developed a customer satisfaction survey which we send to our partners and collaborators.
  • 01:11:37
    Those ratings are also shared on the dashboard and we've zoomed in on that for you as well today.
  • 01:11:43
    The information from Project Dashboard and Satisfaction Survey serves as a basis for our measures and again as a new team.
  • 01:11:52
    We've sort of had the majority of the team in place since January of last year.
  • 01:11:58
    and we're developing data collection processes and really trying to ensure that the measures that we first selected through the outcomes Minneapolis process are the right ones and that they are reflective of our work.
  • 01:12:10
    So some of the measures that we're looking at, sort of the number of innovation projects per year, the number of workshops held by quarter, the percentage of our projects that were delivered on time,
  • 01:12:21
    Our pilots that are implemented permanently What our customers think is really about working with us Did they have an overall good experience?
  • 01:12:30
    Are we seeing increases in requests for departments to want to work with us?
  • 01:12:34
    And then lastly, sort of out of order as I go through these Are our customers, our city employees really integrating or using the tools, knowledge, resources, and skills that we are consulting with them on?
  • 01:12:51
    So what are our accomplishments?
  • 01:12:52
    What are the things that we have done?
  • 01:12:53
    I mentioned to you we are now fully staffed.
  • 01:12:55
    We've spent the beginning part of 2024 of this year really reinventing and rebranding the department.
  • 01:13:02
    I'm really trying to move forward and setting up those structures and systems to be a high-performing, high-functioning team and really wanting to make sure that we have that foundation set before we just start to go, go, go.
  • 01:13:15
    I do want to take this moment to express my gratitude to my team's commitment to continuous improvement and navigating ambiguity.
  • 01:13:25
    We have made a tremendous amount of progress in just these nine months with the entire team being new and that is really a testament to the teamwork, optimism, and growth mindset that our department moves forward with.
  • 01:13:38
    Our work has evolved.
  • 01:13:39
    Again, the team has stepped up to deliver high quality, leading edge resources.
  • 01:13:44
    We've really focused on things like, I won't read through all these bullets for you, but have focused on things like relationship building, resource development, and other tools to really help us navigate the everyday challenges.
  • 01:13:57
    We have really spent, again, that beginning of the year prioritizing team building and then focusing on information gathering, so understanding what's come before us.
  • 01:14:05
    We rapidly redesigned and stood up Outcomes Minneapolis, the city's flagship performance management program, a stepping stone to that larger strategy of building a data-driven culture.
  • 01:14:15
    And we have re-engaged with community safety pilots, launched new ones, have integrated performance management with the annual budget process to help with decision making.
  • 01:14:27
    My presentation later on will go into detail into some of those activities.
  • 01:14:34
    So risks and lessons learned.
  • 01:14:37
    Our work relies on partnerships and working alongside staff members and stakeholders to develop meaningful results.
  • 01:14:45
    We must balance a path forward with departments' autonomy and community impact.
  • 01:14:51
    This takes time building those relationships.
  • 01:14:54
    and we also realize that we are working on complex and interconnected challenges and this is sometimes requiring a lot of really again understanding what's happened before us and going into iterative cycles to see what that design may look like.
  • 01:15:08
    Innovation is characterized by uncertainty, experimentation, learning and a lack of constraint.
  • 01:15:14
    That process may not always line up with our current systems, capacity, resources and how we are currently doing things.
  • 01:15:23
    Just this week, the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation led the team through a workshop on ideation, which will help explore issues in depth.
  • 01:15:31
    It really encourages diverse ideas and helps to generate a wide range of concepts to better address stakeholder need.
  • 01:15:38
    The PMI team is primed for the opportunity to demonstrate our value proposition, the dividend of performance management and moving forward as a high performing department.
  • 01:15:48
    Some of the risks listed here again that I've talked about at a higher level.
  • 01:15:53
    Limited capacity, the team is new, and city staff have full-time jobs.
  • 01:15:58
    When we reach out to them about really great ideas, they're currently doing things, so it's really trying to figure out what that balance is and how we can engage them and what
  • 01:16:06
    So I think it's a little more difficult to get that momentum going and to really coalesce around the importance of why we're moving forward.
  • 01:16:30
    Funding constraints.
  • 01:16:32
    There are a lot of what we're doing while we will be offering technical assistance to departments.
  • 01:16:37
    When we think about pilots, programs, that all takes resources.
  • 01:16:41
    Sometimes, again, outside of the city's budgeting cycle and also departments have for the most part really dog-eared how they're using their programmatic dollars.
  • 01:16:51
    Lack of authority.
  • 01:16:53
    We're an in-house consulting team.
  • 01:16:54
    We rely on relationships.
  • 01:16:56
    We don't have formal authority to ask city staff to do something for us.
  • 01:17:01
    So it's really as we sort of look into that lessons learned, really thinking about building those relationships, focusing on change management.
  • 01:17:08
    Stepping back to talk about what is that big, hairy, audacious goal, the big change we are trying to make in our communities to center what we're doing around that.
  • 01:17:17
    And then also focusing on the so that.
  • 01:17:19
    Not just the specific activity we're asking someone to do with this, but why.
  • 01:17:23
    Why it's important, what it's going to bring, how it's going to impact people's lives.
  • 01:17:29
    So our program and staffing summary, salary and fringe, there is a difference.
  • 01:17:35
    You will see there the roughly $420,000 difference in personnel expenses.
  • 01:17:40
    From 2024 to 2025 reflects the pre-commitment reached at the end of the 2024 budget cycle to restore the five FTEs.
  • 01:17:51
    that were transferred out of PMI back to us, to our general fund.
  • 01:17:56
    So what you see then in the increase in other costs, such as rent and other expenses, internal expenses, reflect that those costs are now for nine rather than the four FTEs.
  • 01:18:09
    The total amounts generally of our non-personnel remain low in 2025.
  • 01:18:15
    There was an increase to IT costs by about $20,000.
  • 01:18:20
    Our rent increased to about $10,000.
  • 01:18:24
    Overall though, our total budgeted non-personnel expenses have remained relatively flat and account for less than 1% of our budget.
  • 01:18:36
    Our 2025 operating costs include a marginal increase to our standard expenses on these things.
  • 01:18:44
    Discretionary funding under those are for things like training, office supplies, software licenses, and we're again incremental as we consider bringing back, consider that.
  • 01:18:58
    The department is now fully staffed, so we will not have a surplus due to vacancies.
  • 01:19:03
    As we move forward, we will need to identify what our needs of our growing department will be so we can understand how we can meet those and continue things like staff training.
  • 01:19:17
    So I'll move into program updates.
  • 01:19:22
    So the first are our outcome areas, some departments will speak to you of them as like program areas where really this year and next year we'll continue to focus around these three areas continuous improvement, reimagining community safety and relationship building
  • 01:19:39
    One of the performance metrics that I mentioned to you earlier was innovation projects.
  • 01:19:44
    And this is providing insight on sort of what we're doing, the output of what's coming out of the team as it relates specifically to projects.
  • 01:19:52
    We do have other measures which I spoke about that will talk about sort of how well we're doing it and the impact that it's making.
  • 01:19:59
    You can see on the far right of the screen what we've done so far with the new team in 2024, which is really exciting.
  • 01:20:06
    We have completed and these are external projects so things outside of the department.
  • 01:20:10
    We have spent a lot of time doing internal resource gathering.
  • 01:20:12
    These are external with other city departments or offices.
  • 01:20:17
    So we've completed five projects, have six in process, and then have some planning that we're starting to plan that are on that back burner.
  • 01:20:27
    and we're excited to see how through the different work we're able to make this more specific and again if you visit our dashboard you can like click in to see specifically what these projects are.
  • 01:20:40
    All right, continuous improvement is one of our outcome areas.
  • 01:20:43
    It really helps, allows us to help solve challenges by collaborating to explore opportunities for improvement, move evidence-based ideas into action, and share progress towards city goals.
  • 01:20:55
    And we've been talking about, and I've heard many of you as well agree with, that good governance requires data, and this outcome area of continuous improvement
  • 01:21:04
    helps to do just that.
  • 01:21:06
    We are committed to creating an ongoing data-driven process to make things better.
  • 01:21:12
    The first program that I'll talk about is Outcomes Minneapolis, again the city's flagship performance management program.
  • 01:21:18
    We launched it enterprise-wide on April 15th.
  • 01:21:21
    We centered our redesign on national leaders, effective practices, lessons and lessons learned from city staff.
  • 01:21:28
    Through this program, we are leading the enterprise in demonstrating public impacts and supporting that work in budgeting and data-driven decision making.
  • 01:21:37
    Step one, focus on why performance management matters.
  • 01:21:40
    It was an introduction to the concepts and the processes of how you can use performance management.
  • 01:21:47
    Step two of the workshop provided an adaptive approach for departments in naming their expected public impacts of their core services and how they relate to city goals.
  • 01:21:57
    I'm excited to share with you that by the end of the day today, all 27 city departments and offices will have completed step two of selecting measures that matter.
  • 01:22:09
    Step three focuses on data visualization and how we can support developments in telling their stories with their outcomes Minneapolis performance measures and that was launched in August.
  • 01:22:21
    We had 74% of departments and offices participate in our Preparing for Data Visualization workshop.
  • 01:22:28
    63% of departments and offices have begun their data collection efforts for Outcomes Minneapolis, and 18% of city departments and offices have begun wire-framing their visualizations, so really starting to really lay out what they think they'd like it to look like, so that's really exciting.
  • 01:22:47
    Looking to our outcomes Minneapolis metrics, from our customer satisfaction survey results, 89.7% of respondents expressed confidence in their ability to apply the learned knowledge and skills in their work.
  • 01:23:03
    We garnered responses from 13 of the 27 departments or offices.
  • 01:23:09
    We're excited about the potential to increase our engagement across the enterprise.
  • 01:23:15
    Percentage of departments engaged with us and percentage of departments that collaborate with us on more than one project are two performance metrics that we are excited about gaining more understanding of for the rest of this year.
  • 01:23:29
    Step four of Outcomes Minneapolis will focus on the ways that departments can use their outcome measures to identify opportunities for action.
  • 01:23:37
    This will then allow us to communicate impacts and move towards continuous improvement.
  • 01:23:44
    The annual budget process is another facet of our continuous improvement area.
  • 01:23:48
    We have partnered with the Budget Office and Race, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to support departments in developing and including performance metrics with their budget requests and reporting on them in subsequent years.
  • 01:24:02
    This collaboration supports departments in measuring and reporting the impact.
  • 01:24:07
    In late March, we first presented as part of the budget kickoff process, and now that the mayor's recommended budget is released, we are partnering with departments that received new funding to develop those performance measures.
  • 01:24:20
    So far we've connected with all of the departments who received new funding from the mayor, a proposal for new funding by the mayor, and are actively consulting with 70% of them to develop their performance measures.
  • 01:24:34
    This fall we will work with departments to continue to identify those performance measures and identify data collection strategies.
  • 01:24:41
    In 2025, departments will launch their new programs or initiatives or expanded strategies and start collecting data.
  • 01:24:49
    In spring of 2026, as part of the supplemental budget process, we will work with departments, as part of the budget process, we will work with departments to present that data and the impact that they had in reaching their objectives.
  • 01:25:02
    This work is foundational for reporting on the public value that the city generates.
  • 01:25:09
    Performance-based contracting was a recommendation from the Safe and Thriving Communities Report.
  • 01:25:14
    We are working with the Design and Implementations Finance Workgroup to leverage their expertise and understand city systems.
  • 01:25:20
    We are also looking forward to including potentially performance measures in city contracts and some of the pilots.
  • 01:25:28
    That way we can help clearly communicate the expected outcomes and the return of the taxpayers' investment in us.
  • 01:25:36
    program evaluation.
  • 01:25:38
    Right now, again, our priority is laying the groundwork for performance management through Outcomes Minneapolis.
  • 01:25:43
    As we move into step four and begin supporting departments through technical assistance, we can shift to a more systematic way of assessing how things were working and what that effectiveness was.
  • 01:25:55
    We look forward to continued conversations with the auditor's office as we build that evaluation function out.
  • 01:26:05
    Reimagining community safety is another outcome area.
  • 01:26:09
    We've worked in this in three main areas.
  • 01:26:11
    The first is ecosystem design, so working with departments to understand infrastructure and core service areas, and again developing a city stat model of performance management.
  • 01:26:23
    We are partnering to develop key progress indicators and understand the impacts of pilots and programs.
  • 01:26:29
    Community Safety Pilots.
  • 01:26:32
    We have three active pilots right now and a couple that are in that information gathering and research phase.
  • 01:26:37
    So I'm going to go over these pretty briefly.
  • 01:26:40
    We did talk about them at an AEO presentation.
  • 01:26:42
    So the first is embedding a social worker in 911 MECC that seeks to advance the emergency response and timely assistance to effectively support community members experiencing a mental health, substance abuse, or social service related issue.
  • 01:26:58
    We have had project meetings with 9-1-1 MECC and Hennepin County Behavioral Health has made, as part of their budget process, has made the request for a social worker for that pilot so we anticipate hearing back from them later this fall and we'll be able to resume planning then
  • 01:27:15
    Traffic control response to non-injury collisions.
  • 01:27:18
    This would shift the non-injury traffic collision response from the MPD to traffic control.
  • 01:27:23
    This pilot is aligned with the responsive strategy outlined in the Safe and Thriving Communities Report.
  • 01:27:29
    We've done work talking with communities in cities like Wilmington, North Carolina who have a civilian CRAS investigator program.
  • 01:27:36
    This fall we'll collaborate with stakeholders to better understand what their resource needs would be through this pilot and also develop a training program.
  • 01:27:46
    for the traffic staff.
  • 01:27:49
    Community Safety Ambassadors, this pilot serves as an important part of Minneapolis' ongoing efforts to transform its approach to community safety.
  • 01:27:57
    It builds on one of the principles outlined in the Safe and Thriving Communities Report.
  • 01:28:02
    It really aims at providing tailored, community-driven solutions to enhance the safety and well-being of residents, business owners, and visitors.
  • 01:28:09
    The ambassadors and the pilot will be working the East Lake Street and Franklin Cultural Corridors focusing on livability concerns and street level outreach We are currently in the planning process and are developing an RFP that aims to integrate cultural differences in the cultural support for those areas We are hoping to release that RFP in December
  • 01:28:37
    And lastly, the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.
  • 01:28:39
    Again, we collaborated with OCS to design a community survey to analyze that information from their survey.
  • 01:28:47
    The project team is currently in the process of refining and selecting performance measures that support the goals and objectives of both the Lake Street and South Minneapolis Community Safety Centers and are starting to think about data collection.
  • 01:29:02
    and as the Policing Project completes the Assets and Gaps Analysis and Action Plan, we'll have additional insights on what could be provided as it relates to services at those centers.
  • 01:29:16
    Relationship building is our last outcome area.
  • 01:29:19
    We really seek to build connections across the city.
  • 01:29:21
    The first focus is the data collaborative, which is an opportunity to build.
  • 01:29:26
    This will help us build a more connected, equipped, and supported data community.
  • 01:29:30
    It's an opportunity for employees across the enterprise to share knowledge and benefit from training.
  • 01:29:35
    IT has hosted a launch event.
  • 01:29:38
    When we launched our Step 3 and held the workshops around data visualization, we began engaging with analysts throughout the city to both talk about their dashboards and understand how their data is organized and sort of what things they're running into.
  • 01:29:51
    We developed a series of resources that would help to build a repository for the data collaborative.
  • 01:29:58
    In our design, we considered things like leading practices, city standards, and accessibility.
  • 01:30:03
    to create job aids that would help staff navigate the data visualization process.
  • 01:30:08
    Anecdotal feedback received during the workshops indicated high satisfaction with the materials and the effective practices shared.
  • 01:30:16
    Again, these efforts helped to build up the data collaborative, its resources, and relationships.
  • 01:30:23
    City goal outcomes.
  • 01:30:25
    This will help the city understand the impact across large-scale topics, transcending silos.
  • 01:30:30
    We will focus on city goals to measure things at a higher level.
  • 01:30:35
    PMI will act as a convener and a facilitator for these.
  • 01:30:40
    Theming the department's outcomes Minneapolis performance measures will be the first step in this work to understand what things are we seeing across the departments that are bigger issues that the city itself is facing.
  • 01:30:54
    And then lastly, Innovation U, our opportunity to grow.
  • 01:30:57
    This is part of our commitment to supporting the enterprise's growth through capacity building.
  • 01:31:03
    And we are in the process of developing on-demand resources.
  • 01:31:06
    We're partnering with staff and IT to create online learning modules.
  • 01:31:10
    And we have engaged with HR's learning and development team to explore how we can reinforce each other's work.
  • 01:31:16
    This body of work speaks to our efforts to build a culture of data-driven decision making and support innovation.
  • 01:31:23
    We hope to release our first on-demand module in 2025.
  • 01:31:30
    So I alluded to this in the program and staffing slide.
  • 01:31:33
    So the 2025 budget proposal, this proposal formalizes the agreement reached in the 2024 budget cycle to restore the five FTEs that were transferred out of PMI, and they are currently funded under public safety aid.
  • 01:31:47
    The backbone of the city of Minneapolis is performance management analytics and innovation effort.
  • 01:31:52
    The staffing level
  • 01:31:53
    enables us to continue the activities that I discussed earlier in my presentation.
  • 01:31:58
    Our work is integral to demonstrating good governance.
  • 01:32:06
    With that, I'm happy to stand for questions.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:32:11
    Thank you for your presentation, Director.
  • 01:32:14
    Colleagues, are there questions or comments related to this budget presentation?
  • 01:32:18
    I will first recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:32:21
    Thank you Madam Chair, thank you Director Hasbargain.
  • 01:32:25
    It appears per your second slide I think and from your comments that PMI is now fully staffed and I know we had to do some budget shuffling last year to get you the resources you need to step up from this department of one.
  • 01:32:40
    Yes, and I just want to also say I love seeing the photos of you and your staff and putting a face to a name as I see some of these people through the skyways now I remember where they work.
  • 01:32:52
    It's really helpful to see who's helping make the enterprise accountable to data and metrics.
  • 01:32:58
    So while I'm most excited to hear about the reimagining community safety work, I'm reminded it's happening everywhere and it should be because it's going to take all of us
  • 01:33:08
    At this time while we're facing a large budget deficit, I am particularly excited for the outcomes Minneapolis process.
  • 01:33:19
    We need to take a hard look at our existing operations and programs to make these data-driven Decisions as to their effectiveness and their impact and so I recognize this is another new process just being started but how The director how do you anticipate your results will impact our budget process next year or will it?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:33:41
    Yeah Thank you for the question I think
  • 01:33:48
    I don't know, so that is a great question and what I may do is talk a little bit through the process and then how we see it providing departments with the information that they need to understand is this program making the impact in the way that we envisioned it.
  • 01:34:05
    so I think again we are here to support and provide that information to the departments and really have that data there to say yes it is doing that so and it's new so I will say we have just launched the process we have again engaged with their 58 or so proposals and we are engaging with all of them
  • 01:34:22
    and we'll be reaching back out to them after we go through the process to see was this right, did it feel right to the departments.
  • 01:34:29
    So the consultative process itself, PMI, the budget office, has been an amazing partner as REIB in really reviewing the proposals.
  • 01:34:37
    So what we were able to do was take a look at the proposals that were provided by the departments and then later, again approved by the mayor, I think this is the same process for Outcomes Minneapolis and the general
  • 01:34:47
    performance measures that departments are using that are core to what they do to do business, right?
  • 01:34:52
    When you think about Public Works, Health Department, what are those core services?
  • 01:34:56
    So I think this sort of approach goes to both, but I'll speak specifically to the budget process.
  • 01:35:01
    We will review the proposals.
  • 01:35:05
    We will also do research.
  • 01:35:06
    So when we really talk about capacity, I think it is not that city staff, right, would not love the opportunity to be able to spend all of this time researching, we get case studies, coming up with all these things, it's time.
  • 01:35:18
    So with the team and the way in which we're staffed, we're able to take that time to take a step back, understand
  • 01:35:23
    One of the things we're doing, we want to build an amazing repository of performance measures and leading practices.
  • 01:35:29
    What are others doing?
  • 01:35:30
    Who has a program like this?
  • 01:35:32
    What may be helpful information to you as you consider this?
  • 01:35:35
    So the team first engages in research.
  • 01:35:37
    What they then created was, we are calling a collaboration form.
  • 01:35:43
    So we review the proposals, offer feedback on what was outlined, and I think Deputy Jackson did an amazing job showing you that process, how that was outlined in the framework.
  • 01:35:53
    What is the objective, that big thing that you are trying to do and what are the goals?
  • 01:35:58
    Then from the measures and the research that we provided, we share that with them in potential ways that they could alter or give them a great thumbs up for what they've developed.
  • 01:36:09
    and we will then do is consult with them.
  • 01:36:11
    We'll send them in advance, have them review it, and then we'll consult.
  • 01:36:15
    So we will meet with the department staff to really talk through the proposal, talk through our thoughts, and use it as an opportunity sort of to discuss is this going to get you when we look at the data what you're wanting to say that it's been successful.
  • 01:36:28
    We then give the department the opportunity to consider what we've recommended, consider the research that we've come up with, just think about what changes they may want to make.
  • 01:36:38
    They then come back with us, ask us any questions, and then decide what that looks like and adjust their measures.
  • 01:36:47
    And then for the budget process, we will be updating, so there were a lot of preliminary
  • 01:36:53
    For example, in some of the budget proposals online, you may have seen, we'll talk to PMI or Measures in Development.
  • 01:37:01
    So what PMI will be doing is going back in and updating the proposals so it reflects the new measures that the department has decided on.
  • 01:37:09
    We'll then work with them to understand how we might help collect data, especially for the smaller departments, and then how they may want to visualize that to speak to
  • 01:37:18
    These were objectives.
  • 01:37:19
    This was the big thing that we were trying to solve.
  • 01:37:22
    This is how we thought we were going to do it.
  • 01:37:23
    And here's the progress or the impact that we were able to make.
  • 01:37:29
    So that's the process and how we see providing that.
  • 01:37:32
    And then departments have the opportunity, knowing did it meet what they were trying to do to make different programmatic decisions.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:37:39
    Thank you.
  • 01:37:40
    You know, it feels like this research and deep dive will help us maybe free up dollars for the other side of your department that's working on the innovative ideas and the big ideas to help make us a better city enterprise.
  • 01:37:52
    So thank you.
  • 01:37:53
    Thanks for this presentation.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:37:57
    Thank you, Council Member.
  • 01:37:58
    Next I'll recognize Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:38:01
    Thank you, Madam Vice President.
  • 01:38:03
    Thank you so much, Director, for the presentation.
  • 01:38:06
    I do have a couple questions, but I have a follow-up question from Council Member Palmisano.
  • 01:38:10
    Can you just clarify when you talk through the budget process?
  • 01:38:13
    I thought you said something like 58 programs.
  • 01:38:16
    Are you thinking that the outcomes Minneapolis will just evaluate the change items from the previous
  • 01:38:24
    year or will there be more broader ability to look at all programs or what does the scope, I guess, of Outcomes Minneapolis look at?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:38:37
    Yeah, Vice Chair Koski, thank you for that question.
  • 01:38:40
    And it is, yes, I mean both and I appreciate you asking for that clarification.
  • 01:38:45
    It's a little bit annoying because when we talk about Outcomes Minneapolis, we think about it as
  • 01:38:51
    the framework in which we want
  • 01:39:10
    and that is the same process that we will use in all of our work.
  • 01:39:14
    So whether it's a pilot idea where someone's like, I have this really amazing idea that is going to support community around opioids, we are going to bring that framework to really flesh out what that looks like to help clarify, again, the problem being solved, the impact we're intending to make as a result, and then what is going to help demonstrate that impact, so what are the performance measures.
  • 01:39:37
    So that's the framework generally.
  • 01:39:40
    To your, specifically to your question, yes we are going through, and I think it was 50 and that might be the wrong number, so the number of proposals that were recommended in the mayor's budget that the departments are presenting you on through this process, we are reaching out and have reached out to departments to see what support would be helpful for them in developing the metrics section.
  • 01:39:59
    That's part of performance management, there's also a race equity, there's a slew of questions in that form.
  • 01:40:07
    and then out comes Minneapolis, which is sort of those core functions that departments are doing.
  • 01:40:12
    I told you 100%.
  • 01:40:14
    Hopefully at the end of today all departments and offices will have gone through that workshop.
  • 01:40:18
    They are still doing that and that is really focused on what they are doing that's core to their business.
  • 01:40:22
    They are still, or the services that they provide and then what are the measures that help outline that.
  • 01:40:27
    So there again, maybe overlap for example.
  • 01:40:30
    I think some departments received recommended new funding around some things that are likely core to what they're doing.
  • 01:40:36
    but it really looks at the more perennial things that we would think of or the public may think about when they think about public works.
  • 01:40:45
    So that sort of, I'm sorry, I hope that answers your question.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:40:49
    No, yes, thank you so much, Director.
  • 01:40:52
    That answers my question and I'm grateful to hear that.
  • 01:40:55
    I mean, we add new programs, you know, this is my third budget cycle and I've watched us add new programs but not be able to really understand
  • 01:41:05
    the outcomes of them and so I know that this has been a gap and we haven't been doing that for quite some time and so I'm anxious to be able to see a breath going backwards not just necessarily the ones that I've been involved with so I'm grateful to hear that and just get a better understanding of it too.
  • 01:41:26
    And so that was just kind of leading into my other comments that I just wanted to say thank you.
  • 01:41:32
    I feel I've been waiting and really excited to have this type of collaborative tool in Outcomes Minneapolis.
  • 01:41:40
    I knew I needed to be patient, but I can see that you really jumped into this and
  • 01:41:47
    and we have rebuilt this team from a team of one like you said and have done more than what I think might be almost humanly possible but did this.
  • 01:42:00
    You can see that the drive and dedication of yourself and your team it shows and what you've presented today.
  • 01:42:07
    I'm really excited.
  • 01:42:08
    I am looking forward to being able to feel the benefits that our residents are going to feel as we move forward and really be able to help them connect and understand the things that they talk to us every day about, how we're going to be able to return back to them and circle back and help them understand how they're benefiting.
  • 01:42:28
    So thank you so much for the work you've done and for the presentation today.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:42:35
    Thank you and then next I will recognize Council President Payne who's last in queue right now although others may join
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:42:44
    Thank you Vice President.
  • 01:42:46
    Yeah, I mean context here is I've been involved in this work since about 2016 so like there's kind of two sides to this coin.
  • 01:42:55
    One is which I probably have one of the most intimate knowledge of the challenges of doing this work but also maybe some of the highest expectations of the delivery of this work.
  • 01:43:06
    So I kind of have a comment and a question.
  • 01:43:08
    My comment is that
  • 01:43:10
    I had an expectation that this budget cycle we would start seeing some of this kind of cross-silo outcomes-based KPIs or at minimum more KPIs as part of these budget presentations.
  • 01:43:25
    We are not seeing that in these budget presentations so I'm disappointed in that.
  • 01:43:30
    But I'm also, the other side of that coin is I'm very intimately familiar with the challenges of
  • 01:43:36
    working across departments when you are not in charge of those departments and when you're trying to ask for data that is maybe embarrassing to a department leader, right?
  • 01:43:44
    It shouldn't be embarrassing, it should just be stating facts and it should just be data, but we're human beings and so I understand that.
  • 01:43:51
    So my question is, you know, one of the risks that you highlighted was a lack of authority and, you know, I
  • 01:44:01
    Admittedly, I did not support the strong mayor charter amendment.
  • 01:44:05
    I just didn't support it.
  • 01:44:06
    As a human centered designer, which was the role I had on the team, I really see our role on City Council as being deeply connected to our community and thus being able to advance policy that's very community centered from our perspective versus the mayor
  • 01:44:22
    becomes a little bit ivory tower because it is humanly impossible to keep track of every corner of the city, right?
  • 01:44:29
    So we're a little bit more connected to our communities and that's a reality.
  • 01:44:33
    But one of the benefits of this new structure is that there is supposed to be that much more direct line of authority.
  • 01:44:39
    When PMI was a grant-funded team in the coordinator's office and they were working with the charter department, it was very hard
  • 01:44:49
    We absolutely did not have any authority whatsoever, but I'm actually a little bit disappointed to see that this lack of authority continues to be a theme and a barrier to not meeting that expectation of seeing every department have this robust outcomes-based component of their budget asks.
  • 01:45:09
    And so I'm just wondering, this is the question, do you feel that you don't actually have the support of leadership to really drive
  • 01:45:17
    these outcomes, I mean, you can't be successful and you won't be successful and it's not a time problem, right?
  • 01:45:25
    Like I said, I've been working on it since 2016.
  • 01:45:28
    Results Minneapolis predated my time by a number of years.
  • 01:45:32
    It's not a time issue, it's having the authority to go into a department and say,
  • 01:45:40
    I am requiring you
  • 01:45:57
    I would hope it would be voluntary collaboration, but in the absence of that voluntary collaboration, just the requirement that you are going to work with PMI to get to the information that this body needs.
  • 01:46:08
    Are you not feeling that support?
  • 01:46:10
    Is that one of the reasons why this lack of authority continues to be a theme?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:46:15
    Council President Payne, thank you for that question.
  • 01:46:19
    I would say yes, I feel supported by senior executive leadership.
  • 01:46:25
    I think, again, we are still now all of the DCO positions are filled and I think we are all trying to understand what that looks like.
  • 01:46:33
    For sort of the more formal, right, lack of authority, someone's not giving me something that I need to move it up the chain.
  • 01:46:40
    So through outcomes Minneapolis, through the budget process, the DCOs and the mayor's office,
  • 01:46:45
    and Margaret Anderson Keller, City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Keller have been very supportive and helping to understand what support is needed, where we may need some support in that.
  • 01:46:57
    I think the lack of authority, and that's why you sort of see again team building and relationships, I think that's still important.
  • 01:47:02
    I don't think our team wants to go in and we don't want to go in and say you have to give this to us.
  • 01:47:07
    That's not a way that I would want someone to approach me.
  • 01:47:09
    So we have been spending this time really building those relationships and focusing on how we are helping
  • 01:47:16
    the importance and work that every local government, all 4,000 employees are passionate about how we can help them with that.
  • 01:47:24
    And so I think lack of authority is at sort of all levels.
  • 01:47:29
    I think it's just even small stuff, right?
  • 01:47:31
    For example, sort of maybe more germane to this conversation is we have deadlines, right?
  • 01:47:37
    So we all set deadlines on things.
  • 01:47:40
    And so it is not that a department has come and said, no.
  • 01:47:46
    I'm not going to participate in Outcomes Minneapolis.
  • 01:47:48
    You need to make my department head or my DCO tell me that I'm doing it.
  • 01:47:53
    We are so slammed right now that
  • 01:47:57
    for me to be able to give this the time that it needs and for me to be able to fit this around my other duties, right, as this is an other duty as assigned, I may need more time.
  • 01:48:06
    And so I think that's again where I'm not, we don't want to come back to an apartment or a program person to say we don't understand that there aren't other things that are probably time sensitive and important that they are trying to work on.
  • 01:48:20
    And so that's really how can we now adjust
  • 01:48:23
    what we're doing in our approach to that level.
  • 01:48:26
    But I think again that authority when sort of what does it look like, we haven't yet gotten to a place where we haven't agreed, right?
  • 01:48:34
    So there hasn't been sort of something like that yet and I think that's what's going to be very important in building those relationships and then working through how we're going to operate together so that way we can come as Director Corbett talked about, what is that going to come to then?
  • 01:48:48
    We don't want it to be
  • 01:48:50
    I think, again, right now from a very high level, senior executive leadership has been very supportive and
  • 01:49:07
    I think we all recognize that there are day-to-day commitments that every staff person is trying to manage and when we come in with extra stuff it's very hard, right, to try to move that forward until the deadline has come and then it's passed and now it's really due.
  • 01:49:22
    But I do appreciate the great experience that you shared with the team earlier this year and we are connecting with staff who were part of the team or have engaged in other pilots to understand and other programs
  • 01:49:34
    Previously, how we might be able to understand that and really giving the team the time to start building those relationships before so we can approach it in a helpful way.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:49:47
    yeah and I think this is the thing that I want to impart on folks and this is actually not even specific to your department it's this is an enterprise-wide thing the consequence of not showing up in this process with outcome based reporting means that we are going to be making budget decisions based on
  • 01:50:07
    the truth that we know.
  • 01:50:09
    We know what's going on in our community.
  • 01:50:10
    We know what's important to our community.
  • 01:50:12
    We know what outcomes this institution is delivering for our communities and the outcomes that it's not delivering for our communities.
  • 01:50:18
    We know that very intimately on at least a ward-by-ward basis.
  • 01:50:22
    Those are going to be the basis by which we make our budget priorities known, right?
  • 01:50:26
    And in the absence of an enterprise-wide outcomes data-driven
  • 01:50:31
    decision-making framework We're doing this based on that kind of like very kind of gritty human-to-human like relationship You know My phone ringing in the middle of committees because I have a resident who has a problem in their apartment type of priority decisions right which can be anecdotal right and
  • 01:50:55
    The consequence of not having this framework is, and this is the thing that I really want to impart, and again, not for your department specifically, enterprise-wide, is when we make our decisions in this budget, it's based on a set of information that we have available and a set of priorities that we drive through that information.
  • 01:51:16
    It gets very frustrating when we know what our priorities are and then we hear
  • 01:51:20
    The impact of what's happening inside is it's more opaque because we don't have that
  • 01:51:48
    data-driven framework in front of us for this decision-making process.
  • 01:51:55
    When people are not prioritizing this work because there are other more urgent and important things,
  • 01:52:04
    this is urgent and important in a different way and there's a more proactive way for us to address those urgent and important things when we have that data and so it's like I'm glad to hear that you are feeling that you have the support that you need I just need to really impart not on you as a department but on us as an institution that the absence of having this outcomes-based data at this moment in the decision-making process it's gonna it's gonna have consequences and
  • 01:52:34
    I kind of don't want to hear about it right because we don't have that data in front of us and I don't want to hear from department heads well how dare you do this because we're doing it because we have the data that we have which is our community right and I just really want to impart the importance of this body of work and that I there it needs to be in place by next next budget cycle and I'm very disappointed that it's not in place in this budget cycle and that is not
  • 01:53:03
    about your team, it is about this institution, right?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:53:07
    Yeah, Council Member Payne, I appreciate that and I will just say that, you know, the staff who have been working with us, even with a pretty short window on the budget proposals, because it is a new process and we needed to stand up first.
  • 01:53:19
    The framework, as we talked about before we went in to do the meetings, are essentially working with us in a turnaround of, I'll say it's less than four weeks, so I think
  • 01:53:27
    City staff, department heads, leadership, understand, right, even if we weren't, I would say, in a tight budget, that this is the time where we need to be doing, we need to be engaged in this because it's about data decision making, it's about transparency, it's about good governance.
  • 01:53:44
    I just think, again, with the timelines, with the team, right?
  • 01:53:47
    coming on board right in January and June, we weren't able to do that.
  • 01:53:51
    We're excited about, again, seeing what we can do now in this cycle, and then what it looks like.
  • 01:53:57
    With the focus on human-centered design and rapid prototyping, what does the next version look like?
  • 01:54:02
    What the collaboration form looks like now, what we did now is likely we are going to make that better.
  • 01:54:08
    and we'll be able to align things a little differently.
  • 01:54:10
    But again, unfortunately, the nature of timelines, staffing, many teams, you know, my team being new, we weren't able to accelerate that and did feel having to focus first on a solid foundation was critical before we did that.
  • 01:54:23
    But I agree with you and we are having those conversations with departments and I think it's great for others here at Absence of Data, we make up our own data and this is a great opportunity for departments
  • 01:54:34
    to be able to lead their stories to be the writers as opposed to the copy editors.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:54:40
    And I want you to know I have some grace in that as well.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:54:44
    Thank you.
  • 01:54:45
    And then finally, I will recognize Council Member Vitaw.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:54:49
    Thank you.
  • 01:54:49
    Thank you, Director, for the presentation.
  • 01:54:51
    This is impressive.
  • 01:54:54
    In a year, would you say a year and three weeks?
  • 01:54:56
    Yes.
  • 01:54:57
    You've been here and you started out as a Department of One, so thank you so much.
  • 01:55:03
    This is quite impressive and I see where you're going with this and I appreciate that.
  • 01:55:08
    I think I have different concerns.
  • 01:55:11
    My concerns is that
  • 01:55:12
    this team may be overworked.
  • 01:55:14
    I want to make sure that folks feel grounded in their new positions and have an opportunity to pause and come up with new ideas and appreciate the vision.
  • 01:55:29
    You're one of the people whose department started under a lot of scrutiny.
  • 01:55:34
    It was super heavy when you first got here.
  • 01:55:37
    you know the expectations for you and your department so I think I'm more concerned with you know how we keep staff like what's being done to make sure the team that you have built in this year feels supported throughout the enterprise and how they keep building on the good work they're doing.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:55:55
    Councilman Rita, thank you very much for that comment.
  • 01:55:59
    And I'll say what we are really doing is, I didn't really speak a lot to the internal work that we're doing, so I appreciate the opportunity to share that we are very focused on team building, workplace culture, and creating an environment that our staff can thrive in.
  • 01:56:14
    Andra Bosniak, who is our deputy director, has done an amazing job.
  • 01:56:17
    She oversees the day-to-day and is building those relationships with the team.
  • 01:56:21
    really making sure that staff feels feel supported right having those one-on-ones having informal check-ins sure it's no shock to any of you that as a new department with a new team we do a lot of brainstorming a lot of pre-meeting a lot of really working to make sure that people feel supported having under myself attend meetings right not that we don't trust the team but there is a different culture here at the city and make sure that people don't feel like they're just out there flying in the wind
  • 01:56:46
    Team development is something that we're looking at as well around culture building, and so we are taking the time to split our work right in between the deliverables, very specific deliverables for those go, go, goes, but also what it looks like to focus on learning and development.
  • 01:57:02
    I also have check-ins with staff.
  • 01:57:05
    We've done three, six, nine, and now we'll be coming up on one-year check-ins.
  • 01:57:09
    really talking about those higher-level issues.
  • 01:57:12
    The benefit is we are a smaller team, so again, Cousin Member Palmisano, I appreciate you calling out our photos.
  • 01:57:17
    As a smaller department, we also have a little bit more of the ability to be engaged in the day-to-day.
  • 01:57:24
    We see staff every day.
  • 01:57:26
    We have meetings with the team every day and really want to understand also what people are doing outside of work and what their lives are as we do bring again our whole selves to work.
  • 01:57:36
    and the team itself has created a really amazing culture and has a lot of trust.
  • 01:57:41
    The team eats lunch together every day in our conference room, so it's very, I think, endearing and it makes me very excited to see how they are creating structures informally, right, those support networks that will help them and they don't, not shy in coming in to talk with us about questions that they have.
  • 01:57:59
    or things that we could do to better support their growth and their careers here.
  • 01:58:04
    But I appreciate you, Councilmember Richard, bringing that up and that is something that we are also actively supporting.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:58:11
    Thank you very much, Director.
  • 01:58:13
    Councilmember Vita, did you have any additional questions?
  • 01:58:16
    With that, we have concluded the questions and discussion items for you, Director.
  • 01:58:21
    Thank you for coming in to present your budget.
  • 01:58:23
    I'll ask the clerk to file that report.
  • 01:58:26
    And with that, we are ready to move to item number two, which was amended to be added to this agenda.
  • 01:58:34
    Legislative directive related to
  • 01:58:39
    related to our financial reporting.
  • 01:58:44
    To introduce this item, I will recognize Council Member and Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:58:51
    Thank you, Madam Vice President.
  • 01:58:53
    Colleagues, last week the City Council redistributed $1.5 million from department surpluses based on detailed financial reports to fund the Agate Board and Lodge Housing and Shelter Facility Rehabilitation Project.
  • 01:59:06
    The reallocated funds were sourced from departments that chronically underspend have underspent for the past five plus years and are expected to underspend their 2024 budget.
  • 01:59:16
    It reallocated 7.58% of their projected surplus, which was an average of 0.74%, so under 1% of their total budgets.
  • 01:59:26
    As a reminder, the city is projected to end this year with a $38 million surplus.
  • 01:59:32
    The City Council's decision ensured that these funds were used to save over 130 shelter beds and critical housing services without any impact on services and programming or the taxpayers of Minneapolis.
  • 01:59:43
    Yesterday we received an informal email from the administration stating that the savings data was inaccurate and providing a list of arbitrary budget cuts being instituted.
  • 01:59:53
    This legislative directive brought forward by Chair Chugtai and I is responsive to that email and is intended to settle this financial discrepancy.
  • 02:00:02
    The legislative directive encompasses several key areas.
  • 02:00:05
    It requests information and data on financial reporting, monitoring, and performance measurement and understanding of standards for financial reporting including compliance with state and federal requirements with a focus on processes that ensure the accuracy of financial reports.
  • 02:00:21
    Two, it will walk through the second quarter financial report evaluation, the detailed calculations and supporting documentation from the City of Minneapolis General Fund report on June 30th, including models, formulas, and data that contribute to the year-end projections and surplus deficit assessments.
  • 02:00:38
    Number three, accuracy evaluation of financial reports, a comprehensive chart comparing general fund reports across multiple years, assessing original and current budgets, year-to-date actuals and projections.
  • 02:00:50
    Number four, department level financial reports.
  • 02:00:52
    A thorough review of financial reports at the department level analyzing original and revised budgets alongside year-to-date actuals with explanations for variances.
  • 02:01:03
    And number five, an inquiry into financial practices.
  • 02:01:06
    and inquiry into the legal and policy frameworks governing the commitment of current budget savings to future budgets, including the authority for such actions and mechanisms in place to prevent unauthorized use of funds.
  • 02:01:19
    So with that, I will move this legislative directive and turn it over to Chair Chugtai for additional comments.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:01:28
    Thank you Vice Chair Koski.
  • 02:01:31
    I just wanted to add some further context as the Vice Chair walked through the different components of this legislative directive and a little bit of context of
  • 02:01:47
    and how we got here.
  • 02:01:49
    So the couple of pieces of context or information that I wanted to add on are first that Vice Chair Koski and I take the responsibility of leading the Budget Committee and our body's role in setting and approving the annual city budget incredibly seriously.
  • 02:02:16
    We know, and as you all do, that especially under the new government structure, the City Council's role in allocating and approving budgets and conducting thorough financial oversight is
  • 02:02:41
    is incredibly important and one of the only ways in which we influence the delivery of services that our residents rely on and pay for.
  • 02:02:53
    So I say that to help level set that us
  • 02:03:02
    walking on a legislative directive consistent with our process and rules here on the council is indicative of how serious and urgent we believe this matter to be.
  • 02:03:19
    funding for the rehabilitation of the agate facility in downtown and you know I'll just note just today it was announced that there's a match to the money that this council appropriated and as a result 130 beds of critical services are going to continue to be available to our residents next year.
  • 02:03:49
    The sourcing for that amendment was the result of a lot of analysis of the reporting that this council receives, the mid-year
  • 02:04:08
    the mid-year budget to actuals and projected surpluses, that's the second quarter financial status report, along with a five-year look back on year-end reporting of each of these departments' budgets.
  • 02:04:25
    So we looked at, and we're very attentive to making sure that the amount of money we were taking from each department
  • 02:04:35
    was going to be underspent because it had been year after year after year.
  • 02:04:40
    And then when we see in response to that the mayor's administration informing us of cuts to programs and services that are critical and important
  • 02:04:59
    to this council, to this body, that is alarming.
  • 02:05:06
    And so this is why we have this legislative directive for your consideration.
  • 02:05:18
    Colleagues, are there additional questions?
  • 02:05:21
    I'll first note that we've been joined in this meeting by Mayor Frey.
  • 02:05:25
    And with that I will recognize Council Member Vitale for a comment or question.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:05:31
    Thank you.
  • 02:05:32
    Yeah, I guess I have several questions.
  • 02:05:34
    The first one, though, is so this legislative directive comes out of the email we received from the mayor yesterday stating that North Commons is going to lose $350,000 due to the vote you all took for the $1.5 million from Agate.
  • 02:05:50
    Is that what I'm understanding?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:05:56
    Council Member Vita, I'll attempt to address your question and then see if Vice Chair Koski wants to address it as well.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:06:04
    Okay, and if I need to say it differently, I'm happy to.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:06:06
    No, no, no, your question is very clear.
  • 02:06:08
    Alright.
  • 02:06:15
    Based on historic spending
  • 02:06:20
    within departments.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:06:23
    I think we're getting away from my question though if you're starting with based on historic spending.
  • 02:06:28
    All I'm asking is yesterday I received an email, we all did, from the mayor saying that North Commons was down $350,000 based on the vote that this council took last week.
  • 02:06:40
    So is that what this legislative directive is coming from?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:06:43
    It's attempting to address the inconsistencies that we are hearing.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:06:47
    Okay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:06:48
    So there should not be any cuts to North Commons and we're seeking to understand why that's happening when there is enough money in the budget.
  • 02:06:58
    Okay.
  • 02:06:58
    Got it.
  • 02:06:59
    That's it.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:07:00
    Does that answer your question?
  • 02:07:01
    I'm there.
  • 02:07:02
    Second part of this is this legislative directive.
  • 02:07:05
    This is a lot of information.
  • 02:07:07
    I'm trying to understand why didn't we do this, but you know I had a big fight with everyone before the vote was taken on Agate because I felt like 12 hours of decision making was not enough time.
  • 02:07:20
    So I'm trying to understand why didn't we go through this beef.
  • 02:07:23
    for the first time.
  • 02:07:46
    under-served North Minneapolis.
  • 02:07:47
    So why are we doing this now and what is all of this going to get us that's going to help in future?
  • 02:07:54
    I mean, this feels like a lot of information that, I mean,
  • 02:08:01
    I don't know what it's going to be helpful at, but maybe you and Councilmember Koski have some other magical way of budgeting, but I don't understand how this is going to help with decision making on this when we didn't need it, when you all made this decision without it before.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:08:18
    Councilmember Vita, the reason we're doing this is because the data does not support a need to cut funding for North Commons Park.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:08:31
    What is the issue?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:08:50
    The places we took the money from always underspend, always underspend.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:08:56
    No, no, no.
  • 02:08:56
    Even if the department underspends, there are dollars that are allocated for specific things, right?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:09:01
    We took it out of general fund.
  • 02:09:02
    We took it out of their high level full budget.
  • 02:09:06
    We didn't take it out of specific programs.
  • 02:09:10
    within a department.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:09:12
    That was an operational choice that was made.
  • 02:09:29
    to in that email, I'm really concerned about North Commons.
  • 02:09:33
    I'm actually pissed about North Commons, that we're even having this discussion because it's always the North side on the chopping block when we get to these decisions.
  • 02:09:43
    And you know, so many people sit up here and talk about institutional racism.
  • 02:09:47
    That's an issue when it's always the North side.
  • 02:09:49
    That's racism.
  • 02:09:51
    especially with the vote that was taken.
  • 02:09:56
    If somebody talked about, I don't know, I don't know if there were conversations about North Commons being on the chopping block or what happened.
  • 02:10:03
    I don't know what happened, but I know it better get fixed.
  • 02:10:08
    ASAP.
  • 02:10:10
    So I don't know, I don't know what this budget allocation, I mean this legislative directive is intended to do, how it's gonna fix it.
  • 02:10:17
    I don't know what this has to do with anything.
  • 02:10:20
    If you all already made a decision and you said it was legit.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:10:26
    Vice Chair Koski, would you like to address?
  • 02:10:27
    Thank you, Council Vice President.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:10:29
    Yeah, happy to address Councilor Vita's question.
  • 02:10:32
    So the city's quarterly financial reports are how we understand the city and our department's actual spending.
  • 02:10:38
    They are touted and were told to us in an email that this is our best source of budgetary and fiscal information.
  • 02:10:46
    And we didn't ask for this information initially because we were under the impression that we could rely on the information that was brought forward to us was
  • 02:10:55
    I'm equally as concerned that North Commons was chosen arbitrarily by the administration to be cut.
  • 02:11:07
    when I don't understand that the numbers don't show that there should be cuts from a department when the report that we have shows that they are projected to underspend.
  • 02:11:19
    This information that we're asking for will help us in foundational information so that we can move forward with next steps to understand how we move forward.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:11:31
    Okay, I'm going to make one last comment.
  • 02:11:33
    I don't know what kind of weird fight y'all having up here.
  • 02:11:36
    But the north side is not going to be in the middle of this.
  • 02:11:40
    Period.
  • 02:11:41
    I don't know what y'all doing.
  • 02:11:42
    I don't know where this is coming from.
  • 02:11:44
    This blaming.
  • 02:11:46
    It's the mayor.
  • 02:11:46
    It's the council.
  • 02:11:47
    I don't know.
  • 02:11:49
    But what is not going to happen is the north side is going to be the fall in this.
  • 02:11:55
    Whatever y'all doing, y'all need to fix this like yesterday.
  • 02:12:00
    I don't even understand what's going on anymore.
  • 02:12:03
    I really don't.
  • 02:12:04
    When y'all voted for this, I did not vote for Agate because I did not have enough information to know if North Commons or anything was at risk for that matter.
  • 02:12:13
    Even the South Side Initiative, I didn't know.
  • 02:12:16
    And I made that very clear.
  • 02:12:17
    I don't know what's going on here.
  • 02:12:19
    This seems very soon, in less than a week, we're up here having a conversation about the North Side.
  • 02:12:28
    So I don't know what y'all have to do.
  • 02:12:31
    I just don't see how this legislative directive is fixing anything.
  • 02:12:34
    This seems like just a whole lot of work that's going to take a whole lot more time.
  • 02:12:39
    And the north side is going to be waiting to hear about I don't know what.
  • 02:12:45
    So I don't know what y'all need to do, but we need some action ASAP.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:12:50
    Understood Councilmember, I just want to make sure that you know that we also agree that it is unacceptable that the North Commons project is where this arbitrary cut is happening.
  • 02:13:09
    That is inconsistent with what this council believes.
  • 02:13:16
    I know that rehabilitation
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:13:21
    what the people who made the decision to use that money in that way believes.
  • 02:13:25
    Because I really don't know.
  • 02:13:27
    So it's not what I believe.
  • 02:13:28
    I don't know one way or the other.
  • 02:13:29
    What I do know is the park board got $3 million from the city and that got the money further from the state and other agencies based on the money we committed to.
  • 02:13:42
    They have been told and I have been told that $350,000 has been taken away from them.
  • 02:13:49
    That's fraud.
  • 02:13:50
    That means they submitted an application that was wrong.
  • 02:13:54
    If they are down $1, that means they submitted an application with a commitment from the city that is not the correct amount of money.
  • 02:14:02
    That is fraud.
  • 02:14:04
    And I want zero parts of that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:14:09
    agreed.
  • 02:14:11
    Next I'll recognize Mayor Frey.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:14:15
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 02:14:17
    There are several inaccuracies that need to be corrected and we should just get it straight from the individual's mouth and so I'd like to call up our budget lead in Jane DeCenza.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:14:32
    Mr. Mayor, the chair recognizes the speakers.
  • 02:14:38
    Apologies.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:14:39
    So, first, Ms. DeCenza, I can't quite see you.
  • 02:15:10
    were you consulted on this particular budget allocation?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:15:17
    Chair Chugchai, Mayor Frey, on the reductions related to Agate?
  • 02:15:21
    Yes.
  • 02:15:21
    I was not.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:15:26
    What is the purpose generally of a second quarter financial report?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:15:30
    Through the Chair, Mayor Frey, the quarterly financial reports are an important checkpoint throughout the year.
  • 02:15:35
    Every organization, private sector organizations, will do quarterly financials.
  • 02:15:41
    They'll be revised quarterly.
  • 02:15:43
    It's a snapshot in time of spending.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:15:46
    Did you ever tell any council members that this was a good source to use in determining what cuts could potentially be made?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:15:54
    Through the Chair, Mayor Frey, they're not designed to inform budget cuts.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:15:58
    Why are they not designed to inform budget cuts?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:16:00
    Because it is a snapshot, it's their accurate reports, but when designing budget cuts, which I did go through at the city, there's a lot of nuance that's required and a lot of conversation that might not be evident from looking at a one-pager on the general fund status of spending.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:16:17
    And when is the quarter two report determined?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:16:22
    Through the chair, Mayor Frey, the quarter two report goes through the end of June.
  • 02:16:26
    It was presented a little late this year because we've only recently filled our controller's position.
  • 02:16:32
    So I expect we'll have an updated quarter three report in the next couple of weeks here.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:16:38
    And will that updated quarter three report give a more accurate presentation on where our unspent balance presently is?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:16:48
    Through the chair, Mayor Frey, yes, every quarter gets more and more accurate as we know more about spending.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:16:53
    Do you disagree with the approach that was taken?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:16:56
    Through the chair, yes, absolutely.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:16:59
    In terms of financial practices, how is the city rated?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:17:02
    Through the chair, we recently reaffirmed our AAA bond rating status, I believe this week.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:17:11
    And is that the top bond rating status?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:17:13
    Through the chair, yes, Mayor Frey, that's correct.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 02:17:16
    Thank you Ms. Desens, I appreciate it.
  • 02:17:18
    I may have another question in a second but I wanted to make a couple of points as it applies to this particular issue.
  • 02:17:27
    First, every single person up here recognizes the importance of maintaining and increasing shelter space.
  • 02:17:34
    I think there are many
  • 02:17:35
    that want to make sure that there is a process that we go through that allows for a competitive and fair process where all entities can apply, recognizing that there are a lot of them right now that are in dire straits or in a rough point.
  • 02:17:51
    I do believe that the City of Minneapolis can be one of many entities that steps up to help and we should do that thoughtfully.
  • 02:17:59
    Second, the situation that led to this directive that we're presently considering could have been avoided if council members bothered to consult with budget staff and bothered to vet the information from the beginning.
  • 02:18:14
    It is our job to deliberate.
  • 02:18:16
    It is our job also to trust expertise.
  • 02:18:22
    We have financial experts at the city.
  • 02:18:26
    They are not the mayor.
  • 02:18:28
    They are not the council.
  • 02:18:29
    We have legal experts at the city.
  • 02:18:31
    They're called attorneys.
  • 02:18:32
    They are not me.
  • 02:18:33
    They are not the council.
  • 02:18:35
    We have experts in housing and climate.
  • 02:18:39
    We have experts in regulatory services and payroll.
  • 02:18:43
    We need to trust and work with staff.
  • 02:18:47
    That did not happen at all.
  • 02:18:51
    prior to this motion coming forward.
  • 02:18:54
    It came forward in the way that it did because there weren't the requisite votes to pass it through the contingency fund and so council members pivoted to try to use unspent balance.
  • 02:19:10
    Some of the unspent balance has already been allocated by council members themselves.
  • 02:19:18
    We need to stop pretending like there's free money out there at this point.
  • 02:19:23
    There isn't.
  • 02:19:24
    It's either monies that have already been allocated to a specific purpose and yes there are at times monies that go unspent at the end of the year and when it does go unspent there is a direct impact to property taxes.
  • 02:19:40
    We do not know necessarily what money will go unspent because the year hasn't finished yet.
  • 02:19:47
    A much better picture of that will be gathered at the end of quarter three when that report comes out.
  • 02:19:53
    Our finance staff do a great job.
  • 02:19:55
    They do a great job that is indicated through a triple A bond rating.
  • 02:20:01
    I don't have a triple A bond rating, our city does.
  • 02:20:04
    Council members don't have a AAA bond rating.
  • 02:20:07
    That bond rating is garnered because we've got experts that do the work to ensure that there is belief that our city is going to do the right thing by our finances.
  • 02:20:16
    Doing something without any vetting is not the right way to go.
  • 02:20:20
    Now, we're at this point now and I understand
  • 02:20:26
    how people have voted and what their belief structure is with respect to putting this money out we now have a legislative directive before us which was also not vetted at all part of the policy and procedure that you all have voted to support is that legislative directives are vetted by administrative staff prior to coming forward the agreement is to support the guidelines is to hold each other accountable
  • 02:20:56
    and to do the things that we committed to do, this doesn't do that.
  • 02:21:01
    So we need to stop pretending that we are experts at the expense of the people that actually are.
  • 02:21:10
    we need to believe administrative staff when they tell us that there is an extraordinarily large problem with a move that we're making and I know there's the assumption that this just comes from some directive from me I can tell you it does not.
  • 02:21:24
    I found out about the North Commons issue a day and a half ago.
  • 02:21:32
    It is a problem.
  • 02:21:34
    It's a problem that needs to be addressed and it's a problem that could have been beforehand had people bothered to do the vetting to begin with.
  • 02:21:45
    I would like to help ag it out in this situation.
  • 02:21:48
    By the way, it was also stated that there's almost a victory lap that's being conducted because we don't know that we're able to save them yet.
  • 02:21:59
    We want to help.
  • 02:22:00
    We should step up to help along with several other partners.
  • 02:22:04
    But they don't know how much it's going to cost, what maintenance is needed, what deferred maintenance presently exists, when they're going to be able to get the funding in, or when they're going to be able to start or complete the project.
  • 02:22:19
    The present motion, the previous motion, excuse me, states that they have until December of 2025.
  • 02:22:31
    and so we don't know yet where this money will lead.
  • 02:22:36
    Will it help?
  • 02:22:37
    Absolutely it will.
  • 02:22:38
    It always does.
  • 02:22:39
    And we should be able to step up to not just help Agate but others in a thoughtful way.
  • 02:22:46
    But as for this legislative directive, again I haven't even read it yet because although I called the council member yesterday, it wasn't shared with me.
  • 02:22:55
    Although budget staff are inherently involved in the work, nobody consulted them at all.
  • 02:23:03
    so let's do this right let's work together let's find a solution not just to address one shelter but multiple let's find a solution where we're working with our expert and administrative staff there can't constantly be mistrust here and when there is our residents suffer when we pretend that we're experts when we're not
  • 02:23:31
    our entire enterprise suffers.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:23:54
    The clerks have informed us that we are potentially going to need to wrap up this meeting as we are going to lose captioners for this meeting here soon.
  • 02:24:10
    So, knowing that, are there any members in queue that would like to take themselves out and offer the final word before we take a vote on this item?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 02:24:32
    Council Vice President, can you share what time we have to be out?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:24:35
    1230.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 02:24:36
    Okay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:24:38
    Knowing that.
  • 02:24:40
    All right.
  • 02:24:45
    Mr.
  • 02:24:45
    Clerk, will you please call the roll on this item?
  • 02:24:49
    Council President Payne, final word, please make it brief.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 02:24:56
    Very quickly, the mayor has talked about the protocols that we've all agreed to.
  • 02:25:00
    That protocol is that the committee invites the administration to provide comment.
  • 02:25:06
    That happens by way of a committee action.
  • 02:25:08
    I believe this vote is our invitation for that comment and this is not the final word.
  • 02:25:14
    We have a full council meeting before this is finalized.
  • 02:25:17
    This is that invitation.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 02:25:22
    Excellent with that we have about 20 seconds left, so I will ask the clerk to call the roll on this item Councilmember Payne aye Wonsley aye Rainville is absent, Vita no Ellison is absent, Osman aye Cashman aye Jenkins nay Chavez aye
  • 02:25:51
    Chaudry?
  • 02:25:52
    Aye.
  • 02:25:54
    Palmesano?
  • 02:25:55
    No.
  • 02:25:57
    Vice Chair Koski?
  • 02:25:58
    Aye.
  • 02:26:00
    Chair Chogchai?
  • 02:26:01
    Aye.
  • 02:26:02
    There are eight ayes and three nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:26:06
    That item carries and with that we have concluded all business to come before this committee today and without objection we stand adjourned.