Budget Committee October 02, 2023   10/2/2023

Discussion

• • Emily Koski
  • 00:00:37
    Good morning, everyone.
  • 00:00:38
    My name is Emily Koski and I'm the chair of the Budget Committee.
  • 00:00:41
    I'm going to call to order a regular committee meeting for Monday, October 2nd.
  • 00:00:45
    At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll to verify the presence of quorum.
• • SPEAKER_11
  • 00:00:49
    Councilmember Payne.
  • 00:00:50
    Present.
  • 00:00:51
    Wonsley.
  • 00:00:52
    Present.
  • 00:00:53
    Rainville.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:00:54
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_11
  • 00:00:55
    Vita.
  • 00:00:55
    Present.
  • 00:00:56
    Ellison.
  • 00:00:58
    Absent.
  • 00:00:58
    Osmond.
  • 00:01:00
    Absent.
  • 00:01:01
    Goodman.
  • 00:01:01
    Present.
  • 00:01:02
    President Jenkins.
  • 00:01:04
    Absent.
  • 00:01:05
    Chavez.
• • Patrick Hanlon
  • 00:01:06
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_11
  • 00:01:07
    Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:01:20
    Today we will continue hearing presentations from city departments on the Mayor's 2024 recommended budget.
  • 00:01:26
    On the agenda today is the Convention Center, the Health Department, and the Youth Coordinating Board.
  • 00:01:31
    We will begin with a presentation from the Convention Center.
  • 00:01:34
    Here to present is General Manager Jeff Johnson.
  • 00:01:37
    Welcome.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:01:39
    Thank you.
  • 00:01:41
    Appreciate it.
  • 00:01:42
    Budget Committee Chair Koski and committee members.
  • 00:01:44
    Again, my name is Jeff Johnson, General Manager of the Minneapolis Convention Center.
  • 00:01:48
    I also want to point out who we have in the room here today.
  • 00:01:51
    So Chris Hunjis, also from the Convention Center, our Director of Business Services, and Chris puts all of the budget together.
  • 00:01:57
    So she works with Finance and Property Services, so she may not be here in the limelight, but we really appreciate all that she does to make sure that this is great.
  • 00:02:06
    and then from Meet Minneapolis, we have our partners here, our President and CEO Melvin Tennant, Sandy Christensen, Charlie Carlson and Courtney Reese.
  • 00:02:15
    So just appreciate all of their support.
  • 00:02:18
    So again, I'm here today to present their mayor's recommended budget for the downtown assets budget.
  • 00:02:23
    The downtown assets fund includes the Convention Center, Target Center and PV Plaza.
  • 00:02:30
    The major funding source for this fund is the sales use taxes that are enacted by the state of Minnesota to pay for hospitality assets in Minneapolis.
  • 00:02:40
    Those taxes are a .5% sales tax, 3% lodging tax, 3% restaurant tax, and a 3% liquor tax.
  • 00:02:50
    Additionally, a 3% entertainment tax is collected on all live event tickets and is housed in this fund.
  • 00:03:00
    This slide shows our organization chart.
  • 00:03:03
    We currently have 163.59 FTEs within our department.
  • 00:03:10
    We have some great achievements this year that I'd like to share with you.
  • 00:03:13
    I know that we've been talking over the last two years and really been focused on recovery and I'm happy to report that our revenues both in the sales use taxes and in the event fees we collect were stronger than anticipated.
  • 00:03:28
    but as we will find out, expenses have also followed that same upward path.
  • 00:03:34
    Public safety in Minneapolis has been a topic of concern that we have been working on with our clients and typically our clients feel safe at MCC but this year we saw a substantial increase in their safety rating for the rest of Minneapolis and this is a huge achievement for our community.
  • 00:03:53
    People are feeling better, feeling more safe coming to Minneapolis.
  • 00:03:57
    Our sustainability programs are efficient and substantial, and there's going to be a lot of success stories around sustainability in the next few slides.
  • 00:04:07
    But our best success story is our people.
  • 00:04:10
    We've had significant turnover in the last few years from our staff, but we've been able to maintain our strong culture and grow with the new energy that new employees bring to our organization.
  • 00:04:23
    and then our partners at Meet Minneapolis are going to spend just a little bit of time talking about how we've been using the ARPA funding that we received and some of the programs that they have put in place, which will really bring positive impacts for years to come.
  • 00:04:40
    But with all of those achievements and positive things, there are some risks that we are watching and they continue to challenge our recovery.
  • 00:04:49
    Although staffing issues and recruitment have improved, the part-time frontline worker remains the most difficult employee for us to hire.
  • 00:04:57
    The hiring process at the City is long, and we have found that prospective employees don't wait around for opportunities.
  • 00:05:04
    We must refill our part-time staff positions this year.
  • 00:05:09
    We lost a lot of institutional knowledge over the last three years and getting that new staff onboarded and up to speed has been a really major focus of 2023 and we hope to see the fruits of that in 2024.
  • 00:05:20
    Inflation as it has hit the nation has also hit us hard, especially in our fixed costs and then in our repair and maintenance costs as we will outline in a few slides.
  • 00:05:31
    As our expenses increase, it is also very difficult for us to raise our rates quickly due to the long-term contracts that we have signed and the intense competition for business around the country.
  • 00:05:43
    Many cities are using events as a way to bring vitality back to their downtown core and are heavily discounting rates with outside funding like ARPA and other state grants.
  • 00:05:55
    Another risk that we see is a weak recovery for corporate events as they try to figure out a work-from-home culture and how that relates to their meetings.
  • 00:06:05
    From a competitive standpoint, our facility must continue to remain excellent.
  • 00:06:09
    We have a wonderful facility today, but we need to start planning for a facility that works five-plus years into the future.
  • 00:06:17
    Investment is critical.
  • 00:06:19
    Protecting the downtown assets funding is also critical to continuing the vibrancy that events bring to our city.
  • 00:06:26
    And we don't just sell the convention center to our clients.
  • 00:06:29
    We work with Meet Minneapolis to sell our entire city and our community as a destination.
  • 00:06:35
    A vibrant city with great amenities and activity is needed to continue to produce those sales and use taxes that support investment in hospitality.
  • 00:06:48
    So this shows our FTE count.
  • 00:06:50
    We hold about 10 less FTEs than we did in 2019.
  • 00:06:54
    We've become a smaller organization and in some ways that's helped us counteract some of the overall expense increases.
  • 00:07:03
    But we know this graph also shows that we have 39.7 vacancies.
  • 00:07:09
    We're currently in the hiring process for all of those vacancies and that has been a focus for us.
  • 00:07:14
    The majority of those vacancies are what I mentioned before, that part-time staff that we're trying to rehire.
  • 00:07:20
    Thankfully, we've had a little more success with our recruiting and hiring in the last three months, but this is still really an area of concern as our current staff is amazing and they're doing great work, but they're feeling overwhelmed at times as we get busier going forward.
  • 00:07:38
    So let's get into the details of our different programs and lay those out.
  • 00:07:43
    So our priorities remain, first to attract events to our city that drive revenue to the convention center, but we also want to attract events because they create jobs for our residents, they generate taxes for the city and the downtown assets fund, and they provide economic impact and direct revenue for local businesses and residents.
  • 00:08:05
    We do this all as the face of Minneapolis by providing a workforce that represents the community that we serve.
  • 00:08:16
    The MCC events program includes funding for all the components that serve our clients, including Meet Minneapolis.
  • 00:08:24
    The mayor's recommended budget is slightly higher than our projected amount, but this is due to a positive result.
  • 00:08:30
    We are projecting a 15% increase in our revenues.
  • 00:08:34
    As we receive more activity and revenues, our expenses also increase, and that's why this is increasing slightly.
  • 00:08:41
    But you can see that the majority of our FTEs are included in the events program and have direct support to our clients and the needs of our clients.
  • 00:08:52
    These graphs give you a visual of our recovery.
  • 00:08:54
    Two years ago, we predicted that we would be fully recovered by 2025.
  • 00:08:58
    We are still on that pathway and feel confident that we will achieve that prediction.
  • 00:09:04
    Achieving recovery, well, what does that mean?
  • 00:09:06
    That means that if you look on the total occupancy, if we were around 60% for total occupancy, and then if you look at our total operating revenue, if we get to about $20 million in total operating revenue, that would be where we would say that we're back to the numbers that we need to be at and are recovered
  • 00:09:29
    Sometimes your past clients can be your best advocates, so we ask our clients how likely they would be to recommend both the Convention Center and Minneapolis as a destination for events to their peers.
  • 00:09:42
    You can see that both are very, very strong responses, with the Convention Center receiving stronger recommendations than the city.
  • 00:09:49
    We should pay attention to this issue because as I stated before, our clients not only need a good convention center, but they also need a city that has the amenities that support their attendees' desires.
  • 00:10:04
    The staff at the Convention Center is empowered to be the best.
  • 00:10:07
    We survey our clients to determine if they had a problem during their event.
  • 00:10:11
    You can see that out of the surveys we received, only 13 problems were recorded.
  • 00:10:17
    We host over 300 events, and each event includes millions of details.
  • 00:10:23
    We know that perfection is not attainable and so we want to make sure and want to know that our staff is able to react and resolve problems that happen during the course of an event.
  • 00:10:33
    We have a goal of a 66% resolution rate and we are on track to attain that goal which we believe shows that our staff builds relationships with our clients and uses their talents to deliver that superior service.
  • 00:10:50
    This slide shows some of the ways that our activity affects the city.
  • 00:10:53
    On the left is the downtown assets sales use taxes.
  • 00:10:57
    As you remember, these taxes are collected by the state and the state allows the city to use these resources to pay for our hospitality assets.
  • 00:11:06
    These taxes were decimated during the pandemic, but are recovering faster than we originally projected.
  • 00:11:12
    While this is great news, we will never recover the $40 million in tax revenue we lost during the pandemic.
  • 00:11:19
    While the downtown asset taxes are recovering, we also know that there is growing pressure on our fund to pay for additional expenses with added obligations that are fixed to those fund dollars.
  • 00:11:32
    If we want to continue to drive a recovery in hospitality jobs, downtown vitality, and direct revenues, we need to plan for continued investment using these resources for our hospitality infrastructure.
  • 00:11:47
    I have talked about being the face of Minneapolis at the Convention Center and we continue to represent our community with a majority of our staff being BIPOC.
  • 00:11:57
    As our recruitment situation improves, we will remain intentional on how we staff our department.
  • 00:12:05
    So now I'd like to take a little break from me and call up Melvin Tennant to talk a little bit about some of the programs that we have been putting in place that have been how we are spending our ARPA dollars.
  • 00:12:16
    Thank you, Melvin.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:12:19
    Good morning.
  • 00:12:21
    Melvin Tennant with Meet Minneapolis.
  • 00:12:23
    Welcome.
  • 00:12:23
    Thank you.
  • 00:12:24
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 00:12:25
    Well, as Jeff said, we want to tell you a little bit about the investment that we really thank you for of ARPA dollars to help expedite the recovery of our hospitality industry.
  • 00:12:37
    And as you can see, the
  • 00:12:39
    The case study we want to share with you is about Connect Marketplace.
  • 00:12:43
    And Connect Marketplace is an industry event that brings together buyers and sellers of meeting and event services for the purposes of facilitating those meetings.
  • 00:12:53
    And we attend a number of these types of events annually to get leads and ultimately bookings for the convention center and for other venues.
  • 00:13:02
    So as you can see, it took place August 24th, 22 through 24.
  • 00:13:08
    at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
  • 00:13:10
    And it got significant amount of local press, first of all, but I'm happy to share with you some of the results.
  • 00:13:19
    So as you can see, one of the big, very positive stories is that 44% of those attendees had never been here before.
  • 00:13:26
    And that's very important for us to really establish ourselves into new markets and to really have opportunities to gain business into the future.
  • 00:13:36
    representatives from all 50 states, as you can see there, that's very exciting.
  • 00:13:40
    And the one thing I wanted to point out to you is that on the far right you see, why weren't you with us in Minneapolis?
  • 00:13:49
    This was a survey done of individuals that did not come to this event.
  • 00:13:55
    24% said destination concerns.
  • 00:13:59
    Many of those concerns were based on perceptions that they had about public safety in general, but one of the positive things is that you'll see later that those that came here have changed their opinions about the destination.
  • 00:14:14
    So this is an interesting way to demonstrate how well this event did for us.
  • 00:14:20
    Before the sports planners had those five words, Cold Vikings Prince Twins Mall, before they came here.
  • 00:14:29
    Afterwards, fun, hot, clean, friendly, and accessible.
  • 00:14:33
    I thought that was really indicative of the positive experience those individuals had here.
  • 00:14:39
    and of the meeting planners themselves as you can see many of the same words but afterwards Prince, Friendly, Walkable, Clean and Lakes and one of the reasons why Prince appeared on the list is that we did have a Prince themed opening reception for this event at Peavey Plaza and Orchestra Hall
  • 00:14:59
    This is really important for future business development.
  • 00:15:02
    How likely are you to send an RFP, a request for proposal, to Minneapolis on a scale from one to five?
  • 00:15:08
    And you can see how by a third an increase, the sports planners are more likely to want to do business with us than before.
  • 00:15:18
    meeting planners, a very similar number.
  • 00:15:20
    So very positive in the way in which those meeting planners now perceive us.
  • 00:15:26
    So very good news for future business development for us.
  • 00:15:32
    And just quickly, just some scenes from the Convention Center.
  • 00:15:35
    The staff at the Convention Center did a wonderful, wonderful job of welcoming our over 3,000 attendees to this conference.
  • 00:15:44
    And as you can see, it shows the versatility of our Convention Center.
  • 00:15:49
    Connect Marketplace was a huge success and again we just want to thank you for that investment.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:16:01
    Great.
  • 00:16:01
    Thank you, Melvin.
  • 00:16:03
    And I think what we'll be doing is we'll be coming back as those RFPs turn into actual bookings.
  • 00:16:08
    We'll be keeping track of that and be able to come back and talk about a return on investment in dollars.
  • 00:16:14
    But that will take a few years and some tracking because these leads sometimes are for several years out into the future.
  • 00:16:22
    So we're going to transition a little bit away from sort of the event part of our budget into the facility part of our budget through our facilities program.
  • 00:16:31
    This covers all of the costs associated with operating and maintaining the physical building and grounds of the convention center.
  • 00:16:40
    As mentioned previously, inflation and increased activity has increased our expense budget.
  • 00:16:45
    If you remember from an earlier slide, we are projecting about a $2.5 million increase in revenue.
  • 00:16:52
    Well, that is offset by a $2.5 million increase in our expenses.
  • 00:16:59
    Our main areas of increase are the internal city fees that we pay, which has increased almost $1 million.
  • 00:17:06
    Additionally, we do take out insurance on the convention center.
  • 00:17:10
    It is not a part of the self insurance part of the city.
  • 00:17:13
    And as you know, the insurance market right now in our country is very volatile and that caused a large increase in our premium.
  • 00:17:21
    Our construction costs are also increasing, mostly because many of those projects that we are doing now were actually deferred during the pandemic and so the estimates that we had were from 2018-2019 and we're finding that those estimates and costs have raised significantly.
  • 00:17:40
    And finally, I know that we all probably feel this in our homes, but utility costs have also increased substantially.
  • 00:17:46
    And then as we get busier, obviously, we're using more of those utilities, utilities.
  • 00:17:52
    And we know that the harshness of our summers and our winters has increased.
  • 00:17:57
    We talked about
  • 00:17:59
    the Connect Marketplace and you saw how it changed from their perception of being cold to hot.
  • 00:18:05
    Well, the day that we hosted that outdoor event on PV Plaza, it was 98 or 99 degrees.
  • 00:18:12
    So we did that on purpose, I guess.
  • 00:18:17
    So we put a lot of pride and effort into maintaining our facility in both the efficiency projects that we do, but also those competitive projects.
  • 00:18:26
    So this slide shows what are the perceptions are of our clients and though
  • 00:18:32
    Most of our efforts, our clients really appreciate.
  • 00:18:35
    We're finding that maybe they're not as wowed with our facility when they compare it to the competition.
  • 00:18:41
    So again, this is another thing that we want to make sure that we have the amenities and we have everything that we need in our facility so that people still want to and clients still want to come to the Convention Center.
  • 00:18:53
    So I want to talk a little bit about sustainability, because when we talk about sustainability at the Convention Center, it's not just an activity that we do, it's really just another way that we make a positive impact on our community.
  • 00:19:07
    And many of our investments that we have done over the last decade have been focused on using our resources responsibly, and preparing for the effects of climate change that are now impacting our expense lines.
  • 00:19:20
    We focused on three things, and that is reducing our energy usage, reducing our water usage, and then recycling.
  • 00:19:27
    So we have reduced our energy usage by 17% since 2011, with electricity being a major driver in this reduction.
  • 00:19:36
    A 33% reduction in electricity usage is tied directly to many of the lighting projects that we have completed and you have approved, and that has saved us over $4.8 million in electrical expenses.
  • 00:19:54
    Through our efforts, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 67% since 2011 and we know that our 2023 numbers will look even better because we partnered with our sustainability department when our district energy contract came up and we leveraged that to make sure that our provider of district energy would change the way that they
  • 00:20:21
    brought forth their chilled water production.
  • 00:20:23
    So now they use offsets for renewable energy for the production of chilled water.
  • 00:20:29
    Now, not only did this help the convention center, but it also forced them to do that for the entire downtown area that they serve.
  • 00:20:38
    And so all of the buildings downtown that are on this district energy will now be receiving offsetted, sustainably sourced chilled water going forward.
  • 00:20:49
    So we're very proud of that work.
  • 00:20:51
    Water is also a precious resource and we have reduced our usage by 58% since 2011, which has led to a $283,000 cost savings.
  • 00:21:05
    Recycling is also important.
  • 00:21:07
    We consistently recycle at a high rate.
  • 00:21:09
    One of the new additions that we have that we've really put into place this year is our green team.
  • 00:21:14
    So this consists of staff members who interact with exhibitors while they are moving into our facility and leaving our facility to help them understand our process and get their materials in the correct waste or donation stream.
  • 00:21:30
    So I'm going to transition again and we're going to talk about the Target Center program.
  • 00:21:35
    As you know, the Target Center is owned by the city and managed by ASM Global.
  • 00:21:41
    We pay for an operator reimbursement, our debt payment, and repair and maintenance projects.
  • 00:21:48
    Target Center continues to drive people to visit Minneapolis.
  • 00:21:52
    Here are a few fun facts.
  • 00:21:54
    The recent Zach Bryan concert drew almost 20,000 fans to Minneapolis.
  • 00:22:01
    Now 77% of those ticket buyers were from Minnesota, but only 4% were from Minneapolis.
  • 00:22:09
    So these attendees were coming in from outside areas and spending money in our city.
  • 00:22:15
    And we know that many of these attendees were from outstate Minnesota, which has more negative perceptions of our city.
  • 00:22:23
    So positive experiences like this concert can change perceptions and lead to more visits into Minneapolis.
  • 00:22:32
    Target Center has also focused on diverse programming.
  • 00:22:35
    Latin music events have a 300% year-over-year increase and have been very, very well received this year.
  • 00:22:43
    And as we look forward to 2024, we look forward to some really significant events.
  • 00:22:50
    First is the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials and the Big Ten men's and women's basketball tournament.
  • 00:22:58
    We measure our effectiveness of completing our repair and maintenance projects at the Target Center.
  • 00:23:04
    The schedule of events at Target Center makes it very difficult to get projects done, but we have made great strides this year with a lot of projects in the works and out to bid.
  • 00:23:15
    By year end, this percentage should increase quite significantly as we have a lot of those projects that are in the bid stage right now.
  • 00:23:24
    PV Plaza also falls within the Downtown Assets Fund and we currently partner with Green Minneapolis to manage this great Minneapolis amenity.
  • 00:23:34
    In 2023, we focused heavily on bringing activity to PV Plaza to help create positive energy in Minneapolis.
  • 00:23:41
    We doubled the number of events and substantially improved the number of people attending those events.
  • 00:23:47
    2024 will see a new contract term and a new partner in the DID as Green Minneapolis has changed their focus away from managing outdoor spaces to climate resiliency activity.
  • 00:24:01
    So we don't have any administrative adjustments or transfers, but just wanted to call that out.
  • 00:24:08
    And that really ends my formal presentation.
  • 00:24:12
    And so I will stand for any questions that you may have.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:24:19
    Council Member Rainville.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 00:24:21
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:24:22
    Director Johnson, thank you for this excellent presentation.
  • 00:24:25
    It's very easy to understand.
  • 00:24:27
    And I do want to compliment you and all the staff here today
  • 00:24:32
    about the way you've reactivated downtown Minneapolis with events.
  • 00:24:36
    So the Green Minneapolis, I've gotten a lot of compliments about what's going on at PV Plaza.
  • 00:24:41
    I really appreciate your Zach Brown analysis of the tickets that so many people come from out state to enjoy downtown.
  • 00:24:51
    And that's what's working so well to create the jobs.
  • 00:24:54
    But I do have one question.
  • 00:24:57
    you've boosted the jobs from a great downturn up to about 26,000 people.
  • 00:25:06
    And at one time you had a pretty good handle on how many of those were actually Minneapolis residents.
  • 00:25:11
    Is there any stats?
  • 00:25:13
    I see people nodding.
  • 00:25:15
    Just for the audience, how many people who work in the hospitality industry actually live in Minneapolis?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:25:23
    Chair Koski, Council Member Rainville, thank you.
  • 00:25:25
    I'm going to turn because I think they have the research.
  • 00:25:28
    Do you know the exact number?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:25:34
    Chair Koski, Council Member Rainville, the numbers I believe that Jeff did indicate are from DEED, specifically Minneapolis residents in the hospitality industry.
  • 00:25:44
    Prior to the pandemic, that number was just under 36,000.
  • 00:25:49
    and as you know, during the pandemic, we plummeted to around 24,000 and now we're back up to 30.
  • 00:25:55
    Those are from Deed Minneapolis residents.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 00:25:58
    That's excellent.
  • 00:25:59
    Thank you so much.
  • 00:26:00
    That's a great report.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:26:05
    We have a few more questions in queue, so Councilmember Wonsley.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 00:26:09
    Thank you, Chair Akoski.
  • 00:26:11
    Just had a question regarding compensation for part-time employees or that you're looking to see.
  • 00:26:19
    Can you share kind of an estimate of what the hourly compensation is for part-time roles?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:26:25
    Chair Koski, Councilmember Wonsley, obviously there are a lot of part-time staff members, generally around $20 an hour, many that we have had to raise to make sure that we're still competitive.
  • 00:26:38
    Some I believe are a little bit under that, probably in the $17, $18 range, but generally no one below that $18, $17, $18 range, and most in that $20 range.
  • 00:26:52
    Awesome, thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:26:55
    Councilmember Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:26:56
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:26:58
    Yeah.
  • 00:26:59
    My question is kind of around market trends.
  • 00:27:02
    Obviously, the pandemic collapsed the demand for gathering, but I'm kind of recognizing a trend with working from home and hybrid work of maybe not as frequent gathering of employees, but larger events, but not at the scale of a conference.
  • 00:27:21
    And I'm curious, are you seeing that trend
  • 00:27:25
    Chair Koski, Council Member Payne,
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:27:44
    I think what we're seeing is the national conventions are coming back strong.
  • 00:27:50
    People want to get back together again and especially when it is for something that either their career surrounds or that is something that is a passion of their heart.
  • 00:28:02
    And so those national conventions have really performed at a very, very strong return.
  • 00:28:10
    And as I mentioned in my report, where we're seeing some struggles is the corporate market.
  • 00:28:15
    And the corporate market traditionally has held some really great big events.
  • 00:28:20
    and I say this in the backdrop of September being an amazing corporate market month for us.
  • 00:28:25
    We had partners from Target, partners from Aveda host very very large events in the convention center and so kudos to them for investing in events in Minneapolis but from a general standpoint looking at the past year we're seeing that that corporate market is still trying to figure out what
  • 00:28:44
    the event world and meeting world is in that work from home status.
  • 00:28:50
    Some corporate groups are using us as a place to bring people from wherever they're at together for some nice meetings and we're able to accommodate those meetings.
  • 00:29:02
    In our space being a little bit larger does help because the corporate
  • 00:29:07
    Corporations are downsizing to the amount of space that they have at their home bases.
  • 00:29:13
    And so we think that that is going to be a positive, but it just hasn't really kicked in yet.
  • 00:29:19
    And we're hoping for it to kick in here in the coming months and years.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:29:24
    Are we potentially losing some of that business to some of the hotels that do have event spaces that aren't nearly the scale of the Convention Center, but maybe fitting those smaller, medium-sized gatherings?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:29:37
    Chair Koski, Council Member Payne, I wouldn't call it losing because it's all positive.
  • 00:29:43
    It's all bringing people to Minneapolis.
  • 00:29:47
    I don't
  • 00:29:48
    In my mind, I don't think that it's a substantial competition where we're fighting the hotels right now.
  • 00:29:55
    The hotels are very busy.
  • 00:29:57
    The hotels are using their event space and that's great and that's wonderful and we need that because we need strong hotels in Minneapolis.
  • 00:30:05
    That's part of the amenities that I talked about.
  • 00:30:07
    If our hotels are not strong, if our hotels are not making money, if our hotels are not investing
  • 00:30:12
    in their meeting space and in their rooms.
  • 00:30:15
    That is a very strong touch point for all of our attendees.
  • 00:30:19
    If your room is not nice, you're probably not going to like your visit here.
  • 00:30:24
    And so I don't see that as a competition, and I don't feel that it's negatively impacting us.
  • 00:30:30
    We're at a different level, we're bigger, and we attract different types of events.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:30:37
    Next, Councilmember Goodman.
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:30:39
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:30:40
    Great presentation.
  • 00:30:42
    As always, you guys are really prepared and do a great job because your business is about data, ultimately, and return on investment.
  • 00:30:50
    I'm really proud to say you guys have done a great job for us bringing the city back.
  • 00:30:55
    I want to get to Councilmember Wansley's question because I think it's a good one and I'm wondering if there's something we can do to assist
  • 00:31:01
    in recruiting people.
  • 00:31:03
    Could we put in our newsletter that we have positions available?
  • 00:31:07
    These are fairly well-paying jobs.
  • 00:31:08
    I'm curious, $20 an hour, is that after tips, with tips?
  • 00:31:12
    I mean, are they Kelber people?
  • 00:31:14
    Are they people that are not tipped within the convention center?
  • 00:31:17
    And is there something we could do to announce there are positions available?
  • 00:31:22
    I have two points.
  • 00:31:23
    That's one of them.
  • 00:31:24
    I'll let you answer that.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:31:25
    Chair Koski, Councilmember Goodman, we would love any help.
  • 00:31:29
    So if you'd like to post any of our positions in your newsletters, we'd love that.
  • 00:31:34
    We do post and I know that HR is changing a lot right now and really and helping us with with some of the things that we're doing and how we're posting and how we're getting that word out.
  • 00:31:45
    So that would be great.
  • 00:31:47
    Most of the positions that I was talking about were convention center positions.
  • 00:31:51
    We do have a lot of other positions that work for our partners like Kelber Catering.
  • 00:31:57
    They do get tips.
  • 00:31:58
    We don't get tips, but they do get tips.
  • 00:32:00
    So they're $20 an hour actually is much higher because they get very nice tips based off of these large spends when we have a large lunch or a large dinner.
  • 00:32:11
    And then we have a security company called
  • 00:32:14
    Best, which also is recruiting and pays in that again $20 range for their employees too.
  • 00:32:21
    So we would love for your help and in getting those people to be a part of our team.
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:32:27
    Okay, so perhaps you could just send us something that we could put in our newsletter to talk about it.
  • 00:32:31
    I do know it used to be a very coveted position to work at Kelber, and lots of college students, and so that might be of interest to Councilmember Wonsley with the university and others.
  • 00:32:42
    We have great people working across the board at the Convention Center.
  • 00:32:45
    It's a very diverse organization, and I want to note we offered a tour.
  • 00:32:49
    I coordinated it, and I don't think everyone had the opportunity to do a tour, but if you're interested in touring the Convention Center,
  • 00:32:57
    I also wanted to note, I don't see a Meet Minneapolis budget presentation.
  • 00:33:07
    Council Member Rainville tells me there isn't going to be that.
  • 00:33:11
    I do want to note for members of the council that the board and executive committee of which we have a lot of seats on
  • 00:33:17
    um intensely review the budget as well as what we call KPI's performance indicators that um payments are based on and so we take a lot of time in the board meetings to review this we also have Heather Johnston paying attention and is on the board um so although we might not see that budget they get money based on whether or not they meet very specific financial room night
  • 00:33:41
    Convention Center income, sales tax income, they only get paid out if they meet these very specific goals.
  • 00:33:48
    And so although we might not see the presentation, suffice it to say we ask a lot of questions about that, both in the Executive Committee and board meetings, probably more than they would like.
  • 00:33:58
    So I just wanted to thank you for being here today, Melvin, either way.
  • 00:34:02
    Often there are questions that people have of the major effort for the minor budget that you have.
  • 00:34:09
    and ultimately we'll have a tourism improvement district put into place in the next couple of years which will supplement the funding to meet Minneapolis.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:34:18
    Thanks.
  • 00:34:21
    Thank you very much.
  • 00:34:22
    I have a few questions of my own.
  • 00:34:24
    There's nobody else in queue right now, but first question that I had was around, you used the term hospitality tax, and I was wondering if you could just elaborate on that.
  • 00:34:35
    I am more familiar with our sales, restaurant, liquor, lodging, and entertainment tax, so I'm curious if you're just lumping that into one.
  • 00:34:42
    No, it's a separate tax.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:34:44
    Chair Koski, so when I talk about hospitality taxes, they are the sales use taxes, so the taxes that I started out the presentation talking about.
  • 00:34:53
    So those are the taxes that were enacted by the state of Minnesota back in 1986 to go towards the hospitality assets that Minneapolis has.
  • 00:35:03
    And so that is the 0.5% sales tax, the 3% liquor tax, 3% restaurant tax, 3% lodging tax,
  • 00:35:13
    and then the entertainment tax is within that group but a little bit separate.
  • 00:35:18
    I won't get into the big, big details on that but that is the entertainment taxes on ticket sales that are in live ticketed events in Minneapolis.
  • 00:35:29
    Those are sales and use taxes.
  • 00:35:32
    I sometimes refer to them as the hospitality taxes because again that was the original intent for those taxes from the state of Minnesota.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:35:42
    Thank you, appreciate that.
  • 00:35:43
    And another question I had, when you were describing the facilities, you mentioned that there are some amenities that are missing.
  • 00:35:51
    Could you go into a little bit more depth of what you're hearing from people coming into town of what amenities that other convention centers have that we don't have yet or things that we're looking to build towards?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:36:05
    Chair Koski, I think probably getting back to Council Member Payne's question about what kind of space are people coveting, and what we're finding is that people are coveting a larger space for those higher-end type meetings, so the ballroom type of space.
  • 00:36:23
    So if you've been to the convention centers, the exhibit halls are very large.
  • 00:36:27
    They have kind of the concrete floors.
  • 00:36:30
    and that's where we do a lot of our very large events but then our ballroom is more of the high-end area with carpeted floors, wood paneling on the walls, a nice stage.
  • 00:36:43
    That ballroom space we have found and that it is small compared to what people want and so as we
  • 00:36:52
    think about the future and think about investing those sales and use taxes or what I call the hospitality taxes.
  • 00:37:00
    One of those areas that we would like to have a conversation about over the coming months is how can we best put ourselves in a position to be able to host the types of events in a ballroom setting that our clients want.
  • 00:37:16
    And we know that a ballroom is really one of our more lucrative places.
  • 00:37:21
    that we can rent because that's where we do the majority of our food and beverage.
  • 00:37:26
    So the sit down banquet type meals are there and that's where people spend a lot of money.
  • 00:37:32
    And so we want to make sure that we have, we're best situated in that area to make sure that we can capture the revenues that we should be capturing and that our competitors are capturing around the country.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:37:45
    Thank you.
  • 00:37:45
    That's very helpful.
  • 00:37:47
    And to kind of pile on Councilmember Goodman, thank you so much for this thorough presentation.
  • 00:37:51
    It's really helpful to see the data points as well.
  • 00:37:55
    So thank you so much, Mr. Johnson.
  • 00:37:58
    All right, next we have the Health Department and I will invite Commissioner Damone Champlin to give that presentation.
  • 00:38:23
    Welcome, Commissioner.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 00:38:26
    Good morning, Chair Koski.
  • 00:38:28
    Council members.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:38:29
    Good morning.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 00:38:32
    Good morning.
  • 00:38:33
    My name is Damone Chaplin.
  • 00:38:34
    I'm the Health Commissioner for the Minneapolis Health Department.
  • 00:38:38
    Today I will be presenting the two thousand twenty four supplemental budget with assistance from Deputy Commissioner Heidi Ritchie and Patrick Hanlon.
  • 00:38:52
    The Minneapolis Health Department is supported by approximately 150 staff representing five divisions, 22 programs, and a multitude of services.
  • 00:39:02
    Our key priorities for the 2024 supplemental budget include expansion of treatment and recovery options for substance use disorder,
  • 00:39:17
    which increases evidence-based culture specific treatment options and increase the number of people accessing these options with focus on our most vulnerable communities and then using our settlement dollars for future investments in these strategies going forward.
  • 00:39:35
    our 2035 Lead Elimination Plan which seeks to increase preventative lead inspections and reduce instances of reported childhood lead poisonings and then the adoption of the 2023 Climate Equity Plan to replace the 2013 Climate Action Plan, the creation of long-term operational strategies and investments in environmental justice communities.
  • 00:40:04
    Some of our achievements and accomplishments for 2023 and 2024 include, but are not limited to, securing $6.1 million in federal funding to strengthen our public health infrastructure.
  • 00:40:17
    We also received a five-year, $5.1 million CDC grant for our racial and ethnic approaches to community health, which aims to improve health, prevent chronic diseases, and reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic populations
  • 00:40:33
    with the highest risk or burdens of chronic disease.
  • 00:40:38
    We also secured close to a million dollars in grants to provide education and distribution of naloxone to address the opioid epidemic.
  • 00:40:47
    And then we secured a number of brain cost share projects due to OPERA funding, surpassing the thousand projects in 2022 and over $100 million in energy savings.
  • 00:41:02
    With the support of leadership, we secured the biochar funding through the Bloomberg Foundation, and we were one of only three cities in the country with carbon sequestering strategies and programs.
  • 00:41:19
    that we have been experiencing and will continue to experience and work through going forward include but are not limited to staff retention and burnout.
  • 00:41:32
    This city has experienced the twin-demic, the murder of George Floyd and then also the COVID-19 pandemic and so staff retention and morale is important.
  • 00:41:44
    Workforce development and increasing funding has meant an increased focus on compliance and the staffing necessary to ensure it.
  • 00:41:53
    We have needed to bring on more staff to coordinate processes to distribute dollars to the community and manage the resulting contracts.
  • 00:42:01
    These roles are essential moving forward and we should focus on retaining
  • 00:42:06
    these staff.
  • 00:42:08
    And then interdepartmental collaboration.
  • 00:42:10
    I can't express enough deeper, deeper collaborations with our departments, CPED, Rec Services and other departments going forward.
  • 00:42:20
    It's going to take us a long way.
  • 00:42:27
    And so you'll see here our program staffing and summary.
  • 00:42:30
    You'll see from 2023 to 2024, we're going to see a precipitive drop off in staffing.
  • 00:42:36
    as a result of COVID.
  • 00:42:38
    And so the COVID cliff that we're expecting for 2024, we're making arrangements for that now, looking to be able to move staff to other grants and other processes to secure those staff that we have gained through COVID.
  • 00:42:55
    And you can see that increase in staffing FTEs from 2023 to 2024, again, as a result of COVID from 109 to 159.
  • 00:43:08
    At this time, I will turn over our program updates to our Deputy Commissioner Heidi Ritchie.
• • SPEAKER_07
  • 00:43:19
    Thank you.
  • 00:43:22
    Good morning council members.
  • 00:43:25
    I'm going to start out with our core public health infrastructure that division is our division that maintains national accreditation and is a model for service for our counterparts and partners and as a matter of fact on Saturday we hit submit on our Reaccreditation and so our fingers are crossed for that but happy to have that completed This is also our epidemiology research and evaluation work
  • 00:43:52
    A couple of our accomplishments for our core public health infrastructure is securing that $6.1 million grant to strengthen and diversify our public health workforce, and that was through the CDC.
  • 00:44:07
    We are the only city in the state to have secured that grant.
  • 00:44:11
    We also had our winter wellness campaign, which reached over 300 Minneapolis Public Housing Association residents during 20 plus outreach visits.
  • 00:44:21
    Our residents reached were 90% BIPOC and spoke several languages other than English.
  • 00:44:28
    During those visits, staff distributed over 72,000 masks, over 400 bottles of hand sanitizer and over 1600 rapid tests and over 130 thermometers.
  • 00:44:42
    We also have our emergency preparedness and response program area which builds preparedness and resilience in Minneapolis by ensuring a response ready department and engaging with community stakeholders.
  • 00:44:54
    A couple of things over the past year was we held three emergency preparedness workshops for community organizations which were attended by 68 people representing 39 organizations.
  • 00:45:07
    We also hired a project coordinator to support the development of resilience hubs.
  • 00:45:15
    In our family and early childhood program area, we provide home visiting services for families.
  • 00:45:23
    In this past year, we reached over 1300 individuals representing 789 families through 4700
  • 00:45:31
    In December, we distributed over 6,700 rapid COVID tests to residents through a mail campaign and distributed over 29,000 masks to help protect against the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
  • 00:45:55
    We've also participated in community events to really promote our back to school vaccinations.
  • 00:46:00
    We saw that in COVID, there was a big gap in those vaccinations.
  • 00:46:05
    So we wanted to make sure we were participating in that.
  • 00:46:08
    So went on cultural radio radio shows to provide information and then provided other vaccines such as the measles, mumps and rubella at our community events.
  • 00:46:22
    Our other program area with youth development and healthy sexuality.
  • 00:46:27
    That's part of our child friendly cities initiative which we came and spoke about a couple months back to the Public Health and Safety Committee.
  • 00:46:35
    So we completed the local action plan for the CFCI initiative.
  • 00:46:40
    and then coordinated the statewide STI testing week with our partner organizations to support six Minneapolis-based clinics in providing free STI testing, where a total of 476 youth were tested.
  • 00:46:56
    Moving over to homegrown Minneapolis, we'll talk a little bit about the garden lease program.
  • 00:47:00
    There were 59 gardens leased in 2023.
  • 00:47:03
    73% of the community gardens are in North Minneapolis, Phillips, Central and Powderhorn neighborhoods.
  • 00:47:11
    We awarded $2.4 million since 2021 around community food needs.
  • 00:47:17
    We know that COVID and the murder of George Floyd and the civil unrest that followed really laid bare the food insecurity problems that we had in the city.
  • 00:47:26
    16 unique community partners were funded and 160,000 people made visits to these partners in 2022.
  • 00:47:35
    Council also approved the Minneapolis Food Action Vision in March of 2023 and specific implementation steps will be completed early next year.
  • 00:47:47
    For Healthy Living Program, it focuses on populations with the highest rates and risk of chronic diseases caused by the lack of nutritious foods and beverages, physical inactivity and the ability of commercial tobacco products and exposure to secondhand smoke.
  • 00:48:04
    The new ProduceRx pilot program provided fresh fruits and veggies to 183 patients across four community clinics and 70 residents across Minneapolis Public Housing Authority properties.
  • 00:48:16
    Community well being projects reached more than 2600 residents and led to 25 plus changes to policies, practice systems or physical and social environments.
  • 00:48:29
    Our school-based clinics program, we also visited the Public Health and Safety Committee a few months back and I know many of our council members here have had tours of our school-based clinics.
  • 00:48:41
    For the 2022-23 school year, there were 11,101 visits and 2,622 clients, which was an increase of 20% over the previous school year.
  • 00:48:51
    70% of those clients were BIPOC, and this is 36% of the student body.
  • 00:49:01
    40% of all clients screen for mental health.
  • 00:49:04
    85% of positive mental health screenings were followed up.
  • 00:49:08
    21,900 students and families participated in outreach activities such as classroom presentations, peer education groups, open houses, and more.
  • 00:49:22
    For opioid response, our mission is to eliminate the negative impacts of the opioid epidemic on Minneapolis' children, families, and businesses.
  • 00:49:31
    As mentioned earlier in accomplishments, we secured close to a million dollars to provide education and distribution of naloxone, aka Narcan, to address the opioid epidemic.
  • 00:49:43
    We have been partnering and continue to partner with Red Lake to provide funding for and secure parcels adjacent to a new culturally specific center to treat substance use.
  • 00:49:54
    And then we have our first step hospital-based intervention partnership with mHealth Fairview to address drug overdoses, mostly opioids, and provide treatment, peer navigators, and referrals.
  • 00:50:06
    We trained over 5,200 individuals on the use of naloxone and distributed over 2,500 naloxone doses to our community members and partners.
  • 00:50:16
    Between January and September we collected over 4,200 needles through the syringe boxes and over 300 more through additional five sweeps in specific areas.
  • 00:50:28
    And we've continued to develop partnerships with clinical and community organizations in the implementation of harm reduction framework to address the opioid epidemic.
  • 00:50:39
    So this brings us to our first 2024 proposal.
  • 00:50:43
    This is for opioid settlement funding.
  • 00:50:45
    $672,856 ongoing funds and $680,000 in one-time funding out of that opioid settlement.
  • 00:50:55
    That would include 2.5 FTEs to help staff a mobile medical unit.
  • 00:51:01
    The 680,000 one time is for the purchase of that mobile medical unit.
  • 00:51:07
    This also provides funding for the first step pilot expansion.
  • 00:51:11
    Youth Prevention, for which we have actually an RFP that will be published today for evidence-based treatment and recovery services with a focus on youth.
  • 00:51:23
    Opioid strategies that prioritize the continuation and expansion of ongoing work and gap filling for our community partners.
  • 00:51:31
    Opioid mitigation efforts, including treatment, recovery, prevention, training, research, and connections to care and resources.
  • 00:51:39
    consultation for a strategic plan around our opioid settlement funds, and then homeless response related specifically to substance misuse, sanitation, and hygiene.
  • 00:51:53
    At this point, I'm going to turn it over to Deputy Commissioner Hanlon for the rest of the presentation.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:52:03
    Welcome.
• • Patrick Hanlon
  • 00:52:04
    Chair Koski, council members,
  • 00:52:07
    First up, I'm up here for Cindy Weckworth in her program with Environmental Health.
  • 00:52:13
    Their team goes out and inspects our restaurants and I think people would be surprised at all the other facilities that they go out and inspect as well, including lodging, pools.
  • 00:52:22
    Body art and other businesses around around the city they have They protect health here in Minneapolis through through those that regulatory oversight from the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture having those the authority to go in and inspect and of course our Minneapolis food code and
  • 00:52:40
    or a Minneapolis Code of Ordinances.
  • 00:52:42
    They have a 93% routine inspections are completed on time and for those of us that work in the regulatory space that is a very high level of compliance that they have in getting out and meeting those standards.
  • 00:52:57
    Cindy and her team do a great job of having data driven practices.
  • 00:53:02
    In fact, we use a lot of our data driven practices that they can come up with when they're going out and doing their code enforcement on using that in other areas of our environmental inspection.
  • 00:53:11
    So they do impressive work there.
  • 00:53:13
    And that goal one I mentioned is going out and doing timely inspections.
  • 00:53:18
    Their second mission
  • 00:53:22
    Second mission is making sure that they are equity focused so that they're going out in black, indigenous, and people of color, Asian and Pacific Islander communities, and ensuring that those business owners, managers, and food workers understand the standards at which they have to meet.
  • 00:53:40
    So they put a lot of their effort into going out and ensuring that people understand, especially in those communities, understand the standards that they are required to follow.
  • 00:53:49
    and they do a number of outreach events throughout the year working with 28 food businesses that have enrolled at a pretty low cost in terms of training for those of you that have been involved with education and doing education type events.
  • 00:54:06
    They have a 58% reduction in the number of violations when they go through and do those
  • 00:54:12
    those education events with food establishments.
  • 00:54:15
    That's an incredibly significant and high level of compliance in going through and after doing those education events.
  • 00:54:22
    So they really are hyper focused in making sure that everyone in the entire city understands the standards at which they're enforcing on.
  • 00:54:32
    Sustainability, as this is an area under, I have Sustainability Healthy Homes and Environment, this is a team that I oversee.
  • 00:54:41
    They of course just came forward with the climate equity plan this year, that was a two year community engagement process.
  • 00:54:49
    Their role is in policy and outreach, so they do tremendous work in getting out into the community, getting feedback and getting input.
  • 00:54:56
    from community groups and you're going to see that a little bit later when we talk about the climate legacy initiative in the work that they do and their goal is really to reduce greenhouse gas, help set policy and outreach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution here.
  • 00:55:12
    in Minneapolis with an equity focused.
  • 00:55:15
    One piece that we also rolled out this year in partnership with the Green Zones Advisory Groups is a citywide air quality monitoring program and that's in partnership with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and it's a network of air quality monitors across Minneapolis looking at the air we breathe.
  • 00:55:33
    Lead and Healthy Homes.
  • 00:55:35
    This group is, Commissioner Chaplin mentioned it, is we have the Lead Elimination Program.
  • 00:55:42
    This is to, first and foremost, it's responding to lead poisonings.
  • 00:55:47
    So our staff are going out and responding to lead poisonings.
  • 00:55:50
    Our goal is to, and repeat this over and over again, is that children are not lead detectors.
  • 00:55:55
    So we are transferring or switching, pivoting that program
  • 00:55:59
    from having strictly response to being able to get out and get ahead of the hazards that are out there.
  • 00:56:05
    And with the ARPA funding, as Commissioner Chaplin also mentioned, we've gone from 30 to 400 preventative inspections through the ARPA funding.
  • 00:56:14
    So we are getting out ahead of a lot of these hazards and that's in partnership with, I notice Enrique Velasquez is here, in partnership with regulatory services.
  • 00:56:22
    When we are data-based, when we go into these homes, we find that 89% of the homes that we target have lead hazards.
  • 00:56:31
    So when we are data-driven and we have preventative resources, we can get at and get ahead of a lot of these hazards.
  • 00:56:38
    And we are seeing lead poisonings that are down for the first time in three years.
  • 00:56:42
    We're very pleased with that.
  • 00:56:43
    That's two different
  • 00:56:45
    It's great news is that we are able to get ahead of some of these hazards and we're seeing that in the data as well.
  • 00:56:55
    Another area that we focus on with that program is asthma inspection, so taking some of that same type of preventative approach and focusing on childhood asthma as well.
  • 00:57:04
    Next up is environmental programs.
  • 00:57:06
    As Commissioner Chaplin mentioned, we have a number of energy efficiency, solar, and innovative pollution reduction projects really focused.
  • 00:57:14
    There's a standard called Justice 40 out of the White House.
  • 00:57:17
    That 40% of your funding should be going to environmental justice communities.
  • 00:57:21
    We see that as our low bar.
  • 00:57:23
    We have about 60% of our funding goes out into environmental justice communities or low-income properties, and we've served over 3,400 low-income households since 2016 with this program.
  • 00:57:33
    and then we are also data-driven with this program and focusing on tons of criteria pollution reduced and then Kelly Muehlmann and her team on the enforcement side review close to 1,200 permits a year and send the inspectors out on over 3,000 inspections responding to environmental concerns across the city of Minneapolis.
  • 00:57:57
    So the reason we're here is the climate legacy initiative.
  • 00:58:04
    When we were here a couple months ago, a few months ago, we passed the climate equity plan.
  • 00:58:08
    That was a two-year process of engaging folks and that was setting aspirational targets of where we need to be, science-based targets of where we need to be in terms of our greenhouse gas reduction and also our equity focus and how we're investing our resources equitably in the city.
  • 00:58:26
    So this the climate legacy is the climate legacy initiative is the first step of the climate equity plan and It's ten million dollars a little over ten million dollars citywide a little over nine million of which is will go through to the health department And I'll go through those different buckets of investments right now So first up is pathways and workforce
  • 00:58:50
    We have one credentialing coordinator.
  • 00:58:55
    We work in partnership with CPED.
  • 00:58:57
    I know Sarah Canton was also here.
  • 00:58:59
    We're doing a lot of work with Deb Bar-Helgen, Mark Brinda in terms of workforce and so there will be more funding to get job opportunities out there in terms of our climate investments.
  • 00:59:10
    Right now, we just don't have the workforce to be able to get a lot of this work done.
  • 00:59:14
    And when we sit down with trades, with unions, with our CPED folks, there's not the labor force out there.
  • 00:59:22
    So in terms of the lift, this is probably going to be the biggest lift of the entire program.
  • 00:59:28
    And Director Marquita Keyes, who is overseeing our workforce programming, is also here if there's specific questions on this piece of it.
  • 00:59:37
    there's green credentialing training internships so that folks are paid for their time and going out and getting experience in these fields youth leadership programs we're looking at between 750th and a thousand participants that will go through this programming and it will be equity focused so the majority of the programming will be in North Minneapolis, South Minneapolis
  • 00:59:58
    the Sabathini Community Center, 1200 Plymouth and then coordination efforts with the unions to get more BIPOC folks into those high-paying prevailing wage jobs.
  • 01:00:13
    and the
  • 01:00:33
    in our CPED low-income homeownership program, lead and healthy homes program, other areas where we come across people in low-income situations that energy efficiency is about 125th on their list of life priorities.
  • 01:00:46
    And so really having someone that can pull all these different programs together from federal, state, local dollars to be able to help them get energy efficiency projects done.
  • 01:00:54
    I mentioned the Green Cost Share program being environmentally justice focused.
  • 01:00:59
    There's a balance between equity and the amount of greenhouse gas reductions that we need to get to hit our goals.
  • 01:01:06
    And so there's also going to be some funding around industry, large commercial, large industrial.
  • 01:01:12
    The biggest chunk of money will be going towards weatherization and environmental justice.
  • 01:01:17
    will be promoting electrification in all of the incentives that are going out.
  • 01:01:23
    And I mentioned the 0% financing.
  • 01:01:24
    We are going to make sure that that's broadened to be citywide so that all residents have access to that funding.
  • 01:01:32
    different sectors so small business owners have access to 0% financing and then people with slightly lower credit scores also have access to 0% financing.
  • 01:01:42
    There's also a piece in here on quality and assurance to make sure that when we're going out and doing this work that it's done right especially as we're rolling out a lot of these new programs to make sure that we have quality assurance and auditing.
  • 01:01:54
    Administration, we're looking at 10 new FTEs total with this work, and that's fairly light in terms of programming when it goes out.
  • 01:02:03
    We're at about 15% staff to 85% programming.
  • 01:02:10
    But with that, there is a need for administration.
  • 01:02:13
    One of the big pieces in the administration is having data analysts.
  • 01:02:18
    When we talked with the MN 350 and the Coalition of Partners really pushing for the People's Climate Equity Plan,
  • 01:02:24
    there was a push for there to be make sure that we are good stewards of that dollar and there's transparency and accountability so to have a position so that we can put together all the numbers and all the investments that we're making and making sure that it's integrated within city the city existing structure so in our land management system and making sure that that tracking and reporting is going out and people are aware of that.
  • 01:02:46
    And again, I can't say it enough, but that money is going out in environmental justice communities and making sure that we're really hitting those communities first with our funding and resources.
  • 01:02:58
    Policy and coordination.
  • 01:03:00
    I mentioned that there's going to be a need to get large greenhouse gas reductions.
  • 01:03:04
    There is an unprecedented amount of federal dollars, unprecedented amount of state programs and dollars that are coming down.
  • 01:03:10
    The utilities have come up with, are coming up with new programs that are unprecedented and so really having someone that can pull together all of these resources and we can get large greenhouse gas reductions in some of our larger facilities which many times trickles down to
  • 01:03:26
    City Council,
  • 01:03:41
    of all the funding that's coming down.
  • 01:03:43
    Marketing, the one thing that government doesn't tend to do well is marketing.
  • 01:03:51
    And so to have some outside assistance in making sure that folks in our community are aware of all the programs that are out there.
  • 01:03:57
    And then also have community capacity building so that when people go out into the, so that community groups can go out into their communities and also make people aware at a grassroots level of all of these programs and incentives that will be available.
  • 01:04:11
    they'll also be funding in here another piece on MN 350 made loud and clear was in ensuring that the community had input so we really look at the climate legacy initiative as the first step as part of our climate equity plan and it's an iterative process so we want to set up a process where community is involved in the decision-making seeing the results and providing feedback year after year and making this programming better
  • 01:04:37
    Urban Forestry, this one's pretty easy.
  • 01:04:39
    We're going to be planting a lot of trees, about four times as many trees as we were planting in 2019.
  • 01:04:44
    There'll be watering aspects as well.
  • 01:04:47
    We see high levels of mortality in tree programs that don't have watering programs associated with them.
  • 01:04:54
    And then there's also a need for staff to help roll out a lot of this funding.
  • 01:04:59
    Carbon sequestration, Council Member Wonsley left, but her ward is leading the charge in this.
  • 01:05:06
    We just had a meeting with Bloomberg Philanthropies.
  • 01:05:08
    This is, we'll be one of very few cities in the, I was going to say in the country, but in the world, that are focused on carbon sequestration at a local level through our biochar program, biochar production.
  • 01:05:20
    So this will make that possible.
  • 01:05:21
    We see this money moving from this funding to more of a cost recovery model as we are able to
  • 01:05:26
    sell biochar for cost recovery and sell carbon credits as well.
  • 01:05:31
    Homegrown support, there is intersectionality with homegrown between our zero waste plan, climate equity plan, and food vision plan.
  • 01:05:39
    Greenhouse gas emissions that come from agriculture, it's about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • 01:05:45
    And the more we can do at a local level to take food and to produce it locally and to consume it locally, including with waste reduction and reuse,
  • 01:05:55
    composting, it will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
  • 01:05:58
    This is the lowest dollar amount on here, but this is really a frontier in where we need to be heading with some of our work.
  • 01:06:05
    And so this money will go out to community organizations in gardening, urban agriculture, deep winter greenhouses and to be able to have strategies around food and food production at a local level that's related to our greenhouse gas emissions.
  • 01:06:25
    All right, and I think with this one, Commissioner Chaplin and I assume we will be staying here for questions afterwards.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:06:35
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:06:38
    Chair Koski, council members, that concludes our presentation and now we're open for questions.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:06:47
    Thank you for the presentation from all of you.
  • 01:06:51
    Could you just go over this slide a little bit, if you don't mind?
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:06:55
    The following position changes are reflected with the 2024 budget for a net increase of 36.46 FTEs.
  • 01:07:04
    Increased FTEs count by 1.65 FTEs through administrative ads.
  • 01:07:11
    Increased FTEs count by 33.92 FTEs to document existing grant funded staff which were not previously listed in schedule 5.
  • 01:07:21
    and increase in FTE count of 0.89 FTEs to correct splits funding for FTEs across two departments following the government restructure.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:07:36
    Alright, thank you.
  • 01:07:36
    I see Councilmember Rainville is in queue.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:07:40
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 01:07:42
    Commissioner, thank you for your presentation today.
  • 01:07:45
    I'm wondering if you could give a brief example or update as probably a better word about the relationship with Hennepin County as far as the opioid crisis that we have.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:07:56
    Yeah, we've been in conversations.
  • 01:07:57
    We've had visits to some of their sites.
  • 01:08:01
    We are actually, I spoke to them, they will be part of the strategic planning process for the settlement dollars.
  • 01:08:09
    And so we're using that opportunity with the consultant to engage with Hennepin County to really find out how we all fit together to kind of develop this comprehensive approach to substance abuse.
  • 01:08:20
    So we've been in contact with them.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:08:23
    Great, that's good to know.
  • 01:08:25
    But what is happening tomorrow, the next day?
  • 01:08:27
    What are we doing with the county to help people in the throngs of addiction?
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:08:33
    Right now what we're doing, we are trying to put into a recommendation for the medical mobile unit.
  • 01:08:40
    We are contracting with partners to distribute naloxone.
  • 01:08:46
    We're currently going to be working with the fire departments to include a vending machine where folks are able to get naloxone as well.
  • 01:08:58
    and then we're doing much of our response coordinating with rec services around our encampment closures and really being more proactive and engaging with the folks at those encampments.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:09:11
    And I understand all those city departments that are helping you, what is the county doing to help?
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:09:17
    The county is standing up there, traditionally setting up their treatment centers, their recovery centers,
  • 01:09:23
    they're providing clinical services where appropriate and so they really are a big partner in the whole treatment part of this.
  • 01:09:32
    The problem is getting people to those treatment facilities and getting them in those recovery centers long term.
  • 01:09:40
    That's the challenge right now and that's what we're actively working at.
• • Michael Rainville
  • 01:09:43
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:09:45
    Next we have Council Member Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:09:47
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:09:48
    Kind of building off of Councilmember Rainville's questions around the opioid settlement dollars, my read of the memorandum of agreement from the state AG is that we're supposed to be...
  • 01:10:03
    I mean, it appears the intention is to primarily use those dollars for direct services and try to minimize administrative expenses as much as possible.
  • 01:10:11
    They specify a 10% cap on administrative expenses.
  • 01:10:16
    I know that our health department in general is funded through a lot of different outside grants, all of which have different goals and different requirements.
  • 01:10:25
    But I'm curious, looking at those total investments, are we abiding by that 10% administrative cap or
  • 01:10:32
    How are we approaching that at this stage in our response?
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:10:37
    The amount that we spent for the consultant dollars is about $100,000, which is far less than 10% of what we've received so far in opioid settlement funds.
  • 01:10:47
    How much have we received total to date?
  • 01:10:50
    I don't have the number in front of me, but I can get it for you.
  • 01:10:52
    Well over $2 million.
  • 01:10:54
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:10:56
    Thank you.
  • 01:10:57
    I am not seeing any further questions.
  • 01:10:59
    We'll just follow up with that answer when you get a moment to bring it back to the full Council.
  • 01:11:04
    So, appreciate all of you for being here today and appreciate the thorough presentation.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:11:11
    Thank you, Chair.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:11:11
    Thank you.
  • 01:11:12
    I just want to note that Council President Jenkins, Council Vice President Palmisano and Council Member Johnson have joined us.
  • 01:11:18
    So next we have our final presentation from the Youth Coordinating Board and I invite Executive Director Anne DeGroot to give that presentation.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:11:27
    Welcome.
  • 01:11:46
    Madam Chair, Members of the Committee, thank you for having me here today.
  • 01:11:49
    I appreciate it.
  • 01:11:51
    I always have talked about the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board and as I think you know, we are charged by the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, the Minneapolis Public Schools, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to look after the healthy development and well-being of our city's children and young people.
  • 01:12:10
    So I'd like to start today with the most important thing.
  • 01:12:12
    I want to talk about our children and young people.
  • 01:12:16
    Here they are.
  • 01:12:18
    We at the Youth Coordinating Board look at our children and young people beginning at birth up to age 24, but this is a profile going to age 18.
  • 01:12:28
    About 20% of the residents of the city of Minneapolis are ages birth through 18.
  • 01:12:37
    You can see that the gender breakdown is pretty even.
  • 01:12:41
    and you can see that the majority of children in that age group are ages five through 18.
  • 01:12:47
    Now if I had showed you this 25 years ago and we looked at the racial breakdown, you would have seen that it was pretty much flipped.
  • 01:12:55
    About 60% of our children at that time would have been white and our children of color would have fallen into different categories but in smaller groups.
  • 01:13:05
    So our breakdown of children in our city has really changed dramatically in 25 years
  • 01:13:12
    We are fortunate in Minneapolis to have this amazing statistic, which is that 98% of our children live within six blocks of a park.
  • 01:13:22
    This is not true for many cities.
  • 01:13:24
    And you can see our breakdown of citizenship in our city, you can see the infant mortality rate, and you can see the poverty rate in our city.
  • 01:13:34
    Lots of room to grow, lots of room to help our children, lots of places in which we all need to work to make sure that our children do better.
  • 01:13:44
    When you look at the data and you look at things like this, you understand why we have problems for our children in our city.
  • 01:13:50
    A lot of work to do, a lot of work that we're working on at the Youth Coordinating Board.
  • 01:13:56
    So what we do at the Youth Coordinating Board, we work really in five areas I want to talk about, and there are many other areas to work in, by the way.
  • 01:14:04
    But these are the areas where we spend our time.
  • 01:14:07
    I do want to point out that our work really is around supporting adults
  • 01:14:12
    to share power to shape cultures and systems so that young people can empower their own education so that they have their safety prioritized so that they can be connected to the natural and social world and that they can engage in their communities.
  • 01:14:30
    The one place that we engage directly with young people is through the Minneapolis Youth Congress.
  • 01:14:36
    I consider it kind of our flagship thing that we do.
  • 01:14:40
    We work with young people grades 8 through 12.
  • 01:14:44
    We go up to as many as young people.
  • 01:14:46
    We are in recruitment right now, so if you don't have any young people grades 8 through 12 who live in Minneapolis or go to school in Minneapolis who want to be part of the Youth Congress, they can connect with us through our website at ycb.org.
  • 01:15:01
    And we work with them to help us
  • 01:15:03
    and to help you and to help all four of our public jurisdictions understand and integrate the perspectives of young people into the work that you do and the things that we do.
  • 01:15:16
    Later this fall, you're going to hear from them about some work that they did with some of the wonderful urban scholars this summer around community safety.
  • 01:15:27
    But they've worked with the City of Minneapolis for many years on a number of different initiatives, really a lot with the Minneapolis Health Department and Minneapolis Employment and Training.
  • 01:15:37
    They've done a lot of work with the city.
  • 01:15:39
    They've also worked a lot with the Hennepin County School District and the parks.
  • 01:15:44
    But our Youth Congress, we train our young people in facilitation methods.
  • 01:15:49
    We train them on issues around racial equity.
  • 01:15:52
    They learn how to speak with adults so that they can be in a room with adults and be effective in rooms with adults, which is not always easy for our young people.
  • 01:16:01
    and we pay them, we make sure they're transported and we feed them.
  • 01:16:07
    They're very hungry when they come to us after school, as you can imagine.
  • 01:16:12
    They have been working on a project this year called Youth on Boards where we have asked some of our city's boards and commissions if they would accept some young people to be on boards as a pilot project and they have been very successful.
  • 01:16:25
    You'll be hearing about that and the work that you're doing on youth and boards, or on boards and commissions this year.
  • 01:16:32
    But the Youth Congress is a very successful project of ours.
  • 01:16:35
    We're very, very proud of it.
  • 01:16:37
    Sometime later this fall, you will also be invited to the oath of office that they take as they enter their work for their cohort this year.
  • 01:16:48
    So that's one of the projects that we do that falls under our area of youth engagement.
  • 01:16:52
    The other area that is youth engagement is our youth outreach team.
  • 01:16:57
    This came out of the Youth Are Here bus program, which we started in 2007.
  • 01:17:04
    When that program ran its course, it evolved into a youth outreach team which works both downtown in the summertime, which the city of Minneapolis funds, and the downtown improvement district.
  • 01:17:17
    And we also do some contract work with the Minneapolis public schools.
  • 01:17:21
    These are trained adult youth work professionals who work with our young people to ensure
  • 01:17:27
    that they are engaged, that they have good information when they're out on the streets or in school, and we try to intervene to make sure that they understand what's going on, that they have any kind of assistance or support that they need out there on the street and in schools.
  • 01:17:43
    Our other areas I'll go through are, we work in the area of childcare, early childhood, and our special area of interest that we've been working on is family, friend, and neighbor care.
  • 01:17:54
    Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care are the people who take care of children who are not childcare centers, who are not moms and dads, but the bulk of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care providers are grandma or aunts.
  • 01:18:11
    or Big Sisters sometimes.
  • 01:18:13
    But these are people who would never call themselves family, friend, and neighbor care for the most part.
  • 01:18:18
    But they're people that do a bulk of child care in our city.
  • 01:18:21
    We want to make sure that they have the resources that they need for the little ones that they care for, that they have connections to other providers in case they need some assistance.
  • 01:18:33
    During the COVID pandemic, a lot of times these are people who needed help finding diapers and finding food and finding open grocery stores at times when they could go and get some support.
  • 01:18:46
    So we work a lot with this network of independent child care providers.
  • 01:18:50
    We receive funding from the state of Minnesota to do this.
  • 01:18:53
    Minnesota is one of the only states in the country that recognizes this incredible workforce in terms of providing care for our children, for our littlest children.
  • 01:19:03
    A lot of the work that they do is with really little kids, infants and toddlers.
  • 01:19:08
    And so we want to recognize them.
  • 01:19:10
    They also are a group of people who do work often in cultural communities.
  • 01:19:16
    When parents really want their kids to be with grandma or with aunts and uncles or with the neighbor lady who speaks the same language as their children, who knows them?
  • 01:19:26
    Or people who work on weekends or evenings and can get traditional childcare.
  • 01:19:30
    So this is a group of people we work with regularly.
  • 01:19:34
    And then the other area that we work in and you probably know a little more about because you help fund quite a bit of this is the Minneapolis After School Network.
  • 01:19:41
    These are people who
  • 01:19:44
    provide services and care and activities to children outside of the school day.
  • 01:19:49
    And they can do it before school, after school, weekends, summer.
  • 01:19:52
    And I'll talk a little bit about some of the things that you've helped fund the last year.
  • 01:19:56
    But the Minneapolis After School Network is public and private providers, people within our jurisdictional partners who provide services
  • 01:20:07
    We do some training with them.
  • 01:20:09
    We do quite a bit of professional development.
  • 01:20:12
    Along with the health department, we do a program called Partners for Youth Conference, which will happen this winter.
  • 01:20:17
    We do it every year.
  • 01:20:19
    It's a lot of fun.
  • 01:20:20
    We'll let you know when it is.
  • 01:20:21
    You should come.
  • 01:20:22
    It's a really fun program.
  • 01:20:24
    But we do a lot of training in professional development for that group of providers and try to help find funding for all of those programs.
  • 01:20:31
    The final thing I just want to mention is the Minneapolis Youth Master Plan, which you can find on our website.
  • 01:20:38
    We did this about five years ago.
  • 01:20:40
    We keep updating it, but it is a way for people in the City of Minneapolis to understand what it is that we can do to help improve the lives of our children.
  • 01:20:51
    We did this with our Youth Congress.
  • 01:20:53
    They helped facilitate community meetings to help identify priorities and make recommendations.
  • 01:20:59
    and I encourage you as you're doing work to always look at it when you're looking at children to see what kinds of things were kids thinking of and we keep updating it, we keep making it relevant, we keep adding data to it so I think it's a really good piece for everybody's relevance to be able to look at what kinds of things kids are looking at.
  • 01:21:23
    Our department overview, we're pretty simple.
  • 01:21:25
    We're pretty flat, to be really honest with you.
  • 01:21:28
    We have staff people who work in each of those areas.
  • 01:21:32
    So we have the three really program areas, early childhood, youth engagement, and the project director, which is the after school programming.
  • 01:21:42
    We have staff who support them.
  • 01:21:43
    We have our accountant.
  • 01:21:44
    We have communications and we have strategic planning.
  • 01:21:47
    And then we have a variety of contractors who work with us to help support our youth engagement area.
  • 01:21:55
    You can see our programs through the budget areas and you can see what was funded in twenty three and twenty four.
  • 01:22:01
    We, you and the county and the schools and parks all pay a joint powers fee.
  • 01:22:08
    I think you know that.
  • 01:22:10
    We've just renegotiated our joint powers agreement which goes into effect January first.
  • 01:22:15
    We have a little bump in our fee this next year.
  • 01:22:17
    But our ongoing funding includes money for the outreach team, for supporting the
  • 01:22:25
    YMAP funding, which is the afterschool, some of the afterschool funding, and then some of our funding, some of the Youth Congress and other things.
  • 01:22:33
    And last year we got a special amount of money from you to fund some youth activities in the summer, I'll talk about in a minute, through a special allocation from you, thanks to Councilmember Chavez's work.
  • 01:22:46
    So we really appreciated that.
  • 01:22:49
    You can see this is where the money went except for that special fund, which I'll talk about in a second.
  • 01:22:54
    Youth Congress supports young people.
  • 01:22:57
    They meet three times a month, by the way, and they also meet in committees.
  • 01:23:00
    They get paid every time they meet.
  • 01:23:02
    the outreach team, that is just the summer work that does not include the school work.
  • 01:23:09
    And they did some incredible work this year.
  • 01:23:12
    We've changed the way we work.
  • 01:23:14
    Now we don't just go walking around downtown, we actually have a couple of sites that we've established that young people come to us.
  • 01:23:22
    And then you can see the amount of programming that we did through the work with the libraries through their teen tech squads in Minneapolis, through Parks and Recreation Youth Line,
  • 01:23:32
    and through our community education work that we do with that program.
  • 01:23:38
    This is where summer funds went through programs that would not have happened without support from you this year.
  • 01:23:45
    346 young people were impacted by the funds that you were able to find for us, that $50,000.
  • 01:23:53
    We were at Centro Guadalupe
  • 01:23:55
    We were at Heart in the Paint Hoops.
  • 01:23:58
    I always thought it was heart.
  • 01:23:59
    It's hard in the paint hoops.
  • 01:24:01
    So my ears, it's my ears.
  • 01:24:04
    It's hard in the paint hoops.
  • 01:24:07
    And then PCYC, I'm sure all of you know them.
  • 01:24:09
    They did great work this summer with these kids.
  • 01:24:12
    Did a lot of work.
  • 01:24:13
    They had a great time.
  • 01:24:14
    We're very proud of the work that they did.
  • 01:24:16
    But that's just a little summary of their work for this summer.
  • 01:24:20
    And then, of course, this is kind of a repeat from last year, but you know, you gave us some ARPA funds a couple years ago, a million dollars.
  • 01:24:27
    This is where the funds went.
  • 01:24:29
    I'll have a very full report for you at the end of the year.
  • 01:24:34
    We get a full report of the year's activities.
  • 01:24:37
    But, you know, interestingly, this is kind of how sometimes things work.
  • 01:24:41
    Minneapolis Public Schools liked the process so much.
  • 01:24:45
    They realized there was a lot that wasn't funded so they allocated another half million dollars to us to fund through the same process and we were able to make a grant to the division of Indian Works who have used that money.
  • 01:25:00
    That money was a little bit more educationally focused so they were able to use that money to assist.
  • 01:25:05
    But those ARPA funds were well used and a number of young people have been served because of that money as well.
  • 01:25:11
    And the area, let me just say briefly, the area of after school, which is what the ARPA funds went for and that additional $50,000 of summer funding, those funds dried up about 20 years ago.
  • 01:25:24
    That kind of money dried up.
  • 01:25:26
    There wasn't money.
  • 01:25:27
    So these funds have made a huge difference in an area where there wasn't money.
  • 01:25:33
    Now, the legislature has allocated some money this year.
  • 01:25:36
    Over two years, not a lot of money, but something.
  • 01:25:40
    But there wasn't money for really a long time.
  • 01:25:42
    So these funds were a godsend to people, so thank you for that.
  • 01:25:46
    That is my report.
  • 01:25:49
    I am very happy to answer questions.
  • 01:25:51
    I do want to thank Council President Jenkins for serving as our board chair this year, and Council Member Chogtai for being on our board.
  • 01:26:00
    So I appreciate all of your work, but thank you all for supporting the Youth Coordinating Board.
  • 01:26:05
    Any questions?
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:26:09
    Thank you so much for this presentation.
  • 01:26:11
    I am not seeing any further questions or comments.
  • 01:26:16
    Oh, Council President Jenkins.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:26:18
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:26:20
    And I do just thank you for your report, Ms. DeGroote.
  • 01:26:25
    And just really want to say, you know, we do have some really significant challenges with our young people in this community right now.
  • 01:26:37
    as referenced by the earlier report from the Department of Health, our school-based clinics are showing a lot of mental health challenges in our communities.
  • 01:26:51
    And the Youth Coordinating Board was created to try to bring all of these entities together to address the
  • 01:27:03
    the challenges that our youth are facing in the city and I just hope that we can see more coordination and collaboration between these entities.
  • 01:27:18
    It feels like to me and one of the reasons why I was willing to step forward and be the president is that we are
  • 01:27:32
    just really not seeing that kind of collaboration that
  • 01:27:38
    was initially there.
  • 01:27:41
    And so to the extent that we as council members can lift up those collaborations as well as the work at the youth coordinating board, we really need to step up.
  • 01:27:58
    Our young people are really being challenged right now.
  • 01:28:03
    Thank you for your efforts and this is a call to action, I guess.
  • 01:28:10
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:28:13
    Thank you.
  • 01:28:14
    Madam Chair and Council President, I may say just a word about that.
  • 01:28:18
    I appreciate that very much.
  • 01:28:19
    And as you know, we talked a little bit about this.
  • 01:28:23
    We are going to convene a meeting to present some information about community safety.
  • 01:28:28
    and we are poised right now to do some convening around safety, particularly related to some of the auto thefts.
  • 01:28:36
    So I've been talking to people at the county, county attorney's office, school district, parks here in the city to bring together some of that convening around those issues.
  • 01:28:49
    Because it's an issue where everybody has a piece, they're all important pieces,
  • 01:28:55
    We can't solve the problem unless we're kind of at a table together.
  • 01:29:00
    We have to be at a table together.
  • 01:29:03
    And so we are poised to do that.
  • 01:29:06
    And I think people are ready.
  • 01:29:09
    So I appreciate you saying that and your support in making that happen.
  • 01:29:14
    And I will be calling on you and others to really push for that.
  • 01:29:17
    We need to come together.
  • 01:29:19
    We may need to find some different solutions and go outside the box a little bit.
  • 01:29:25
    That's what I would say Thank you
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:29:30
    Thank you, Ms. DeGruy.
  • 01:29:31
    I appreciate the presentation and your passion for our youth in the city of Minneapolis.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 01:29:36
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:29:37
    I'm not seeing any further discussion at this point.
  • 01:29:39
    I'll direct the clerk to file these presentations.
  • 01:29:41
    Our next Budget Committee meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, October 3rd at 10 a.m. That day we are set to hear from our Community Planning and Economic Development, our Regulatory Services, and our Arts and Culture Affairs teams.
  • 01:29:54
    With that, we've concluded all business to come before the committee day.
  • 01:29:57
    Without objection, we stand adjourned.