Budget Committee December 06, 2024   12/6/2024

Discussion

• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:10:29
    Good morning, my name is Aisha Chugtai and I am the chair of the Budget Committee.
  • 00:10:33
    I am going to call to order our adjourned committee meeting for Friday, December 6th, or our first day of markup.
  • 00:10:40
    Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation.
  • 00:10:51
    These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community.
  • 00:10:58
    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.
  • 00:11:08
    We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments.
  • 00:11:12
    At this time, I'll ask the Clerk to call the roll so we can verify the presence of a quorum.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 00:11:17
    Councilmember Payne?
  • 00:11:18
    Present.
  • 00:11:19
    Wonsley?
  • 00:11:20
    Present.
  • 00:11:21
    Rainville?
  • 00:11:22
    Present.
  • 00:11:23
    Lita?
  • 00:11:23
    Present.
  • 00:11:24
    Ellison?
  • 00:11:25
    Here.
  • 00:11:26
    I'll also remind my colleagues that we are using speaker management today, so please make sure you sign in.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:11:52
    Today we will begin considering revisions to Mayor Frey's 2025 recommended budget.
  • 00:11:58
    Over the last several months, this committee has received a series of presentations to examine the details of each department's budget requests.
  • 00:12:06
    This committee has held two public hearings on this budget, and the City Council will be hosting the final Truth in Taxation public hearing this upcoming Tuesday, December 10th at 6.05 p.m.
  • 00:12:21
    I want to start with an overview of the process I intend to follow for this meeting.
  • 00:12:25
    The amendments are ordered in the packet that was sent to all Council members and posted in LIMS on Tuesday.
  • 00:12:32
    A revised packet was posted this morning which includes several changes to the original proposals.
  • 00:12:37
    Those revisions are highlighted in your packets in the table of contents and updated accordingly.
  • 00:12:44
    There are 75 amendments in this packet and we will go through these amendments one by one.
  • 00:12:50
    As I anticipate, we will be working on amendments all day, so I will call a one hour lunch recess around noon.
  • 00:12:58
    Considering the number of proposals, I don't anticipate we will complete our work today.
  • 00:13:03
    So we will need to adjourn the meeting no later than 4.30 p.m. this evening and reconvene to complete our work at the Monday, December 9th Budget Committee meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. We have the bulk of the day reserved for that meeting so we will keep working until we have completed the amendment packet.
  • 00:13:21
    I'm hopeful we can finish working our way through these amendments during these two sessions but I have also asked council members to reserve the morning of Tuesday December 10th at 10 a.m. in case we are unable to complete our work on Monday.
  • 00:13:35
    Do any of my colleagues have questions about the process as I've outlined it so far?
  • 00:13:42
    I am not seeing any.
  • 00:13:43
    So with that we will begin with the amendment packet in front of us.
  • 00:13:49
    I will recognize the lead author of each amendment to introduce their motion.
  • 00:13:55
    And then we will open the floor for discussion, including comments from co-authors, on the amendments before taking a vote.
  • 00:14:02
    To make sure we complete our work in an efficient and orderly manner, we will be using the timer function in speaker management.
  • 00:14:10
    As this is a committee meeting, discussion beyond two speeches is allowed so our clerks will work to remove your first speech from the queue after you complete your second one so you are able to get back in queue.
  • 00:14:27
    your time will expire at the end of once the timer runs up and then you are welcome to get back in queue for further comments or questions.
  • 00:14:37
    Staff from the budget office and members of the mayor's cabinet are on hand to address questions that may arise during our discussions.
  • 00:14:44
    Keep in mind that if you are asking staff questions that your time
  • 00:14:50
    is once your time expires, the questions you are asking the staff member must complete their comments and then we can continue on.
  • 00:15:02
    With that, are there any questions about this part of the process?
  • 00:15:10
    Council Member Palmisano?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:15:12
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 00:15:14
    Not a question but just some things I need to say out loud before we begin if that's alright.
  • 00:15:21
    I need to share that the level of secrecy surrounding this process only for some of us is really unfortunate.
  • 00:15:29
    We received only the first draft of this packet at 9.30pm on Monday.
  • 00:15:34
    I'm aware that nine of you worked together to craft the huge majority of these amendments and are well versed in them, but for the remaining four of us here who are not your close allies, this information was not shared and we were not invited to participate in a coordinated process.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:15:50
    Point of order?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:15:51
    This is about the budget as a whole and before we start.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:15:54
    Councilmember Palmisano, there is a point of order.
  • 00:15:58
    Council President Payne?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:16:00
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:16:01
    I think that there's some
  • 00:16:03
    Assumptions or casting of aspersions that are just not grounded in fact in some of those comments Okay.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:16:10
    Thank you.
  • 00:16:10
    I will I will limit my comments With that this is a massive amount of information to review Digest and consider with basically three days notice and the information has changed yet again this morning and
  • 00:16:24
    I need to point out that historically there have been about 10 to 20 budget amendments.
  • 00:16:29
    That's very doable to speak in depth with staff to.
  • 00:16:32
    That number crept up to now 75 this year.
  • 00:16:36
    75.
  • 00:16:39
    Let that sink in.
  • 00:16:40
    At a time that we are in a severe budget crisis, we have 75 amendments, most of which are for new or expanded programming.
  • 00:16:49
    My staff was planning to create a spreadsheet so I could track these net changes to different departments, but we were told that exact spreadsheet already existed and that budget leadership would share it.
  • 00:16:59
    I've never received it.
  • 00:17:02
    I reached out to you Madam Chair to express interest in crafting a particular amendment on traffic calming and asked if there was anyone else working on that topic and who I should coordinate with.
  • 00:17:12
    I did not receive the courtesy of a response to my inquiry.
  • 00:17:16
    I see that amendment here now as co-authored by seven of you.
  • 00:17:22
    I share these thoughts because this process has been conducted
  • 00:17:26
    this way and the public needs to know the level of not collaboration that has taken place.
  • 00:17:32
    We are equal members of this body and we need to start acting like it.
  • 00:17:35
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:17:40
    Thank you council member.
  • 00:17:41
    I will note that all members of this body received pockets at the same time and the delays in being able to get pockets finalized drive from the amount of time our staff need
  • 00:17:56
    both in the Finance Department and in the City Attorney's Office to review all amendments and proposals.
  • 00:18:03
    There is nothing else we can do to make this process move faster.
  • 00:18:07
    I will recognize that we've been joined in this meeting by Council Member Osman.
  • 00:18:11
    Um, I see a couple other members in queue.
  • 00:18:13
    Uh, next I will recognize Council Member Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:18:17
    Thank you, um, Council Vice President.
  • 00:18:19
    I just wanted you to, um, clarify the comment again around, um,
  • 00:18:25
    When we defer questions to staff, that will also take up our portion of time then.
  • 00:18:32
    I just wanted to make sure I heard that correct.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:18:34
    That is correct.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:18:35
    Okay, thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:18:38
    That is true both for if you are recognized for your first speech, you have seven minutes.
  • 00:18:46
    Your second speech and onward are each five minutes.
  • 00:18:50
    If you use your time to ask questions of staff,
  • 00:18:52
    your time and their time expires when the clock runs up.
  • 00:18:58
    That is also true if you would like to ask an author to yield to questions, the time you spend asking them questions and they spend responding to your questions count towards your time limit.
  • 00:19:10
    With that I will recognize Council Member Rainville and then we will begin the markup packet after that.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:19:15
    Thank you.
  • 00:19:16
    I just want to compliment you on recognizing the point of order.
  • 00:19:20
    Yesterday I tried that twice and I was not recognized, so I appreciate your fair leadership.
  • 00:19:25
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:19:27
    Thank you Council Member.
  • 00:19:30
    With that, we are now ready to begin Council Member Chavez.
  • 00:19:35
    Thank you.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:19:41
    You know what, no.
  • 00:19:42
    I'll let it go, but like, the police department did kill somebody and the fact that you can't acknowledge that is just wrong.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:19:49
    Councilmember, please.
  • 00:19:51
    We are going to get started on this packet.
  • 00:19:55
    We are doing that now.
  • 00:19:58
    As you see in the packet before you, there are several amendments related to levy reduction, including an amendment from Mayor Frey.
  • 00:20:06
    Mayor Frey's amendments, which are listed as 1A, B, C, D, and E in this packet, are each going to be taken up one at a time.
  • 00:20:16
    So, for ease and to make sure that we are taking up all levy reduction amendments, first, before continuing, we will start with amendment number 2,
  • 00:20:27
    And then after Amendment 5A, we will go to Amendment 1 and work through the five mayoral amendments.
  • 00:20:33
    With that, Amendment 2 is from Vice Chair Koski.
  • 00:20:39
    Vice Chair Koski, please introduce your amendment.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:20:43
    thank you uh... madam chair, council vice president uh... so budget amendments number two three four and five all serve the same goal and purpose and aim to achieve the same outcome lowering the mayor's recommended property tax levy increase the mayor's recommended property tax levy increase is the highest the city's seen in over a decade and it's two percent higher than the city's twenty twenty four financial direction uh... that was projected
  • 00:21:09
    Further declines in downtown property tax values are triggering shifts in the tax burden disproportionately affecting residential property owners and renters.
  • 00:21:19
    The result is a significant increase in tax burden for our residents.
  • 00:21:23
    The mayor recommended a budget that made no cuts to current spending and added $36.8 million in new spending and now it's our job, our responsibility to manage and mitigate the financial strain
  • 00:21:33
    he placed on our residents and that means making tough choices on funding cuts, carefully considering new spending and would possibly push out and delay big spends.
  • 00:21:41
    These budget amendments offer a variety of options and utilize multiple strategies.
  • 00:21:45
    They put it all out on the table and they offer us an opportunity to have discussion and deliberation and find places of agreement so we can do the hard but important work of mitigating this financial strain to our residents.
  • 00:21:57
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:21:59
    Thank you, Council Member.
  • 00:22:01
    Is there a second to Council Member Koski's motion?
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:22:05
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:22:07
    That motion has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 00:22:10
    Are there any questions or discussion from members of the body?
  • 00:22:16
    Council Member Rainville?
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:22:17
    Yes, I want to add my reasoning.
  • 00:22:20
    Thank you for recognizing me.
  • 00:22:21
    I offer these along with Councilman Murkowski because of the lack of growth in the tax base, especially the downtown tax base.
  • 00:22:29
    It's shrinking and we just have to tighten our belts as a city, as all consumers have had to do.
  • 00:22:37
    Taxes have increased faster than wage increases and I've gotten way too much feedback about people planning to move out of Minneapolis, whether they're a renter or homeowner.
  • 00:22:47
    and I want to tell our staff and our department heads this is not a reflection on the good work that you do.
  • 00:22:54
    It's just merely reflection of the economic reality of today.
  • 00:22:58
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:23:00
    Thank you.
  • 00:23:01
    Next I will recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:23:05
    Madam Chair, I will consider these proposals, but I want assurances that we will also curb our amendments and spending.
  • 00:23:13
    We can't ask departments to make sacrifices and still then add in all of these amendments.
  • 00:23:20
    We both need to give a little here.
  • 00:23:22
    Across the board,
  • 00:23:24
    These cuts are not equitable because departments are impacted differently.
  • 00:23:28
    A cut to smaller departments like Communications or IGR means staff will be laid off.
  • 00:23:34
    Their budget is almost exclusively used for staffing and there just isn't any other overhead to draw down.
  • 00:23:41
    It also forces department heads to make cuts on their own, to choose what programs to discontinue or what staff to let go.
  • 00:23:48
    You might not be happy in the end to learn what they decided to cut.
  • 00:23:52
    That is an executive action.
  • 00:23:53
    We don't have the power to approve to preserve things like group violence interrupters, for example, if that's what the department heads choose.
  • 00:24:04
    In this example, this not only affects public safety, but also our implementation and reform plans.
  • 00:24:13
    I don't think that it's appropriate to just say make a cut.
  • 00:24:19
    We're going to leave it up to you.
  • 00:24:20
    It seems like you're only doing half of the work.
  • 00:24:24
    The public deserves to know what's being cut.
  • 00:24:26
    We all deserve to know exactly how this is going to impact everybody and what kind of service people can expect from the city because of it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:24:38
    Thank you.
  • 00:24:39
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:24:42
    Thank you, Council Vice President.
  • 00:24:44
    Actually, Council Member Palmisano raises a line of inquiry that I'll return to, but first, both this amendment as well as amendment number three makes me concerned about the lack of standardization in the budget process.
  • 00:24:58
    I know my office had to go through a very rigorous process in identifying specific funds for each funding source and identifying exactly which programs would be cut by the funding and
  • 00:25:11
    you know I'm looking at the amendments in front of us and I'm not seeing those specifics be provided as also noted by you know Councilmember Palmisano and and I want to make sure that there's not you know a double standard that's being applied to different you know council members because that would be frustrating and very concerning so with that I will ask if Budget Director DeCenza if she could come up and
  • 00:25:36
    basically share if there was a requirement of the authors of this amendment and the third one as well to identify specific funding sources as I know you had my office do.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:25:49
    Director DiCenzo, welcome if you will begin by introducing yourself.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 00:25:53
    Council Vice President Chug Thai, members of the City Council, thank you.
  • 00:25:56
    Jane DeCenza, Budget Director in Finance and Property Services.
  • 00:26:00
    To Council Member Wonsley's question about differences, I think in the review process we noted that there was some inconsistency around whether low-level departments were identified or not.
  • 00:26:11
    That was ultimately not taken up by the leadership.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:26:20
    Wait, by the leadership of who?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 00:26:24
    Through the Chair, Councilmember Wonsley, we had a process where we went through each amendment one by one.
  • 00:26:30
    Our team noted the discrepancies between the level of detail and various amendments and that was determined to be okay and that we could proceed in that manner.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:26:42
    Council Member Wanzi, would you like me to address that?
  • 00:26:45
    Yes, clarification on that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:26:48
    All amendments went through a rigorous review process like Director DeSanta is outlining.
  • 00:26:54
    In that review process, as we did with your amendments and with anyone else's amendments, staff and our office added in comments and potential suggestions.
  • 00:27:06
    Ultimately, we brought those back to every lead author for ultimate review and approval.
  • 00:27:12
    There are times when authors disregard the feedback that they are receiving from the review process.
  • 00:27:25
    That can be for a series of different reasons.
  • 00:27:27
    In this case, the determination that the authors made was to keep
  • 00:27:33
    the table at the department level.
  • 00:27:37
    I understand we did ask everyone to be as specific as possible in naming fund codes so we could be very clear about where specific cuts are coming from but this is the finalized packet we ended up with.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:27:51
    Thank you for that clarification.
  • 00:27:52
    So it was the author's choice of this amendment to not provide the specific funding sources in terms of where those cuts were.
  • 00:27:59
    Thank you for that.
  • 00:28:00
    Actually, directors, as I do have a follow up question in regards to also a note that was provided on the proposal.
  • 00:28:08
    So I know the memo that was sent last night by the administration also talked about amendments two and three in terms of, you know, the directors will essentially be able to make the cuts through discretionary funding.
  • 00:28:20
    But I know, again, when my office was offering budget amendments, it was emphasized that there's no such thing essentially as discretionary funding, or essentially like a slush fund, because all departments have essentially created
  • 00:28:33
    budgets that reflect specific costs for running each program and service.
  • 00:28:38
    And there's essentially no extra dollars.
  • 00:28:40
    Chuck Todd invites Chair Koski's inquiry into the five-year financial reports.
  • 00:28:45
    In that document, the administration also strongly reaffirmed that the departments do not have surpluses or extra dollars that could be used at their discretion.
  • 00:28:54
    So given that information, can you share essentially then what is a discretionary fund?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 00:29:01
    Through the Chair, Councilmember Wonsley, first of all, I did not write the administration response memo, so I won't speak to it.
  • 00:29:07
    What I can tell you is that often when we're working with authors before amendments were due, we were seeing sources that were things like internal service charges, personnel, and it is my department's or my budget team's job to raise where those things are not discretionary and cannot be easily cut in a way that would impact the levy.
  • 00:29:28
    and so we did have a lot of back and forth with your staff on that and they were amenable to feedback in that area.
  • 00:29:35
    It is the case, though, that if department heads are asked to make a reduction, they'll have to find a way to make a reduction.
  • 00:29:42
    It doesn't mean that there's not an impact to that reduction.
  • 00:29:44
    It may mean if they're given the discretion to find $20,000 where they please, you know, they may be able to do that.
  • 00:29:53
    But there's a difference between giving them that general guidance and saying, you have to cut $20,000 from an account code that you cannot actually cut.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:30:03
    Okay, so it's giving the departments a discretion and I'll have a follow-up question to the authors on that.
  • 00:30:12
    Thank you, Director.
  • 00:30:13
    It would be good to note then who was in charge of drafting the administration's responses then because I did assume that would be budget, you know, having input in that piece.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 00:30:27
    Through the Chair, Councilmember Wonsley, I believe each department head had access and was able to add into that document.
  • 00:30:34
    It was ultimately compiled by leadership in OPS and OCS.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:30:38
    Okay, thank you for that clarification.
  • 00:30:40
    Thank you.
  • 00:30:42
    Chair, I do have some questions now for the authors themselves.
  • 00:30:48
    I will note, of course, like looking at this proposal, you know, it's appealing to say, you know, you're looking through each individual, you know,
  • 00:30:58
    Council.
  • 00:31:18
    policy directions and I am concerned that without specifically identifying what programs will be reduced to fund these levy reductions that maybe the mayor's administration will cut programs that council members have worked hard to advance on behalf of our residents and in the administration.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:31:35
    Council Member Wonsley, your time has expired.
  • 00:31:37
    Okay.
  • 00:31:38
    I will ask you to get back in queue.
  • 00:31:39
    I will absolutely do that.
  • 00:31:40
    Thank you.
  • 00:31:41
    I will next recognize Council Member Chaudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:31:44
    Thank you Madam Chair and thank you to the authors for bringing their amendment.
  • 00:31:51
    I do appreciate just you all taking the time to think about how we can find smart ways to reduce the levy this year.
  • 00:32:01
    I think in your introduction you've had it really well put in describing the moment that we're in and the
  • 00:32:09
    the outreach many of us have received from constituents.
  • 00:32:13
    I am concerned primarily with amendments two and three mainly because of just the unilateral percentage cuts that go through each department.
  • 00:32:29
    I think for me today it's just very difficult to kind of go in and not know which things will be cut and impacted
  • 00:32:40
    What that was something that I mentioned at the Budget Committee is like is there a chance that we're going to have to
  • 00:32:48
    unknowingly lay off positions or cut off positions.
  • 00:32:53
    And I think Council Member Wonsley brought up a good point that I resonate with is are there programs that council members have worked with city staff on that potentially could come to an end.
  • 00:33:06
    However, I did look at your amendment number four, which is the 0.98% property tax levy reduction.
  • 00:33:17
    and if I'm correct, that is just postponing the Enterprise Resource Platform replacement for one year.
  • 00:33:26
    And for folks that are watching, I will ask one of the authors to explain what the Enterprise Resource Platform replacement is.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:33:32
    Councilmember Chavdery, if we can limit discussion to the item that we are on, so if we can limit to stay at item number two for now.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:33:40
    Oh, okay.
  • 00:33:41
    I'm sorry.
  • 00:33:42
    I thought since they were talking about all of the amendments together, we were taking them up together.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:33:48
    I apologize.
  • 00:33:49
    We are on amendment number two.
  • 00:33:50
    We will stay on amendment number two.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:33:52
    Okay.
  • 00:33:53
    Well, I think that concludes my comments and I will come back to more comments when we take up amendment number four.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:34:00
    Thank you.
  • 00:34:02
    I will next recognize council member Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:34:06
    Thank you, Council, Vice President Chuktai.
  • 00:34:12
    Just to pick up where I left off, I did want to ask actually then the authors themselves, you know, Councilmember Rainville and Koski, can you please share what programs and services did
  • 00:34:26
    Department directors tell you would be cut from each department if either Amendment 2 or Amendment 3 would be passed.
  • 00:34:35
    For example, you know, would civil rights cut co-enforcement or police conduct review or labor standards or would health cut, you know, climate legacy initiative or healthy homes.
  • 00:34:45
    I know those were the conversations that I had to have with department directors as I was going through my various budget amendments, so I would love to hear what was shared with you all.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:34:56
    Council Member Wonsley, thank you for the question and I'll obviously let Council Member Rainbow, we had many discussions over this and I know doing an overall cut was something that we spoke around
  • 00:35:14
    in length and I know Councilmember Rainville had conversations with the budget requesting what would these impacts be and they did have some pushback around you know there are smaller and there are bigger departments and did request to have deeper conversations about how we could do that and they said that that type of work at this level would be too much for them to accomplish but I will let Councilmember Rainville
  • 00:35:43
    add on to that.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:35:46
    Thank you.
  • 00:35:47
    My intention in this is that I recognize the experts in these department budgets are the department heads themselves and to give them the latitude to make the cuts where they deem necessary.
  • 00:35:59
    I don't want to second guess our department heads.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:36:05
    So once again, while that's the case, again, when I met with Director Jane, I still had to have meetings with the directors.
  • 00:36:14
    I could not just say it's at the department director's discretion.
  • 00:36:20
    I still had to list impacts and talk through those.
  • 00:36:22
    So that's why I asked that question.
  • 00:36:24
    And it sounds like from your answers, maybe those conversations did not go that in depth, or maybe you did not have those conversations.
  • 00:36:32
    What I will ask then,
  • 00:36:34
    is actually, I'm thinking of in my last two minutes, can I actually ask the Commissioner of Office of Community Safety to come up?
  • 00:36:45
    Because I actually was interested in the particular impact that was listed in the memo, because it was in the administration response, it was quite vague in terms of the listed reductions.
  • 00:36:58
    I know, for instance, in the
  • 00:37:03
    to, I'm sorry, Amendment 2, it listed 26,000 will be around the impacted amount for OCS.
  • 00:37:09
    And I know in my proposed amendment for the work group, it's that you essentially have to lay a person off.
  • 00:37:15
    So could you speak to the impact of this amendment on your office, Commissioner Barnett?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:37:22
    If you'll begin with introducing yourself, Commissioner.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:37:24
    Yes, thank you Vice President Chuktai Chair Councilmember Wansley, I'm Todd Barnett.
  • 00:37:32
    I am the Commissioner of Community Safety for the City of Minneapolis I'm going to try I don't Councilmember Wansley, I'm going to try to answer that question I don't know if I have
  • 00:37:54
    the answer directly without looking it up for you.
  • 00:37:58
    There's a lot of amendments here.
  • 00:38:02
    But if it is the 20, I think you referenced $25,000.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:38:09
    Now I'm talking about this particular amendment.
  • 00:38:13
    We're on number two for the, where are we at?
  • 00:38:19
    1.89% property tax levy reduction.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:38:24
    Yes, Council Member Wonsley, are you talking just OCS separately or all the departments?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:38:30
    No, what the impact would be on your office.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:38:32
    Right.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:38:35
    She's asking you, Commissioner, what's the impact of a $26,000 cut to your office?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:38:39
    Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at.
  • 00:38:41
    You know, we looked at, from a different amendment, going to that specific amount in 2025,
  • 00:38:50
    I know that we would probably have taken that money out of the police department.
  • 00:38:57
    In this case, we wouldn't do that because everybody would get a cut.
  • 00:39:02
    In this case, I think what we would end up doing because our department really doesn't have
  • 00:39:10
    In our budget, really, a lot of our budget money...
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:39:12
    If you can wrap up your thought really quickly, if the time has expired.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:39:16
    I'm sorry.
  • 00:39:16
    Our budget is really a lot of employee salaries, so it could affect one of our employees that we have currently.
  • 00:39:24
    I really have to dig into that, but right off the top of my head, I think it really affects the employees that we have right now, and one of them in particular.
  • 00:39:33
    I think it would probably go towards our data analysis.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:39:37
    Thank you very much.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:39:39
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:39:41
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:39:45
    Thank you.
  • 00:39:46
    Madam Chair, earlier when you mentioned to Councilmember Chaudry, I know she mentioned it was a different item, but it is the same item that she was trying to speak to.
  • 00:39:54
    This specific proposal, item number two, does cut the ERP program, and so I guess first I would yield my time to Councilmember Chaudry because she seemed to be asking for more information about what that ERP program is, or I would let her speak for herself.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:40:09
    Council Member Paul Massano, we don't yield time to one another, as you know, so Council Member Chaudry is very welcome to get back in queue and ask questions about the ERP.
  • 00:40:18
    You are correct, I apologize.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:40:21
    That's fine.
  • 00:40:22
    I'll then conclude my own comments and then, you know, everybody's allowed to get in queue.
  • 00:40:28
    Authors here don't want to cut from a director's budget, but that's barely half of our job up here with an amendment.
  • 00:40:39
    I understand the main author of this amendment has criticized the mayor for not making tough decisions for examining what's working and what isn't.
  • 00:40:48
    And I just need to point out this amendment certainly does not do that either.
  • 00:40:53
    Cutting a blanket percentage from each department is not asking what's working and what isn't.
  • 00:40:59
    It's not considering what our residents need versus what we want.
  • 00:41:02
    I am all here for an honest comprehensive conversation about reducing the levy.
  • 00:41:08
    I'm very interested in reducing the levy.
  • 00:41:10
    I am not interested in compromising our city services to make any sort of political points.
  • 00:41:17
    I also object to cutting the employee resource platform replacement, the ERP.
  • 00:41:24
    And I do know the mayor's proposed deal supports postponing that to reduce the levy.
  • 00:41:31
    I'm pretty sure we've been talking about needing a new ERP platform for at least several years.
  • 00:41:36
    I've been involved in that conversation for several years and I'm not exaggerating when I say several.
  • 00:41:43
    If we consider this, we're going to need to cut down on a lot of the things we ask staff for.
  • 00:41:48
    Our current ERP system is woefully out of date, it's open to hacking, it's almost even not tech-supported anymore.
  • 00:41:57
    This is not a want, it is a need, and it is a long-term need.
  • 00:42:01
    Director Odom stood here in this room during her budget presentation and talked about what this will mean to HR and to the enterprise as a whole.
  • 00:42:10
    She had a really good presentation about that and it was quite comprehensive.
  • 00:42:14
    I remember speaking to Director Odom about an ERP system her very first day on the job, her meet-and-greet with me.
  • 00:42:22
    This council asks staff for detailed reports, for example, on vacancies.
  • 00:42:28
    Right now it takes dozens, sometimes maybe even hundreds of staff hours to gather that requested information.
  • 00:42:36
    With this new ERP platform, it could take minutes.
  • 00:42:39
    the efficiencies that a new platform like this would bring us allow staff to do their jobs.
  • 00:42:45
    It also, by the way, clears out a lot of old audit work about offboarding employees, onboarding employees consistently across the enterprise.
  • 00:42:55
    I'm also
  • 00:42:57
    I'm told that delaying the purchase contract for this system beyond January will increase our pricing significantly.
  • 00:43:04
    Right now, we're getting a good introductory price.
  • 00:43:08
    I know we don't get to flip a switch and have the ERP active, but if we wait, we will lose that opportunity.
  • 00:43:15
    We will end up paying millions more of taxpayer dollars in the long run.
  • 00:43:20
    This is maybe penny wise, but I find it to be pretty pound foolish.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:43:25
    Thank you.
  • 00:43:27
    Next, I'll recognize Councilmember Chaudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:43:30
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:43:32
    Yeah, I'm just getting back in queue for my question around what the ERP system specifically is, but I'll first start by saying I think across the board for all of the levy reductions, but speaking to two, it's looking at a one-year postponement rather than a total cut.
  • 00:43:57
    I'll just start by asking the author if she could explain the enterprise resource platform replacement and then how she got to her decision about the one-year postponement.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:44:11
    Thank you, through the Chair, Councilmember Chaudry, appreciate that.
  • 00:44:14
    So yes, correct, this is a postponement and I too have been working on making sure that we have this system in place so this is something that is not, I don't take this lightly when I put this forward but I also know that we have to weigh competing priorities and by postponing this we are not saying that we aren't doing this work.
  • 00:44:36
    I may ask, just so that the technicality of the ERP, I may ask our COO to come up just to make sure that we're describing it in the manner that we've had presented in the past, but it's an HR and financial tool that we will be able to utilize to support internal communication services, but I see the COO is here as well.
  • 00:45:02
    Thank you.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 00:45:03
    Good morning, Madam Chair, Margaret Anderson-Kelleher, CEO of the City of Minneapolis.
  • 00:45:08
    Thank you for the question, Council Member Choudry.
  • 00:45:12
    The system is multifaceted, but its two main goals are to modernize our HR system and to modernize our finance system.
  • 00:45:24
    and this would be across the entire enterprise in terms of how it would be utilized.
  • 00:45:30
    It also affects the park board as well since the park board uses our systems.
  • 00:45:36
    Delay will cost more in the long run.
  • 00:45:39
    That is the way software products work.
  • 00:45:43
    and we will push out the implementation, full implementation.
  • 00:45:49
    It is going to take a number of years to implement the system and it will give us, I think, both efficiency in time savings as well as absolutely ease of use.
  • 00:46:02
    Many of the reports, I think the vacancy report has been given as an example.
  • 00:46:07
    We have to do a lot of manual work
  • 00:46:09
    pulling from different systems at this point.
  • 00:46:12
    This will provide us a much faster response time for your questions, for our questions, and for transparency for the public.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:46:23
    Thank you.
  • 00:46:24
    Through the Chair, there's a follow-up question.
  • 00:46:26
    When was the last time that we replaced the ERP?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 00:46:33
    Madam Chair, 20 years ago,
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:46:35
    20 years ago.
  • 00:46:37
    Okay.
  • 00:46:37
    Thank you.
  • 00:46:38
    I'll just conclude by saying I think one year postponement there's a signal here between I'll just say as Councilmember Chaudry, Councilmember Koski, Councilmember Rainville, perhaps others on this body and our mayor that there is an appetite to do a one-year postponement and just weighing the costs of like
  • 00:46:59
    Potential staff reduction And then also critical programming that we have in the city of Minneapolis right like snow plowing filling potholes Our fire department supporting residents that have downed wires all those things as critical needs if we've got I know we as as The cost of everything goes up over time.
  • 00:47:22
    I know in the future.
  • 00:47:23
    We'll look at a higher cost Hopefully our tax base has grown.
  • 00:47:26
    Hopefully we've gotten more local government aid and
  • 00:47:28
    and we've made changes that help us mitigate that cost but if it's been 20 years already since we last did replacement I think one more year in the grander scheme of things isn't the largest difference and a potential tax levy reduction through this where we aren't seeing cuts to existing programming would be something that I feel pretty supportive of.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:47:58
    Thank you.
  • 00:47:59
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Vitoff followed by Council President Payne.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:48:04
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 00:48:05
    I want to say we just got an email too from the clerk saying that the captioners are having a hard time keeping up because we're speaking really fast.
  • 00:48:13
    So we should all slow down a little bit for the captioners.
  • 00:48:17
    I had a question also about the ERP.
  • 00:48:21
    I think it's been answered though.
  • 00:48:23
    That is my concern in these amendments.
  • 00:48:28
    Overall, I do support a levy reduction and I want to show gratitude to the council members that worked on reducing the levy.
  • 00:48:37
    My goal in this entire budget process is always to take some of the burden off of Ward 4 residents right now.
  • 00:48:45
    It's harder than ever with property tax increases and so my goal with the budget is always to make sure that
  • 00:48:51
    we use what we have to get Northsiders the best services and also to make sure that we don't spend more money than we need to.
  • 00:49:01
    So I appreciate you all working to reduce the levy but I am concerned about the ERP because we've been talking about this for a couple years.
  • 00:49:10
    I know you all are saying that it's just a delay out one year but the delay seems pretty wasteful to me because the delay means we'll be investing more money and staff time doing the work
  • 00:49:21
    that we've already committed to stopping in the upcoming year.
  • 00:49:28
    And so I'm thinking of it from that.
  • 00:49:32
    So we wait another year.
  • 00:49:34
    It's going to cost more in another year.
  • 00:49:36
    And then we'll have to pay staff to keep doing the work that we want to reduce, that we want to take off of their workload.
  • 00:49:45
    So I can't support that postponement, but I would.
  • 00:49:51
    Well, I shouldn't say I can't support it.
  • 00:49:52
    I need to understand more about what this postponement is going to be, but do we have a solid plan that next year is going to be the time that we move forward with it?
  • 00:50:05
    Because we're already talking about a higher levy increase for next year, so is this going to be on the chopping block again?
  • 00:50:11
    Is this going to be at the top of the list for folks?
  • 00:50:15
    I wouldn't support that for sure, but
  • 00:50:19
    Yeah, I'm just looking for a clear vision of how we get the ERP because we have been working for a couple years here with Director Odom and with other staff because we know how critical this service is to the overall enterprise.
  • 00:50:33
    So, just wondering from the authors, do we have a clear pathway?
  • 00:50:39
    I mean, why would this delay, like, how did you all see this delay as an option?
  • 00:50:47
    I guess is my question.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:50:50
    Vice Chair Koski.
  • 00:50:52
    Thank you, Madam Chair, through the Chair to Councilmember Vita.
  • 00:50:59
    You know, Councilmember Rainville and I worked diligently together to think about different ways that we could reduce this levy.
  • 00:51:07
    This ERP, yes, has been something that we've been working on, but it was a large sum of
  • 00:51:13
    of the city
  • 00:51:28
    Can you say how slow?
  • 00:51:52
    It's because we're moving the dollar amount for the following year is less than what it was projected.
  • 00:52:02
    It was $6 million for 2026 and then this will be $5 million for the first year.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:52:08
    They're saying the price is going to increase though with a delay.
  • 00:52:11
    So how is that?
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:52:13
    I have not heard an exact cost of any increase, and I'm not sure that we can calculate that at this time, but I'm happy to address that in next year's budget cycle.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:52:24
    So, I mean, the calculation goes both ways then, Councilmember Koski.
  • 00:52:28
    You can't calculate if it's not going to increase the levy either, because we don't have a figure.
  • 00:52:34
    We don't really know how much this is going to cost for a delay.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:52:38
    With the current projections, I can say that it will not, but yes, correct.
  • 00:52:45
    If there were increased decisions and changes in that projections, it could obviously vary.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:52:53
    And then the first, number two, is just an overall decrease in every department's budget is the goal with this one.
  • 00:53:02
    Just an overall decrease in all department budgets and then it's at the department head's discretion.
  • 00:53:08
    to figure out what can
  • 00:53:33
    Is it 1.8?
  • 00:53:35
    So much paper here.
  • 00:53:36
    1.8.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:53:36
    It's 1.89%.
  • 00:53:40
    It is the ERP accounts for 5 million and the revenues from... How much is the 1.8?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:53:49
    That's what I'm asking.
  • 00:53:50
    How much will that reduce?
  • 00:53:52
    What's the dollar amount attached to that?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:53:54
    9.6 million.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:53:56
    Okay, 9.6 million for the 1.8 and then there's 1.27 for
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:54:03
    Any further questions from you, Councilmember?
  • 00:54:14
    No, thank you.
  • 00:54:14
    Wonderful.
  • 00:54:16
    Next I'll recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:54:19
    Thank you Madam Vice President.
  • 00:54:22
    Just listening to some of the discussion, I think I might be able to answer some of the questions.
  • 00:54:27
    My first thing, I won't bury the lead, I won't be supporting this amendment, but it appears to me that the difference between amendment number two, three, and four is that two has ERP plus across the board cuts
  • 00:54:41
    Council.
  • 00:54:59
    I think we've disposed of that conversation.
  • 00:55:01
    I think there needs to be a little bit more thought given in a more targeted approach to that.
  • 00:55:07
    I will be supporting the delay of the ERP and I'll just say, just by way of background, I used to be an ERP consultant.
  • 00:55:17
    I implemented many ERP systems in a lot of different industries.
  • 00:55:22
    Yes, it's finance and HR, but at its core it's a chart of accounts and in the before times before we used ERP systems and these technologies go back to like
  • 00:55:40
    the 70s even I think.
  • 00:55:43
    You did all of the tracking of transactions on paper on hand ledgers and so the transition to the spreadsheet is kind of your most fundamental model for an ERP but it's a spreadsheet on steroids essentially that tracks every single transaction digitally.
  • 00:56:03
    and so often times one of its core features is making sure that all of your finances, all your receipts of money or your payments of money are tracked and balanced.
  • 00:56:14
    It has a tight tie-in with payroll, obviously for that purpose, but it also has a tight tie-in with procurement and then any other type of transaction that you could imagine tracking in a large institution as these platforms have matured.
  • 00:56:31
    They have modules for everything that you can imagine, whether it's payroll, our assets within public works, every time you fill up gas, every time that we order bagels for a budget meeting through a p-card, it's all centralized in one database so that you have that type of visibility and transparency.
  • 00:56:57
    And it is actually a really important
  • 00:57:01
    piece of software.
  • 00:57:02
    I will say that there hasn't been a ton of innovation in this space.
  • 00:57:07
    So a 20 year old ERP at this stage, like starting around that time frame, ERP's got a little bit more modern and they're on more updated programming languages.
  • 00:57:18
    So the delay of one year is not
  • 00:57:23
    This is just one of those hard sacrifices when we're trying to weigh all of our priorities.
  • 00:57:28
    The speculation that it'll cost more is actually speculation.
  • 00:57:33
    It's very much driven by market conditions.
  • 00:57:35
    So the sales cycles for these ERP platforms can be many, many months.
  • 00:57:39
    and depending on how hungry the ERP provider is that will drive a lot of the pricing and so given today's market conditions you could make some assumptions that a year from now prices are only going to go up because we've been in such an inflationary period.
  • 00:57:58
    I will say I started my ERP career
  • 00:58:02
    literally like the month before the financial collapse in 2008 we were not getting a lot of new business so we were actually quite hungry when we did get new business and there was quite a lot of price discounting in that scenario too.
  • 00:58:14
    So it's actually just a guess on what the market conditions will be a year from now when we're trying to estimate whether or not it's going to be more expensive or less expensive.
  • 00:58:23
    I am willing to take the risk on that part of this to be able to provide some levy relief.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:58:34
    Thank you.
  • 00:58:34
    Now I'm going to just a quick save our city clerk from having a heart attack.
  • 00:58:40
    We're not allowed to use our P-cards or city funds to order bagels.
  • 00:58:48
    The bagels were actually brought in by Councilmember Palmisano from one of her constituents.
  • 00:58:52
    Thank you for that clarification.
  • 00:58:53
    Everything here was purchased by someone from their personal resources.
  • 00:58:58
    Thank you.
  • 00:58:58
    With that, I'll recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:59:03
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:59:05
    Each bagel also costs less than $5 and was my offering to help us all get along this morning from my salary.
  • 00:59:15
    Our financial situation is not going to be any better in a year, and we know that.
  • 00:59:19
    We have the multi-year projections in front of us.
  • 00:59:23
    The price of this ERP system will go up substantially.
  • 00:59:27
    Two million dollars is the estimation I have heard for its increasing cost.
  • 00:59:31
    I'm sure that's in some way negotiable.
  • 00:59:35
    I asked Director Odom to come up here and she ran up here, sorry about that, to come on up and remind us of that presentation that we all heard but to tell us in her own words the impacts of removing the ERP and I would like to offer some time for her to do that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:59:56
    Welcome, Director, if you'll begin by introducing yourself.
• • Nikki Odom
  • 00:59:58
    Good morning, my name is Nikki Odom.
  • 01:00:00
    I'm the Chief Human Resources Officer here at the City of Minneapolis.
  • 01:00:04
    Madam Chair, Council Member Palmisano.
  • 01:00:09
    Yeah, so I think, you know, one of the things that is so important to HR is, you know, we are asked yearly, and I think that, you know, there is a resolution.
  • 01:00:19
    I think it's a resolution.
  • 01:00:20
    to come and give vacancy reports at least twice a year.
  • 01:00:25
    It is a Herculean task.
  • 01:00:27
    We have to ask every department to assist us with that information.
  • 01:00:33
    We have information that we have to cross-reference the information with the information that finance has.
  • 01:00:39
    and so we are dealing with very arcane or ancient systems and so our systems don't talk to one another the information that we do provide is outdated the second we provide it because you know people leave the city people start the city
  • 01:00:58
    on a daily basis.
  • 01:01:00
    And so, from our standpoint, in order for us to help you all make the decisions that you need to make for our residents and for the city at large, it's a matter of making sure that our data is correct and giving you the data that is the most accurate.
  • 01:01:17
    and so the system that we have chosen allows us to have real-time data so if somebody leaves we literally that that talks to every other system and so that would show up on a report immediately whereas now I mean it's it's weeks certainly weeks in arrears and sometimes longer
  • 01:01:37
    depending on whatever is happening.
  • 01:01:39
    And so, from our standpoint, it's a matter of being able to give accurate information to you all and to make decisions with accurate information.
  • 01:01:50
    And right now, our systems just, they don't talk to each other.
  • 01:01:53
    It also allows a lot of our managers to have information that they don't have access to now, so they don't have to come to HR for that information.
  • 01:02:01
    It also allows our employees to have information.
  • 01:02:04
    that is hard to find sometimes and sometimes for instance with benefits information they have to ask questions they would no longer have to do that so it really just empowers not only our employees but our staff and it allows us to help you make better decisions because the information that is loaded in there it's updated immediately and that's something that we certainly do not have right now and so
  • 01:02:31
    a lot of the information that we are providing is kind of our best guess and then by the time we provide it, it's changed and so as Councilmember Palmisano said, we can run reports in minutes that now take us days and heaven forbid somebody is not available so then we're kind of guessing and so from our standpoint it really will revolutionize how we do work
  • 01:03:00
    and how we give you all information and how quickly that information and how accurate that information is so that you know you're making decisions with up-to-date information versus information that was accurate a month ago.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:03:17
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:03:19
    Just the short time left.
  • 01:03:20
    Let me just summarize by saying this is a long overdue modernization of a government relic.
  • 01:03:27
    A relic.
  • 01:03:28
    And all this cut does in the amendment is push off this expense to another year when a huge levy is expected.
  • 01:03:37
    This all becomes a very expensive talking point for a newsletter.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:03:46
    All right.
  • 01:03:49
    Finally, I'll recognize Councilmember Rainville.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:03:51
    Thank you, and thank you Director Odom for explaining concisely the effects that this would have.
  • 01:03:58
    Having listened to you, having listened to my colleagues, I'd like to move to table this amendment for further discussion.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:09
    Council Member, we have a proper motion before us.
  • 01:04:11
    We are at the end of discussion and I will ask the Clerk to call the roll on this one.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:04:19
    Wait, can you clarify what you're calling the roll on?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:21
    Item number two.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:04:22
    Which is not a delay, just calling the roll on the approval.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:27
    Yeah, we have a proper motion for it before us, yes.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:04:31
    Point of clarification, Chair.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:32
    Yes, go ahead.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:04:33
    So we're moving for approval, so what happens to the motion to table?
  • 01:04:39
    Are we unable to do that?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:04:42
    Mr.
  • 01:04:42
    Clerk, can you please clarify?
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 01:04:45
    Madam Chair, the suggestion that we table or postpone this is not a proper motion.
  • 01:04:51
    The motion, as you stated, has been made and seconded and so if there is to be, there's either a vote on that motion or there's a new motion being made to
  • 01:04:59
    to dispose of this, but the motion in front of you right now is to approve what was listed as item number two in your amendment packet.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:05:13
    Mr.
  • 01:05:13
    Clerk, will you please call the roll on item number, amendment number two, authored by Councilmember Koski and Rainville, which is a 1.89% property tax levy reduction.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:26
    Councilmember Payne?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:05:28
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:29
    Wonsley?
  • 01:05:30
    Nay.
  • 01:05:31
    Rainville?
  • 01:05:32
    Aye.
  • 01:05:33
    Vita?
  • 01:05:34
    Aye.
  • 01:05:35
    Ellison?
  • 01:05:35
    No.
  • 01:05:37
    Osman?
  • 01:05:38
    Aye.
  • 01:05:40
    Cashman?
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:05:40
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:42
    Jenkins?
  • 01:05:43
    Is absent, sorry.
  • 01:05:45
    Chavez?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:05:46
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:49
    Chowdhury?
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:05:50
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:52
    Palmisano?
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:05:53
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:05:56
    Vice Chair Koski?
  • 01:05:57
    Aye.
  • 01:05:58
    Chair Chuktai?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:05:59
    nay there are five ayes and seven nays that motion fails we will
  • 01:06:08
    Let's now move to the next amendment which is Amendment number 3, a 1.27% property tax levy reduction.
  • 01:06:20
    This item is authored by Councilmember Rainville.
  • 01:06:26
    Councilmember Rainville, will you please introduce your amendment?
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:06:32
    Thank you.
  • 01:06:33
    Yes, the purpose of this amendment is to reduce the property tax levy by going to each department head and allowing them the freedom to cut where they seem appropriate and also to set the stage for next year when we have to also watch budgets as well.
  • 01:06:50
    So this will be great information.
  • 01:06:52
    It will be very educational to see where the department heads cut their budgets and that will help inform us as to our budget for next year as well.
  • 01:07:00
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:07:02
    Thank you Councilmember Rainville.
  • 01:07:05
    Is there a second to Councilmember Rainville's motion?
  • 01:07:10
    Second.
  • 01:07:13
    That item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 01:07:15
    I know we have had extensive discussion on this sort of item in our previous amendment, but I will ask if there is any discussion or questions from members of the body.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:07:29
    Council Member Cashman.
  • 01:07:31
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:07:32
    I was just asking for the public to understand if the author, Council Member Rainville, could explain the difference between this and the previous amendment.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:07:41
    Council Member Rainville, would you like to respond?
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:07:44
    Yes, the difference is that it does not include the software.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:07:49
    Thank you very much.
  • 01:07:50
    I'm not seeing any further discussion.
  • 01:07:53
    And on Councilmember Rainville's motion, on Councilmember Rainville's motion, which is amendment number three, Mr.
  • 01:08:05
    Clerk, please call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:08:08
    Councilmember Payne?
  • 01:08:10
    Nay.
  • 01:08:11
    Wonsley?
  • 01:08:12
    Nay.
  • 01:08:13
    Rainville?
  • 01:08:14
    Aye.
  • 01:08:14
    Vita?
  • 01:08:15
    Aye.
  • 01:08:16
    Ellison?
  • 01:08:17
    No.
  • 01:08:18
    That motion fails.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:08:43
    We will now move on to amendment number four, which is a 0.98% property tax levy reduction.
  • 01:08:53
    This amendment is authored by Councilmember Koski and Rainville.
  • 01:09:00
    Vice Chair Koski, will you please introduce your motion?
  • 01:09:03
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:09:05
    We've exhausted these items, but item number four is just
  • 01:09:11
    Delaying the ERP by one year.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:09:18
    Thank you.
  • 01:09:19
    Is there a second to that motion?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:09:21
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:09:23
    That motion has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 01:09:26
    Is there any discussion from members of the committee?
  • 01:09:29
    I will first recognize Council President Payne followed by Council Member Palmisano.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:09:34
    Thank you Vice President.
  • 01:09:35
    I meant to make this comment when we were previously discussing this but now that we're on the specific ERP item.
  • 01:09:43
    The other thing that I meant to speak to was the costs incurred both already and in implementation.
  • 01:09:52
    First things first, there's always kind of the sunk cost fallacy but I don't even think we're in the sunk cost fallacy universe here because
  • 01:09:58
    there's really three big buckets of work when it comes to ERP implementation it is the licensing fee for the software so that's what most people understand to be the cost but I think the bigger costs are actually you're typically hiring an ERP consulting firm to do the implementation work and a lot of that implementation work is training our employees on how to utilize that new tool
  • 01:10:22
    and there's kind of two parallel paths associated with implementation.
  • 01:10:26
    One is very much the work of configuring very big complex software and that's a lot of the consulting work that the ERP consultant will do.
  • 01:10:39
    But a lot of the other big
  • 01:10:41
    budget of
  • 01:11:02
    Big diverging philosophies on software is you either learn the software and change your work style to fit the way that the software works, or you design the software and build it specifically to cater to the work style and the work flows of the institution.
  • 01:11:18
    I think
  • 01:11:37
    and starting the work of training our staff on how to change their workflow.
  • 01:11:43
    If we do delay, we're delaying more specifically the licensing and actually one of the parts of the cost of licensing is there's going to be a period of time where we have to pay for the licensing for the existing software that we have.
  • 01:11:58
    and double pay for the licensing for the new software while we're in the process of implementation.
  • 01:12:04
    We won't incur that double cost with this delay because we know that we're not going to start that work.
  • 01:12:10
    And additionally there are some costs associated with training that is not a sunk cost because clearly that staff capacity is going to translate
  • 01:12:19
    Thank you.
  • 01:12:21
    I will next recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:12:36
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 01:12:38
    I thought I heard this was a temporary delay or a one year delay.
  • 01:12:41
    This item clearly takes ERP funding in 2026 too.
  • 01:12:46
    So could you please explain that?
  • 01:12:50
    I guess this is a question for the authors.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:12:53
    Vice Chair Koski, would you like to address that question?
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:12:56
    Thank you through the chair.
  • 01:12:57
    So the cost for the first year was 5 million, the second year was 6 million.
  • 01:13:02
    When we push it out, that decreases the 2026 by 1 million dollars.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:13:12
    Council Member Palmesano, on the motion itself you see that the second half of that motion says amending the 2026 plan.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:13:20
    Right, exactly.
  • 01:13:22
    So we're not talking about a temporary delay, we're talking about a two-year delay here and I cannot support such a delay in such a necessary vulnerable relic of a system.
  • 01:13:34
    This is very reactionary and very short-sighted in my opinion.
  • 01:13:40
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:13:43
    Thank you.
  • 01:13:45
    Colleagues is there any further discussion or any questions?
  • 01:13:51
    I will recognize Councilmember Chaudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:13:54
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:13:56
    Just wanted to quick pop in and say I feel like this is we we all saw when we got the proposed budget from the mayor the 8.3 levy and that was startling for many and many of our residents and if and there's there's an appetite here on this body to find ways to lower the levy and in a deficit and in this moment like
  • 01:14:20
    No direction we pick is going to be easy.
  • 01:14:23
    It's not going to be easy choices.
  • 01:14:26
    We were always coming to a hard moment.
  • 01:14:29
    And I feel like this budget amendment, while difficult, because any of them would be difficult, ensures that we aren't cutting anything existing, ensures that we have an understanding of what will happen versus an unknown that we're seeing in the previous one.
  • 01:14:44
    So I am happy to support this.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:14:49
    Thank you.
  • 01:14:51
    and next I will recognize Councilmember Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:14:54
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 01:14:56
    Just want to speak on this as well and echoing what Councilmember Chaudry said you know 8.3 levy increase is very dramatic for a lot of households.
  • 01:15:04
    For some people that's up to a 20% increase in their property tax bill from last year and it's our number one responsibility to serve our constituents.
  • 01:15:12
    I think that this is one of the cuts that we can make that
  • 01:15:15
    constituents, residents of Minneapolis wouldn't necessarily feel in the next year.
  • 01:15:21
    And so I think that this is a thoughtful cut and we'll be supporting this as well.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:15:30
    Thank you, and next I will recognize Councilmember Vitaw.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:15:33
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 01:15:34
    It's not a cut, it's a delay.
  • 01:15:36
    So our residents will feel this either this year or next year or whatever year we do it.
  • 01:15:43
    So I want us to just stick to the facts here.
  • 01:15:47
    It's not a cut.
  • 01:15:48
    We're not cutting anything.
  • 01:15:49
    We still want the service.
  • 01:15:51
    We're going to pay for it.
  • 01:15:52
    It's just a matter of if we vote to delay when we pay for it.
  • 01:15:56
    But people are going to pay for it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:16:00
    That's right.
  • 01:16:01
    Thank you.
  • 01:16:03
    Seeing no one further in QL, just to add to the discussion, really appreciate the conversation here so far today related to the ERP spending.
  • 01:16:18
    this is something that we really do need as a city and like others have highlighted this is about making really tough choices about our budget to reduce the impact on our residents who are going to be affected by significant increases to the levy this year.
  • 01:16:41
    I really appreciate that this is an amendment that is just looking at the ERP and
  • 01:16:47
    as it is delaying the project by a year, right?
  • 01:16:53
    This is going to cost taxpayers no matter when we invest in the program.
  • 01:16:58
    That is absolutely true.
  • 01:17:00
    But the way that we have planned right now in year one
  • 01:17:06
    the cost for this is five million dollars in year two it is six million dollars and so by delaying it out a year it's also the plan for next year was always for a six million dollar cost to be incurred and so I appreciate that there is a reduction in year two as well.
  • 01:17:32
    Council Member Palmisano, did you add yourself to the queue there?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:17:36
    Madam Chair, I did and then I got back out because I thought you kind of explained it.
  • 01:17:40
    I just want to point out the difference here between this proposal and the mayor's proposal is that the mayor's proposal makes it very clear we're delaying it one year and doesn't take, to my knowledge, and we just all got this at the same time,
  • 01:17:58
    It doesn't take that year two money, and this does take that two year money.
  • 01:18:03
    So to me there is still a difference between the mayor's proposal and this one right here.
  • 01:18:09
    Bless you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:18:11
    Council Member Palmisano, we don't have a mayor's proposal in front of us.
  • 01:18:17
    I don't see a motion.
  • 01:18:18
    There's no motion that has been received by the clerk's office.
  • 01:18:21
    We are talking about things that have been communicated over emails.
  • 01:18:25
    So with that, we have the amendment offered by, we have the amendment number four offered by Council Members Koski and Rainville before us.
  • 01:18:35
    I will ask the clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:18:37
    Council Member Payne?
  • 01:18:39
    Aye.
  • 01:18:39
    Wonsley?
  • 01:18:40
    Aye.
  • 01:18:42
    Rainville?
  • 01:18:43
    No.
  • 01:18:44
    Vita?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:18:45
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:18:46
    Ellison?
  • 01:18:47
    Aye.
  • 01:18:48
    Osman?
• • Jamal Osman
  • 01:18:50
    Aye.
  • 01:18:51
    Cashman?
  • 01:18:52
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:18:53
    Chavez?
  • 01:18:54
    Aye.
  • 01:18:55
    Chowdhury?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:18:56
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:18:57
    Palmisano?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:18:57
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:18:59
    Vice Chair Koski?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:19:00
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:19:01
    Chair Chuktai?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:19:02
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:19:03
    There are nine ayes and three nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:19:06
    That motion carries.
  • 01:19:11
    With that, we are now ready to move to amendment number five, at least in my packet.
  • 01:19:22
    So, at least in my packet, this was just an error.
  • 01:19:29
    The first two pages of number five, which read 0.13% property tax levy reduction, those are outdated.
  • 01:19:38
    This amendment was revised as a part of the revised motion.
  • 01:19:42
    So, this amendment
  • 01:19:46
    Okay, that may have just been an error in my packet, but your amendment should read 0.21% property tax levy reduction.
  • 01:19:54
    That is the correct motion.
  • 01:19:56
    So, with that, this amendment, number 5, is authored by Council President Payne.
  • 01:20:05
    Council President Payne, will you please introduce your amendment?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:20:09
    Thank you, Madam Vice President.
  • 01:20:14
    I will just make sure that for everybody if there is anybody else who has something incorrect in their packet this is looking at our
  • 01:20:24
    Technology Improvement Levy.
  • 01:20:26
    So this is all new spending as proposed in the mayor's budget through the technology improvement levy, which included conference room modernization, Microsoft co-pilot, and communications and neighborhood and community relations department enterprise engagement proposal.
  • 01:20:45
    I originally was trying to balance the needs of the enterprise with, you know, the
  • 01:20:53
    Committee.
  • 01:21:09
    to address some of these
  • 01:21:29
    If we have a new government structure that's supposed to bring more alignment within the administration, we should be much more rigorous about
  • 01:21:42
    and seeing where those opportunities are to close those equity gaps across departments within the existing resources rather than raising a levy to solve that problem.
  • 01:21:51
    And so Microsoft Co-Pilot, again, this is kind of an exploratory emerging large language model, LLM, AI,
  • 01:22:03
    tool that IT is proposing that we use.
  • 01:22:06
    They're trying to manage whether or not these tools are allowed.
  • 01:22:10
    I think that it's exciting that AI is this emerging technology, but it's by no means an established technology that has every use case defined.
  • 01:22:20
    We're just plugging this into a set of use cases.
  • 01:22:22
    It's all very kind of emergent.
  • 01:22:25
    And this last one around this enterprise engagement proposal.
  • 01:22:30
    This is another one of those opportunities under the new government structure for all of our departments to work more closely together.
  • 01:22:36
    I don't think we need to raise a levy to accomplish this goal.
  • 01:22:39
    I think that we need better coordination across the administration to design a more comprehensive approach to community engagement.
  • 01:22:49
    And with that, that are those amendments.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:22:52
    Council President Payne has moved this amendment.
  • 01:22:57
    Is there a second to his motion?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:22:59
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:23:00
    That item, item number five has been moved and seconded.
  • 01:23:04
    Are there any questions or discussion from members of the body?
  • 01:23:11
    I am not seeing any, so with that we have
  • 01:23:17
    Thank you.
  • 01:23:18
    I will recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:23:22
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:23:23
    Again, I don't like pushing back needed technology improvements in our city because this is how we operate more efficiently and ultimately more equitably and give residents good service.
  • 01:23:36
    But this is a little bit more specific.
  • 01:23:39
    It's specific enough.
  • 01:23:40
    I can support this as a way to offer relief to our residents who are suffering with a huge tax levy.
  • 01:23:45
    So thank you for the explanation.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:23:49
    Thank you.
  • 01:23:50
    I am not seeing anyone else in queue, so with that we have Amendment Number 5 offered by Council President Payne before us.
  • 01:24:00
    I will ask the Clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:24:02
    Council Member Payne.
  • 01:24:05
    Aye.
  • 01:24:05
    Wonsley.
  • 01:24:06
    Aye.
  • 01:24:07
    Rainville.
  • 01:24:09
    Aye.
  • 01:24:10
    Vita.
• • 01:24:11
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 01:24:11
    That motion carries and with that we will move to the revised or the new
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:24:37
    Motion number 5A, which is authored by myself, Councilmember Chowdhury, and Councilmember Cashman.
  • 01:24:45
    This is a 0.21 property tax levy reduction as well.
  • 01:24:50
    So, colleagues, I will begin by introducing this amendment.
  • 01:24:54
    I will ask for a second and then we will continue with discussion.
  • 01:24:59
    This motion uses the
  • 01:25:04
    budgeted 4% salary increases for 161 unclassified jobs in the appointed employee group, which we discussed at the council meeting yesterday.
  • 01:25:16
    It uses that allocation, which is just over $1 million, to instead reduce the levy by 0.21%.
  • 01:25:27
    The median household income in our city is $81,000 and our residents are ultimately footing the bill for this entire institution and we owe it to them to make
  • 01:25:45
    to make cuts anywhere we can as we are trying to with several of these levy reduction amendments.
  • 01:25:52
    And so this is one way for us to help alleviate the burden on taxpayers.
  • 01:25:59
    With that, I will ask for a second to my motion.
  • 01:26:04
    Second.
  • 01:26:05
    that item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 01:26:09
    Colleagues, is there any discussion on this item?
  • 01:26:14
    I will first recognize Council Member Ellison followed by Council Member Palmisano.
• • Jeremiah Ellison
  • 01:26:22
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 01:26:26
    If we take a vote at this moment, I won't be supporting this, and there's a couple of reasons.
  • 01:26:32
    I respect it as an effort for us to cut the levy down.
  • 01:26:36
    As I respect the other efforts to cut the levy down, the more specific the better, and having to make sacrifices in modernization makes sense to me.
  • 01:26:48
    As somebody who initially supported voting this item down when it came before budget, I obviously see the logic in why we would pursue in this way.
  • 01:26:59
    Some of the folks in this category are some of the highest earners in the enterprise.
  • 01:27:03
    That makes a lot of sense to me.
  • 01:27:07
    there are folks at the bottom third of this category that aren't the highest earners in the enterprise.
  • 01:27:11
    They've worked very hard to provide constituent services, to serve the city, to equip us with information so that we can make decisions and even find money for the enterprise that can go towards affordable housing and other items.
  • 01:27:26
    There are folks in this category who have done a lot for the city and I think that
  • 01:27:32
    They deserve their cost of living adjustment.
  • 01:27:34
    Councilmember Palmisano and I have spent the last couple of days trying to see if we could find some kind of compromise proposal.
  • 01:27:40
    And it's been dubious at best.
  • 01:27:44
    It's been difficult.
  • 01:27:45
    It's been hard to find compromise on this.
  • 01:27:49
    And so as somebody who's maybe a little hard-headed and not able to give up, if we were to move this to the bottom of the pile, if this source is not
  • 01:28:01
    I think it would be appropriate for us to move to the bottom of the pile for consideration.
  • 01:28:10
    I support a reduction of this.
  • 01:28:11
    I would support any efforts for us to continue to find a compromise on this but to give everyone in this
  • 01:28:21
    But to deny everyone in this job classification a cost of living adjustment doesn't feel like the right move to me.
  • 01:28:30
    This is not a tax cut that comes on the back, that comes at the delay of modernization.
  • 01:28:35
    It's a tax cut that comes on the back of folks who work for the city, of real people who provide services in the city.
  • 01:28:41
    And that's a critique that's not just outward, it's inward again.
  • 01:28:45
    I voted for us to not give this cost of living adjustment, but since have
  • 01:28:54
    as you can tell, changed my mind a bit on this.
  • 01:28:56
    So I would support either one of those things for us, you know, reducing this by some amount so that we can continue finding some kind of compromise or moving it to the bottom of the stack for later consideration.
  • 01:29:10
    But if we were to take this up today, it won't have my, if we were to take this up right now I guess, it won't have my support.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:29:16
    Yeah, that's all.
  • 01:29:18
    Thank you for that feedback, Council Member Ellison.
  • 01:29:22
    You and I have had several conversations over the last couple of days about this item, about the 4% increases for appointed officials.
  • 01:29:34
    I will first start by saying this source is not being used for any other amendment.
  • 01:29:41
    In the original packet that we published, this source was being used for amendment number 21.
  • 01:29:47
    As you see in your table of contents, amendment number 21 is withdrawn, so it was going to be used for the fire station alerting system.
  • 01:29:53
    It's not being used anywhere else.
  • 01:29:56
    So I would not support moving this to the bottom of the pile in large part.
  • 01:30:02
    We actually reordered
  • 01:30:04
    the order in which we took up amendments this morning so that we can get through all of the levy reduction amendments first before we start moving money around.
  • 01:30:14
    We need to know what the full pot of money is before we start moving things around and who is impacted by potential cuts with levy reduction.
  • 01:30:25
    So, you know, I appreciate your position on this, I really do.
  • 01:30:31
    To me, it comes down to what are we doing and what are all the options that we are exhausting to ensure that critical city services
  • 01:30:47
    are delivered to our residents, that frontline employees in our city that deliver those critical city services are not impacted by cuts of any sort.
  • 01:31:01
    What can we do to demonstrate to the residents that we serve whose tax dollars create and fund this institution
  • 01:31:14
    what can we do to show them that we are responsible stewards of their money?
  • 01:31:19
    And at the end of the day, to me, even the lowest end of this scale, this pay scale for the appointed positions class, right, which is leaders within our city, top level management, earn more than the median household in Minneapolis.
  • 01:31:44
    and that feels like that makes the choice easier for me.
  • 01:31:52
    I understand that is not the case for everyone.
  • 01:31:55
    I understand that I've heard a lot of concerns and pause from members as we've deliberated on this item over the last week.
  • 01:32:07
    So,
  • 01:32:09
    to address your core questions on am I open to revising this further and lowering the amount that's being taken or to moving this to the bottom of the list, I'll respectfully say no to both.
• • Nikki Odom
  • 01:32:29
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:32:31
    Next I will recognize Council Member Palmisano, followed by Council Member Cashman.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:32:38
    Thank you Madam Chair for much of my time I'm asking COO Anderson Kelleher who has some new demographic info to share and I'm asking her to come up but first I also agree I have been working with Councilmember Ellison on this I prefer that we remove this amendment but obviously that's up to the authors
  • 01:32:59
    I won't remove it for you or get a vote on that.
  • 01:33:03
    I cannot support this amendment.
  • 01:33:05
    I want to reduce the tax levy more than anything because it is putting undue burden on our residents.
  • 01:33:11
    But denying cost of living increases to our department leaders and managers is not the way to do it.
  • 01:33:19
    This group of employees are nonrepresented.
  • 01:33:22
    Are we saying they matter less?
  • 01:33:25
    than those who are represented by a union or that can somehow take advantage of the fact that they are not backed by a union, that we get to treat them differently by denying basic cost of living increases.
  • 01:33:37
    These are not, um, increases to their salary based on merit, but some of them are step increases.
  • 01:33:44
    Other employees receive this.
  • 01:33:47
    denying them a COLA increase while other employees received it is just plain wrong.
  • 01:33:53
    And I need to say if we do this maybe we need to take a look at reducing our own salaries.
  • 01:33:58
    We increased non-represented employees this week that are our own staff.
  • 01:34:04
    We just got out of salary compression issues that's led to multiple salary increases within a year and now we will put ourselves right back into it.
  • 01:34:13
    This will create situations where direct reports earn more than their supervisors.
  • 01:34:19
    This has caused morale issues that will no doubt cause our expert staff to seek other employment.
  • 01:34:25
    We are not a closed system here.
  • 01:34:29
    Our staff can seek other employment where their skills and experience are recognized and marketplace competitive.
  • 01:34:35
    These are our leaders, our deputies, our managers in an enterprise and they are some of the hardest working in our city, especially after government restructure.
  • 01:34:44
    This body puts a lot of pressure on them.
  • 01:34:48
    The ERP discussion is an example of that.
  • 01:34:51
    There are also a lot of women and BIPOC people in this affected group.
  • 01:34:55
    Councilmember Ellison and I have been looking for ways to offer increases still to as many people as we could get to be politically tolerable on this dais.
  • 01:35:05
    But we need to honor the work of all of our employees and it is not a benefit to the residents of Minneapolis to treat our staff poorly.
  • 01:35:14
    I would like the rest of my time to go to COO Anderson Kelleher to give the demographic information of this group.
  • 01:35:21
    Welcome.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:35:23
    Thank you, Madam Chair, and we will be sharing this with all of you.
  • 01:35:27
    It has just come in.
  • 01:35:28
    Director Corbett did a quick racial equity analysis on who are in the groups of people
  • 01:35:35
    the appointed, the non-represented, the politically appointed.
  • 01:35:39
    And so I'm just going to go through this very quickly.
  • 01:35:41
    In terms of, so if you think, make columns, appointed, non-represented, politically appointed.
  • 01:35:50
    You have approved, I believe, both non-represented and politically appointed are ready for 4%, not appointed.
  • 01:35:57
    American Indian identification is zero in appointed, a number of people, so the percentage is zero.
  • 01:36:05
    In represented, it's three, so it's 1.1.
  • 01:36:09
    In politically appointed, it's zero.
  • 01:36:12
    Asian identification, appointed 14 people, which is 8.6%.
  • 01:36:18
    Non-represented, 26, 9.5%.
  • 01:36:21
    Politically appointed, 1, 2.4%.
  • 01:36:25
    This is the important one, I believe, to what you're discussing here today.
  • 01:36:30
    Of our employees who are black, African-American, in the appointed group, there are 30.
  • 01:36:36
    That is 18.4% of the group.
  • 01:36:40
    In non-represented, 27, 10% of the group.
  • 01:36:44
    And in politically appointed, it is 7, which is 17.1%.
  • 01:36:51
    What that means is you are
  • 01:36:54
    by denying, you are denying 18.4% black and African-American appointed officials that increase, whatever increase you decide on.
  • 01:37:05
    Hispanic, Latino, three, 1.8% in the appointed, four, non-represented, 1.5%, Hispanic in politically appointed, five, 12.2%.
  • 01:37:18
    Then there's two or more, unknown and the white group,
  • 01:37:23
    is appointed 110 employees in appointed 67.5% non-represented 191 people at 70.5% politically appointed 25 at 61% and we will provide that to you so you have it.
  • 01:37:41
    He is doing, Director Corbett's doing a more full analysis on this but this just came in and this amendment was coming up and thought it was important to share.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:37:53
    Thank you Director Corbett for also being here.
  • 01:37:55
    I saw him walk into the room.
  • 01:37:57
    Madam Chair, I ask that we remove this amendment for now for more discussion.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:38:04
    We have a proper motion before us.
  • 01:38:07
    We are going to continue with discussion.
  • 01:38:09
    Next I'll recognize Council Member Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:38:14
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 01:38:15
    I appreciate council member Palmisano that every single amendment here to reduce the levy does have an impact and that those are hard decisions to make but you know I'm here you say that you want to lower the levy but I don't see a proposal from you before us to do that and some of us work to find ways to lower the levy and put those options before us.
  • 01:38:36
    This is one that I did author because I think that
  • 01:38:40
    denying a 4% raise is better than cutting jobs in the enterprise and I also think that denying a 4% raise for this class of positions does give the staff the opportunity to reclassify some of those positions next year if they need to account for differences in
  • 01:39:01
    Thank you, next I'll recognize Councilmember Wonsley followed by Councilmember Rainville.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 01:39:17
    Thank you, Council Vice President Scheck.
  • 01:39:19
    I just wanted to ask if the authors would be amenable if I could join on as a co-author.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:39:25
    Thank you.
  • 01:39:28
    Yes, we'll have the clerk's note that we're adding Council Member Wansley as a co-author.
  • 01:39:36
    Next, I will recognize Council Member Rainville.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:39:40
    Thank you.
  • 01:39:40
    I will not be voting for this.
  • 01:39:44
    This seems to be that we're singling out a certain classification of our workforce.
  • 01:39:52
    and that's just wrong.
  • 01:39:53
    These cost of living raises, we gave those to our very own staff and if we should treat all the other employees of this enterprise as we treat our own staff.
  • 01:40:02
    So I won't be voting, it just seems way too vindictive.
  • 01:40:05
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:40:07
    Council Member Rainville, if I may address your thought about the politically appointed staff and their raises.
  • 01:40:19
    So the politically appointed class includes both staff within our council offices and staff within the mayor's office.
  • 01:40:27
    now speaking just to our own staff I don't know the entirety of the salary I actually don't know the salary schedule range at all within the mayor's office I do know it for ours though and I really do believe in treating the way you treat your own people, your own staff is a reflection on how you treat employees in a broader institution our own staff
  • 01:40:57
    earned significantly less than the median of the appointed officials.
  • 01:41:10
    Our own staff, if we wanted to treat everyone like we treat them, we'd be paying people somewhere between $60,000 and $90,000 a year.
  • 01:41:18
    That's not how we treat everyone here.
  • 01:41:23
    They are some of the lowest earners in this entire list of non-represented people.
  • 01:41:31
    So I just don't want us to somehow be under the assumption that we are doing something that is
  • 01:41:44
    prioritizing our own staff above everyone else.
  • 01:41:47
    It's that all of their raises combined cost $140,000 compared to all of these raises combined cost almost $1.1 million.
  • 01:41:57
    Next, I'll recognize Councilmember Vito.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:42:00
    If I could just... Oh yes, please go ahead.
  • 01:42:02
    So I appreciate your remarks, but I look at the job skills that are necessary in these director positions, and they're different job skills than relatively entry-level positions that are in our own office staff.
  • 01:42:19
    So people get paid according to their job skills.
  • 01:42:23
    The job skills that these positions have
  • 01:42:26
    are needed.
  • 01:42:27
    They run our enterprise.
  • 01:42:28
    That's why I'm voting against this.
  • 01:42:30
    So, thank you.
• • 01:42:32
    Sure.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:42:33
    Next I will recognize Council Member Vitale followed by Council Member Chavez.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:42:38
    Thank you Chair.
  • 01:42:40
    I also can't support this and it's for three reasons.
  • 01:42:44
    it's because it's our staff and our staff are residents of Minneapolis too.
  • 01:42:50
    I mean I don't want us to lose sight of that.
  • 01:42:52
    These people on this list, this hundred and eighty people or whomever the hundred and sixty people whomever this is, they also live in the city of Minneapolis.
  • 01:43:02
    So they're faced with some of the burdens that a lot of Minneapolis residents are faced with right now when it comes to tax increases.
  • 01:43:10
    Everyone on this list does not make that top amount that was discussed
  • 01:43:14
    earlier this week and so there are staff, there are residents of Minneapolis.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:43:20
    Point of order.
  • 01:43:21
    I'm not sure if we know how many of these folks on the list actually live in Minneapolis or if we've heard that information.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:43:28
    What?
  • 01:43:30
    Why do we need to, why do we need to hear that?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:43:33
    Let's, Councilmember, Councilmember Vitell, please continue your remarks.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:43:40
    Okay.
  • 01:43:40
    Go ahead.
  • 01:43:41
    Thank you.
  • 01:43:42
    and just overall the morale.
  • 01:43:46
    I don't really want to pick this group.
  • 01:43:51
    I'm not going to pick this group of people to say no to the 4%.
  • 01:43:56
    I think what Councilmember Ellison said was it.
  • 01:44:00
    It's just, this is just not how we should be doing this.
  • 01:44:05
    There are ways we can, if there is a group of people that we agree is, you know, at the top and we should find a way to separate things, but to
  • 01:44:17
    to do
  • 01:44:28
    the average income in the city is much lower.
  • 01:44:32
    I think we need to be doing some work on encouraging people to apply for a lot of jobs we have available at the City of Minneapolis.
  • 01:44:39
    Good paying jobs that is way above that and I think that's our job and that's the job of these leaders who I hope we can get this 4% raise to to start encouraging them to apply for some city jobs.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:44:54
    Thank you.
  • 01:44:55
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:44:58
    Thank you Council Vice President Chagatai.
  • 01:45:01
    I'm struggling with this one a little bit.
  • 01:45:03
    If we're moving forward with this right now I'll support it but I do think some of the comments that Councilmember Ellison is making do resonate with me.
  • 01:45:11
    I think there are some folks that I think we should be considering when we're taking this vote who might be impacted.
  • 01:45:18
    I'm not
  • 01:45:19
    of Minnesota
  • 01:45:38
    that we should be trying to hire folks that want to work for the city that are passionate for the city and it is not about the money but there is some concerns I have with this which is that if there is folks that make $60,000 that they may be impacted and not getting the coal raise which I would be supportive of so I'll support this right now but I do want to let my colleagues know that if there is a change or amendment brought forward as the week progresses maybe Monday or Tuesday that I would strongly consider that too but
  • 01:46:07
    My reasoning for supporting this is that I think that we need to have a deeper look into how much people are getting paid in the city when we are struggling with property taxes that we're talking about right now, when we are struggling with services and funding programs.
  • 01:46:25
    and my concern is that there are a lot of people in this institution that get paid more than the governor but my problem isn't with folks that make $60,000.
  • 01:46:33
    I think they deserve to get paid more but I'll support this today but I just wanted to make sure that I do hear the words that Council Member Ellison is saying and I do take that very seriously and I am weighing that as the week progresses.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:46:45
    Thank you, Council Member Chavez.
  • 01:46:47
    I wanted to address what you have brought up in your remarks.
  • 01:46:57
    In discussions with staff yesterday, related to this source, which is an item we held over at Council to our meeting on Thursday.
  • 01:47:14
    there were conversations around how to potentially maneuver this class of non-represented positions, the appointed officials group as a whole and think about what would it look like to do the 4% increase for a portion of the people within this
  • 01:47:42
    within this class.
  • 01:47:43
    And the conclusion that was reached was breaking up the appointed employee group, picking and choosing within that 161 appointed officials, that is not
  • 01:48:06
    That's not a path that we can pursue.
  • 01:48:09
    That creates unintended consequences at a greater scale and risks at a greater scale that we just can't explore.
  • 01:48:19
    Or we just shouldn't explore.
  • 01:48:23
    So I will just say there has been one most up-to-date list of existing appointed officials in this category provided to me and it was itemized by
  • 01:48:43
    the name of the position and places where we saw people on that low end of the range right like that sixty to ninety thousand dollars those were all positions where that dollar amount was a portion of the full FTE value right so that means this that position a portion of it is paid out of the general fund a different portion may be paid out of by a grant or out of a different fund so I just
  • 01:49:13
    of what we know when waited for one full FTE, the vast majority of the people on this list make more than $160,000 a year.
  • 01:49:27
    overall.
  • 01:49:29
    That's at least the FTE cost of their full position.
  • 01:49:34
    I don't want that to get lost here.
  • 01:49:36
    So with that, I will recognize Councilmember Palmisano followed by Councilmember Chowdhury.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:49:50
    Madam Chair, it was offered by Councilmember Cashman that I wasn't bringing forward my own proposals for cutting the city budget.
  • 01:49:58
    I'm surprised nobody called that out.
  • 01:50:01
    I need to point out that this isn't about taking credit for something or not Councilmember Cashman.
  • 01:50:06
    It's about having government work together in full transparency.
  • 01:50:12
    I also need to point out that people on this list, to my knowledge, are inclusive of fringe.
  • 01:50:18
    What's on this list is not people's salary.
  • 01:50:21
    It's not people's actual take-home pay.
  • 01:50:26
    I would be happy to bring forward a motion for Mayor Frey's proposal.
  • 01:50:31
    Hearing about but not seeing most of these amendments, with the exception of Councilmember Wonsley's, yes, I speak with the mayor and his staff directly, directly about the needs of our city, directly about what I am hearing from constituents, and when you're speaking with the mayor, they're his constituents too.
  • 01:50:47
    His proposal here is the one that makes the most sense to me.
  • 01:50:52
    his proposal which has taken some of the same sources that we've already cleared out today his proposal is also contingent on people in all of this pack of other amendments removing some of their wants
  • 01:51:07
    in dealing with just the needs of the city.
  • 01:51:10
    His proposal reduces the overall levy from 8.3% to 6.4% in what I feel is the most responsible way.
  • 01:51:20
    That is not something that has been told back to him by the budget chair last night that was acceptable to this body.
  • 01:51:28
    And I just needed to make that point.
  • 01:51:30
    Number one, let's not cast aspersions on one another or assume our motives.
  • 01:51:36
    point two and very clearly from everybody on this salary schedule.
  • 01:51:41
    This is not a salary schedule.
  • 01:51:43
    It is about a budget transaction that includes fringe, it includes their benefits, it includes office space.
  • 01:51:51
    It is not somebody's salary.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:51:57
    We have several other members in queue now, so we've got Council Member Chowdhury, followed by Council President Payne, followed by Council Member Chavez, followed by Council Member Osman, that's right, thank you, followed by Council Member Wansley.
  • 01:52:14
    It's about 11.55 right now, so let's get through discussion on this item.
  • 01:52:21
    take the vote on this and then we will break for lunch.
  • 01:52:26
    So with that, I will recognize Councilmember Choudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:52:30
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:52:32
    I was going to talk about something different, but I see that our discussion has changed a little bit.
  • 01:52:41
    And so I wanted to speak a little bit to some of the comments that my colleague Councilmember Palmisano made.
  • 01:52:50
    I guess I'll ask our chair, when was the proposal by the mayor emailed to us as a council?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:53:00
    Thank you Councilmember Chaudry, I believe it was a little after 6pm last night.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 01:53:06
    Yes, so thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:53:08
    So I just want to speak very clearly.
  • 01:53:11
    This proposal from our mayor is not publicly available to anyone and was given to council members at 6 p.m. last night.
  • 01:53:18
    I find it very contradictory right now in our discussion to say that our revised packet, as our budget chair put together, and when I say our, I mean all 13 of us, did not come at a time that was necessary for people to look at it.
  • 01:53:34
    when it was one that was publicly noticed and available for us to tackle, one that's on the LIMS file today, one that's printed in front of us to discuss.
  • 01:53:43
    There is no mayor's proposal that has been brought into the public.
  • 01:53:50
    So I just wanted to call out that contradiction.
  • 01:53:53
    What we have before us are items that are noticed that we are able to discuss.
  • 01:54:00
    and we have multiple days of markup to go through this together.
  • 01:54:06
    So I'll just speak for myself.
  • 01:54:10
    I don't think it is wise or publicly transparent to talk about a proposal by the mayor that was given at 6 p.m. last night that the members of the public cannot look at, cannot follow and cannot track along with ourselves because we do not have it printed in front of us.
  • 01:54:27
    Maybe we can pull it up on our email.
  • 01:54:30
    I am not calling on staff to come up and speak to this.
  • 01:54:34
    I just wanted to make my comments about it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:54:36
    Thank you, Councilmember Chaudry, just for your awareness, I really appreciate you bringing up the time at which this proposal was shared with members of the Council.
  • 01:54:49
    Just as we have been conducting markup here today, I have reached out to
  • 01:54:54
    the mayor's office to our clerk's team to see if we've perhaps received a motion but up until pretty recently, unless that has changed, we have not received a formal motion from the mayor's office and there is nothing for us to consider.
  • 01:55:09
    We don't consider press releases.
  • 01:55:11
    We don't consider letterhead templates, letters to the council.
  • 01:55:16
    Those are not proper motions.
  • 01:55:18
    until we have a proper motion in front of us, there is no proposal that we are considering in markup today that reduces the levy to 6.4%.
  • 01:55:25
    What we are considering is what is in front of us right now.
  • 01:55:30
    Certainly, if a member wants to bring a proposal, a formal motion and a proposal in front of us, they're welcome to do so, but that's not what we see here right now.
  • 01:55:45
    With that, I will recognize Council President Payne,
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:55:49
    Thank you Madam Vice President.
  • 01:55:52
    I think there's a lot of discussion around market competitiveness in this conversation as it relates to just like a broader employee retention strategy and I just wanted to bring in the fact that CEO pay has grown
  • 01:56:09
    just on this article I did a little quick research, 940% since 1978.
  • 01:56:15
    So CEOs used to make 20 to 1 and now on average it's over 200 to 1 and that's a reflection of some market dynamics that I don't know that replicate
  • 01:56:30
    Committee.
  • 01:56:42
    wealth inequities that I think are the root cause of so many of our societal problems.
  • 01:56:47
    I don't know that we want to replicate those root problems within our institution and one of the things I think that we should actually be considering is doing some formal policy making around pay ratios so that we don't have these massive disparities and I think, you know, echoing some of the comments
  • 01:57:07
    that I've heard up here today around how we want to treat our employees.
  • 01:57:13
    If we want to treat our employees equitably, do we want to raise the salary of all of our employees, especially our lowest paid employees, to something that's more in line with a more equitable ratio?
  • 01:57:26
    Or do we want to achieve a more equitable ratio by lowering the salary of some of our highest employees?
  • 01:57:32
    And I think that we as an institution should model the type of
  • 01:57:38
    that we would like to see in
  • 01:57:50
    employees in a bargaining unit versus unrepresented employees.
  • 01:57:55
    We as an institution have shifted away from the number of represented employees.
  • 01:58:02
    We've actually had a long trend over the years of converting FTEs from represented to appointed
  • 01:58:10
    It's how we got to this large 161 number of employees.
  • 01:58:15
    A lot of these roles used to be represented and they would have the type of stability and protections that being represented affords you.
  • 01:58:22
    And so I think we just need to have a much larger conversation around what our entire philosophy is when it comes to pay equity in this institution as we move forward.
  • 01:58:32
    But I will be supporting this amendment today.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:58:37
    Thank you.
  • 01:58:39
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 01:58:41
    Thank you Madam Vice President.
  • 01:58:44
    My question is on this, we're not cutting, right?
  • 01:58:49
    They will still get paid the same next year.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:58:53
    That's correct.
  • 01:58:53
    They just won't have an increase.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 01:58:56
    Okay.
  • 01:58:56
    Well that's why we're here, to balance and to make decisions based on our residents.
  • 01:59:03
    Where we are
  • 01:59:05
    basically looking into and figuring out is residents.
  • 01:59:10
    Our residents elect us to make a sound decision, a very thoughtful decision on their money.
  • 01:59:19
    And as far as I'm concerned, we actually, City of Minneapolis last four years has been challenged with so many different ways.
  • 01:59:27
    Sometimes we can't even provide the basic services, so how do we
  • 01:59:30
    go back to them and say we're going to continue to increase your taxes.
  • 01:59:34
    So sometimes tough decisions have to be made and that's how I see.
  • 01:59:40
    I know I haven't spoken but anything that will reduce the taxes and levy I will support it today.
  • 01:59:47
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:59:48
    Thank you and finally I will recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:59:54
    Madam Chair, the 4% raise for non-union employees is directly based on the union contracts that settled this year.
  • 02:00:04
    It is about fairness.
  • 02:00:07
    Back to what was said during this discussion, the mayor's proposal came earlier than the latest budget packet in terms of arrival.
  • 02:00:16
    And it's not a secret.
  • 02:00:18
    It's publicly available.
  • 02:00:20
    It's on our legislative management system.
  • 02:00:23
    It has been made very public.
  • 02:00:25
    And I received the latest budget amendment packet after 2.45 am this morning.
  • 02:00:32
    I was sleeping.
  • 02:00:34
    I got to read the mayor's proposal as to what he could do if this council agreed to walk back many of the budget amendments that we are about to hear today
  • 02:00:48
    and I would be happy to bring forward that motion.
  • 02:00:50
    But I hesitate only because we need to have a conversation about it.
  • 02:00:56
    and I'm not here for theater.
  • 02:00:57
    I'm trying to not have budget drama, not accelerate it.
  • 02:01:03
    I also have seen and want to yield to COO Anderson Kelleher who had been waiting to speak for a while now and I would yield the rest of that speaking time to her for whatever it is she wanted to say about this or is there a specific question you're hoping to ask her?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:01:22
    Staff are on hand to provide clarification or ask specific questions.
  • 02:01:27
    Do you have a specific question for the COO?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 02:01:29
    Yes, there are specific questions that we've been asking the COO and I want her next response to the demographic information and some of the conversations that we've been having here.
  • 02:01:41
    So on demographic information?
  • 02:01:44
    Madam Chair,
  • 02:01:46
    The COO of our city has something pertinent to say and I trust her wisdom in approaching the microphone to say it.
  • 02:01:53
    I recognize that she needs to be called on in queue and I'm using my time for that.
  • 02:01:59
    Welcome.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 02:02:00
    Madam Chair, and it'll take about 10 seconds.
  • 02:02:03
    I wanted to say that the mayor's letter is in LIMS, which outlines the proposal.
  • 02:02:07
    It was stated that it wasn't in LIMS, it is actually in LIMS.
  • 02:02:11
    and I will just stand down at that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:02:14
    I appreciate that.
  • 02:02:15
    Thank you for getting that sent into LIMS.
  • 02:02:17
    We still do not have a motion.
  • 02:02:19
    We still do not have a motion document.
  • 02:02:22
    All right, I see Council Member Chowdhury in queue and then we will call the roll on this item.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 02:02:35
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 02:02:36
    I just wanted to say I appreciated the clarification.
  • 02:02:39
    I misspoke.
  • 02:02:40
    I hadn't seen it on limbs But yes, I it still stands the proposal is not here before us to consider Thank You councilmember and with that I will ask the clerk on I
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:02:58
    We have Amendment No.
  • 02:02:59
    5A offered by myself, Council Member Chowdhury, and Council Member Cashman before us.
  • 02:03:04
    I will ask the Clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 02:03:07
    Council Member Payne?
  • 02:03:09
    Aye.
  • 02:03:09
    Wonsley?
  • 02:03:10
    Aye.
  • 02:03:11
    Rainville?
  • 02:03:13
    No.
  • 02:03:14
    Vitor?
  • 02:03:14
    No.
  • 02:03:15
    Ellison?
  • 02:03:16
    No.
  • 02:03:17
    Osman?
• • Jamal Osman
  • 02:03:18
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 02:03:19
    Cashman?
• • Jamal Osman
  • 02:03:19
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 02:03:21
    Chavez?
  • 02:03:23
    Aye.
  • 02:03:24
    Chowdhury?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 02:03:26
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 02:03:27
    Palmisano?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 02:03:27
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 02:03:29
    There are seven ayes and five nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:03:38
    That item carries and with that colleagues we are just we're at 1206 right now so we are going to take a recess now for lunch for one hour and we will return back in chambers at one around 107 p.m.
  • 02:03:59
    and continue.
  • 03:06:00
    communications we're ready to begin okay thank you
  • 03:06:33
    colleagues welcome back we are ready to resume our budget adjourned Budget Committee meeting and continue consideration of the markup packet where we left off was taking final action on item number 5a and as I mentioned
  • 03:06:52
    At the beginning of the meeting, we will now return to item number one, which is Mayor Frey's amendments that I am bringing forward on his behalf.
  • 03:07:05
    Of those, there are five amendments that the mayor has submitted to this body for our consideration.
  • 03:07:12
    We will take them up one at a time.
  • 03:07:14
    So we will begin with 1A, which is the mayor's proposal
  • 03:07:20
    for a 0.15% property tax levy reduction, which is, again, the only formal proposal that we have from the mayor on levy reduction.
  • 03:07:33
    And with that, I will just make sure colleagues have speaker management up so you are all able to join in discussion as well.
  • 03:07:50
    So item 1A is offered by myself and it is a 0.15% property tax levy reduction.
  • 03:08:00
    This is unexpected revenue that was identified as a part of the ARPA revenue replacement project within the city.
  • 03:08:13
    So this takes about $780,000 from an action that we approved earlier this fall on the final actions on the American Rescue Plan Act allocation for the city.
  • 03:08:33
    Can I get a second on my motion?
  • 03:08:35
    Second.
  • 03:08:39
    This motion has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 03:08:42
    I will provide just a little bit of further context on this.
  • 03:08:46
    So the most important thing to note here beyond where this money is identified from is that you will note in amendments
  • 03:08:58
    further down in the packet that these resources are being used elsewhere as well.
  • 03:09:06
    And so if this item is approved by the body today, that will impact further amendments from the council down the road.
  • 03:09:14
    And I see that Mayor Frey is here to present further on his amendments.
  • 03:09:21
    Welcome Mayor.
  • 03:09:24
    Would you like to speak?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:09:27
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:09:28
    Yes, I would.
  • 03:09:30
    At your purview, would it be okay if Councilmember Palmisano kicks it off as if she will ultimately bring the motion and I don't have the authority to do so?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:09:39
    Mayor Frey, the motion that we are considering is a 0.15% property tax levy reduction item 1A from the mayor's amendments that were submitted to my office.
  • 03:09:49
    Perhaps what you were saying is Councilmember Palmisano will be offering a substitute to that amendment.
  • 03:09:56
    Is that what you were saying?
  • 03:09:56
    That is correct.
  • 03:09:57
    Wonderful.
  • 03:09:58
    So, we have now presented the item.
  • 03:10:00
    I will recognize Councilmember Palmisano to offer a substitute motion.
  • 03:10:04
    Thank you Madam Chair.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:10:05
    I'd like to offer a substitute.
  • 03:10:08
    As I mentioned, as was mentioned several times this morning, the mayor sent forth a proposal to us, to all of us, last night.
  • 03:10:16
    It impacts the work today before us and we've done some of that work.
  • 03:10:23
    It was offered to us around 6.15pm last night.
  • 03:10:26
    I offer to take up this proposal.
  • 03:10:30
    Several colleagues suggested that we put the mayor's proposal in the form of a motion.
  • 03:10:36
    it is in a letter as you all know the mayor cannot do such a thing so I have taken my lunch hour to look at that proposal and look at the work that we have already done so in addition to the actions that we have already taken even ones I disagree with
  • 03:10:56
    I move what was in this packet is item 1A, a substitute of it.
  • 03:11:03
    It is a revised version with additions, and I believe we have those copies for everybody.
  • 03:11:09
    So, Councilman- this is-
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:11:17
    In the format... Alright, alright.
  • 03:11:18
    So Councilmember Palmisano, we don't have copies, our clerks don't have copies of this motion.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:11:23
    So can we pause for a second to get... We are passing this around.
  • 03:11:28
    It is what was in the mayor's letter last night.
  • 03:11:30
    We've all had an opportunity to read it and I'm passing it down the dais.
  • 03:11:35
    I do need a second for this motion.
  • 03:11:37
    Could I have a second?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 03:11:39
    Second.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:11:40
    That item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 03:11:43
    As you will see as you get the piece of paper,
  • 03:11:46
    There are additional cuts to selected departments which are listed on this printed motion that do not conflict with the cuts that we've already made.
  • 03:11:56
    It's part of why I spent my lunch hour doing this.
  • 03:11:59
    We've already done some work.
  • 03:12:01
    If approved, it brings the levy down to 6.2%.
  • 03:12:07
    I heard many of us today on the dais say that our chief concern is our levy for our residents so it would further bring down
  • 03:12:16
    our levy amount from 6.9% which is what we left off with before lunch to 6.2% and with that Madam Chair I would like to ask the Mayor if he would please explain the rest of this.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:12:35
    Council Member Palmisano, can we get additional copies of your motion?
  • 03:12:38
    There are not enough for every member to have their coming.
  • 03:12:42
    They're coming.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 03:12:43
    Madam Chair, I just gave the clerk my copy so that he could go make copies of it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:12:49
    Thank you.
  • 03:12:52
    Mayor Frey, would you like to present your motion?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:12:57
    Thank you Council Vice President, Council Members, thank you for taking the time.
  • 03:13:00
    I think we all understand the deep need to drive down property taxes.
  • 03:13:06
    It has a disproportionate impact on low-income people and seniors and the pretty substantial shifts that we've seen in terms of who bears the burden of increased property taxes necessitates all of us on doing everything that we can.
  • 03:13:21
    I've heard you say that I was not willing to drive down the property tax levy.
  • 03:13:27
    I just need this to be stated clearly on both the record and in print that that is not true.
  • 03:13:34
    So here's the motion.
  • 03:13:36
    It should be in your hands.
  • 03:13:38
    It's in paper.
  • 03:13:40
    We will be able to vote on it.
  • 03:13:42
    It builds on my original motion from 1A to drive down the levee and builds on your motion also to push the levee down.
  • 03:13:52
    The motion proposes driving down the levee 1.9% from 8.3% to 6.4%.
  • 03:14:02
    your motion brings it down to 6.9% that has already been passed we want to go even further to 6.4 in addition to driving down the levee you are also presently taking up somewhere north of 73 some odd amendments
  • 03:14:27
    There are major problems with doing both of these things at the same time.
  • 03:14:32
    I understand the need to decrease the property tax levy and fully support it and you have the chance to drive it down even further.
  • 03:14:43
    So if you agree with pushing down the taxes, this is an opportunity to do so.
  • 03:14:48
    What I don't agree with
  • 03:14:50
    is cutting needs and then adding wants.
  • 03:14:54
    Many of those 73 amendments do exactly that.
  • 03:14:59
    Some of my concerns with these amendments include adding $6.53 million in new spending using cash balances and additional transfers.
  • 03:15:12
    Second, millions to outside organizations by cutting important city services.
  • 03:15:19
    Third,
  • 03:15:20
    breaking up comprehensive public safety systems and dollars for ward specific and or pet projects.
  • 03:15:27
    Four, funding unvetted short-term projects that will deliver minimal results and or have no long-term funding source.
  • 03:15:36
    In other words, signing up for things that we will not be able to keep as ongoing.
  • 03:15:42
    Five, taking on the ongoing responsibilities of many other government entities who have their own tax collections.
  • 03:15:50
    Six, is allocating unnecessary new funds to initiatives that have existing capacity now.
  • 03:15:58
    And then the seventh and a concerning one is the laying off of employees in a targeted manner.
  • 03:16:04
    And I may get into that more in depth.
  • 03:16:08
    So collectively,
  • 03:16:10
    The concern is around cutting core city services and then adding things that we want.
  • 03:16:18
    Cutting needs and then adding wants.
  • 03:16:20
    That would include police and community safety initiatives, unsheltered homeless response and public work services in order to increase new spending on a number of different non-profit organizations or unvetted pilots or one-time programs.
  • 03:16:38
    So this is the chance
  • 03:16:41
    to
  • 03:16:43
    truly put our actions where our mouth is on property taxes.
  • 03:16:47
    I agree with your sentiment and want to work with you to help drive down these taxes.
  • 03:16:53
    This is an opportunity to do so.
  • 03:16:55
    This was no small lift as you can imagine.
  • 03:16:58
    I'm glad that there is appetite to do exactly that.
  • 03:17:01
    I think we're fortunate to have unity on this issue.
  • 03:17:05
    Let's show property taxpayers that we care about their bottom line.
  • 03:17:09
    Here's an opportunity to do something.
  • 03:17:12
    As of last night, it is my understanding that there was not appetite to both drive down the tax levy and dramatically cut from the 73 amendments.
  • 03:17:26
    If I am wrong about that, I'm very happy to know so.
  • 03:17:31
    Again, I think we cannot do both of those things at the same time, and so I'm happy to
  • 03:17:42
    Pass it back to Council Member Lene Palmisano
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:17:53
    Council Member Palmisano, I see that the way this motion is written right now, it is authored by me.
  • 03:18:00
    And I see that there are no department codes next to the names of departments.
  • 03:18:07
    So it feels like perhaps this is actually an amendment that needs significant revision.
  • 03:18:13
    Would you like to do that or no?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:18:16
    Well, Madam Chair, I know that we don't speak in codes up here, so it was more important to get the names of the departments correct.
  • 03:18:24
    You're right that this was quite rushed.
  • 03:18:26
    It was over the lunch hour.
  • 03:18:28
    My mistake that it has your name on it instead of mine.
  • 03:18:34
    But I would like to take this up.
  • 03:18:38
    If codes are what helps you make a decision on this, we can go back to it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:18:42
    That's just what the body brought up as a recurring theme during earlier discussions.
  • 03:18:47
    My understanding is that the COO and the mayor's office were beginning to work on this yesterday, a specific table.
  • 03:18:54
    So would you like to get your, if we can revise this and move this to the bottom of the packet so that we have a proper motion in front of us.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:19:01
    I'm not willing to take away this motion and move it to the bottom of the packet and open to other ideas at this point.
  • 03:19:10
    It sounds like perhaps we need a few more minutes.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:19:12
    Point of clarification.
  • 03:19:14
    Go ahead Council Member.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 03:19:16
    I want to make sure I'm looking at what you're intending to bring.
  • 03:19:21
    I have one page and it has item one and two.
  • 03:19:23
    Are there additionals or is that all of it together?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:19:27
    I'm sorry, I was in a different conversation.
  • 03:19:32
    Could you repeat your question?
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 03:19:33
    Yes, my apologies.
  • 03:19:35
    I just want to make sure I have everything regarding the motion.
  • 03:19:40
    So I have one page, it says, one amending the mayor's recommended budget and two amending the mayor's recommended general fund.
  • 03:19:48
    And then I don't know if there's a three or a four, or is it just two within the motion?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:19:54
    Is this a one-page motion or is there more?
  • 03:19:57
    Yes, this is a one-page motion.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:20:01
    Also, I don't see codes on other things in our budget packet.
  • 03:20:04
    Are there supposed to be codes on things in our budget packet?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:20:08
    Councilmember, this was a conversation we had pretty extensively earlier where we, you know, it was actually something that Councilmember Wansley brought up where every amendment
  • 03:20:16
    has a specific
  • 03:20:32
    One of the big pieces of consensus that we had on this dais was that the cuts that were being made were not specific.
  • 03:20:41
    There were not department codes that were listed.
  • 03:20:42
    It was unclear exactly where those cuts were coming from and it sounds like that's the same thing happening here.
  • 03:20:47
    I see a lot of colleagues in queue for discussion so perhaps we will get further clarity on this as we continue since you don't want to move this to the bottom of the list.
  • 03:20:57
    So with that I will recognize Council Member Cashman followed by Council Member Chavez
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:21:02
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:21:04
    So I guess my first comment that I'd like to make on this is that the mayor did set his recommended budget in August and set the recommended levy at that time.
  • 03:21:15
    So I'm wondering why you didn't propose these cuts at that time.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:21:21
    Mayor Frey, would you like to respond?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:21:23
    Yes, I would.
  • 03:21:26
    Generally, in addition to
  • 03:21:30
    having a budget approved by the City Council, we also need to get a budget through the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
  • 03:21:36
    It was not clear to me that there was appetite to cut a number of these initiatives.
  • 03:21:40
    In fact, a number of these initiatives that you just cut in your previous motions, they were supported
  • 03:21:46
    and the City Council.
  • 03:22:05
    the Board of Estimate and Taxation against my vote and against my argument increased that amount to 8.3.
  • 03:22:13
    So if I wasn't able to get an 8.1% tax levy through it was doubtful that I was going to be able to get an even lower one through.
  • 03:22:22
    So those are the primary reasons.
  • 03:22:23
    Thank you.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:22:24
    It seems to me like you're here to almost try to one-up the council's action that we just took to lower the levy.
  • 03:22:30
    Point of order.
  • 03:22:32
    Council member, please don't assign intent to continue, please.
  • 03:22:36
    That's fair.
  • 03:22:36
    The second question that I have is this term pet project.
  • 03:22:40
    I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around what that means.
  • 03:22:43
    We do pilots often in the city.
  • 03:22:45
    In fact, one pilot that
  • 03:22:47
    You and I have both championed as the Vibrant Storefronts Initiative that has benefited Ward 7 greatly this year.
  • 03:22:52
    We put $250,000 towards it this year.
  • 03:22:55
    And so to insinuate that other council members who are trying to do similar things for their wards, calling them pet projects sounds patronizing to me.
  • 03:23:04
    So I would ask that we stop using that term or if we are going to use that term to define it.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:23:12
    Thank you, Council Member.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:23:13
    and then my last thing would be can we take up this motion one by one like point one versus two because I can support number one to put the ARPA general fund money back towards the property tax levy reduction that was something that was already in the amendment packet that I've had a chance to review and agree with versus number two is something new put in front of us without codes without so I would make that motion to split them up council member I think you're asking to divide the question
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:23:43
    So we can do that without having to further consider that amendment.
  • 03:23:56
    Do you have any further comments or questions?
  • 03:23:58
    No, that's all.
  • 03:23:59
    Thank you.
  • 03:24:00
    Next I'll recognize Council Member Chavez followed by Council Member Wonsley.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 03:24:04
    Thank you Council Vice President.
  • 03:24:05
    I just want to remind everyone in the public and in this body that we all voted for a budget work plan and we all unanimously voted in that budget work plan saying that we would support reducing or keeping the levy at the same level.
  • 03:24:18
    So the mayor should know that this body wanted to lower the levy.
  • 03:24:21
    That was always something we wanted to do before he presented his 8.1% tax increase.
  • 03:24:27
    Now, I want to talk about what this means.
  • 03:24:31
    there was a press release this morning legislating through press releases instead of you know having conversations with individual council members and now we're talking about that the mayor is supportive of reducing the levy however I'm looking at a variety of budget amendments that the mayor is offering through you council vice president Chuktai and there was only one budget that was going to reduce the levy and now there's another one so it sounds like
  • 03:24:56
    it feels kind of weird to have a reaction to the council lowering the levy and then seeing this from the mayor.
  • 03:25:03
    Now the other thing I'll talk about is it is very concerning to hear the word pet projects because what I hear about that is that in the moment when we have programs to improve the lives of LGBTQ people that I am proudly to be a part of to consider a mental health program a pet project is disgusting.
  • 03:25:20
    to talk about unsheltered homelessness, which should be the city's number one priority, and instead say, no, we should not be funding a fuel village, we should not be funding unsheltered homelessness, we should not be funding housing and homelessness services in the city of Minneapolis, it's just wrong.
  • 03:25:36
    is just wrong.
  • 03:25:37
    And to say that we should just do this and get rid of the rest of the amendments is just wrong.
  • 03:25:42
    I will not support that.
  • 03:25:43
    I do not support that.
  • 03:25:45
    We need to address unsheltered homelessness, we need to address basic city services, and we need to address the safety issues impacting our residents in every single neighborhood in Minneapolis.
  • 03:25:54
    When council members bring forward budget amendments, it's because their community is asking for support.
  • 03:26:01
    their community our communities are saying that what was proposed in the budget was not enough that we deserve services and that we deserve to be protected yes that is why we have quote-unquote pet projects that support our LGBTQ community that support our community with disabilities that support unsheltered homelessness and making sure we can find dignified housing for people to ensure that folks all over our city feel safe and supported
  • 03:26:28
    That is why we do budget amendments.
  • 03:26:30
    Because we care about our communities and we got elected to represent them.
  • 03:26:35
    So this feels...
  • 03:26:38
    I mean I know what's happening here.
  • 03:26:40
    We all do.
  • 03:26:41
    But I'll end my comments with that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:26:44
    Thank you.
  • 03:26:45
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Wonsley followed by Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 03:26:49
    Thank you Council Vice President Chuck Tai.
  • 03:26:52
    I also was going to ask if we could have tabled this only because as I mentioned earlier I know a number of us did our due diligence to bring completed and thoroughly vetted amendments to this body for consideration and this feels rushed and I know it was rushed based off of us receiving information from Mayor Frey last night and also the fact that we didn't even have proper number of copies in front of us and that is not even properly formatted right now.
  • 03:27:17
    I also want to name we're only on still budget amendment number one and Mayor Frey is now asking us essentially in order to accept this to discard essentially the rest of our budget amendments and thus asking us to not even take up the rest of our budgetary duties which is us
  • 03:27:36
    budget amendments that our residents asked us to consider to make investments into the needs of critical areas in our respective wards and across the city.
  • 03:27:46
    And I think that is important that we need to do our work.
  • 03:27:49
    And I can imagine there are a variety of key issues that
  • 03:27:52
    needs to be tackled on the executive side that Mayor Frey needs to tend to as well as opposed to being here and observing us do our work.
  • 03:27:59
    So I actually would call to question on this matter so we can resume doing our work and take up the rest of our budget amendments because we have very limited time today in the next two days and I'd rather just call to question on this item, take a vote, and then move on.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:28:17
    Council Member Wansley has moved to call the question.
  • 03:28:21
    Is there a second to that motion?
  • 03:28:22
    Second.
  • 03:28:24
    That motion is properly moved and seconded.
  • 03:28:27
    There's no discussion on that motion, or is it allowed?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:28:34
    No discussion.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:28:34
    No discussion.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:28:35
    Mr.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:28:36
    Clerk, please call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:28:38
    On the motion to end debate, so a yes vote would end discussion about the matter.
  • 03:28:44
    Council Member Payne?
• • 03:28:45
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:28:46
    Wonsley?
  • 03:28:47
    Aye.
  • 03:28:48
    Rainville?
  • 03:28:49
    No.
  • 03:28:51
    Vitton?
  • 03:28:51
    No.
  • 03:28:52
    Ellison?
  • 03:28:53
    Aye.
  • 03:28:54
    Osman?
  • 03:28:55
    Aye.
  • 03:28:56
    Cashman?
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:28:57
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:28:58
    Jenkins?
  • 03:28:59
    It, sorry, is absent.
  • 03:29:01
    Chavez?
  • 03:29:01
    Aye.
  • 03:29:02
    Chaudry?
  • 03:29:10
    Nay.
  • 03:29:12
    Palmisano?
• • Emily Koski
  • 03:29:14
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:29:15
    Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 03:29:16
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:29:18
    Chair Chuktai.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:29:18
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 03:29:19
    There's six ayes and six nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:29:21
    That motion fails.
  • 03:29:24
    Debate can continue.
  • 03:29:25
    Next I will recognize Council Member Paul Massano followed by Council Member Chowdhury.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:29:33
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 03:29:34
    At the very beginning, and again because we have been rushing to put this together over lunch, I want to make a couple other comments to further explain this motion.
  • 03:29:44
    I had mentioned 6.2% and that included the cut to the cost of living adjustments for nonrepresented employees that were taken care of this morning because it didn't prevail.
  • 03:29:55
    So that is what the levy would be brought to
  • 03:29:59
    from my calculation, the mayor said 6.4% because he's not agreeable to the COLA for, to removing the COLA for nonrepresented.
  • 03:30:10
    That's the difference between the 6.2% that I said and the 6.4% that he represented.
  • 03:30:16
    I do not see codes on here for other things.
  • 03:30:19
    These other amendments don't have codes.
  • 03:30:21
    Councilmember Koski's motion is in the same format as this, so that's a really inconsistent model, but I'm curious,
  • 03:30:28
    if finance thinks there's some reason they wouldn't be able to implement these cuts without the codes and I'd like a question to I'd like to ask a question to the budget director, Director DeCenza as to whether or not we could implement this without codes because departments were certainly consulted in this matter.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:30:47
    Council member I think what I was saying to you earlier is this body while we were considering item number two and item number three
  • 03:30:59
    there was there was massive amounts of consensus that making cuts that are nonspecific without specific fund codes was not was irresponsible or did not meet the
  • 03:31:15
    and the City Council
  • 03:31:35
    Let's add 20 seconds to her time.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:31:38
    This process has not been collaborative and we must do basic city services better.
  • 03:31:43
    That is about safety and wellness for our entire city.
  • 03:31:47
    We cannot operate in fiefdoms.
  • 03:31:49
    We cannot have one-off ward specific amendments that does not accomplish safety across our city.
  • 03:31:56
    I'd like the mayor to continue his remarks because he was out of time last time.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:32:02
    Madam Chair, just briefly responding to several comments that have been made.
  • 03:32:08
    First, generally when we go through these budget processes, we start with item number one.
  • 03:32:15
    In this case, the council
  • 03:32:18
    decided to skip item number one, which was our amendments.
  • 03:32:23
    And so it's not as if we are bringing it out of order.
  • 03:32:26
    The order changed from the very beginning and item number one was skipped.
  • 03:32:30
    We are bringing item number one forward now.
  • 03:32:33
    Second, this particular shift was called to the chair's attention and council members' attention around 6.15 last night.
  • 03:32:44
    It is something that we had been working on as part of negotiations and it's one that we presented to the Vice President yesterday as part of the negotiations recognizing that there was appetite to reduce the levy.
  • 03:32:57
    We're thankful for that.
  • 03:32:59
    This is what we believe as an administration we're able to get it down to, which is 6.4%.
  • 03:33:05
    And third, there were several amendments that were submitted well after we submitted the Notice of Hours
  • 03:33:12
    much later that night.
  • 03:33:14
    And so we should just play by the same rules here.
  • 03:33:17
    And yes, I understand that in negotiations, especially during these processes, sometimes you don't get amendments until later.
  • 03:33:24
    I respect that.
  • 03:33:26
    But again, we have to enforce the rule evenly.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:33:31
    Thank you.
  • 03:33:33
    I will just note that we didn't have a motion at 10 o'clock this morning.
  • 03:33:37
    If we had gone with this, if we had taken up item 1A at that time, there would have been no substitute.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:33:46
    Yes, and I can respond to that.
  • 03:33:49
    First off, I'm not the one that brings the motions ourselves.
  • 03:33:52
    We let you know that we had changes that were coming.
  • 03:33:55
    We were very clear that that was what was desired.
  • 03:33:59
    We do have to have a council member actually bring forward the motion itself.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:34:05
    Next I'll recognize Council Member Chowdhury.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 03:34:09
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:34:11
    I appreciate the discussion around dividing the question.
  • 03:34:16
    I believe, yeah, one is what is in our packet.
  • 03:34:20
    That was something I was planning on supporting.
  • 03:34:25
    Why I felt necessary the need to speak in discussion is that
  • 03:34:33
    I think it's worth noting a couple things that just struck me immediately as we entered into the conversation around this motion.
  • 03:34:44
    I think it's really irresponsible to bring such a large cut into departments and essentially
  • 03:34:53
    got the rest of our budget process without copies fully printed for the entire body.
  • 03:34:59
    I think it's irresponsible to have the wrong author listed at the top of it.
  • 03:35:04
    And I'm not saying that to be petty, I'm just saying, as the City of Minneapolis, this is not serious work that we're looking at.
  • 03:35:13
    It's just not serious.
  • 03:35:15
    and it is also majorly impactful if we make this decision today and we're making it highly rushed and I echoed that with my body of council members that have mentioned the same thought.
  • 03:35:30
    I also wanted to note one of the safety initiatives that I'm bringing forward later on is specifically for the 46th and Hiawatha area and I have been working with multiple departments
  • 03:35:44
    our Police Department, our Public Works Department, Office of Community Safety, working across jurisdictions, trying to talk to MnDOT, trying to talk to Metro Transit.
  • 03:35:54
    And my residents have been begging for additional services in that area.
  • 03:35:59
    And I was able to work out a conversation with our Office of Community Safety in a way where it would be amenable to think about how we can think of, like, what does it mean to have some sort of safety ambassador program?
  • 03:36:10
    How could we create some flexibility?
  • 03:36:13
    There's no dictionary definition that I can find of a pet project, but what I can find is that these pet projects are ones that are not generally accepted as necessary or important.
  • 03:36:26
    This safety initiative that I'm pushing forward is necessary and important and my residents have been begging for them.
  • 03:36:31
    It is the top issue in my ward.
  • 03:36:34
    And I'm disappointed that that wasn't considered in the way that this letter was written.
  • 03:36:39
    I'm disappointed that
  • 03:36:42
    I'm disappointed in the way that there was an opportunity to work with members of this body, myself included.
  • 03:36:48
    I never got a phone call or a message or anything about my emotions being deemed unnecessary or not important.
  • 03:36:56
    And the last thing that I wanted to make a point of is that this is
  • 03:37:04
    The budget is one of the duties of the council.
  • 03:37:08
    We have the power of the purse, and this is effectively taking a step at eroding that.
  • 03:37:13
    And that's where I want to start the conversation.
  • 03:37:15
    Maybe others disagree, maybe fellow council members disagree, but that's what I worry about.
  • 03:37:21
    That's where my mind is going right now, is are we eroding the power of the council to take a proposed budget?
  • 03:37:28
    And for us to work on it, I believe just 1.5% of the total budget.
  • 03:37:32
    and make changes as we see fit as we have done as a time-honored duty as the City of Minneapolis for this Council.
  • 03:37:40
    So I worry about that and I felt that it was worth continuing our discussion to make that point and just put that on the table for us as a discussion.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:37:50
    Thank you Council Member.
  • 03:37:52
    Next I will recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 03:37:55
    Thank you Vice President Jack Tai.
  • 03:37:57
    I actually got in the queue to make some similar remarks to that as well as Councilmember Cashman as well as Councilmember Chavez.
  • 03:38:04
    I did not support the ballot amendment to create a strong mayor in 2021, but I really actually respect and honor democracy and I take
  • 03:38:16
    electoral outcomes quite seriously.
  • 03:38:18
    And I've embraced what it means to have an executive mayor and legislative council.
  • 03:38:25
    That's why we've made so many investments in the legislative department because now we have a clearer understanding of what the role of council is relative to the executive branch.
  • 03:38:35
    But even before strong mayor, it was always the singular authority of the mayor to propose a budget.
  • 03:38:42
    that was even true under the strong council model of government.
  • 03:38:46
    The mayor didn't actually need to check in with council members to see where they were at and what they would support.
  • 03:38:51
    I think it's good governance to check in with council members if you want to get your budget passed but it's not a requirement and we certainly have seen in this administration
  • 03:39:02
    not a lot of deference to council members when it comes to our opinions on operational matters so you would think there would have been some more deference to what the council as a body desired which was reflected in us formally adopting our priorities that's why we initiated that practice so that it wouldn't require back room conversations but would happen out in the open we did that we were pretty clear about our commitment to lowering the levy
  • 03:39:30
    back in the spring of this year, which gave ample opportunity for the administration to receive that information, respond to that information, incorporate that information into a recommended budget that could have reflected this degree of cuts.
  • 03:39:43
    But it was the mayor's singular authority to bring that budget forward with that 8.1 recommendation.
  • 03:39:52
    And I agree with Councilmember Chaudry.
  • 03:39:56
    I mean,
  • 03:39:58
    This is essentially usurping the role of City Council.
  • 03:40:03
    I think that the Executive Branch has taken enough power
  • 03:40:10
    It's now our time to do our work, setting our priority for our city through the budget process.
  • 03:40:16
    A pet project, I have a definition for it.
  • 03:40:20
    What is supported by the majority and what is not?
  • 03:40:23
    And that is what this process is.
  • 03:40:25
    If we don't see value in any given council member's priorities, it will not pass.
  • 03:40:30
    and the fact that an amendment passes is a reflection of the validity of that amendment.
  • 03:40:36
    That is the democratic process.
  • 03:40:39
    These are serious, important, prioritized amendments as reflected in the majority vote.
  • 03:40:45
    And if the majority decides that the project is not worthy, it will fail.
  • 03:40:51
    That is our process.
  • 03:40:52
    That is the definition of what is a pet project and what is not a pet project.
  • 03:40:56
    And so
  • 03:40:58
    I'm going to encourage all of my colleagues to vote against this.
  • 03:41:01
    The mayor has had the opportunity to weigh in on the priorities of the city.
  • 03:41:04
    We heard those priorities in August.
  • 03:41:07
    And now it is the time for City Council to weigh in on what should be prioritized.
  • 03:41:12
    And so I would invite my colleagues to reject this amendment.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:41:20
    Thank you.
  • 03:41:21
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:41:24
    Thank you Madam Chair, I'd like to respond.
  • 03:41:27
    The good news is I fixed the name on the top of this motion.
  • 03:41:29
    I never intended to mistake my own authorship here.
  • 03:41:34
    Let's take a look again, as others like to do, and look across the river to St. Paul and how their budget process is.
  • 03:41:41
    and the City Council.
  • 03:42:00
    that's not saying let's all blindfold ourselves and make a 1% cut somewhere that is saying back we are trying to be in a collaborative process here and asking at the time Mayor Carter to suggest cuts that then the City Council could potentially agree with so
  • 03:42:20
    This doesn't feel right to me and I need to call that out.
  • 03:42:25
    The fact that these amendments are passing seems to almost be more about a pact of shared willingness to take on
  • 03:42:35
    People's one-time kinds of projects, but there's structural problems in a lot of these ideas and a lot of these pilots.
  • 03:42:43
    Every amendment is a reduction in services somewhere else.
  • 03:42:46
    Residents won't understand what these trade-offs are until they suddenly feel them, and then it's too late.
  • 03:42:52
    It might seem like one time or ongoing cuts is no big deal, but that's not true.
  • 03:42:57
    There's a cumulative effect over several years that lead to a reduction in our core city services and innovating programming alike.
  • 03:43:07
    You cannot cut property taxes and claim victory and then increase spending elsewhere.
  • 03:43:12
    These two constructs are not mutually exclusive and they have a net impact.
  • 03:43:17
    This packet of 75 budget amendments, it's not budget neutral.
  • 03:43:22
    You're reprioritizing existing funding and I believe using six and a half million dollars of new funding from the general fund and the downtown assets fund.
  • 03:43:31
    I object to spending more at a time that our residents are feeling the real world impacts of increased inflation and rising property taxes.
  • 03:43:39
    I think the general fund
  • 03:43:42
    currently has a balance of
  • 03:44:01
    One time cuts from departments or for instead one time spending for new pilot programs just isn't sustainable.
  • 03:44:10
    Because if that pilot is successful, then what?
  • 03:44:14
    Then we either have to cut services that people have come to rely on or increase the spending to keep them going.
  • 03:44:20
    And we need to think about those kinds of programs and their costs on a long term basis as to how we might sustain them, not just a let's give it a try.
  • 03:44:30
    So, I'd like to use the rest of my time for the mayor and anything else he might want to say because this is his proposal too.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:44:37
    Mayor Frey?
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 03:44:41
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:44:42
    I'll add just a couple things.
  • 03:44:46
    You have every ability to vote for this or vote against it.
  • 03:44:51
    But it is nonetheless an opportunity to further reduce the tax burden for our property taxpayers and I support it and I support you in alleviating some of that pressure.
  • 03:45:01
    There is an opportunity for consensus and moving forward.
  • 03:45:05
    and the
  • 03:45:23
    The big concern again that we have had
  • 03:45:39
    is making cuts to needs and adding additions to wants.
  • 03:45:45
    I still have that concern sitting here today.
  • 03:45:48
    I am willing and am supportive of a further reduction to the property taxes.
  • 03:45:52
    I am deeply concerned about the impact to our budget and the impact to services for our residents if the vast majority of these amendments pass.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:46:06
    Next, I will recognize Vice Chair Koski, followed by Councilmember Vitaw.
• • Emily Koski
  • 03:46:10
    Thank you, Madam Chair, and I appreciated listening to the conversation.
  • 03:46:17
    As everyone knows, I have been pushing for lowering or maintaining the levy, and so I am grateful to know that, you know, although Council
  • 03:46:31
    Thank you.
  • 03:46:37
    Next, I will recognize Councilmember Vitale.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 03:47:01
    Thank you.
  • 03:47:02
    The mayor's budget came out over the summer and I don't think that
  • 03:47:14
    I heard from as many Ward 4 residents about the budget until property tax statements came out last month and so I know we had all been having conversations about lowering the levy but it got really real last month when property tax statements came out and
  • 03:47:37
    folks from my ward reached out with 80% increase folks reached out with 20% increases and so my commitment when I when I went to the mayor's office to talk about what my budget priorities were there was one thing and that one thing was making sure
  • 03:47:55
    that the levy was not increased.
  • 03:47:57
    Making sure that we made it as affordable as possible for the people who live in my ward that's barely making it.
  • 03:48:06
    For the people who live in my ward that are first time homeowners that did not amount for, that does not have the income, that does not have the ability to pay
  • 03:48:16
    a 22% increase in property tax to the people in my ward who weren't expecting the expenses of higher groceries, of higher costs for transportation.
  • 03:48:27
    It's not even just about city services for me.
  • 03:48:30
    Everything is more expensive.
  • 03:48:32
    And so there's a burden on people, just in general, on everyday life expenses, child care, food,
  • 03:48:40
    just living expenses, period.
  • 03:48:43
    So whatever relief we can give them, I want to do that.
  • 03:48:46
    And that's what this does.
  • 03:48:47
    I don't know why we're arguing about it.
  • 03:48:49
    It really is.
  • 03:48:50
    I mean, I understand it was late.
  • 03:48:52
    The timing, you know, it does.
  • 03:48:57
    Things happen later than we expect.
  • 03:48:58
    We want it.
  • 03:48:59
    Councilmember Koski did a good job at trying to keep things on track.
  • 03:49:03
    It didn't work out that way.
  • 03:49:04
    You also, Chair, with this budget, but
  • 03:49:07
    It just feels like we have an opportunity to relieve our, to provide relief for our residents and we should all be on board for doing that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:49:19
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Cashman followed by President Payne.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:49:25
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:49:27
    Wondering if Councilmember Palmisano could help me understand the difference here between the earlier global cuts that were proposed.
  • 03:49:35
    I think it's not just the percentage but also certain departments.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:49:41
    Madam Chair and Councilmember Cashman, the difference here is that departments were actually checked in with and these are very specific cuts.
  • 03:49:54
    So instead of just using like one sort of tolerable, you know idea or a philosophical thing here, departments were specifically checked in with and
  • 03:50:08
    COO Anderson Kelleher has some additional information about how that process went.
  • 03:50:15
    Madam Chair,
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:50:16
    That's fine.
  • 03:50:17
    I'd just like to retain a little bit of my time for an additional question, but happy to hear your answer here.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 03:50:22
    Madam Chair, Council Member Cashman, departments with under 10 employees which have very small general fund budgets were excluded.
  • 03:50:31
    Two other departments were excluded because of the size of their general fund budget, emergency management and communications.
  • 03:50:39
    They were excluded.
  • 03:50:40
    That is a big difference between the across-the-board cut and this cut.
  • 03:50:44
    Okay.
  • 03:50:44
    Plus departments believe they can absorb this cut.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:50:48
    Thank you.
  • 03:50:49
    And was this feedback given to council members Koski and Rainville on their proposed global cuts that maybe they shouldn't do it the way that they did and they should do it this way instead?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 03:50:59
    Madam Chair, I'm smiling at Councilmember Rainville because he knows I gave him direct feedback about his across-the-board 1% cut.
  • 03:51:06
    Okay, thank you.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:51:07
    I'd also like to ask the Chair or any other Councilmember, you know, I did see in the letter that Mayor Frey does not want us to do our amendments, which I think we're all kind of agreed that we're going to do anyway, as is our right as a Council, but what is it about this specific thing we're voting on that usurps the rest of the Council process?
  • 03:51:27
    Is there something that I'm missing from this amendment that
  • 03:51:29
    says you know the mayor will veto the budget if we continue our process.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:51:34
    Councilmember Cashman there is nothing specific to this amendment there's nothing specifically written in this amendment that would somehow usurp the power of our authority to continue markup.
  • 03:51:47
    and refine the budget.
  • 03:51:49
    I would imagine that these types of reductions will have an impact on other amendments based on how departments are impacted and those departments may end up coming out with say 1% reduction like Councilmember Rainville proposed earlier today.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:52:06
    Okay, thank you.
  • 03:52:07
    I just want to be clear on what I'm voting on.
  • 03:52:09
    I do know that there are some amendments that use the same ARPA general fund replacement for their sources.
  • 03:52:15
    So I assume that, am I understanding correctly that if this reduction passes that those budget amendments would no longer have a source and would need to find a new source?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:52:29
    I apologize for the item one within this revised amendment.
  • 03:52:36
    Yes, so I can, would you like me to cover the list of amendments that will need to find a new source or will need to be withdrawn?
• • Michael Cashman
  • 03:52:42
    I think I know which ones they are.
  • 03:52:44
    I'm just wondering what the authors would then have to do.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:52:47
    They would have to either withdraw their amendments or revise their amendments.
  • 03:52:50
    Okay, thank you.
  • 03:52:54
    Thank you.
  • 03:52:55
    Next I'll recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 03:52:58
    Thank you, Madam Vice President.
  • 03:53:00
    I would just add, similar to this conversation around pet projects, the hard and firm definition is or what the majority will support and similarly on the conversation about needs versus wants, that is based on what that's a democratically decided
  • 03:53:16
    definition, if the majority of this body sees it as a valid use of resources, then it is a need by that definition, right?
  • 03:53:25
    That is what we do here.
  • 03:53:27
    We apply our judgment to determine the boundaries between needs and wants and the boundaries around priorities.
  • 03:53:34
    So any language otherwise or how that language is used outside of the context of us taking formal votes is speculation.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:53:46
    Thank you.
  • 03:53:47
    I will next recognize Councilmember Rainville followed by Councilmember Ellison.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 03:53:55
    Thank you.
  • 03:53:56
    So just to follow up on Commissioner Anderson, I still have the bruises on my body from her talking to me about my amendment.
  • 03:54:07
    I was severely talked to.
  • 03:54:10
    And having been talked by nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph Crown LA, you fit in that mode.
  • 03:54:19
    But I'm going to vote for this and I will give the Mayor a compliment because this further reduces the budget than the amendment that Koski and I had put forth.
  • 03:54:29
    There's several amendments.
  • 03:54:30
    So you're
  • 03:54:32
    You're listening you're doing the right thing and I would just ask all of us as as we go forward here to Let's forget that there's an election next year.
  • 03:54:41
    Let's do what's best for the citizens of this city Thank you, and and I'll yield the rest of my time the mayor.
  • 03:54:47
    Would you like to say anything?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:54:49
    Council member you can't yield your time The mayor's can certainly get back in queue though Next I'll recognize council member Ellison
• • Jeremiah Ellison
  • 03:54:59
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 03:55:02
    I've listened to the mayor's proposal here and I want to thank Councilmember Palmisano for bringing this forward.
  • 03:55:11
    As I've been listening and trying to get myself to a yes on this, because I would love to be in a position to vote for this, there's a couple of concerns come up for me.
  • 03:55:19
    One is when I think about
  • 03:55:23
    Some of the other amendments that are using this as a source, one is my own, I'll admit to that, and I thought about would I be willing to rescind my amendment and I took a look at the amendment just to see what it was and to see if I could rescind it and the amendment that I'm bringing would be adding more money to lead in healthy homes, our ability to remove, to do lead remediation
  • 03:55:46
    and I know from our years of work on this that there's about a million and a half backlog of projects that could be done.
  • 03:55:53
    We're funding it to the tune of about half a million.
  • 03:55:56
    This would get us to about a million.
  • 03:55:57
    It wouldn't fill the whole gap but it would allow us to remediate homes and again meet that mission of making sure that we're not using kids as lead detectors and getting folks the kind of relief that they need in their housing stock and so that was sort of
  • 03:56:13
    I think it just illustrated for me how tough these conversations are and when we're considering this and so that kind of put me in a space to think well I don't know that this would come under the this would qualify as you know a one I mean certainly it's one time but as a as a pilot or as something that is not a need in the community and if I felt like it could be that it wasn't a need then I would be willing to rescind the motion and I guess we'll see if I have to here
  • 03:56:39
    And then other, even when I look at these cuts and I get how we came to this number, but I know for a long time us trying to get adequate funding and regulatory services has been something that we've been fighting for.
  • 03:56:51
    With the state of our housing stock and the work that CPED does, I know that those two departments really come together to make sure that we've got real value there and that we can operate at a high level.
  • 03:57:02
    And so when I look at the
  • 03:57:04
    I know that everyone's taken a hit, but I look at those two departments in particular and I get concerned.
  • 03:57:14
    We have an obligation to our residents to reduce the levy 100%.
  • 03:57:19
    We also have an obligation to our constituents, and we have done that today.
  • 03:57:24
    We also have an obligation to deliver
  • 03:57:27
    and I'm concerned that at what point do we start to get on the wrong side of that over under?
  • 03:57:37
    At what point are we cutting so much from our departments to reduce the levy that we can't quite provide the kind of service that folks need?
  • 03:57:48
    I'm not denouncing this.
  • 03:57:52
    I did want to be in a position to vote for this, but I wanted to explain the rationale behind why I'm not going to be supporting this.
  • 03:58:01
    But I'm certainly open to, as the days go on, how we can get to a little bit more collaboration here.
  • 03:58:09
    And certainly open to hearing reasons for why
  • 03:58:13
    I think it's good for us all to take another look at our rationale behind what we're bringing forward and if it is an absolute need.
  • 03:58:34
    I'll be doing it.
  • 03:58:35
    I'm not telling anybody else to do it.
  • 03:58:38
    But I would encourage my colleagues to do it.
  • 03:58:41
    So that's all.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:58:44
    Thank you.
  • 03:58:45
    I will recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 03:58:51
    Thank you Madam Chair, I'll be brief.
  • 03:58:54
    I do recognize this probably cuts into some sources that my colleagues have moved for other amendments.
  • 03:59:00
    I'm not sure, I'm not a hundred percent sure what those other amendments are, but I do want to remind people that we have until Tuesday.
  • 03:59:08
    The mayor is down here in good faith trying to be collaborative, trying to have a conversation, and
  • 03:59:14
    I think that it would be realistic to have the mayor's office help some of these conflicts to get worked out by Tuesday in a way that we could all move forward together.
  • 03:59:25
    So I just want to end with that suggestion.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 03:59:28
    Thank you.
  • 03:59:28
    Thank you.
  • 03:59:30
    Before I call the roll on this, I just wanted to just go over the list of amendments that will be impacted by 1A revised item 1.
  • 03:59:43
    the $780,000 reduction.
  • 03:59:48
    That will mean that Amendment number 26, which is LGBTQIA plus mental health.
  • 03:59:57
    Item number 35, which is healthy homes proactive enforcement.
  • 04:00:03
    Item number 42, which is a street vendor entrepreneur grant and compliance.
  • 04:00:09
    and item number 61, Cooper Playground will all be impacted.
  • 04:00:18
    They will all need a new source.
  • 04:00:21
    With that, I see Councilmember Chowdhury in queue and then I
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 04:00:28
    Yeah, thank you madam chair.
  • 04:00:30
    I'll keep it brief For my colleagues.
  • 04:00:33
    I'll speak to it when that amendment comes forward regarding Cooper playground I'm likely going to work with the clerk's to return it to author.
  • 04:00:40
    So I'll speak to it when it comes up.
  • 04:00:43
    I appreciated Our budget chair started to lay out what would be cut that led me to get into Q I think that that is a part of what gives me pause I
  • 04:00:54
    I just want to note I think we have an opportunity here as a body to take a deep breath and move through our disagreements.
  • 04:01:02
    They're just going to happen.
  • 04:01:03
    I feel like I've felt the intensity just grow up here and I certainly felt defensive of the things that I'm bringing for my community as a need.
  • 04:01:11
    Again, I stand by my points that I feel like what we have before us is so large and rushed and we don't fully have fleshed out what would occur because of it.
  • 04:01:22
    We've gotten snippets of it.
  • 04:01:24
    So I would encourage my colleagues not to move this forward at this point.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:01:31
    Thank you.
  • 04:01:31
    And with that, Council Member Palmisano, I see you in queue again.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:01:36
    Yeah, just a clarification.
  • 04:01:37
    I want to point out that some of those that you mentioned won't need a new source.
  • 04:01:41
    It's just further into the fund balance, right?
  • 04:01:44
    So the $780,000 is just general fund balance.
  • 04:01:49
    And we were okay with using it because it was newly recognized as an ARPA closeout source.
  • 04:01:54
    So there's more discussion to be had is all I'm trying to suggest here.
  • 04:01:58
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:02:00
    With that, so item number one, Council Member Cashman earlier requested to divide the question on this item, so we are going to take up the first part of the revised 1A amendment.
  • 04:02:18
    I will ask the clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:22
    Yep, and this is on part one of the revised 1A.
  • 04:02:27
    Mm-hmm, 1A1.
  • 04:02:28
    Council Member Payne?
• • 04:02:29
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:30
    Wonsley.
  • 04:02:31
    Aye.
  • 04:02:32
    Rainville.
  • 04:02:33
    Yes.
  • 04:02:34
    Viton.
  • 04:02:35
    Aye.
  • 04:02:35
    Ellison.
  • 04:02:36
    No.
  • 04:02:38
    Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:02:38
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:40
    Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 04:02:41
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:43
    Chavez.
  • 04:02:43
    No.
  • 04:02:45
    Chaudhry.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:02:46
    Abstain.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:48
    Palmisano.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:02:49
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:51
    Vice Chair Koski.
  • 04:02:52
    Aye.
  • 04:02:53
    Chair Chitti.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:02:54
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:02:55
    There are five ayes, six nays, and one abstention.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:02:58
    That motion fails.
  • 04:03:00
    We will now move on to part two of the 1A revised amendment and I will ask the Clerk to call the roll.
  • 04:03:10
    Council Member Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 04:03:11
    Nay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:03:13
    Our colleagues hoping to have further discussion on that.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:03:16
    Mr.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:03:19
    Clerk, will you call the roll from the beginning again?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 04:03:23
    Council Member Payne?
  • 04:03:24
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:03:24
    Wonsley?
  • 04:03:25
    Nay.
  • 04:03:26
    Rainville?
  • 04:03:27
    Yes.
  • 04:03:28
    Vitton?
  • 04:03:29
    Aye.
  • 04:03:29
    Ellison?
  • 04:03:30
    No.
  • 04:03:31
    Osman?
  • 04:03:32
    No.
  • 04:03:33
    Cashman?
  • 04:03:33
    Aye.
  • 04:03:35
    Chavez?
  • 04:03:36
    No.
  • 04:03:38
    Chaudhry?
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:03:39
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:03:41
    Panasano?
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:03:42
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:03:43
    Vice Chair Koski?
• • 04:03:44
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:03:46
    Chair Chigtai.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:03:48
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:03:49
    There are five ayes and seven nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:03:51
    That motion fails.
  • 04:03:52
    Colleagues, we will now move on to our next amendment is going to be continuing with Mayor Frey's amendments, which is 1B, that is the Urban Scholar Program.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:04:08
    Madam Chair, do we, do I think before us is the original 1A motion at this point?
  • 04:04:16
    The substitute failed?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:04:21
    Part one is the exact same.
  • 04:04:30
    So we are now at item 1B, which is the Urban Scholar Program, and this motion moves the Urban Scholar Program out of the Civil Rights Department and into the Human Resources Department.
  • 04:04:45
    This comes at the recommendation of the
  • 04:04:50
    The Mayor, I will invite COO Anderson Kelleher to come and provide any additional context on this item before we take up discussion.
  • 04:05:07
    I apologize, COO.
  • 04:05:09
    I did not ask for a second on my motion, so I'm going to pause to do that real quick.
  • 04:05:12
    Can I get a second?
  • 04:05:13
    Second.
  • 04:05:13
    Thank you.
  • 04:05:14
    Welcome.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:05:15
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 04:05:16
    This item is before you because Director Phillips, when she arrived at Civil Rights, did an assessment of the body of work at Civil Rights and immediately saw that the Urban Scholar Program really is much more of a fit in the HR department.
  • 04:05:34
    It is a recruiting tool for the city.
  • 04:05:37
    it's a development tool for the people who take part in it and HR is much more suited to be able to take on the work and help grow the body of work with both training, support and that is why in what I will say is a rare move but hopefully a future move more often a department head is giving up
  • 04:06:02
    both budgetary span of control over a program and letting two positions go with it to another department.
  • 04:06:11
    I think that should be applauded.
  • 04:06:13
    The mayor thinks it should be applauded.
  • 04:06:14
    I hope you all agree and that is why this is here.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:06:18
    Thank you.
  • 04:06:19
    Colleagues, are there any questions or discussion?
  • 04:06:21
    I'll first recognize Councilmember Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 04:06:23
    Thank you Council Vice President Chug Thai.
  • 04:06:25
    As a former urban scholar, as you know, COO Anderson Kelleher, I was in the program for four years which I believe helped me become a city council member because it literally saved my life.
  • 04:06:35
    I have deep concerns with this amendment.
  • 04:06:37
    because we're moving it from the civil rights department into a human rights human resources department and I am a little nervous that the mission of the program which helps youth of color young people of color particularly minorities people who have been marginalized in our city and
  • 04:06:55
    who attend different colleges across the state and oftentimes across the country that the mission of the program is going to change and it's going to go from a civil rights perspective helping these students whether they're undergraduates or graduates to go into a different department that's going to have a different mission and vision and I do have concerns that we are moving quickly with this amendment into a new department without
  • 04:07:25
    You know, much of a vision being presented of what that's going to mean for the program.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:07:33
    Madam Chair, I don't know if you want a response.
  • 04:07:40
    Would you?
  • 04:07:40
    Yes.
  • 04:07:41
    Okay.
  • 04:07:42
    I do not see a change in the mission of the work.
  • 04:07:45
    In fact, because the two positions are coming with and because learning development actually live in the HR department, there's a better fit and a way to build the curriculum even further.
  • 04:08:02
    It's not that there's a walking away from the original
  • 04:08:06
    Mission, it's finding a way to have an even more sustainable and better experience for our urban scholars.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:08:18
    Next, I'll recognize Councilmember Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:08:22
    Thank you, CEO, for your answer.
  • 04:08:27
    I understand.
  • 04:08:28
    I think I kind of have the similar feeling that Councilmember Chavez has that this program has worked for many individuals.
  • 04:08:37
    I had an urban scholar, wonderful young woman who got the experience to work with us.
  • 04:08:44
    And as a Councilmember, we really want to hear
  • 04:08:47
    you know how did the decision being made you know you say better fit how is it better fit receiving some kind of background and hearing from the civil rights director or hearing from the HR director or having some kind of uh... process it's the best thing best way to go and um... i don't know what what the rush is for we can all can we not always come back to to to revise and to move that apart uh...
  • 04:09:14
    program to another department or does it has to be on the budget markup process?
  • 04:09:19
    Does that
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:09:21
    Madam Chair, Council Member Osman, I believe it has to be in the budget markup process because the appropriation of the dollars for the positions.
  • 04:09:31
    The positions need to be moved over and that budget item needs to go with it.
  • 04:09:37
    This has been in the works for six months now.
  • 04:09:41
    Both HR and Civil Rights have been working together on this to jointly and smoothly move the program over.
  • 04:09:50
    So there's a lot of work that's gone into it it but it does have a budgetary implication And that's why you see this amendment before you Okay
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:10:00
    Okay, thank you.
  • 04:10:01
    Now, I didn't know this work had been going on and if both directors agree that this is something that will work for them, then we'll be okay.
  • 04:10:11
    But step-up program, where is that under?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:10:14
    So, Madam Chair, I just, Councilor Osmond, I want to say this because it's happening out in the audience and no one can see it on TV, but both directors are in the room now, both the HR director and the civil rights director nodding their head yes, they want this
  • 04:10:29
    change to happen.
  • 04:10:31
    Step up is in CPED and still exists in CPED.
  • 04:10:36
    Okay.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:10:37
    Yeah, I kind of feel the concern Councilmember Jason is sharing that this might shift because when we think about the HR, we think about, you know, employment, a different way of programming, but a CPED or community, you know,
  • 04:10:58
    civil rights departments and then that's like some kind of developmental work.
  • 04:11:03
    People can go through it.
  • 04:11:04
    I feel like those departments might work the best, but I don't know.
  • 04:11:07
    I think the people that have the experience that have worked on it share that, but you can see the little bit of saying that we don't want this program is wonderful.
  • 04:11:18
    We don't want that vision to be lost.
  • 04:11:20
    That's just a little concern that I have and I share with Councilmember Chavez.
  • 04:11:24
    Jason Chavez.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:11:26
    All right, I'm not seeing anyone else in queue, so I will ask the Clerk to call the roll on item number 1B, Urban Scholars Program Council Member Payne?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:11:36
    Aye.
  • 04:11:37
    Wonsley?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:11:38
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:11:39
    Rainville?
  • 04:11:39
    Aye.
  • 04:11:40
    Vitor?
• • 04:11:41
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:11:41
    That motion carries.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:12:00
    Colleagues, next we will continue to item number
  • 04:12:07
    1C, which is the Office of Public Service Director of Strategic Initiatives.
  • 04:12:11
    This is amending the budget to move Director of Strategic Initiatives from the Community Planning and Economic Development Department into the Office of Public Service Department and
  • 04:12:28
    for colleagues that were here last year.
  • 04:12:32
    This was a change item that was created in, it was a change item from the mayor's recommended budget into the Community Planning and Economic Development Department.
  • 04:12:45
    It is now being moved into the Office of Public Service.
  • 04:12:49
    I will now invite, I will first move approval of this item and then I will ask for a second.
• • Jeremiah Ellison
  • 04:12:57
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:12:58
    That item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 04:13:01
    I will invite COO Anderson Kelleher to join us and speak to this item, please.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:13:12
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 04:13:13
    The reason for this item coming here is that the position is actually working in many
  • 04:13:19
    different departments, not only in CPED.
  • 04:13:22
    And so I think upon further reflection of how the work is happening, the director of strategic partnerships is actually working with CPED, with reg services.
  • 04:13:35
    They are working on the cultural corridors with arts and culture very closely.
  • 04:13:41
    And so having Mr. Jelly as the DCOO supervising this position
  • 04:13:48
    and being the one who is directing the work has been a better fit.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:13:56
    Thank you.
  • 04:13:57
    Are there any questions or comments from members of the body?
  • 04:14:01
    I will recognize Vice Chair Koski.
  • 04:14:03
    Thank you Madam Chair.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:14:04
    I just had one question.
  • 04:14:08
    Does the administration or do you anticipate reclassification or change in salary schedule with the transfer of this position?
  • 04:14:15
    Or is the originally approved classification salary schedule going to remain?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 04:14:21
    Madam Chair, Councilor Murkowski, I know of no changes to the classification of this position.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:14:27
    Thank you.
  • 04:14:29
    Thank you.
  • 04:14:29
    I'm not seeing anyone further seeking to be recognized, so the item before us is number 1C, the Office of Public Service, Director of Strategic Initiatives.
  • 04:14:40
    I will ask the Clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:14:42
    Council Member Payne?
  • 04:14:44
    Aye.
  • 04:14:45
    Wonsley?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:14:45
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:14:47
    Rainville?
  • 04:14:48
    Aye.
  • 04:14:49
    Vitton?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 04:14:50
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:14:51
    Ellison?
  • 04:14:52
    Aye.
  • 04:14:53
    Osman?
  • 04:14:53
    Aye.
  • 04:14:54
    Cashman?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 04:14:55
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:14:56
    Chavez?
• • 04:14:57
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:14:58
    There are eleven ayes and one nay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:15:08
    That item carries.
  • 04:15:09
    We will now move on to item 1D.
  • 04:15:12
    That is the Office of Community Safety Deputy Commissioner.
  • 04:15:19
    Colleagues, this item is
  • 04:15:26
    also a part of the mayor's amendments.
  • 04:15:31
    It is proposing to move two positions out of the police department to the Office of Community Safety for a Deputy Commissioner FTE that was approved by the Budget Committee and Council just earlier this fall, just in the last cycle.
  • 04:15:53
    item you will notice is going to conflict with item number nine later in the agenda but for now I will invite I will move this item ask for a second.
  • 04:16:08
    Second.
  • 04:16:09
    That item has been properly moved and seconded I will now invite Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnett to come and speak to this item briefly.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:16:24
    Good afternoon, Chair Choktay.
  • 04:16:28
    I spoke on this I think December 2nd.
  • 04:16:32
    and I think the council had me here, had all the questions answered.
  • 04:16:38
    Just real briefly, this position is important as we move in how we're implementing and complying with both the consent decree settlement agreement and the Safe and Thriving Community Report.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:16:57
    Thank you.
  • 04:16:58
    Colleagues, are there any questions or discussions on this item?
  • 04:17:02
    I will first recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 04:17:04
    Thank you, Vice President Chuktai.
  • 04:17:07
    Colleagues, there is a revised item number 9 that should have been handed out.
  • 04:17:13
    This is essentially
  • 04:17:16
    This should replace Council President, we are on item 1D Yes, speaking to 1D, the source for 1D is the police department I was referencing item 9 because I'm achieving the same goal of getting a deputy through a different source that I think is more appropriate given the totality of the body of work associated with the settlement agreement
  • 04:17:42
    I think back on December 2nd the Commissioner talked about how we are shifting from negotiation to implementation and where our resources need to live as we make that transition into the full implementation of the settlement agreement and hopefully the upcoming consent decree.
  • 04:18:01
    The largest body of work for the implementation of the consent decree is the police department.
  • 04:18:07
    That is where most of the work will be happening.
  • 04:18:10
    But as the commissioner said, this is going to be touching IT, the safe and thriving communities is about a much more expansive and comprehensive set of safety services that exist outside of MPD.
  • 04:18:24
    This deputy is going to be the connective tissue across all of that work.
  • 04:18:29
    and I think that as we transition from negotiation, which was a very heavy city attorney capacity, we need to start looking at the role of OCS, MPD and civil rights as kind of the primary holders of a lot of the implementation work and so I am sourcing from the city attorney's office to achieve the same here and not wanting, at least for my amendment, to touch MPD because that's
  • 04:18:57
    There's some resources there that are needed.
  • 04:19:01
    So I'm suggesting that we vote this one down.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:19:05
    Thank you.
  • 04:19:05
    I will next recognize Vice Czarkowski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:19:09
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 04:19:12
    I just had a quick question for the Commissioner.
  • 04:19:14
    The MPD rules, I think it's office support specialist and then the project manager, are these two, are they currently vacant?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:19:25
    Yes, they are.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:19:26
    Okay, and how long have they been vacant?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:19:30
    I'm sorry, uh, chair, uh, check tag, council member, uh, Koski.
  • 04:19:35
    I don't, I don't remember how long they've been vacant.
  • 04:19:38
    Um, they've been vacant at least, I would say, uh, since I started, um, talking about this for at least four to six months.
  • 04:19:50
    It could be more.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:19:51
    Okay.
  • 04:19:52
    Um, and how will
  • 04:19:55
    What will the effect of cutting these positions be on MPD?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:20:04
    Chair Chuktai, Council Member Koski,
  • 04:20:07
    When we looked at the different sources, we looked at the minimum impact they would have in MPD.
  • 04:20:16
    We think that this is a place in which it shouldn't affect the police department significantly at all.
  • 04:20:25
    I think what we gain by the deputy position really pushes us forward in what we need to do.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:20:36
    Okay, thank you so much.
  • 04:20:38
    Thank you.
  • 04:20:40
    I'm not seeing anyone else in queue.
  • 04:20:44
    I will just note one of the other, in addition to amendment number nine, which is seeking to do the same exact thing that this amendment is, but using a different source to do so, an amendment that will be impacted by the office support specialist, FTE, that vacant FTE here is the emergency housing vouchers amendment, which is number
  • 04:21:08
    which is number 28.
  • 04:21:14
    So with that I will, the item before us is amendment number 1D, Office of Community Safety Deputy Commissioner.
  • 04:21:24
    I will ask the...
  • 04:21:25
    Sorry council member.
• • Nikki Odom
  • 04:21:26
    I apologize.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 04:21:29
    Madam Chair, I apologize jumping into queue right at the end.
  • 04:21:34
    I just wanted to ask Council President, is the role of the City Attorney's Office, the Civil Division, I know it's just related to this motion, is that vacant as well?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:21:46
    Council President, would you like to address that question?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 04:21:50
    We worked really hard with the City Attorney's Office, including getting some outside counsel.
  • 04:21:55
    So this is not the amendment that I have is drafted as just a general fund reduction and it doesn't speak specifically to an FTE.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:22:06
    Okay, thank you so much for the clarification.
  • 04:22:09
    Thank you.
  • 04:22:10
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:22:13
    Council Vice President, can you repeat about item 28?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:22:19
    Yes, thank you.
  • 04:22:20
    So this, the Mayor Frey amendment before us.
  • 04:22:28
    proposes to fund the deputy commissioner of community safety using two positions within the police department in addition to some non-personnel budget in the police department.
  • 04:22:41
    One of those two positions is an office support specialist.
  • 04:22:45
    That is used in the emergency housing vouchers amendment.
  • 04:22:50
    which we'll address later.
  • 04:22:54
    So if this amendment is approved, we will need to find new money for the Emergency Housing Vouchers Amendment.
  • 04:23:02
    Thank you.
  • 04:23:05
    Alright, any final questions, discussion?
  • 04:23:09
    I'm not seeing any.
  • 04:23:11
    Mr.
  • 04:23:11
    Clerk, will you call the roll on 1D?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:23:14
    Council Member Payne?
  • 04:23:15
    Nay.
  • 04:23:16
    Wonsley?
• • 04:23:17
    Nay.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:23:18
    There are three ayes and nine nays
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:23:45
    That motion fails and we will now move on to our final Mayor Frey amendment
  • 04:23:55
    which is the item 1E which is the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board Stormwater Fund Allocation Increase.
  • 04:24:08
    For this item I will invite Director Jane DeCenza to speak to it and before I do that I will move this item for approval and ask for a second.
  • 04:24:18
    Second.
  • 04:24:19
    The item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 04:24:21
    Welcome Director DeCenza.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 04:24:24
    Good afternoon, thank you, Chair Chug Thai.
  • 04:24:27
    This item is the only mayoral amendment that is not, strictly speaking, budget neutral.
  • 04:24:32
    This one is a result of last year's agreement between the city and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board for enhanced water quality monitoring programs.
  • 04:24:42
    So you'll see in the description that these dollars are meant to increase the budget for water quality monitoring, data collection, and resident education.
  • 04:24:50
    So the reason that this is coming forward as a mayoral amendment is because the park board and public works timelines for assessing the cost of this work were not aligned this year.
  • 04:25:00
    It was the first year we were doing it.
  • 04:25:01
    We have a memo in the works, a JP in the works, so that that problem does not arise in future years.
  • 04:25:07
    But this year, we're doing a little bit of catch up here.
  • 04:25:09
    So the good news is that the stormwater sewer fund balance is adequate to absorb the $32,000 increase cost for 2025.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:25:21
    Thank you.
  • 04:25:22
    Colleagues, are there any questions or discussion related to this item?
  • 04:25:29
    I am not seeing any.
  • 04:25:30
    So, Mr.
  • 04:25:31
    Clerk, will you call the roll on item 1E?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:25:37
    Councilmember Payne?
  • 04:25:39
    Aye.
  • 04:25:40
    Wonsley?
  • 04:25:41
    Aye.
  • 04:25:42
    Rainville?
  • 04:25:43
    Aye.
  • 04:25:44
    Lita?
  • 04:25:45
    Aye.
  • 04:25:46
    Ellison?
  • 04:25:47
    Aye.
  • 04:25:48
    Osman?
  • 04:25:49
    Aye.
  • 04:25:50
    Cashman?
• • 04:25:51
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:25:52
    Chambos Aye Chowdhury Aye Palmisano Aye Vice Chair Koski Aye Chair Chuktai Aye There are 12 ayes
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:26:06
    That item carries.
  • 04:26:10
    Alright, so we are now moving to item number six, amendment number six in our packet.
  • 04:26:18
    This amendment is offered by Councilmember Wonsley and Councilmember Chavez.
  • 04:26:30
    So I will now recognize
  • 04:26:34
    Councilmember Wansley to please introduce your amendment.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 04:26:39
    Thank you, Council Vice President Chuck Tai.
  • 04:26:43
    So this amendment will provide the Neighborhood Safety Department with two full-time positions.
  • 04:26:49
    The first one is a data analyst who will obtain and assess specific data on program outcomes to help improve evidence-based program development and resource deployment.
  • 04:27:02
    This expanded capacity will improve efficiencies throughout the department and mitigate legal risk.
  • 04:27:08
    The second FTE is an additional contract administrator.
  • 04:27:14
    Both NSD and OCS recently asked council to approve a contract for nearly a million dollars to add capacity to NSD procurement and compliance functions.
  • 04:27:25
    In response, there was lots of debate amongst the committee, specifically the AO committee that took up that contract and ultimately put it down.
  • 04:27:36
    And amongst that committee, we all had shared agreement that we wanted to see NSC have more capacity be devoted towards contract management.
  • 04:27:45
    but we also wanted to see that capacity be taken up in house and have more staff be devoted to do that work as opposed to outsourcing that work to contracts or contractors.
  • 04:27:59
    So I want to note also that these are similar to the positions that council attempted to provide NSD this time last year when we were developing the 2024 budget but both the mayor and OCS leadership requested that council
  • 04:28:13
    and City Council.
  • 04:28:35
    We don't want to make that mistake again this year, so this gives us the opportunity to invest in this necessary infrastructure for the Neighborhood Safety Department and give them the staffing that they need.
  • 04:28:46
    So with that, I will ask for a second, a motion to approve this amendment and second for any questions.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:28:53
    That item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 04:28:57
    Colleagues, are there any questions or discussion related to this amendment?
  • 04:29:07
    I will recognize Vice Chair Koski followed by Council Member Palmisano.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:29:12
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 04:29:14
    As long as it hasn't changed, I believe that the FTE position is a business data analyst, is that correct?
• • SPEAKER_04
  • 04:29:21
    That is correct.
  • 04:29:23
    And is that position vacant currently?
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:29:25
    That is correct.
  • 04:29:26
    Okay.
  • 04:29:28
    Alright, thank you so much.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:29:31
    Thank you.
  • 04:29:34
    Next I will recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:29:38
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 04:29:39
    I'd like to know from the Commissioner what the impact would be of taking this MPD position or the Chief, but I see the Commissioner here.
  • 04:29:48
    And my second request would be to split this motion, but I just must admit I'm not sure if it's splittable because I don't think parts one and two could ride separately.
  • 04:29:58
    Is that true?
  • 04:29:59
    That is correct.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:30:04
    Welcome, Commissioner.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:30:05
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 04:30:07
    The impact on the business data analysts, this is in the implementation unit and so it has a direct impact on how we would continue to have compliance.
  • 04:30:25
    So if you think of all of the things are required by MPD to collect data, to show progress, so this has a direct impact
  • 04:30:36
    on how we comply with the settlement agreement.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:30:41
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 04:30:42
    I do think that's important.
  • 04:30:45
    I also do see the importance of Councilmember Wonsley's motion of wanting to add these resources as suggested in this motion, but I do think that our first priority has to be this fulfillment.
  • 04:30:58
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:31:01
    Thank you, Commissioner.
  • 04:31:04
    Next I will recognize Vice Chair Koski.
  • 04:31:09
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 04:31:10
    Sorry Commissioner, a follow-up.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:31:12
    I understand it's vacant.
  • 04:31:16
    Do you know how long this position has been vacant?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:31:19
    I do not.
  • 04:31:20
    I'll just look and see.
  • 04:31:23
    No, I don't have an answer for you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 04:31:25
    Do you know what the hiring plan was for this position of when they were hoping or where it is in the process of the...
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:31:37
    I will try to find that out for you in one second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:31:41
    Okay.
  • 04:31:44
    Alright.
  • 04:31:45
    Any further questions?
  • 04:31:51
    Next I will recognize Council Member Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 04:31:56
    Thank you Council Vice President.
  • 04:31:58
    I will note that my office did meet with the commissioner and of course with the budget office and you know when we received the vacancy report and at that time no mention about settlement agreement was ever brought up.
  • 04:32:12
    and also I will note we all are aware that there has been millions of dollars devoted to the settlement agreement.
  • 04:32:18
    There is going to be lots of support also coordinated through our independent evaluator for us to be in compliance with this settlement agreement.
  • 04:32:26
    So I think you know us devoting a modest amount to make sure that also a critical department of our public safety system also get in compliance with
  • 04:32:34
    also a settlement agreement that they're under sorry not settlement agreement but a legal settlement due to a lawsuit around our contract administration I think that's equally important and also making sure that we're paying our critical safety service providers on time and making sure that we don't replicate the mistakes that we experienced this entire year and we have the opportunity to rectify that this year so a modest amount of you know dollars will allow us to do that in a vacant
  • 04:33:02
    or vacant savings that we have will allow us to be able to fix that.
  • 04:33:07
    So I will encourage my colleagues to be able to support this amendment.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:33:12
    Thank you.
  • 04:33:13
    I just wanted to just quick mention to the question that I believe Vice Chair Koski asked earlier.
  • 04:33:21
    I pulled up the vacancy report that the council received on the day that amendments were due and that business data analyst position has been vacant for less than six months.
  • 04:33:36
    However, it is in the pre-hiring process.
  • 04:33:41
    pending recruitment.
  • 04:33:44
    So next I will recognize Council Member Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:33:51
    Thank you Council Vice President.
  • 04:33:54
    I think this year, earlier this year, we were talking about how some of the great organizations that we have been working with in the City of Minneapolis the last four years that are in the community that build that relationship.
  • 04:34:08
    Why are they not getting paid?
  • 04:34:12
    Why are they not getting their paperwork done quickly?
  • 04:34:15
    And I believe your department has stated that it's
  • 04:34:21
    or too busy or lack of staff or something similar to that.
  • 04:34:25
    So right now this kind of will solve that issue.
  • 04:34:30
    Commissioner, how are you solving so those things don't happen next year?
  • 04:34:35
    Like we are really partnering with this wonderful organization that have built a relationship with the community, that have built
  • 04:34:40
    relationship with the city of Minneapolis.
  • 04:34:42
    How do we make sure that they're not, we're not shortcoming, we're not, we're not really fulfilling their, their requirement when, when they always fulfill their requirement.
  • 04:34:51
    So just want to say how do, how would you address that?
  • 04:34:54
    Just thinking about that, how do you address that?
  • 04:34:57
    Because I feel like Council Member Wonsley's point is she wants to help you make sure that we're meeting those goals that we have set.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:35:05
    Chair Chuck Tai, Council Member Osman,
  • 04:35:13
    There were several things that I think we've done very good at through that transition.
  • 04:35:22
    One of the things that happened and has been reported to council is how we changed the RFP process.
  • 04:35:32
    Also that the Department of Neighborhood Safety
  • 04:35:36
    now has worked very closely with the procurement department.
  • 04:35:40
    They've also worked very closely with the City Attorney's Office.
  • 04:35:45
    We have been early on, if you think of last year,
  • 04:35:54
    We had some struggles with making sure that the invoices were appropriately documented.
  • 04:36:02
    I think that we work closely with our community organizations to correct that.
  • 04:36:09
    We've been in a place in which we have, I believe, 30 days from the point that an invoice comes in to give reimbursement.
  • 04:36:22
    We've done better with
  • 04:36:24
    spotting issues where invoice wouldn't get paid and able to let that organization know right away so that we try to stay within that 30-day requirement.
  • 04:36:37
    So I think we're on the right track.
  • 04:36:39
    I don't disagree
  • 04:36:41
    with the second part of Councilmember Wansley wanting to have that money with the contract management.
  • 04:36:54
    That's not it at all.
  • 04:36:57
    But I do think that we're in a much better place than we were last year.
  • 04:37:01
    And we have better infrastructure in NSD than we did last year.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:37:06
    Thank you Commissioner.
  • 04:37:07
    I'm glad to hear that department has a plan or have improved where they were.
  • 04:37:14
    Overall, I will support this amendment because I don't want what happened or this year or even last year to repeat next year because some of the wonderful amendments that we are doing, some of those amendments, you will be the host of that and we want to make sure those programs or those amendments are getting out the door right away.
  • 04:37:37
    Not in December because I
  • 04:37:41
    I had to deal with that, as you and me have talked, Elliott Park.
  • 04:37:48
    But hopefully this will take care of that and we can continue keeping up that partnership with the community organizations that have done a lot of great things to our community.
  • 04:37:59
    Thank you, Commissioner.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:38:00
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:38:03
    Thank you.
  • 04:38:04
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Viton.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:38:09
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 04:38:10
    I just thought that NSD was already hiring for that position, and maybe someone said that already, but after I met with Councilmember Wansley's staff,
  • 04:38:22
    I met with staff about those amendments and I thought that they were hiring for the analyst position already.
  • 04:38:29
    I don't know if someone could confirm that or not, but I thought so.
  • 04:38:33
    So it's not like it's open technically right now, but it's like they're in the process of hiring for that position, the position we're talking about here now.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:38:43
    Oh, the position within the police department?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:38:46
    Yes.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:38:46
    Yeah, it is in the pre-hiring process.
  • 04:38:51
    I'm not sure if we want to have, I don't see the CO here.
  • 04:38:56
    It looks like Jared Jeffries.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 04:38:57
    Jared might have some information.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 04:39:02
    Chair Shugtai, Jared Jeffries, Chief of Staff, the Office of Community Safety.
  • 04:39:06
    Yes, those interviews have been scheduled for that data analyst position for MPD.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:39:15
    Did you have any further questions or comments council members?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:39:18
    No Chair.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:39:19
    Wonderful.
  • 04:39:20
    Not seeing anyone else seeking to be recognized we have we have the neighborhood safety department staff amendment offered by council member Wonsley before us.
  • 04:39:38
    I will ask the clerk to call the roll on amendment number six.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:39:43
    Council member Payne.
  • 04:39:44
    That motion carries
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:40:14
    colleagues, next we will move to item number seven, which is an amendment offered by me and Councilmember Cashman.
  • 04:40:28
    I will begin by introducing the amendment and then I will ask for a second.
  • 04:40:35
    So this amendment seeks to add a crime prevention specialist for the 5th precinct into the crime prevention specialist unit in the police department.
  • 04:40:50
    The 5th precinct includes all of the southwest area of Minneapolis and includes wards.
  • 04:40:58
    6, 8, 10, 7, a little bit of 11, and all of 13.
  • 04:41:04
    So all of 10 and all of 13 are in the 5th Police Precinct, as is all of the 7th Board.
  • 04:41:15
    The 5th precinct is also the only precinct in the entire city that has only one crime prevention specialist and so the goal here is to increase the amount of resources that are being invested in to crime prevention
  • 04:41:34
    in this community and in particular, as we've seen, there are parts of the 5th Precinct that today make up areas with the greatest increases in crime in our city.
  • 04:41:49
    and we do need lots of different types of new resources, including resources in the police department that are dedicated to this part of the city.
  • 04:42:00
    And so that was the intention behind bringing this amendment forward.
  • 04:42:06
    It uses resources from within the mounted patrol unit in the police department.
  • 04:42:12
    it is moving money within the police department and so you know is more budget neutral than perhaps pulling from a different source.
  • 04:42:21
    So with that I will ask for a second to this amendment.
  • 04:42:24
    Second.
  • 04:42:25
    This item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 04:42:28
    I will ask colleagues if there are any questions or discussion I will first recognize Councilmember Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 04:42:35
    Thank you Madam Chair and I'm happy to co-author this amendment.
  • 04:42:39
    I would ask for colleagues to vote yes on this.
  • 04:42:42
    I see the value of the crime prevention specialist in the 5th precinct.
  • 04:42:47
    In fact I went to multiple neighborhood association meetings this week with the crime prevention specialist and this person in the 5th precinct is
  • 04:42:56
    does a very good job of explaining the status of the crimes that do occur in these neighborhoods and is able to really connect the police department to neighborhoods and the situations of safety that they experience on a day-to-day basis.
  • 04:43:10
    I think that the crime prevention specialist positions are incredibly valuable to our residents, and I think that it's more important to fund crime prevention specialists than it is to fund the mounted patrol or the horse stable lease.
  • 04:43:25
    and so I do, you know, respect that our COO, Margaret Anderson Kelleher, sent us a letter that explains the impacts of each of these amendments and I appreciated that she wrote out the impact of this amendment which would be to end the stable lease and I think that crime prevention specialist is much more important, much more impactful for the safety of our residents than the mounted patrol.
  • 04:43:46
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:43:48
    Thank you.
  • 04:43:49
    Next I will recognize Councilmember Paul Massano followed by Councilmember Rainville.
  • 04:43:55
    Thank you Madam Chair.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:43:56
    I'm curious if there's someone who can tell me the total budget for the MPD Mounted Patrol.
  • 04:44:03
    I recognize and feel the disparity for the 5th precinct to only have one CPS.
  • 04:44:08
    All the other precincts have two.
  • 04:44:10
    There are 20 neighborhoods in the 5th precinct that this one CPS is expected to serve.
  • 04:44:17
    And I could support this redistribution within MPD for this purpose.
  • 04:44:22
    I don't consider it a reduction to MPD.
  • 04:44:25
    But for full public transparency,
  • 04:44:28
    I'd like to understand what this decrease means to the Modern Patrol Division knowing that Councilmember Cashman just said it would end their stable lease.
  • 04:44:40
    I mean, I need to also share that the crime prevention specialist is meant to be a connector and there are victims that I have had to speak to where that crime prevention specialist has not even had an opportunity
  • 04:44:55
    to go and tell, for example, a victim who's not going to get an investigation on his hit and run who has suffered personal injuries that he needed to file a state report.
  • 04:45:09
    That's unacceptable and we do need more staffing and I believe it can be civilian staffing in our police department to help people connect with the resources that they need.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:45:20
    The total amount of resources allocated to the Mounted Patrol Unit is $198,164.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:45:26
    So of that $198,164 we're taking $115 plus of it?
  • 04:45:38
    Yes.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:45:41
    That is correct.
  • 04:45:43
    Next I will recognize Council Member Rainville followed by Council Member Osman.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 04:45:51
    Thank you.
  • 04:45:51
    I recognize the value of crime specialists, but I just can't support the way this money is being moved around.
  • 04:45:59
    When I think of the Mounted Patrol, the last image I have is this recent shooting we had at Tantrum nightclub and our brave police officers ran in there to catch the shooter and ran into the parking lot to catch another shooter.
  • 04:46:13
    They're backed up by the horse patrol.
  • 04:46:15
    and we can't cannibalize one part of the police department to help another.
  • 04:46:20
    So I cannot vote for this but I'm just wondering have you considered, I'd like to ask Council Member Cashman, have you considered another source for this?
• • Michael Cashman
  • 04:46:32
    No, I have not.
  • 04:46:33
    I think this is a good source.
  • 04:46:34
    I think that the residents really benefit from the value of crime prevention specialists.
  • 04:46:40
    And I talked about this with residents at both Kenwood Neighborhood Association and Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association this week, which are neighborhoods in the 5th Precinct.
  • 04:46:49
    And I ask my residents about every decision that I make.
  • 04:46:52
    So I ask them, do you think this is a good amendment to make?
  • 04:46:55
    Do you think it's worth the sacrifice of the Mounted Patrol to pay for another crime prevention specialist in the 5th Precinct?
  • 04:47:01
    And they said yes.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 04:47:04
    Thank you.
  • 04:47:05
    Again, I just add that cannibalizing one part of the police department to serve another, there's just got to be a better way than this and perhaps when you have the chance you can ask the officers who ran into the gunfight if it was a comfort to have those Border Patrol to back them up when they endangered their lives.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:47:26
    Next, I will recognize Councilmember Osman, followed by Councilmember Viton.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 04:47:30
    Oh, thank you.
  • 04:47:32
    Councilmember Cashman, thank you for bringing this forward.
  • 04:47:34
    I'll ask if I can be a co-author.
  • 04:47:36
    I think, yep, I want to freely shout out to our crime specialists.
  • 04:47:40
    Wonderful, wonderful.
  • 04:47:42
    They do a lot of work.
  • 04:47:43
    They are out there.
  • 04:47:44
    meeting the community, helping the community deal with some of the challenges they have when it comes to public safety.
  • 04:47:52
    They're out there on behalf of the police and public safety, so they play a huge role on that.
  • 04:47:59
    So I was looking at the numbers, third precinct have a lot of specialists, but fifth precinct
  • 04:48:05
    which is also part of me, Steven Square.
  • 04:48:07
    I met the individual that worked there, a wonderful person, but definitely I can imagine having that entire, it's a lot of work.
  • 04:48:16
    So it's much needed services.
  • 04:48:18
    Those are the people that connect individuals in our community, that connect community members, that build that relationship.
  • 04:48:25
    That makes it a lot easier for the police officers to interrupt the community and come with that.
  • 04:48:32
    So with that being said,
  • 04:48:35
    Mount Patrol, is that the horses?
  • 04:48:40
    Okay.
  • 04:48:41
    Well yeah, I think the MPD can kind of handle that and move money around and I haven't really seen, you know,
  • 04:48:55
    a lot during the wintertime.
  • 04:48:56
    So we have the crime specialist always available, every neighborhood attending that.
  • 04:49:02
    So this definitely is a much needed program to increase that.
  • 04:49:08
    So I support that and I'll ask to be co-author.
  • 04:49:11
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:49:13
    Clerks, if we can note that Council Member Osman is added as a co-author to Amendment Number 7.
  • 04:49:21
    With that, I will recognize Council Member Vitaw, followed by Council Member Chowdhury.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:49:25
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 04:49:27
    Just a couple questions.
  • 04:49:28
    First one is, would the authors be open to pulling from the general fund for this, from MPD's general fund?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:49:43
    Director DeCenza, would you like to come up and speak to this concept of a department's quote general fund budget?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 04:49:53
    Council Vice President Chug Thai Council members, I think this is something that's come up a lot in conversation with many of you in advance There were some authors who specified specific areas of departments to be cut and some who left it more general We've had this conversation a few times today if authors want to leave it more general then the department would figure out where within their existing general funds that they want to pull and
  • 04:50:19
    departments do not have their own independent general funds.
  • 04:50:25
    They have, you know, access to a dollar amount of the city's overall general fund, if that makes sense.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:50:30
    I guess I asked the question wrong.
  • 04:50:31
    So you're saying that there's not like a general fund, but there is a way if you worked with the department to figure out, you know, like, not getting rid of because I am a true believer in crime prevention specialists, I would
  • 04:50:47
    take two more in precinct four right now, if I could.
  • 04:50:51
    But you're saying that the author could work with MPD and figure out how to get this crime prevention specialist position funded through MPD and it would not necessarily come from this mounted patrol portion of the money, if they were open to that.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 04:51:13
    Through the Chair, Councilmember Vita, I think there's a trade-off with any decision that is made and so they might make a different trade-off.
  • 04:51:24
    The way that the accounting chart of accounts is set up, we do
  • 04:51:28
    We have to identify a specific program in order to make that entry in the system.
  • 04:51:33
    And so it's helpful for finance to know exactly where that's coming from in advance.
  • 04:51:38
    If it's not clear before the budget's adopted, then we'll work with the department to figure out where that cut is coming from.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:51:44
    Okay, thank you.
  • 04:51:45
    And then my next question is, what's the plan for the horses?
  • 04:51:48
    What's the, I mean, if they don't have anywhere to live, then we've got to figure out a plan to essentially dismantle the Mounted Police Program.
  • 04:51:58
    So what's the plan?
  • 04:52:00
    Are we sure the horses won't be killed, euthanized?
  • 04:52:03
    What's the plan here?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:52:07
    The implementation of budgetary choices always rests with the administration.
  • 04:52:15
    What we get to do in setting the budget is determine how much money is allocated for what things.
  • 04:52:22
    I am not open to changing the source on this.
  • 04:52:28
    That means that the mounted patrol unit will no longer have most of the resources allocated to it.
  • 04:52:41
    Yes, that's correct.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:52:43
    They won't have a program, which means that there will be assets, which are living horses, they're animals,
  • 04:52:52
    get cared for with this budget, that are housed, are taken care of in a way that you take care of animals.
  • 04:53:02
    And so I'm asking what is the plan when we don't have this allocated to that source anymore?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:53:11
    Then the department will need to figure out how to eliminate the mounted patrol unit.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 04:53:17
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:53:17
    Thank you.
  • 04:53:18
    Next I will recognize Council Member Chaudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 04:53:24
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 04:53:27
    I got on cue because I just want to note and recognize the fact that our Minneapolis Police Department, we increased its budget significantly through the contract and I think it totals, I might have the figure on 230 million just about.
  • 04:53:47
    potentially a little bit more and this is just looking at 198,000 which is pennies compared to the total budget and I'll also just remind the public and our colleagues here in 2021 there is a full elimination of the funding towards mounted patrol and yet mounted patrol
  • 04:54:13
    Persisted and again, I think it goes back to what the chair had mentioned around we make a budget decision up here and then The department decides on how they will implement it and I Yeah, I will make the decision up here and then conversations will have can happen with the with the administration and I
  • 04:54:43
    I just we've been at our cities had this happen before so just wanted to make that point.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:54:49
    Thank you.
  • 04:54:50
    I am not seeing anyone else seeking to be recognized so with that the Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:55:01
    Madam Chair, I just want to point out that this is the same source for item 722 and 63 and they don't duplicate one another it all adds up to removal of the mounted patrol program so I'm just letting people know that the plan in a coordinated way through the first 63 amendments evidently has always been to remove the mounted
  • 04:55:26
    I also have to say I'm not sure how many times we've tried to kill off the mounted horse patrol program over the years.
  • 04:55:35
    I think I voted against it every single time and I plan to do so Councilmember Ellison just offers that it was at least three times in his tenure I'm pretty sure we I feel like we do this every
  • 04:55:48
    more often than that even but anyhow I'm just pointing out that the entire Mounted Patrol program comes at a cost of items number 7, 22, and 63 for everybody's general knowledge.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:56:05
    Thank you, Council Member.
  • 04:56:07
    With that, I am not seeing anyone else in queue.
  • 04:56:12
    Mr.
  • 04:56:12
    Clerk, will you call the roll on item number seven, the Fifth Precinct Crime Prevention Specialist?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:56:20
    Council Member Payne?
  • 04:56:21
    Aye.
  • 04:56:22
    Wonsley?
  • 04:56:22
    Aye.
  • 04:56:23
    Rainville?
  • 04:56:24
    Nay.
  • 04:56:24
    Vitor?
  • 04:56:25
    No.
  • 04:56:27
    Ellison?
  • 04:56:28
    Aye.
  • 04:56:29
    Osman?
  • 04:56:30
    Aye.
  • 04:56:31
    Cashman?
• • 04:56:32
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:56:33
    Chavez?
  • 04:56:34
    Aye.
  • 04:56:35
    Chowdhury?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:56:36
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:56:37
    Palmesano?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:56:38
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:56:39
    Vice Chair Koski?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 04:56:40
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 04:56:42
    Chair Chuktai?
  • 04:56:43
    Aye.
  • 04:56:44
    There are nine ayes and three nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:56:47
    That item carries.
  • 04:56:50
    We will now move on to our next amendment.
  • 04:56:54
    It is Amendment No.
  • 04:56:56
    8, which is authored by Councilmembers Wonsley, Payne, Ellison, Osman, and Chowdhury for civilian investigators.
  • 04:57:08
    I will ask Councilmember Wonsley to please introduce your amendment.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 04:57:13
    Thank you, Council Vice President Chuktai.
  • 04:57:17
    So MPD currently has a backlog of 5,437 assigned open cases.
  • 04:57:24
    So this proposal will add five civilian investigators to help MPD clear this massive backlog of cases that have not been investigated and closed, especially in priority areas like domestic violence, juvenile cases,
  • 04:57:41
    crimes against children, sex crimes and homicide.
  • 04:57:45
    Each one of these cases is an individual and a family who have not received closure from a traumatic event.
  • 04:57:52
    Some of these families have been waiting for years for basic information.
  • 04:57:56
    And at the same time, each case that remains open and uninvestigated is a case that cannot be sent to the county or the city attorney's office for charging.
  • 04:58:06
    I know that a major frustration amongst residents in my ward and many other wards is the lack of follow up from MPD after the initial interaction after an incident has transpired.
  • 04:58:19
    Residents want to be assured that MPD is going to follow through with an investigation.
  • 04:58:25
    and the ability to expand our civilian investigators was celebrated as one of the major wins in the new police contract that justified the multi-million dollar price that taxpayers essentially paid for it and despite this new flexibility and known staffing challenges within MPD, we do know Mayor Frey only allocated two
  • 04:58:48
    new civilian investigator positions within the 2025 budget and we know that is very insufficient to address that extensive backlog so I look forward to working with our colleagues to figure out how we can take advantage of the city's new ability to use civilian investigators and this amendment allows us to do so especially given that we paid nine million dollars for this ability
  • 04:59:11
    and this will give us an additional five civilian, civilian investigators to be able to tackle that backlog and I thank my colleagues and co-authors for the support and with that I'll allow my fellow co-authors to share any sentiments that they would like to make.
  • 04:59:27
    I'll ask for a second and move this amendment for approval.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 04:59:30
    Second.
  • 04:59:31
    This item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 04:59:34
    Colleagues, are there any questions or discussion?
  • 04:59:37
    I will first recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 04:59:40
    I want to make this more tangible.
  • 04:59:46
    This isn't just about the closure of cases and for the victims of crimes.
  • 04:59:52
    This is about
  • 04:59:55
    for the
  • 05:00:17
    I think they're still in court trying to figure out how many counts to bring and
  • 05:00:32
    you know was he creating content or did he was he just hoarding content but there was a cyber tip that was submitted over a year prior to him getting caught and he had moved from child care center to child care center had we had investigators who could take those tips in we could have prevented some of that from happening and so this is not just about the
  • 05:01:00
    You know, a crime has happened and we're just trying to at least get evidence to bring charges.
  • 05:01:05
    This is about the fact that some of these incidents happened without any investigation and we want to close that gap.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:01:18
    Thank you.
  • 05:01:19
    Next I will recognize Council Member Viton.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 05:01:22
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 05:01:24
    Just a question about what, so the source for this is going to be the Chief's detail.
  • 05:01:31
    Can someone explain what the Chief's detail is and if this means that there will be folks losing their jobs with this cut?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:01:42
    Councilmember Wonsley, would you like to address that question?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:01:46
    Well I'm happy to and I will let also Council Member Vitale direct our question to Barnett too if need be.
  • 05:01:54
    But from my understanding and our conversations with both MPD directly, the chief detail, and this was also included in the memo that was sent out to us, is originally budgeted for about $600,000 as of
  • 05:02:09
    I believe $4.5 million have been spent thus far.
  • 05:02:14
    But originally it covers about two administrators, printing, awards, travel, and office supplies.
  • 05:02:21
    It is spent at the discretion of the chief, so essentially this source would not affect any services or programs or functions.
  • 05:02:30
    essentially like the chief's own kind of office budget, his own, you know, administrative budget.
  • 05:02:36
    And then the remaining $22,000 will come from a small reduction in MPD's contractual service budget for forensics and investigations.
  • 05:02:46
    So I did want to provide that context.
  • 05:02:48
    And yes, OCS commissioner is more than happy to also provide additional information.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 05:02:56
    Council Member Wansley, you did say two positions, like two administrative positions.
  • 05:03:01
    Okay.
  • 05:03:02
    Commissioner, do you have anything to add?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:03:05
    Welcome back, Commissioner.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:03:07
    Thank you, Chair Chuktai, Council Member Wansley, Council Member Vitai.
  • 05:03:13
    Yes, there are two administrative staff positions there.
  • 05:03:17
    One is filled right now, one is vacant, but the other thing is
  • 05:03:23
    this is where we fund the chaplains as well.
  • 05:03:28
    I know that the description for this funding I know it says that it's the chief's detail but it's more than that it's where we talk about administrative staff
  • 05:03:46
    the support staff for the chief, the chief of staff, the assistant chiefs, the deputy chiefs as well and like Council Member Wansley talked about, it is where you get supplies and things like that.
  • 05:04:04
    I was also notified that it's only about $300,000 in that particular fund or line item that is discretionary.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 05:04:17
    Thank you, Commissioner.
  • 05:04:18
    I mean, I didn't know what the chief detail to me means, a driver.
  • 05:04:24
    I thought so too.
  • 05:04:25
    That's what I thought when I saw this, but clearly it's more than that.
  • 05:04:29
    I just want to go on record saying that the Chaplains Program is a very important program, not only to the department, but to this community as a whole.
  • 05:04:40
    and I really hope that the authors could maybe like remove this for now and think of something else to do with this because I really hope we don't remove that program from the police department.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:05:01
    I will ask the author, Council Member Wonsley, if she is interested in- I am not.
  • 05:05:08
    We will continue consideration of this item.
  • 05:05:15
    Next I will recognize Council Member Chowdhury.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:05:21
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 05:05:22
    I'm an author of this and I did have some follow-up questions for Commissioner Barnett through the chair if that's alright.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:05:34
    Welcome back Commissioner.
  • 05:05:36
    Getting your steps in today.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:05:37
    No, that's fine.
  • 05:05:38
    Those benches are rough.
  • 05:05:43
    I didn't get here early enough to get the pad at one.
  • 05:05:46
    Walking up here is just fine.
  • 05:05:49
    Chair Chuktai, was it Councilmember Chaudhuri?
  • 05:05:53
    Yes, your question?
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:05:55
    Yeah, thank you.
  • 05:05:56
    So you have listed out within the chief's detail that it's two assistant FTEs.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:06:04
    What I have here is that it consists of two administrative staff, yes.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:06:09
    Two administrative staff and the Champlitz program and deputy chief.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:06:13
    if I could read it for you.
  • 05:06:15
    Yeah, one more time, that would be good.
  • 05:06:17
    Okay, I will.
  • 05:06:17
    So, and I know the description chief's detail doesn't really describe what's there, and so what it is, it's two administrative staff, one of those positions is filled right now, so a person's there, one is vacant.
  • 05:06:34
    What the staff does for in these two positions is that they do all of the administrative support for the chief the chief of staff the assistant chiefs and the deputy chiefs also Like I was explaining earlier.
  • 05:06:51
    This is where Within the budget where we designate the money for the chaplains there is Within this budget
  • 05:07:03
    where we pay for the leadership team there for parking and I think Council Member Wansi talked about it, paper and you know those administrative things that we use as well.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:07:18
    Thank you and just to follow up to that when it's not detailed out what we have before us is how many chaplains does this support and are they paid like a very low amount because we're only looking at six hundred and eight thousand dollars in some hundreds What I have here is that the chaplains have paid
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:07:47
    Within this budget, it looks like $112,000.
  • 05:07:51
    How many?
  • 05:07:54
    I don't have the amount of how many that is.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 05:07:57
    18.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:07:59
    How many do you?
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 05:08:01
    It's a stipend.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:08:02
    Okay, it's a stipend for them.
  • 05:08:05
    And do we know how many?
  • 05:08:07
    We're checking on how many chaplains we have.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:08:11
    Okay, thank you.
  • 05:08:12
    I bring that up because for $608,000 that doesn't seem sufficient to support two administrative staff, administrative work, parking, and then a stipend for multiple chaplains.
  • 05:08:28
    And I think that the reason why I was supportive of this source is because
  • 05:08:33
    the allocated amount is 608,000 and then what was spent was 2.7 million plus.
  • 05:08:45
    So way over budget about four times more indicating that there is an ability to
  • 05:08:52
    address the needed services within the chief's detail with some other set of funding that is, again, four times more than the allocated budget.
  • 05:09:05
    So it just seems like there is a flush of resources that goes here and potentially if the programming needs to continue, I certainly don't want it to end.
  • 05:09:16
    It doesn't seem like it would end based off of how year-to-date spending has gone four times more than the allocated amount.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:09:23
    Chair Choctaw, Council Member Chaudry, I do have an answer for you on the number of chaplains.
  • 05:09:29
    There's 13 chaplains.
  • 05:09:32
    They get a stipend of $1,000 per month.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:09:36
    And Madam Chair, my apologies.
  • 05:09:39
    I also just wanted to note I was only looking at the second quarter, so year to date if you doubled that would be estimate upwards of 4 million if you're spending that same amount throughout the year.
  • 05:09:56
    So I think there's just a major discrepancy here on what funding is available versus the amount that we're using for this budget amendment and I have a hard time believing that this would be eliminating positions and eliminating stipends.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:10:14
    Thank you.
  • 05:10:16
    Perhaps, I know there will, I would imagine,
  • 05:10:20
    that
  • 05:10:35
    Earlier, about two weeks ago, Andy Skugman, who's Chief of Staff in the Police Department, sent a memo to me and Vice Chair Koski related to a question she had asked that detailed a lot of things within the Chief's Detail Program.
  • 05:10:54
    and we had specifically asked for exactly what was included in the Chief's detailed budget, exactly the line items and expenses to date and then historic a 10-year look back and nowhere over here does it say anything about chaplains, nowhere.
  • 05:11:14
    and it does look like, historically, as in going back the last 10 years, the Chief's detailed budget is always overspent.
  • 05:11:24
    So as you are responding to questions, I just want to know why there are such significant disparities between what the police department is saying this is and what you are saying this is.
  • 05:11:36
    With that, I will now recognize Council Member Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:11:42
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 05:11:44
    That was actually going to be my question for the Commissioner, is can you explain why $4 million was spent on the Chief's Detail, which includes the Police Chaplain Program, and has the Chaplain Program always been housed under the Chief's Detail?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:12:03
    Give me one second.
  • 05:12:04
    Chair, Chuck Tye, Councilmember Cashman, I'm getting some information on that.
  • 05:12:10
    It looks like it might have been some errors, that a memo might have gone to Councilmembers, but while you were talking I was trying to read.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:12:20
    So why don't we, can we put a pause on Councilmember Cashman's timer and why don't we give you, let's say, five minutes, ten minutes, how much time do you need?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:12:29
    Just probably five minutes, just to make sure I understand.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:12:32
    Why don't we pause?
  • 05:12:34
    We are going to recess for five minutes and give you a little bit of time.
  • 05:12:37
    Let's recess for ten so folks can run to the bathroom.
  • 05:12:40
    We're going to recess for ten and we'd like some clear answers when we return.
  • 05:30:31
    Communications, we're ready to begin.
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 05:30:32
    Okay.
  • 05:30:33
    Thank you
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:30:47
    colleagues, welcome back to our first day of the budget markup.
  • 05:30:55
    I understand where we left off discussion before we went into recess was related to the chief's detailed budget and I understand that Commissioner Barnett and Budget Director DeCenza have done a few different things to get to the bottom of what is going on with the chief's detailed budget.
  • 05:31:16
    So before everyone has to jump in and ask their questions in little bits, why don't we begin with you Commissioner.
  • 05:31:27
    Why don't you tell us what's going on with the Chief's detailed budget.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:31:30
    So thank you, Chair Chuck Ty.
  • 05:31:33
    I am going to turn it over in a second here, but the one thing I wanted just to point out during the break what I was able to find out especially about the position here, the administrative position that is full, is that we have a person in that position who's been with the city for 37 years.
  • 05:31:55
    and so I mean we're talking about real people in these positions and so I know we talk about vacant positions and that's a little bit different but we're talking about people especially in this circumstance that's been with the city for a very long time.
  • 05:32:14
    For the budget piece and explaining it I won't be able to do that as well so I'm going to turn it over.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:32:21
    Commissioner, just to clarify, one of those two positions is vacant.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:32:24
    Yes, one is vacant.
  • 05:32:26
    Yes, one is vacant and one has a person in it.
  • 05:32:29
    Thank you.
  • 05:32:29
    So I just wanted to say that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:32:31
    Welcome back, Director DeCenza.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 05:32:34
    Thank you for having me.
  • 05:32:35
    Certainly appreciate the detailed view that people have been taking.
  • 05:32:39
    And many of you noted the divergence between the budget book total and the total that was presented.
  • 05:32:46
    So we figured out why that's happening and part of it is to do
  • 05:32:50
    with this question about the ERP.
  • 05:32:51
    So we have a different accounting system than we do a budget system.
  • 05:32:55
    In the budget system, we use the chief's detail title as sort of a roll-up category.
  • 05:32:59
    So there's a lot of admin expenses that flow into it.
  • 05:33:03
    And that's not reflected in the accounting system.
  • 05:33:05
    So I will go back to MPD and figure out how this is exactly supposed to work.
  • 05:33:09
    And we'll update our budget chart of accounts for future years to make sure that's correct.
  • 05:33:17
    Our number, the $4 million in the budget book, includes things like their finance accounting staff.
  • 05:33:23
    And so that's why you're seeing the divergence.
  • 05:33:24
    I did pull an export from the accounting report system and sent that to the chair of the committee for review.
  • 05:33:30
    And to get at, I think, another
  • 05:33:34
    A couple of questions that were mentioned before the break.
  • 05:33:38
    So the chaplain program, which is a stipend for chaplains of $1,000 a month, is covered in the nonprofit contracted services account code, which has $112,800 in it.
  • 05:33:51
    And then there's also a professional services account code with $55,000 of budget.
  • 05:34:00
    And I believe that covers the childhood sex abuse advocates' work.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:34:06
    Wonderful, thank you.
  • 05:34:08
    So we have a pretty extensive number of council members that are in queue related to this question.
  • 05:34:17
    Over our recess I did get a chance to talk with Council Member Wanz, who is the author of this item, the lead author of this item, and she has agreed to table this item and get it updated based on the information that we received from, we just received from the finance
  • 05:34:38
    team, and we will pick this item back up as the first item on Monday when we return.
  • 05:34:46
    With that, is it okay, colleagues, are there any questions or things that you would like to note prior to us moving on to the next amendment?
  • 05:35:09
    All right, so it seems like we can clear the queue and move on to the next amendment or are there any authors that are wishing to
  • 05:35:21
    Go ahead.
  • 05:35:21
    Thank you.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:35:22
    I'm just wondering if we'll come back to this on Tuesday.
  • 05:35:25
    On Monday.
  • 05:35:25
    On Monday.
  • 05:35:26
    Okay, thank you.
  • 05:35:26
    First thing on Monday.
  • 05:35:27
    Great.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:35:29
    Council Member Chaudry.
  • 05:35:31
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 05:35:32
    It's helpful to understand that this is a roll-up category.
  • 05:35:38
    It doesn't assuage my concerns around what's happening here in terms of
  • 05:35:43
    How do we allow for an account that is allocated for $608,000?
  • 05:35:48
    Now, looking at the current up-to-date information, is it at about $4.4 million?
  • 05:35:56
    So, alongside information on Monday, I think it would be very helpful and, in the name of transparency, good for this body to get what is detailed within that chief's detail and how we're spending it.
  • 05:36:10
    and how we ended up to $4.4 million.
  • 05:36:14
    So I'm looking forward to getting that information and I look forward to working with the lead author.
  • 05:36:21
    I'm a co-author on figuring out what we can do to adjust our amendment.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:36:27
    Wonderful.
  • 05:36:29
    I'm not seeing anyone else trying to get my attention on this one so we are going to delay this consideration of amendment number eight to first thing on Monday morning when we resume for day two.
  • 05:36:42
    I believe we have enough time that I think we can try to get through a couple more of these amendments so next we will take up amendment number nine which is authored by council president
  • 05:36:55
    Council President Payne.
  • 05:36:56
    Council President Payne, will you begin by introducing your amendment?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 05:37:00
    Yes, thank you Vice President Chug Thai.
  • 05:37:03
    As I mentioned earlier, as we were looking at funding the deputy for the safety commissioner, the mayor had recommended funding this with
  • 05:37:15
    Unfilled FTEs in the police department.
  • 05:37:18
    I am suggesting we fill this with money from the attorney's office.
  • 05:37:24
    So like I said, the workload has shifted from being heavy on attorney during the negotiation phase.
  • 05:37:30
    Now that we're shifting into implementation, we should be shifting those resources in kind.
  • 05:37:35
    And so that's what this budget amendment reflects.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:37:40
    Thank you.
  • 05:37:44
    Council President Payne has moved approval of this motion.
  • 05:37:48
    Is there a second?
  • 05:37:51
    Second.
  • 05:37:52
    That item has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 05:37:55
    Are there any questions or discussion from members of the committee?
  • 05:38:04
    I will recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:38:10
    A question here, is this the same position that was just approved by us in budget earlier this week?
  • 05:38:15
    The titles are slightly different.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 05:38:17
    It is the same position, that's correct.
  • 05:38:21
    Through the chair.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:38:23
    And so, to the author, are you just changing the funding source?
• • Jeremiah Ellison
  • 05:38:30
    Correct.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:38:32
    and now I'm recalling you mentioning this in an earlier amendment.
  • 05:38:38
    So this proposal then would give two new deputy commissioners to OCS?
  • 05:38:43
    No, it would not.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 05:38:45
    The number here reflects the FTE estimate we got from HR for this classification.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:38:53
    Thank you.
  • 05:38:54
    I'd like to ask
  • 05:39:00
    I guess COO Anderson Kelleher or somebody from city staff to help us understand what this decrease will mean to the department.
  • 05:39:12
    Maybe that's yeah, City Attorney Anderson.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:39:20
    Welcome if you'll begin with introducing yourself.
• • SPEAKER_04
  • 05:39:22
    Well, thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 05:39:24
    Kristin Anderson, City Attorney.
  • 05:39:27
    Madam Chair, Councilmember Palmisano, I think it's fair to say my office still has a huge amount of implementation work that we still need to do.
  • 05:39:40
    I do recognize however that the deputy commissioner position is very very important to OCS and to the implementation work as well and so the you know in the effort to be a good team player and and You know assist my colleagues on this body.
  • 05:40:01
    We will find resources in the city attorney's budget to to cover this Thank you
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:40:11
    Thank you.
  • 05:40:13
    Just so, it's been a little while since we covered that item.
  • 05:40:18
    The mayor's amendment 1D on creating a deputy commissioner using vacant civilian positions from the police department, that motion failed and so that's why there aren't two deputy commissioners being added and it's just one.
  • 05:40:39
    I'm not seeing anyone else seeking to be recognized, so with that, Mr.
  • 05:40:44
    Clerk, will you call the roll on Amendment No.
  • 05:40:46
    9?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 05:40:49
    Council Member Payne?
  • 05:40:50
    Aye.
  • 05:40:51
    Wonsley?
  • 05:40:52
    Aye.
  • 05:40:53
    Rainville?
  • 05:40:54
    No.
  • 05:40:55
    Vitor?
  • 05:40:56
    Aye.
  • 05:40:57
    Ellison?
  • 05:40:58
    Aye.
  • 05:40:59
    Osman?
  • 05:41:00
    Aye.
  • 05:41:01
    Cashman?
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:41:02
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 05:41:03
    Chavez?
  • 05:41:04
    Aye.
  • 05:41:05
    Chaudry?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:41:06
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 05:41:07
    Palmisano?
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:41:08
    No.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 05:41:09
    There are 10 ayes and 2 nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:41:17
    That motion carries.
  • 05:41:19
    Next we will move to amendment number 10 which is the Safe and Thriving Communities work group offered by council members Wonsley and Chavez.
  • 05:41:31
    I will recognize council member Wonsley to please introduce your amendment.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:41:39
    Thank you, Council Vice President.
  • 05:41:41
    So the Safe and Thriving Communities report and plan specifically calls for a community advisory committee to provide direct community input and feedback on an ongoing basis regarding the implementation of its plan and recommendations.
  • 05:41:57
    So this amendment will allocate $25,000 on an ongoing basis to pay for stipends and other operating and administrative costs for a work group which is classified as a tier 4 advisory board under the council adopted appointed boards and commissions reform ordinance to advise on the safe and thriving communities report and plan.
  • 05:42:17
    The work group will be created in early 2025 and will be tasked with helping advise the City and the Office of Community Safety on the implementation of the Safe and Thriving Communities Report and Plan.
  • 05:42:28
    This is, again, efforts that's also been supported by the Public Health and Safety Committee as adopted by our own individual work plan.
  • 05:42:37
    And with that, I will ask for a second and motion to approve this amendment.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:42:43
    Item number, amendment number 10 has been properly moved and seconded.
  • 05:42:48
    Colleagues, are there any questions on or discussion related to this item?
  • 05:42:54
    I will first recognize Councilmember Cashman followed by Vice Chair Koski.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:43:00
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 05:43:01
    Who would oversee this work group or make sure that this information is received by the administration and council?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:43:10
    Councilmember Wonsley, would you like to address Councilmember Cashman's question?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:43:13
    Yes, Councilmember Cashman.
  • 05:43:16
    So again, I'm more than happy to send you the ABC ordinance that this body passed.
  • 05:43:20
    So we have a standardized process which lays out how our advisory boards and work groups are organized.
  • 05:43:27
    Also our legislative department, specifically the clerk office, is a main
  • 05:43:33
    Well, the department that offers staff support along with the administrative departments like Office of Community Safety will provide subject matter expertise oftentimes and those bodies will meet, you know, a certain period of time but that ordinance lays out those guidelines.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:43:50
    Okay, thank you and has there been like a resolution to create this already?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:43:57
    Actually, I will ask Clerk Hall to give context who helped us craft the ordinance or actually crafted the ordinance as a lead to.
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 05:44:06
    Yes.
  • 05:44:08
    Through the Chair to Councilmember Cashman, Councilmember Wonsley mentioned the ordinance that creates the structure for appointed boards and commissions.
  • 05:44:17
    As you know, a work group is created by resolution, so it's my understanding this is putting in place the infrastructure to support
  • 05:44:26
    a resolution that will be forthcoming to create this working group.
  • 05:44:31
    So the workgroup itself hasn't yet been created but understanding that there will be needs for some support for that body, this is proactively providing the support so that when that resolution comes forward those support infrastructures are in place.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:44:46
    Thank you, Clerk Carroll, and we do have a draft of the resolution, Council Member Cashman, that we've already been in review with, uh, leadership in the Office of Community Safety.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 05:44:56
    Okay, and one final question, if I still have time, is, are there resources added to the legislative department to support this additional body in this amendment, or are there resources here only for the stipends, board member stipends?
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 05:45:14
    I'm happy to attempt to respond to the question.
  • 05:45:21
    This is providing resources, if approved, to the Office of Community Safety.
  • 05:45:26
    as the technical support for that function.
  • 05:45:30
    The Clerk's Office, as you know, has a dedicated unit of people who support decision-making bodies and assuming that this would be absorbed within that to whatever degree there is, I don't expect that to be a significant volume of work for the Clerk's Office.
  • 05:45:45
    I think it will be much more dependent upon the work by the Office of Community Safety and then, of course, the stipends that have been anticipated.
  • 05:45:55
    I don't think there's anything necessary for the Legislative Department Office of Clerk.
  • 05:45:58
    It's more for the Office of Community Safety to support this work from a technical and professional perspective and then to pay for the anticipated stipends for our work group members.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:46:08
    Thank you.
  • 05:46:11
    Thank you.
  • 05:46:13
    Next I will recognize Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:46:16
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 05:46:18
    I think these might be a couple questions to the author.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:46:23
    Council Member Wonsley, will you yield for further questions?
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:46:26
    Absolutely.
  • 05:46:28
    So the timing, could you just describe a little bit of the timing of the resolution and then the timing of when you are hoping to have the work group start?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:46:36
    Yeah, so per our ABC process, again, there's a standardized process in which I'm more than happy to also again, have her call lay that process out for council members, but we all will be asked to bring forward resolutions to reestablish either existing or new work groups or standardized boards under that process or ordinance.
  • 05:46:58
    so ideally we would like to bring this forward early next year, January, as a new Tier 4 work group and essentially be in existence for an ongoing basis because the Safe and Thriving Communities plan is about 10 years and work groups are also supposed to be short term or not indefinite so we want to fit it under those guidelines but yes, we ideally will bring this forward
  • 05:47:28
    early next year.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:47:31
    Okay, thank you.
  • 05:47:31
    That's helpful.
  • 05:47:32
    And then, is there someone designated within OCS that will be, like, the admin over this work group?
  • 05:47:41
    Is that why the funding is going – I mean, I understand it's going to be funneled through them for the stipends, but – or is there, you know, an individual within OCS that will be responsible for, kind of,
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:47:54
    Council Member Koski as well as I do under government structure I don't have the choice over deciding who gets to staff but what I do know is we've been in conversations with Director Harrington who oversees their safe and thriving work in regards to this particular resolution.
  • 05:48:15
    We've also been in conversation with Commissioner
  • 05:48:17
    is at their discretion who they decide to appoint to staff this board.
  • 05:48:26
    What we do know is continuous feedback has been we need to compensate community members when they do sign up.
  • 05:48:33
    to participate in our advisory boards and commissions and that is what we decided to move resources towards and we also decided to move forward on the recommendations to establish this work group as outlined in the Safe and Thriving Community Report.
  • 05:48:46
    So those are the things that we decided to move forward with.
  • 05:48:50
    Okay, thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:48:50
    So in our Safe and Thriving Community Report, it describes that it asks for us to align with the work group to help
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:49:00
    Yes, that's in the proposal.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:49:02
    Okay.
  • 05:49:02
    And then one other question I think maybe to Clerk Carl, how many other tier four have resources like this?
  • 05:49:11
    Or is this, this isn't, I don't, can't remember with the ABCs if we are required now to have, you know, designated resources are stipend in the tier four or not.
  • 05:49:22
    But just in general, simple, how many tier four have stipends like this?
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 05:49:26
    Through the Chair, I will say that it's my
  • 05:49:28
    Recollection, there are currently two Tier 4 working groups.
  • 05:49:31
    They do not have resources like this.
  • 05:49:33
    This would be a third working group if we create it in early January, as Council Member Wonsley said, which would have resources available for it.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:49:41
    Okay, so the other two do not have resources?
• • Casey CarlCity Clerk
  • 05:49:43
    Correct.
• • Emily Koski
  • 05:49:44
    Okay, thank you.
  • 05:49:45
    That's all.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:49:49
    Thank you.
  • 05:49:49
    I see Council President Payne in queue for a priority motion.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 05:49:54
    Thank you Vice President Chuktai.
  • 05:49:57
    I just, I know I'm not an author on this but my previous amendment was related to your question so I just wanted to chime in a little bit.
  • 05:50:05
    for the role
  • 05:50:21
    very thin and how there's just this larger body of work that needs to happen across safe and thriving cities and how it integrates with the settlement agreement.
  • 05:50:30
    There is some additional capacity that that deputy will bring and to Councilmember Wonsley's point we don't get to define the detail you know of workload of any given member within the department but the idea here is by having that deputy we we have that much more capacity in the department to take on
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:50:49
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Palmisano followed by Councilmember Vitale.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:51:00
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 05:51:01
    I have a question for the Commissioner.
  • 05:51:03
    I'm curious, is this amendment consistent with the work that Director Harrington is already doing?
  • 05:51:10
    I think that the goal of this, what I heard in committee during somebody's presentation, was that Director Harrington wanted subject matter experts, not a regular
  • 05:51:22
    Citizenry appointment process.
  • 05:51:25
    I don't believe that the safe and thriving communities report calls for an appointed work group But I think they do call for a work group commissioner Commissioner what say you?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:51:40
    Chuck tie councilmember pomosano
  • 05:51:46
    and I don't know, I think Director Harrington has reported out about this work group.
  • 05:51:54
    This is something that she had been working on, something that we talked about.
  • 05:51:59
    I knew in our conversations that there would be questions about
  • 05:52:07
    funding or how we would fund a work group.
  • 05:52:11
    And so we looked at and secured some philanthropic dollars for a work group.
  • 05:52:21
    It was my view that the work group be apolitical, I guess, not go through an appointment process.
  • 05:52:35
    I agree with Council Member Wonsley that the Safe and Thriving Community Report calls for a work group.
  • 05:52:42
    I think we both are on the same page as how this work group should, their responsibilities and duties.
  • 05:52:51
    I think we just disagree about
  • 05:52:55
    how this work group is probably formed and she can speak about it.
  • 05:53:00
    We've had conversations and she can talk about where that disagreement is but Director Harrington has worked on it and at the end of the day I just don't think we should have two work groups in this area.
  • 05:53:18
    It's possible that we could but I'll just leave it there.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:53:26
    I would invite Council Member Wansley to respond about that discrepancy if she wishes.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:53:34
    I apologize, Council Member Palmisano, I did not hear your question.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:53:39
    I said I would invite Council Member Wansley to respond if she wishes to what that discrepancy is.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:53:46
    I'd like to say a few things too.
  • 05:53:48
    No, we're on Council Member Palmisano's time, so we'll have Council Member Wansley address the question.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 05:53:58
    Yes, as Commissioner Barnett noted, and I've had this conversation with Director Harrington,
  • 05:54:04
    More than where there is disagreement is more than many times we've had this conversation about how there's a disconnect between the Safe and Thriving Communities report and plan and our constituents and their understanding of it and how many council members would love to see our constituents be part of the process and supporting the implementation and we already have a process that allows us to do that and it's called our ABC process.
  • 05:54:32
    So
  • 05:54:33
    As indicated in the Safe and Thriving Communities report which does state we should establish a community safety advisory group and I had a community safety meeting in which Director Harrington attended herself and heard my constituents say they want to see this happen and want to see ABC process essentially unfold.
  • 05:54:53
    I brought this proposal forward because my constituents want to see essentially a work group be established and that can happen through our traditional ABC process.
  • 05:55:02
    What I do also know, and I shared this again with Commissioner Barnett and also Director Harrington, the administration knows they can convene work groups at their discretion.
  • 05:55:10
    If you have the resources, you are more than willing to do that.
  • 05:55:14
    I also do know, too, the administration does have a very troubling record of establishing work groups around off duty, around, what was the other one, community safety work group, and they often have broken trust.
  • 05:55:27
    They don't have transparency, and it has led to
  • 05:55:30
    more harm than it has good.
  • 05:55:32
    So I didn't want to be part of replicating that process, especially knowing that the process that Director Harrington has proposed is essentially allowing the department to select who will be a part of this community advisory board.
  • 05:55:46
    So I absolutely do not support that proposal.
  • 05:55:49
    As you mentioned, there is basically alignment on every other component about our respective proposals except the
  • 05:55:55
    So essentially I said I'm going to bring my eyes through the ABC process and let the body decide around the opportunity for us to allow our constituents to be part of shaping this model of public safety that we know is a top priority for them.
  • 05:56:12
    and I would encourage my colleagues to support that process.
  • 05:56:16
    But that is only the line of disagreement because I don't want to see less transparency around this component of public safety that we already know is important to our residents.
  • 05:56:28
    But with that, I do believe my co-author wanted to share some comments.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:56:33
    I really apologize, Council Member Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 05:56:40
    Thank you.
  • 05:56:42
    So I'm also an author of this and just really proud of the work that Councilman Wansi has been doing to lead on this effort on the City Council and her work on this too.
  • 05:56:51
    The reality is that we don't have an appointed board of commission that is related to this particular work in the city of Minneapolis.
  • 05:56:58
    And creating this work group will allow all residents in the city who are passionate about addressing this work to be able to have a voice and to be able to go through a public process where we can follow what is happening with this work group.
  • 05:57:09
    I want to remind my colleagues that the mayor established a community safety work group and the last thing I want here is for something to be shoved
  • 05:57:17
    back in the bookshelf and not being touched again and recommendations not being implemented.
  • 05:57:21
    So I think it's important that we allow a formal council legislative process to move forward with establishing this workgroup and I think this funding right here is a perfect way to get that started.
  • 05:57:31
    But I think it's important that we do this to the public legislative process to make sure that these things don't get put in the back shelf.
  • 05:57:37
    Thank you.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 05:57:41
    And there we have it, the questions that I had out into the world.
  • 05:57:46
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:57:47
    Wonderful, thank you.
  • 05:57:49
    And then, lasting, alright, that's perfect.
  • 05:57:54
    With that, I am not seeing any further questions or discussions in queue, so...
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:58:01
    Chair, could I just say one thing?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 05:58:03
    Chair Wonsley was responding to a question from Council Member Palmisano.
  • 05:58:12
    Council Member Palmisano's time has expired.
  • 05:58:16
    Thank you very, very much.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:58:17
    but it makes the assumption that we want and be transparent and that's not true and not only that chair no I'm just I'm saying not only that we know I mean it we've clearly stated that we would let the community be a part of this.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 05:58:38
    I got myself into queue so I could offer some time for the Commissioner to make his statement.
  • 05:58:52
    I think there's a shared goal here.
  • 05:58:54
    for me especially and everyone on our body alongside you for transparency.
  • 05:59:00
    I think we might have some different approaches, but I understand that you have a goal of transparency.
  • 05:59:06
    That's, I assume that's a huge reason why you took on this role, so please go ahead.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 05:59:12
    So Chair Chuktai, no disrespect to you or this process.
  • 05:59:18
    Thank you, Council Member Chaudhuri.
  • 05:59:22
    I understand the history.
  • 05:59:26
    I really do.
  • 05:59:27
    I understand the history in the city.
  • 05:59:29
    I understand that folks have experiences where there's no trust.
  • 05:59:37
    I really do hope that the access that this body has had to Amanda Harrington shows how we want to operate.
  • 05:59:52
    Many of you have asked me questions in which I've gave you direct access to the person doing the job.
  • 06:00:00
    Not to hear it third hand.
  • 06:00:03
    When we were going through this budget process several times, I was like, talk to Director Anderson on it.
  • 06:00:12
    That you would get that information for yourselves.
  • 06:00:15
    You wouldn't hear it filtered through me.
  • 06:00:19
    Council Member Wansi and I disagree on just the formation of the body.
  • 06:00:25
    Everything else we agree on.
  • 06:00:28
    The only point that I was trying to make is that
  • 06:00:31
    When Director Amanda Harrington and I were talking, the community would have input and be a part of that selection process on who would be a part of this body.
  • 06:00:43
    We went out and worked hard to get funding for a work group separate from taking money from the city.
  • 06:00:51
    I mean we went and got philanthropic dollars for this.
  • 06:00:56
    to show that we were very intentional on how important this group would be because we know that we ask people to volunteer their time, we know that we want people with lived experiences on this group, and we wanted to be able to compensate them as much as we could.
  • 06:01:14
    So thank you, thank you very much for that.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 06:01:16
    And I'll just close by saying I'm excited to be supporting this amendment.
  • 06:01:20
    I think, for me, what feels really important is when you have an advisory board and a work group like this, there's a bit of ensuring that there is
  • 06:01:35
    that the work of that work group and the people that are on it remain in the public eye and like there is this mention of wanting it to be apolitical.
  • 06:01:42
    I don't see our housing advisory group, our advisory group on aging, folks that we select from the committee or from the community onto these boards as
  • 06:01:55
    necessarily political I see as ways for individuals in our community who are interested in the work that departments get to interview as capacity builders and I don't necessarily think the vision here is in conflict but I think this approach is a smart and wise approach just given the history.
  • 06:02:16
    We can't erase the fact that the history has existed around work groups that were formed in a similar fashion and
  • 06:02:22
    I think it's wise to learn from that.
  • 06:02:25
    So I'll just close with that, excited to support this today.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:02:31
    Thank you, and finally I will recognize Councilmember Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:02:36
    Thank you.
  • 06:02:37
    Actually, I wasn't sure also Vice President Chuktai if you were going to ask this question because I did want to get that follow up too if there was gifted money.
  • 06:02:45
    I know there's often a process around reporting those dollars that other departments have if you've also went through that process.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:02:55
    Commissioner, welcome back.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:02:56
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 06:03:00
    Council Member Watson, can you repeat your question?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:03:02
    Have you went through the process?
  • 06:03:04
    I know at least it hasn't come through AO or any other like council committee, but typically if you have received philanthropic dollars, it does have to go through a process of approval as we've had a issue with departments receiving philanthropic dollars and those not being appropriately reported.
  • 06:03:22
    So have you gone through the
  • 06:03:24
    for those philanthropic dollars.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:03:27
    Chair Chuck Tye, Council Member Wonsley, we have a commitment to do that from the organization.
  • 06:03:36
    No, we haven't gone through, we haven't received any money.
  • 06:03:39
    I'm just going to make sure that's clear to you.
  • 06:03:41
    We haven't received any money.
  • 06:03:43
    What we did was we talked about this work group.
  • 06:03:46
    We know we're working with you.
  • 06:03:48
    We put it on pause because we didn't know what the end result was going to be.
  • 06:03:53
    So we have not gone for it with anything.
  • 06:03:56
    as far as the work group at all because we didn't know where we were going to land because of our disagreement.
  • 06:04:04
    So we didn't bring it forward and things like that.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:04:07
    So another question about the work group in terms of the funder, the philanthropic funder, is there essentially right now on the table a verbal commitment to fund you all's proposal?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:04:17
    I believe that we have identified that person.
  • 06:04:21
    I would have to talk to Director Harrington to say definitively yes, but my understanding is there's a group that's willing to fund this work group.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:04:33
    Okay because I know you said that in the administrative response that essentially the money seemed like it was already secured so I just want to make sure we have clarity around those things because if it is secure there should be reporting and just making sure there's clarity on that but thank you.
  • 06:04:49
    It sounds like you need to do some follow-up on that and that might be a staff memo or so but thank you.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:04:56
    What follow-up would you like Councilmember Wonsley?
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:04:59
    It seems like it was still unclear of
  • 06:05:02
    if there was an actual verbal commitment or a documented commitment from this philanthropic partner.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:05:09
    Okay.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 06:05:10
    Thank you.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:05:11
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:05:13
    Alright, next I'll recognize Vice Chair Kowski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 06:05:15
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 06:05:17
    Just a follow-up question on that.
  • 06:05:19
    And maybe it's part of the memo here as well.
  • 06:05:23
    I am just curious if you were sourcing ongoing funding or if it was just, do you know if it was just a one-time
  • 06:05:31
    funding source, this is a one-time funding source for your work group?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:05:38
    I know that my understanding from talk to Director Harrington, the funding would last as long as the work group was there, but I would have to verify that.
  • 06:05:53
    Okay.
  • 06:05:53
    I know that that funding does affect our office and it's in the memo how it does that.
• • Emily Koski
  • 06:06:00
    Okay, so the funding that you are looking to source would be enough for the entirety life of the work group?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:06:08
    I believe so, yes.
• • Emily Koski
  • 06:06:09
    And then, just to clarify to the authors, this is funding for one year, correct?
  • 06:06:16
    Of stipend?
  • 06:06:19
    Oh, it is ongoing.
  • 06:06:20
    It's ongoing as indicated in the motion.
  • 06:06:22
    Oh, I see.
  • 06:06:22
    Thank you so much.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:06:22
    I got it.
  • 06:06:23
    Got it here.
  • 06:06:24
    Perfect.
  • 06:06:24
    Thank you so much.
  • 06:06:25
    Thank you.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 06:06:25
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:06:26
    I'm not seeing anyone else in queue, so with that, Mr.
  • 06:06:33
    Clerk, will you call the roll on Amendment Number 10?
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 06:06:35
    Council Member Payne?
  • 06:06:37
    Aye.
  • 06:06:37
    Wonsley?
  • 06:06:38
    Aye.
  • 06:06:39
    Rainville?
  • 06:06:42
    Is absent.
  • 06:06:43
    Vitton?
  • 06:06:44
    No.
  • 06:06:46
    Ellison?
  • 06:06:47
    Aye.
  • 06:06:48
    Osman?
• • Jamal Osman
  • 06:06:49
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 06:06:50
    Cashman?
  • 06:06:51
    No.
  • 06:06:53
    Chavez?
  • 06:06:54
    Aye.
  • 06:06:55
    Chowdhury?
• • 06:06:56
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_13
  • 06:06:57
    Palmisano, No Vice Chair Koski, No
  • 06:07:02
    Chair Chuktai?
  • 06:07:03
    Aye.
  • 06:07:04
    There's seven ayes and four nays.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 06:07:07
    That motion carries.
  • 06:07:09
    With that colleagues it is 4 10 p.m. so I am going to adjourn this we're gonna pause here tonight with this with this packet and if there is no objection I will adjourn today's meeting and we will reconvene on Monday December 9th at 10 a.m. in these chambers to continue our work on the 2025 city budget.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 06:07:32
    Thank you all.