Budget Committee October 23, 2023   10/23/2023

Discussion

• • Emily Koski
  • 00:00:21
    Good morning, my name is Emily Koski and I'm the chair of the Budget Committee.
  • 00:00:24
    I'm going to call to order a regular committee meeting for Monday, October 23rd.
  • 00:00:28
    At this time I'll ask the clerk to call the roll to verify a presence of a quorum.
• • SPEAKER_04
  • 00:00:32
    Councilmember Payne.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 00:00:33
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_04
  • 00:00:34
    Wonsley is absent.
  • 00:00:36
    Rainville.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 00:00:37
    Present.
• • SPEAKER_04
  • 00:00:38
    Vita.
  • 00:00:39
    Present.
  • 00:00:40
    Ellison is absent.
  • 00:00:42
    Osman absent.
  • 00:00:43
    Goodman.
  • 00:00:44
    Present.
  • 00:00:45
    President Jenkins is absent.
  • 00:00:48
    Chavez.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:00:48
    Present.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:00:50
    We will begin with a presentation from the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center.
  • 00:01:09
    Here to present is Director Joni Hodney.
  • 00:01:14
    Welcome.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:01:19
    Good morning, thank you Chair Kowski and Council members.
  • 00:01:25
    I am here to present the 9-1-1 MECC Emergency Communications Center budget for 2024.
  • 00:01:32
    Our mission statement is currently being worked on with human resources and leadership, but this is kind of a streamlined version of how we're heading towards our
  • 00:01:47
    mission statement and it will continue to come into a good creation here as we work on.
  • 00:01:55
    MECC dispatchers and call takers provide emergency communication services to community members and those visiting the city of Minneapolis, directly linking first responders during their emergent needs.
  • 00:02:09
    How are we organized?
  • 00:02:12
    For the current staffing in the department, we're authorized for 85 total full-time employees.
  • 00:02:21
    Right now we have seven out of eight of the management and admin positions filled.
  • 00:02:26
    One of them we have filled right now with someone who's detailed from a supervisor position.
  • 00:02:30
    So for the first time in well over two years, we have a full admin staff.
  • 00:02:38
    Floor Supervisors have seven out of eight filled.
  • 00:02:40
    One of them just started this month and one of them is detailed to the management position but still kind of steps in to help the supervisors.
  • 00:02:49
    Call takers and dispatchers, we're looking at 42 and a half out of 69 of them filled right now.
  • 00:02:54
    51 full-time and three part-time.
  • 00:02:58
    In addition, there's two permit employees that will be there probably through the end of December to continue to help ease the overtime burdens.
  • 00:03:08
    Overall, this is going to leave our department 18 and a half total employees short of being fully staffed and 16 and a half of those are call takers and dispatchers.
  • 00:03:22
    Our priority objective for 2023 and into 2024 is staffing.
  • 00:03:29
    9-1-1 centers nationwide have been challenged by the dramatic fall in staffing for people who are seeking to stay in the 9-1-1 profession.
  • 00:03:38
    We continue to make this our top priority and we're finally starting to see an increase in qualified applicants.
  • 00:03:45
    Some of the factors that contributed to this, working with human resources and backgrounds, we were able to start a continuous ad.
  • 00:03:53
    We've been able to decrease the amount of time it takes to get through background checks from about five to six weeks, correction, from about 10 to 12 weeks to five to six weeks.
  • 00:04:04
    A job market study completed in early 2023 resulted in a grade change for the call takers, dispatchers, and supervisors.
  • 00:04:14
    This resulted in a significant increase in pay for all of those classifications.
  • 00:04:20
    We also started a part-time job pilot
  • 00:04:24
    and joining together with the OCS team has proved to be beneficial in increasing our presence in the communities we serve and the hiring of qualified applicants.
  • 00:04:38
    MECC call takers and dispatchers handle almost 600,000 calls a year.
  • 00:04:43
    Staffing is one of the many resolutions we are looking at for providing a higher level of service.
  • 00:04:49
    The end of November, we're preparing to launch a call answer system that works directly with alarm companies so the alarm companies can enter the call directly to dispatch rather than having to talk to a call taker.
  • 00:05:01
    We're also looking at an automated system that will help provide callbacks for all of those many 911 pocket dials that we receive.
  • 00:05:11
    Those tend to take a little more time for call takers.
  • 00:05:15
    and MECC also works in conjunction with 311 to provide non-emergency services when 311 is not open.
  • 00:05:28
    Our dedicated employees have picked up countless hours of overtime to ensure the public is served 24 hours a day.
  • 00:05:36
    Until the new people that we've recently hired get trained, there are times with a bare minimum staffing.
  • 00:05:43
    still need to catch up to the national standard for call answer times and currently we're picking up 79% of the calls in less than 10 seconds.
  • 00:05:53
    As the new call takers get trained and we have more staffing available along with new technology, we're hoping to see us head more towards the 90 to 95% trend.
  • 00:06:10
    Our second priority objective has been community outreach.
  • 00:06:13
    Community outreach has brought us out to the public to find out that not only did not everybody know when to call 911 or what to call 911 for, but it also was an opportunity to engage with the community and help them learn that this was an available job out there for people to come back and serve the community.
  • 00:06:34
    We don't have a strong web page dashboard or social media presence.
  • 00:06:39
    Work is in progress to complete a better, more interactive, informative, and robust design to engage communities with a more detailed inside look at 911.
  • 00:06:52
    And finally, our third priority objective has been training and quality assurance.
  • 00:06:57
    The top responsibility of the training team has been to hire new employees and complete as many classes as possible.
  • 00:07:04
    Over the 2023 year,
  • 00:07:06
    So far, five classes have been completed with one more yet to start in November.
  • 00:07:13
    This has resulted in 150 applicants being interviewed, 71 of those participating in the full background check, 23 call takers, two part-time and one supervisor have been hired since the first of the year.
  • 00:07:30
    There can be a high turnover in this job as people get into it in the first few months and discover this is not a job for them.
  • 00:07:38
    So there is another class scheduled next month with another six to eight people, one again in January and another one in early spring of 2024.
  • 00:07:49
    Several internal employees still need to complete portions of learning their job duties, as well as those that are completing promotional to police and fire dispatch.
  • 00:07:58
    Those classes have been scheduled between the two new call takers in 2024.
  • 00:08:03
    And some of the new technology changes in upgrading, as well as more mental health training, will need to be implemented with existing staff at times when we don't have a new call taker class.
  • 00:08:24
    A positive workplace culture is critical but often complex given the nature of the work and the ongoing staff shortages.
  • 00:08:31
    While this will take time to engage staff at all levels, the management team is committed to creating a respectful workplace.
  • 00:08:39
    The peer support team, staffed by our own call takers and dispatchers, is providing a more robust presence in the department, engaging with staff for the tools for mental health, and launching an internal website earlier this year.
  • 00:08:54
    Work is continuing for the new physical space, with a goal to move staff into the location by the end of first quarter 2024.
  • 00:09:02
    And technology is changing quickly.
  • 00:09:05
    911 is no exception.
  • 00:09:08
    New software that makes entering alarm calls more automated, electronically improved quality assurance evaluation software, and reviewing faster methods to access data and recordings to provide more substantial statistical data are all being reviewed.
  • 00:09:24
    The goal of 2024 is to bring all of this together to provide a more efficient center, robust mental health, a better physical space resulting in better service to those we serve.
  • 00:09:40
    Our program and staffing summary
  • 00:09:44
    is showing that currently most of our budget goes towards supporting our full-time employees.
  • 00:09:51
    As this demonstrates, we're authorized for 85 full-time employees for both 2023 and 2024 with current vacancies at 18 and a half employees.
  • 00:10:02
    Part of what the big changes that you see in 2023 was the increased cost for dispatch for the hourly rate.
  • 00:10:10
    So the back pay on that and
  • 00:10:15
    internal charges have changed due to increased IT charges.
  • 00:10:24
    In summary, we're not requesting any additional funding, any increased expenses due to normal inflationary increases with personnel, self-insurance premiums, and we are part of the ReStack project and anticipate moving into our new location by the first quarter of 2024.
  • 00:10:42
    At this time, there are not any increased expenses with this.
  • 00:10:51
    Our race and equity impacts, MECC fully supports the City of Minneapolis racial and equity impact analysis.
  • 00:10:59
    Each call is
  • 00:11:18
    We are continuing to review our hiring and promotional practices to ensure those from backgrounds, from all backgrounds, are feeling supported when entering or moving up at MECC.
  • 00:11:36
    So our goals for 2024 with
  • 00:11:39
    Staffing, workplace culture, strengthening leadership team, physical space, the new dispatch center, internet and social media presence, and technology is resulting in us not needing to add any additional funding to our 2024 budget at this time.
  • 00:11:59
    Once we are fully staffed and able to evaluate what the staffing is doing, along with the extra work that we do with dispatching animal control and BCR services, we'll be able to look at the 25-26 budget year to see if any additional full-time employees are needed.
  • 00:12:18
    And I will stand for questions.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:12:21
    Thank you, Director Hodney.
  • 00:12:23
    We have one question in queue right now, Councilmember Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:12:27
    Thank you Chair Koski.
  • 00:12:28
    I was wondering if you could expand on the reclassification.
  • 00:12:32
    It's my understanding that our call takers and dispatchers aren't categorized as first responders and that has some implications and I'm just wondering what the roadmap is to make sure that we're acknowledging their work.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:12:45
    That's correct and that is something that's been
  • 00:12:47
    worked on again nationally as well as in the state of Minnesota.
  • 00:12:52
    I can tell you that I'm engaging with our partners in the other Enterprises in this in Minneapolis right now.
  • 00:12:58
    As a matter of fact, I have a meeting later this week to continue to work that bring that work forward and bring it in front of Council at some point.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:13:07
    Is there anything that I can do to help advance that work?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:13:10
    I appreciate that and I will keep you posted if I learn a little bit more about where I need specific help from any of you.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:13:17
    Great.
  • 00:13:18
    And one more question.
  • 00:13:20
    I know that back when we were initially developing behavioral crisis response, there was also discussion of embedding a mental health professional in 911.
  • 00:13:30
    Is that work still moving forward or is that are we still kind of piloting around the idea?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:13:36
    So I think we're still kind of piloting around the idea that was actually something that was started when we did start the BCR program, but the BCR program kind of took over the implementation of what we were doing.
  • 00:13:48
    It is something I would like to see still moving forward, so as I have an opportunity to continue to work with the Neighborhood Department Safety
  • 00:13:59
    I always mix up those acronyms.
  • 00:14:03
    Moving forward, I'll be able to figure out how we can engage that option again.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:14:09
    Okay, sounds great.
  • 00:14:09
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:14:12
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:14:12
    Next we have Councilmember Goodman.
  • 00:14:15
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:14:16
    Will you remind me where you are in the restack?
  • 00:14:20
    Where your space is going to be?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:14:24
    We're going to stay in City Hall.
  • 00:14:26
    and we'll be moving up the floor.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:14:30
    That's all I needed to know.
  • 00:14:31
    And then because that seems to be a big issue as it pertains to the workplace environment for people who are working there.
  • 00:14:39
    I also just wanted to make one other suggestion.
  • 00:14:42
    I had been communicating with a 911 responder in Hennepin County and she mentioned that she brings her dog into work as a therapy dog and I'm just wondering if that might be a strategy
  • 00:14:54
    for employees at 911 now.
  • 00:14:57
    If that's happening in the Hennepin County Call Center, then it seems like we would have the same amount of stress amongst our employees, and that might be a very easy and inexpensive way to bring some joy.
  • 00:15:10
    I know that when my dog is here, and she's barely a therapy dog, she brings joy to everyone.
  • 00:15:15
    It brings people together, actually, in a way that you'd be surprised by.
  • 00:15:18
    So I'm wondering if you'd given that any thought.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:15:21
    Thank you, Councilmember Goodman.
  • 00:15:23
    Yes we have.
  • 00:15:25
    We actually a couple of years ago we tried having a dog in the center as a therapy dog.
  • 00:15:31
    That move turned out to not work real well because it was a small puppy and it needed a lot more attention than what we were able to give to take time away from the floor for.
  • 00:15:41
    A few months ago we tried having some therapy bunnies in there and so people could go up and spend some time with the bunnies
  • 00:15:51
    that did not work out well with everybody because of the smell of hay.
  • 00:15:55
    Bunnies eat hay and so that did not work out.
  • 00:15:59
    So what we're doing for the moment is people are allowed to bring their dogs in for a visit.
  • 00:16:04
    Animal control comes by and visits us with their young pets and they love to do it because they're often adopted out of our center.
  • 00:16:14
    So I appreciate the thought and moving forward we'd like to continue to look for things that help
  • 00:16:20
    soothe and comfort people between those hard calls.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:16:23
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:16:25
    That's great.
  • 00:16:26
    There is an official category for therapy dogs.
  • 00:16:30
    It's not like bring your own pet in.
  • 00:16:31
    My dog is not one of them.
  • 00:16:33
    Those who have met my dog probably realize why.
  • 00:16:36
    But my previous dog worked in a nursing home.
  • 00:16:39
    It might make sense to just ask Carolyn and Animal Control to connect you to an organization that actually does that officially.
  • 00:16:47
    Because it's not supposed to be a distraction.
  • 00:16:49
    It's supposed to actually be
  • 00:16:51
    used for, you know, stress, high stress situations.
  • 00:16:54
    The airport's doing it now.
  • 00:16:55
    There's lots of other places that are, so hopefully it can be expanded in a more official way.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:17:02
    I appreciate that.
  • 00:17:03
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:17:05
    Thank you.
  • 00:17:06
    Before we go on with more questions or comments, just want to note we've been joined by Vice President Palmisano and Councilmember Wonsley, and next we have Vice President Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:17:17
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 00:17:20
    Any information I have is purely anecdotal and just based on stories that we've been having in the community.
  • 00:17:27
    But I do know that people are really interested in being part of the solution on public safety.
  • 00:17:33
    And one of the ways they see themselves potentially plugging in is as a 911 call dispatcher.
  • 00:17:39
    And I don't know varying stories as to maybe how realistic they understand what
  • 00:17:45
    that position is like and the kinds of hours that it requires.
  • 00:17:50
    But are you confident that our recruitment arm is actually catching people who actively seek out and demonstrate interest in this profession?
  • 00:18:02
    Because staffing is your first priority, where do you see supplements being needed?
  • 00:18:09
    Is it in that first part of the funnel?
  • 00:18:11
    Is it in that last training and classroom time part of the funnel?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:18:15
    So, thank you Councilmember Palmesano.
  • 00:18:20
    The answer is kind of yes.
  • 00:18:25
    In the first part of that definitely, we have seen a change in the skills that people have out in the community in recent years.
  • 00:18:34
    One of them being typing.
  • 00:18:37
    and typing is critical to the role that we play because you have to be able to listen to a caller and put in information kind of while you're scaling down that information a little bit at the same time.
  • 00:18:49
    So I have reached out and talked to some of the enterprise departments that have some communications with the high schools and some of the community centers to be able to get us out there and start to talk to them especially this spring just before graduation about the importance of learning that skill.
  • 00:19:07
    The part-time pilot program is also something that was actually suggested when I went out to a community event.
  • 00:19:14
    I talked to some members out in the community who were interested in doing this work part-time.
  • 00:19:19
    We're starting it with former employees that are already trained in the position.
  • 00:19:24
    As we develop it and find out how this is going to work, we'll be able to figure out how to bring more community members in part-time and do the training that seems to be the biggest piece of it.
  • 00:19:37
    As far as the end and the training piece, I think what happens is oftentimes people come in with the idea that they can really teach and educate and talk to someone, a lot of people with psychology degrees, and really we're on the phone for a very small fraction of time.
  • 00:20:04
    So they get there and they find out that, oh, I'm not going to be spending 10 minutes on here giving a counseling session to someone.
  • 00:20:11
    I'm going to spend two or three minutes getting information and sharing that information out.
  • 00:20:17
    So those are all things that are part of us getting out in the community and educating them on what the job is all about.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:20:24
    Thank you.
  • 00:20:25
    Madam Chair, if I may, is the typing component something that knocks people out of the beginning of the selection process?
  • 00:20:34
    Because if so, I think that's unfortunate.
  • 00:20:37
    Similarly to our firefighter recruitment programs and getting more women in the firefighters recruitment
  • 00:20:46
    Something I've really appreciated about our fire department is that they've considered the skills test.
  • 00:20:57
    It's actually a physical, fairly rigorous, my own opinion, level of exam.
  • 00:21:03
    It's an international standard of physical fitness they have to meet.
  • 00:21:07
    but what I like about this is that they really do believe that this test is trainable for women that meet other kinds of criteria that they really want in the fire department and that's something that's out there to prove and it certainly is a barrier to get over eventually but it's a little bit further on
  • 00:21:29
    in that process.
  • 00:21:30
    I mean, I know myself as a, if I was looking for a career at the beginning of my post college education, I was certainly not the typist that I have grown to be now over time.
  • 00:21:44
    And I'm probably on the older end of people and that I had in middle school, literally typewriting class in the library is something that I had to do.
  • 00:21:53
    We all had to go through and that's not,
  • 00:21:55
    is not a thing anymore based on my children and what they're doing in their middle school education.
  • 00:22:04
    But is it possible or is it just the standard that we can't put that kind of a test further, deeper into the funnel, so to speak, than making it something that immediately disqualifies somebody?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:22:23
    So I think the better option would be for us to look at helping to provide typing classes, helping to provide some resources for people who don't have a computer or a typewriter at home to be able to come in and learn that skill.
  • 00:22:38
    We have tried altering our internal tests that they have to take.
  • 00:22:43
    So the very first test they have to take is called a critical test, and that includes a typing test.
  • 00:22:49
    But it also measures their ability to be able to multitask
  • 00:22:54
    We do lose probably 50% of our applicants either not taking that test when it's offered to them or not passing that test.
  • 00:23:04
    If they're close to the required 35 words per minute, we do take a look at it and evaluate how many we have in that closed section and say, okay, is this something we can give them extra time in the classroom to practice on?
  • 00:23:18
    But I do think that it is a skill that
  • 00:23:22
    Unfortunately, there's not a talk to text or anything like that that can be used in the 911 industry at this time.
  • 00:23:29
    So I do think that this is something that has to be a minimum requirement or they're going to be so busy trying to figure out where to put their fingers on the keys, they're not going to be able to focus on hearing the callers.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:23:44
    Thank you for that.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:23:48
    Thank you.
  • 00:23:48
    I do have Councilmember Chugchi in queue here.
  • 00:23:51
    I was just wondering if you'd be okay since we're on this topic, if I could just quickly ask a follow-up question regarding the training.
  • 00:23:58
    And you just said you think maybe the better avenue for us is that we
  • 00:24:04
    work on the training.
  • 00:24:06
    Have you had a chance to look into what that might look like?
  • 00:24:10
    Because I have also heard that this is one of the barriers, and you just said we're losing 50%, whether they are intimidated by taking the exam itself or aren't able to pass this.
  • 00:24:21
    And I think that this is a skill that, you know, there's a difference probably of being able to multitask and having to train someone, but this skill is something that we could train.
  • 00:24:31
    Have you looked into what that might look like for us to incorporate that into our, I mean, I think we're at a bit of a crisis here, so how we could move that into your HR process.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:24:45
    Thank you Chair Kowski.
  • 00:24:47
    Actually yes, I've talked with some people over at CPED that work with some of the community departments that help
  • 00:24:57
    retrain people for to bring them out into the workforce or have programs where they're helping people gain new skills.
  • 00:25:07
    Sometimes they've got those that are out there in an administrative type role who maybe never knew that this is going to be a possibility for them.
  • 00:25:16
    So I have engaged that department and we are looking at some options working with them and possibly starting some type of a
  • 00:25:25
    typing class or course, maybe wrapped in a little bit with what does a 911 dispatcher or call taker really do.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:25:35
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:25:39
    Thank you for coming in and presenting this information.
  • 00:25:45
    I have had the opportunity to come and shadow your department last year and have learned a tremendous amount about how important your work is and how important 911 dispatchers are to
  • 00:26:03
    making our public safety response work.
  • 00:26:06
    There is no response that functions without you.
  • 00:26:11
    So I think we are all deeply grateful for the work that you do and the ways in which you specifically as the director of this department have stepped up in the last couple of years in
  • 00:26:23
    expanding our understanding of your work and having us take you more and more seriously and want to commit to rolling up our sleeves and figuring out how we make your work easier.
  • 00:26:34
    So wanted to just thank you for that.
  • 00:26:38
    My question is regarding recruitment and retention and I see your first priority objective that you talked about was staffing and performance.
  • 00:26:48
    and what I heard in your presentation was an emphasis on recruitment and retention, filling vacant positions and then keeping them filled as new people are coming in.
  • 00:27:00
    And I think that objective is pretty consistent across the enterprise so far.
  • 00:27:05
    Every department we've heard from has talked about this in some sort of way and I think we'll continue to hear that as a priority for the entire enterprise.
  • 00:27:17
    I remember a labor management committee meeting several months ago now and I think a number of council members attended that.
  • 00:27:28
    Councilmember Goodman and I formally serve on the labor management committee representing the council.
  • 00:27:35
    We had someone from one of the 911 dispatchers come and speak at that labor management committee and speak about their experience and they described a number of stories and my takeaway from their experience and from their comments was
  • 00:27:56
    a greater level of understanding of the type of benefits that our employees have.
  • 00:28:06
    So, for example, 911 dispatchers work around the clock.
  • 00:28:11
    You provide 24-hour service, but our employees who work downtown don't have
  • 00:28:20
    don't have dedicated parking here, so people have to pay monthly to have a parking spot at the Hoff ramp.
  • 00:28:29
    And a number of employees, I think specifically in 911, have had experiences walking to and from the Gateway ramp and really struggling with tough experiences around public safety.
  • 00:28:43
    And to me,
  • 00:28:46
    I walk away hearing that experience wondering why our frontline employees, our 911 dispatchers who are working around the clock, have to pay out of pocket to have a parking spot and then have challenges getting to and from work.
  • 00:29:05
    and you know a question that I've asked is well why don't we transition to giving our 911 employees our dispatchers in particular dedicated parking at the federal ramp which is where all of us park and so you know I'm wondering if this is something that that you have taken on or have considered because that seems like an easy fix that helps with retention and morale but has kind of gotten
  • 00:29:34
    I know we've talked about it in passing here and there, but it hasn't really gotten anywhere.
  • 00:29:38
    I'm wondering if you can speak to that.
  • 00:29:39
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:29:42
    Thank you, Councilmember Chuktay.
  • 00:29:47
    I need to ask Jane one question.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:30:06
    All right, thank you.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:30:12
    I'm sorry.
  • 00:30:13
    I needed to talk to Jane about some budget information here Thank You councilmember Chuck I'm as Things get spread around they sometimes lose the full picture of what's happening We do have our staff in
  • 00:30:37
    dedicated parking spots at the Hoff ramp and are helping with that expense.
  • 00:30:47
    And then we have, for example, this past month we've had a little bit of problem with an overflow in the Hoff ramp because of all the training we're doing.
  • 00:30:58
    so I've reached out and made some arrangements to have some of them moved over to the federal ramp.
  • 00:31:05
    Excellent, okay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:31:06
    I just wanted to name that.
  • 00:31:07
    It's a story that really stuck with me and has been something on my mind and Councilmember Goodman just commented on how it's perhaps a thing that we could figure out through labor negotiations and wanted to name that to you and offer that, consider me a partner as you want to try to figure this out in the future.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:31:28
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:31:31
    Alright, I am not seeing any further questions or comments.
  • 00:31:35
    Thank you so much.
  • 00:31:36
    Doctor honey for being here.
  • 00:31:38
    I appreciate the thorough presentation.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:31:41
    Thank you alright.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:31:42
    Next we have a presentation from the Neighborhood Safety Department.
  • 00:31:45
    I invite director Luanna Nelson Brown to give that presentation welcome.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:31:54
    Thank you, excuse me.
  • 00:31:57
    Thank you, Chair Caskey and Council members.
  • 00:32:01
    Let us, let me make sure I can, okay.
  • 00:32:04
    New to the, whoops, very new to the PowerPoint here.
  • 00:32:09
    This is the presentation for the Neighborhood Safety Department.
  • 00:32:12
    I'm Luanna Nelson Brown, Director of the Department.
  • 00:32:16
    I'm gonna start off real quickly with an overview of our current organization chart.
  • 00:32:24
    Currently, we have a few openings, and the chart looks like this now, but one of our goals is to restructure.
  • 00:32:33
    As we move from an office into a department, we're going to have to structure a little bit differently so that we can improve and align our staffing with support that we lost from the health department.
  • 00:32:49
    But currently, we are here
  • 00:32:51
    We've got five positions open and three of them right now we're currently reinterviewing for and restructuring as needed.
  • 00:33:02
    So just kind of wanted to give an overview but I'll go into detail a little bit more as we go along.
  • 00:33:08
    Our priority objectives are moving towards safe and thriving communities.
  • 00:33:16
    First objective that we're looking at is assessment and alignment.
  • 00:33:21
    This is also outlined in the safe and thriving communities report in phase one.
  • 00:33:26
    One of the quotes that come from that report directly says, our analysis has shown that the city's biggest challenge is not a lack of services and initiatives but instead a lack of coordination and misalignment of systems for monitoring and continuous improvement
  • 00:33:44
    in preparation to leverage partnerships and funding in phase two.
  • 00:33:48
    So we're really taking a hard focus on this, especially as we do lose some administrative support from health, and we have some tasks planned over the next year around policy and practice, systems and infrastructure, and human capital.
  • 00:34:04
    And I'll break that down a little bit more as we move forward as well.
  • 00:34:09
    Our other two objectives are of course to see a decrease in risk factors and increase in protective factors against violence for the citizens of Minneapolis and also to build capacity both in our department and staff and in our contracted organizations so that we can move as one unit as we work toward violence prevention and keeping our city safe.
  • 00:34:36
    Some of our achievements and risks.
  • 00:34:39
    Good news is that moving toward safe and thriving communities has actually already begun.
  • 00:34:45
    We have had a conversation with city auditors to do a risk assessment in our department so that we can see where the gaps are and get a better handle on where we need to focus to reduce risk.
  • 00:35:02
    We've done some identification of goals, objectives, and metrics in collaboration with PMI.
  • 00:35:08
    particularly around that policy and practice goal of prioritizing our core programs and aligning with the city goals and the racial equity goals already have begun and are in place in collaboration with PMI, so we're moving forward with that.
  • 00:35:27
    Another achievement is the positive community feedback we've gotten around the BCR services.
  • 00:35:35
    BCR is continuing and increasing their collaboration with Minneapolis other first responders like MPD, Fire, Park Police, and Hennepin County Security.
  • 00:35:47
    The relationships are building and going very well.
  • 00:35:51
    Right now we're in conversation about expanding the scope of BCR to determine whether or not we can safely have BCR respond to check well and unwanted calls.
  • 00:36:08
    Typically those check well calls were
  • 00:36:10
    MPD response.
  • 00:36:14
    There is definitely some room there for BCR services to respond to those calls and the discussions have been very positive and thus far BCR has actually responded to a few and it's gone very, very well.
  • 00:36:33
    BCR is one of our only responsive services, what we would title as responsive services, meaning that they respond to calls.
  • 00:36:44
    And if you take a look at the Safe and Thriving Communities Report on page 61, it gives a detailed description of responsive services.
  • 00:36:53
    So their success is really important for us.
  • 00:36:57
    One of the things we're also doing is using what we learn from BCR to determine
  • 00:37:02
    how we can implement services in first response to other types of calls other than just mental health and behavior response.
  • 00:37:12
    Some of our risks, big huge risk around the positions and support that we've lost in transitioning out of the health department.
  • 00:37:23
    So we're taking a hard look with HR right now on how we can balance our staffing and shift positions
  • 00:37:30
    within our current budget.
  • 00:37:32
    In 2025, I may be before you talking about this a little bit differently, but right now, currently, we're doing what we can with the resources we have.
  • 00:37:45
    There's a risk around compliance, which is why we've called in the city auditors to do a risk assessment.
  • 00:37:52
    We're doing pretty well with what we've got, but
  • 00:37:55
    that loss of support of course puts strain on staff so we're taking a hard look at that and then of course with that transition our staff is experiencing a lot of trauma so one of the things that we're prioritizing in our department is some team building, easing the stress of our staff and addressing some of the unaddressed trauma from the transition and
  • 00:38:22
    Now that we have a commissioner in place, I think the transition will start to smooth out as well.
  • 00:38:29
    Just a quick look at some of our lessons learned.
  • 00:38:32
    This is a quick list of some of those specific duties and responsibilities.
  • 00:38:38
    that we relied on the health department for that we are working on shoring up right now.
  • 00:38:44
    So you can see by this slide in the next that almost every area of the department has been affected.
  • 00:38:51
    So we are using this to
  • 00:38:55
    do our hiring and redesign our vacant positions and put staff where they need to be so that we can be in better alignment.
  • 00:39:04
    Contracts, procurement, RFP, grant support, all the way down to our focus on disparity reduction, data requests and legislative support, all are areas that we are working on right now to make sure that we can
  • 00:39:21
    staff adequately and handle adequately.
  • 00:39:25
    This is what our history of our budget looks like.
  • 00:39:29
    And I know that looks like a huge jump in 2023.
  • 00:39:33
    That is due to rollover funds and ARPA funds.
  • 00:39:38
    and then as you look at our budget for 2024, the city is continuing to support those ARPA funds that we had with general funds in the mayor's budget.
  • 00:39:51
    Those funds were instrumental in
  • 00:39:54
    finding some really good solutions to violence prevention.
  • 00:39:58
    And the last thing we want to do is drop those services and leave the community without the services that have worked so well.
  • 00:40:05
    So we are continuing those funds with general funds.
  • 00:40:09
    Our FTEs, you'll notice a change of .65.
  • 00:40:13
    That was a position that was partially grant funded, and the grant no longer exists.
  • 00:40:20
    So we took some of our non-personnel funds,
  • 00:40:23
    to fully support that position.
  • 00:40:26
    But then it was offset by the loss of a position that stayed with health.
  • 00:40:32
    So the overall, what it looks like is we are now at 21 staff.
  • 00:40:38
    with current five current vacancies.
  • 00:40:40
    So my staff would vote me out if I did not talk about some of our successes and our goals and our data and achievements.
  • 00:40:51
    But I will start with the overall goals of the department itself, the goals of neighborhood safety.
  • 00:40:57
    is that the people in Minneapolis experience a decrease in factors that put them at risk for involvement with violence and or a risk in factors and an increase in factors that protect against involvement with violence and we're focusing on our community organizations and partners to build their capacity
  • 00:41:18
    and of course the improved coordination and alignment of systems for monitoring.
  • 00:41:22
    Our mission we are also taking a look at because right now it still states the Office of Violence Prevention.
  • 00:41:29
    I do not see us deviating too much from the mission as is other than making it the Neighborhood Safety Department because we still use a community-focused public health approach to prevent violence and keep communities safe.
  • 00:41:44
    We still work to break the cycle of violence by addressing it at those three points before it happens, as it happens and after it's occurred.
  • 00:41:53
    And we do this through programs, policy, collaboration and capacity building.
  • 00:41:58
    And on the side you'll see a look at our budget in the hard numbers.
  • 00:42:05
    Okay, so our department goal, again, is aligning our programming and identifying with those best outcomes that are a closest alignment to the mission of the office.
  • 00:42:19
    So that's what the improved coordination and alignment of systems monitoring looks like.
  • 00:42:26
    priority is to identify who's working the best, what's working the best, and how does it align to our mission.
  • 00:42:34
    We break our services into the three areas of preventative, responsive, and restorative.
  • 00:42:41
    And just doing this, we notice that the bulk of our services fall under the preventative, and we are now taking a hard look at the responsive and restorative services.
  • 00:42:54
    I mentioned that BCR is a responsive service and under restorative we currently have community navigators and our next step program that we categorize as restorative services.
  • 00:43:10
    Our second objective that the people in Minneapolis experience a decrease in factors that put them at risk and an increase in factors that protect against involvement with violence and the objectives and the way that we do that is through violence interruption, outreach, and non-violent conflict mediation strategies
  • 00:43:35
    and those strategies should stop emerging conflict and disrupt violent incidents.
  • 00:43:42
    We also have the objective to have people participating in GVI strategy
  • 00:43:48
    connected to resources to support exiting the cycle of violence, and through our Next Step program to have participants avoid future violent reinjuries.
  • 00:43:58
    So that's kind of a good overview of what primary restorative, preventative, and responsive services look like.
  • 00:44:07
    Third department goal is building capacity in our community organizations, those that partner with us so that they can effectively engage and work to prevent violence in community.
  • 00:44:19
    Two of the objectives is through our blueprint approved institute where we build capacity through grant writing skills, budget planning and program evaluation.
  • 00:44:30
    and we also have the Violence Prevention Fund where we increase the number of community-driven violence prevention efforts that use a public health approach.
  • 00:44:40
    So those are community-based organizations.
  • 00:44:44
    They determine the goals for the community.
  • 00:44:48
    They lay out the plans and the work and we build capacity.
  • 00:44:52
    This is the part that my staff would run me out if I didn't cover, which is some of the data outcomes and accomplishments that we actually do have already with some of our core programs.
  • 00:45:06
    So with the Minneapolis programs, better known as the violence interrupters, it's an outreach program coordinated public health driven strategy.
  • 00:45:17
    that treats violence as a contagion.
  • 00:45:20
    Some of the goals and accomplishments from 2023.
  • 00:45:23
    In this initiative, we introduced two new reporting mechanisms for outcomes.
  • 00:45:31
    There's a daily debrief tracking and community perceptions survey to business owners as we promised the council in 2022.
  • 00:45:39
    That was rolled out in 2023.
  • 00:45:41
    80,212 contacts were made and 367 mediations were completed 79% of business owners that have engaged with VI's believe that they are a necessary resource and 36% of business owners that have not engaged still agree that they are a necessary resource
  • 00:46:03
    Business owners cite VI's are improving perceptions of safety by decreasing loitering, disturbances, and breaking up violent altercation, decreasing drug activity, and overall creating a positive presence on their roots.
  • 00:46:18
    So we are still, the majority of business owners that we surveyed still have a positive experience with violence interrupters.
  • 00:46:28
    through the data that we've collected.
  • 00:46:31
    We're going to continue to monitor and collect information and data as we move forward to ensure that this continues in the right direction.
  • 00:46:43
    This is a quick overlook of the areas that violence interrupters serve and some of the contact engagement over time.
  • 00:46:53
    The graph on the right shows you the materials and things that are done in contact with the community.
  • 00:47:03
    So there's educational materials that are given out, housing referrals, mental health referrals, substance abuse referrals, and flyers for events.
  • 00:47:13
    And as you can see, of course, that increases heavily in the summer and decreases in the winter, kind of right along with the cycle of violence.
  • 00:47:23
    The next is the Next Step program.
  • 00:47:25
    This is our hospital-based violence intervention program.
  • 00:47:30
    When someone's treated at the hospital, any of our partner hospitals for a violent injury, Next Step staff are there to provide immediate bedside support and helping the survivor address the non-physical impacts of their wounds.
  • 00:47:45
    And then after the person leaves the hospital,
  • 00:47:47
    They continue to support the participants.
  • 00:47:50
    Some of the accomplishments, Next Step has served over 900 participants since launching in 2016.
  • 00:48:06
    In 2022, nearly 75% of people who were admitted to treatment to either HCMC North Memorial or Abbott Northwestern were approached about joining Next Step.
  • 00:48:18
    On average, about 70% of Next Step participants agreed to use the community-based services after they left the hospital
  • 00:48:26
    and about 75% of those who use the services achieve progress toward their goals.
  • 00:48:33
    So pretty positive response and we are going to obviously continue that monitoring as well as we move along.
  • 00:48:44
    The Violence Prevention Fund is the fund we use to help the community implement the solutions they develop to violence-related problems, the problems that they identify.
  • 00:48:55
    So this is where we really show that we believe in centering the wisdom and the brilliance of our local communities.
  • 00:49:03
    Some of the accomplishments with this fund, for every funded project that completed a progress report in 2022,
  • 00:49:11
    an estimated 1,051 community members were engaged.
  • 00:49:16
    There was 467 community activities completed in 2022.
  • 00:49:21
    That's a 159% increase from 2021.
  • 00:49:27
    Also, 15,768 number of community members engaged, which was a 61% increase.
  • 00:49:37
    We are currently collecting numbers for 2023.
  • 00:49:40
    I expect to see the same positive engagement as we move forward and we're wrapping up our 2023 numbers right now.
  • 00:49:53
    and then the Blueprint Approved Institute.
  • 00:49:55
    The most important thing I think to look at here is that graph on the right.
  • 00:50:01
    Since we are using a public health approach to violence prevention, we are also building the capacity of organizations to do the same.
  • 00:50:10
    You can see by that chart that coming into BPI,
  • 00:50:14
    78% of the participants were not at all or somewhat knowledgeable about the public health approach and 22% were moderate to extremely knowledgeable and then after leaving B-POD that shifts completely to 17% feeling not at all or somewhat knowledgeable and 83% moderately or extremely knowledgeable about the public health approach to violence prevention.
  • 00:50:44
    Okay, this number you've already seen.
  • 00:50:48
    This is the number of supporting projects that had been funded by ARPA that is now continuing with general fund dollars.
  • 00:50:59
    The goal is to continue to invest in promising services and the city is absolutely doing this and council planned for this for the 2023-2024.
  • 00:51:11
    There are a couple of numbers that didn't make it onto my slide that I want to let you know what our new budget proposal funds.
  • 00:51:19
    For the Minneapolis Strategic Outreach Initiative, it's $1 million.
  • 00:51:24
    Group Violence Intervention Technical Services, $125,000.
  • 00:51:29
    Adolescent Specific Group Violence Intervention, $250,000.
  • 00:51:35
    The Community Trauma and De-Escalation Initiative is $900,000.
  • 00:51:39
    And the Violence Prevention Fund we just talked about is a one-time $1 million.
  • 00:51:45
    So some of the numbers that did not make it onto my slide.
  • 00:51:51
    Our administrative adjustments and transfers.
  • 00:51:54
    So these are the staffing transfers that I mentioned earlier.
  • 00:51:58
    The health program manager position was funded by a grant partially, and we reduced our non-personnel budget by $75,000 as an offset so that we could keep that position.
  • 00:52:15
    and then we had a transfer of an Environmental Health Specialist, one position.
  • 00:52:19
    It was shared between our budget and the Health Department's budget and it is now fully budgeted in the Health Department.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:52:28
    and I will stand for
  • 00:52:58
    that's one million and is that the one time?
  • 00:53:19
    No, that's ongoing.
  • 00:53:21
    Okay.
  • 00:53:22
    And then the Violence Prevention Fund, that's one million one time.
  • 00:53:26
    Correct.
  • 00:53:27
    So going into 2024, this fund will basically, we have ARPA dollars that might be carrying over for that or it's basically done.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:53:36
    Are we done?
  • 00:53:37
    Let me check in with Jay.
  • 00:53:51
    Yes, that is actually correct.
  • 00:53:53
    So it's $1 million for 2024 and then the ARPA dollars are gone and then we are done.
  • 00:54:01
    So 2025.
  • 00:54:02
    I mean 2025, correct.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:54:04
    Okay, 2025, if there is no allocation here, this will cease to exist.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:54:09
    Correct.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:54:11
    I do not have Next Step in my notes.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:54:28
    I will have to go back and get that and I can definitely send Next Step to you.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:54:33
    And then you said $900,000 for the Community Trauma and De-escalation Initiative?
  • 00:54:38
    Correct.
  • 00:54:39
    And also just a programmatic question on this.
  • 00:54:41
    I know I love the breakdown of the Safe and Thriving kind of pillars of restorative and acknowledging that OVP has been the originator of where this work has been championed.
  • 00:54:53
    but this does seem to be something that would fall under restorative.
  • 00:54:57
    Is the de-escalation initiative placed somewhere else kind of under programmatic goals?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:55:03
    I would put the de-escalation initiative actually more so under
  • 00:55:09
    Yes, correct.
  • 00:55:10
    Restorative.
  • 00:55:12
    No, you are absolutely correct.
  • 00:55:14
    That does fall under restorative services because it is victim services that occur after the crime is committed.
  • 00:55:23
    You're correct, and I should have put that in my slide.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:55:26
    Oh, no, I just wanted to make sure because I was like, that seems very much restorative.
  • 00:55:29
    Yes.
  • 00:55:30
    Okay.
  • 00:55:31
    And then just clarification, the 900K, is that ongoing as well?
  • 00:55:35
    Is that, that's ongoing?
  • 00:55:38
    Yes, that's ongoing.
  • 00:55:40
    Great.
  • 00:55:40
    And then with the responsive pillar too, how has conversations been with PMI, Performance Management and Innovation, similar to BCR, which is now over in Neighborhood Safety as our only responsive initiative there.
  • 00:55:55
    PMI or OPI as its original formation helped to build that out.
  • 00:56:01
    And right now they have a federal grant
  • 00:56:04
    to look at piloting other responsive natures around our problem nature goals.
  • 00:56:09
    So like around domestic violence, victim services and things of that nature.
  • 00:56:13
    So hopefully through that work with staff taking that serious that we will see some growth in their responsive area.
  • 00:56:21
    But just wanted to know what conversations have been like with PMI thus far around those.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:56:25
    Thank you Councilmember Wansley for asking.
  • 00:56:28
    Those conversations have gone really well.
  • 00:56:31
    My background is in victim services and so I am very much interested in expanding what that looks like.
  • 00:56:40
    PMI is also going through some transition, but the director and I have had several conversations around exploring expanding that and checking to see what is
  • 00:56:53
    on the front cutting edge of those restorative services.
  • 00:56:59
    We are planning to get together in Atlanta this week with another national organization to talk about that very thing.
  • 00:57:06
    So conversations with PMI have been going very well, especially considered we're both in transition.
  • 00:57:13
    So yes, thank you for asking.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:57:15
    that's
  • 00:57:30
    and the City Council.
  • 00:57:51
    There's a need for this work to continue in any way this body can be supportive of that.
  • 00:57:55
    I definitely volunteer in my office to support in that work because it's not a question that work needs to grow.
  • 00:58:02
    And I'm looking at the MPD's budget presentation later on where we're crediting historic levels of
  • 00:58:09
    crime decreasing and knowing that this could not happen without also MPD personnel lowering but also growing our unarmed safety services like BCR and our violence interrupters who are doing phenomenal work and are also predominantly black and brown folks and are the ones who are literally putting themselves in between bullets.
  • 00:58:31
    So making sure those folks are also heavily recognized
  • 00:58:35
    and supported just as much as, which actually let me not say there's no parity there, but there needs to be an increase of support for this work too.
  • 00:58:44
    So thank you so much for outlining the metrics.
  • 00:58:47
    Oftentimes we don't see that with some of the other public safety pieces.
  • 00:58:52
    So I'm really excited to see this work continue to grow.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 00:58:55
    Thank you Chair Koski and Councilmember Wansley.
  • 00:58:59
    You're absolutely 100% right and particularly when violence disproportionately affects black and brown communities, it's extremely important that we lead the work as well.
  • 00:59:11
    I'm deeply grateful for the work that was done prior to my coming in and definitely intend to
  • 00:59:19
    to keep the focus on the disproportionate areas like it needs to be and have some incredible national connections that can help us make sure that we keep going in the right direction.
  • 00:59:34
    And thank you also for acknowledging the hard work that our contractors do and our staff do, much like domestic violence and sexual assault.
  • 00:59:44
    When you put those services together, domestic violence kind of engulfs sexual assault work.
  • 00:59:51
    The same happens with alternatives to public safety when we're connected with MPD oftentimes.
  • 00:59:59
    So I appreciate your office recognizing the hard work that's done by the community and by our staff.
  • 01:00:06
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:00:09
    Alright, next we have Councilmember Vita.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:00:13
    Thank you Chair Koski, and thank you Director for the presentation.
  • 01:00:17
    I just have a couple comments, maybe a question too.
  • 01:00:20
    And a lot of my concerns predate you, so I don't want you to feel like this is, you know, an attack on you or anything.
  • 01:00:27
    I've just had concerns about
  • 01:00:28
    I think if other council members are fine with services they're getting in their wards, that's fine.
  • 01:00:39
    But I've struggled and so has constituents in Ward 4 with our Minneapolis group.
  • 01:00:46
    and last year I had hoped to, I made an amendment to the mayor's budget to bring in some funding for some groups to work differently.
  • 01:00:56
    It didn't work out the way I had hoped it would but the goal was to have technical assistance from the DID and then we could have a model, a similar model in Ward 4 with our group because I think if we're going to do that sort of work with like,
  • 01:01:13
    The people in Ward 4 seem to be more familiar with the DID model, you know, like the collection of data on site, the walking around and seeing folks, you know, the social workers, the trash cleanup, all of that.
  • 01:01:28
    So my goal was to lift something up like that in my ward that could better serve us and spread the services throughout the wards and not kind of like contained in one area.
  • 01:01:39
    and so I the amendment passed unanimously but it just didn't it didn't go through the DID like I intended because their focus area is downtown and so that kind of went away but I would love for it to come back but not necessarily as the DID.
  • 01:01:57
    My hope is that some of the funding you have in your department we can maybe
  • 01:02:01
    get some technical assistance provided for some of the groups who are existing and maybe come up with a model that works.
  • 01:02:10
    I don't want to speak for other people's wards.
  • 01:02:13
    This is really about the concerns that people have shared with me.
  • 01:02:17
    And so what I'm saying is I would love to see one of the groups who are funded, you know, get technical assistance, get training to stand up their work
  • 01:02:27
    It's not serving us in the way that we need it to serve us in Ward 4.
  • 01:02:37
    I'll give you an example.
  • 01:02:38
    We have the corner of Penn and Lawry.
  • 01:02:40
    It's a lot of traffic.
  • 01:02:42
    It's a lot of people out.
  • 01:02:43
    there's a liquor store near there's a vacant lot and so you see a lot of people out I mean I'm not even joking a few months ago they were using a camera as a stripper pole so it's like a karaoke box out people sing you know they're having a good time I don't need the police to go over there
  • 01:03:00
    That's not what this is.
  • 01:03:02
    What you see there regularly is addiction issues and you see mental health issues.
  • 01:03:07
    So I would love for our group to be there and providing those folks with the services that they need on a daily basis.
  • 01:03:15
    I mean it really is them coming, that's like their community spot.
  • 01:03:18
    They come together like it's a park.
  • 01:03:20
    but they need a lot of resources.
  • 01:03:22
    I just don't think it's action for the police at all on that particular corner.
  • 01:03:26
    It really is resources that's needed.
  • 01:03:29
    And I've never seen our groups like they're regularly providing resources and seeing the number of people hanging out there changing.
  • 01:03:39
    It's actually grown over the last year.
  • 01:03:42
    And so I wanna work on,
  • 01:03:44
    How do we get some technical assistance to get a program that is for this particular community?
  • 01:03:51
    How do we spread out the needs?
  • 01:03:55
    Trying to get additional money for a DID model was great, but I don't think it should work out that way.
  • 01:04:00
    I think if we can find some structure with the funding we have in your department with some of the groups, that would be a great way to maybe pilot something.
  • 01:04:09
    and I would just like work for to be where the pilot starts at if possible.
  • 01:04:14
    So I know that was a lot but it's just some concerns I've had and I just need to see this.
  • 01:04:23
    I want to see this through as something that works.
  • 01:04:25
    I believe in it.
  • 01:04:26
    I worked in public health for many years and I believe in public health approaches but I don't believe that there's one way to approach things and I feel like that's what's happened with these even the departments that are
  • 01:04:39
    I mean, even the programs that read differently, they all seem to end up being kind of the same way, you know, with the same groups of people.
  • 01:04:48
    And so, I would really like to see something as strong and familiar as the DID model is in your department.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:04:55
    Yeah, yeah.
  • 01:04:56
    Thank you, Chair Koski and Councilmember Vita.
  • 01:05:00
    So, you have actually touched on something that I wasn't
  • 01:05:04
    prepared today to talk about as we are moving forward, but something that in my 90 days I've already started to address.
  • 01:05:14
    And that is, I 100% agree with you, one size fits all does not work.
  • 01:05:20
    Public safety and violence prevention can look different from block to block, let alone war to war.
  • 01:05:28
    and so our goal is to find those things that work specifically for that community and that information comes from the community.
  • 01:05:39
    So the DID model has come to our attention and we have already begun to pilot working with that model and it's done some very small funding.
  • 01:05:51
    I'm new to Minneapolis so I may mess it up but the Stone Arch Bridge area
  • 01:05:58
    Okay, so we did do a quick pilot and that pilot's concluding right now and I do have a plan for some technical assistance, some heavy technical assistance moving forward around that model and other promising models for other areas as well.
  • 01:06:19
    I just didn't want to prematurely say it and sound like I didn't know what I was talking about.
  • 01:06:24
    but that has absolutely come to our attention and something that we're looking at right now and I really hope your office can help us champion that work as we move forward.
  • 01:06:34
    We would love to.
  • 01:06:35
    Thank you.
  • 01:06:36
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:06:39
    Thank you.
  • 01:06:39
    Next we have Councilmember Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:06:41
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:06:42
    I'd actually echo Councilmember Vitaw.
  • 01:06:44
    I've been really wanting to see safety ambassadors on Central Avenue and I feel that we all have a corridor in our ward where we'd like to see
  • 01:06:51
    a physical presence that doesn't necessarily have to be MPD but provides some of those eyes and ears on the ground.
  • 01:06:58
    I actually just had a constituent who's a close friend of mine who just got jumped last night on Central Avenue and it would have been great to have had some safety ambassadors there to at least possibly be a preventative measure in that instance.
  • 01:07:11
    But my question is around on page four of the presentation
  • 01:07:17
    You were talking about being in conversations about expanding BCR scope.
  • 01:07:21
    I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit more on that, especially knowing that they're an outside contractor.
  • 01:07:28
    So I'm sure there's going to be some challenges in terms of adjusting scope midstream in a contract.
  • 01:07:34
    But then I'm also curious around, because it looks like you're looking at some PNC codes that probably are
  • 01:07:40
    related to behavioral crisis situations, but I'm also interested in expanding to additional PNC codes, and this might be even in alignment with this conversation around this safety ambassador model.
  • 01:07:53
    That's a preventative, not a responsive program.
  • 01:07:57
    I'd like to understand your perspective on how we can expand our responsive services.
  • 01:08:03
    Obviously, growing scope of BCR is something I want to learn more about, but are we going to eventually want to stand up a new type of responsive service?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:08:12
    Yes, thank you Chair Koski and Council Member Payne.
  • 01:08:17
    Yes, and we are very early on in the conversations, but this is the exciting part of the work for me.
  • 01:08:26
    BCR has given us some good data that we can follow, but it certainly warrants some new services, and I think that's where we are at the beginning.
  • 01:08:38
    is checking with our sister cities in other states, looking around nationally to see what is working.
  • 01:08:47
    There's some thoughts around talking about traffic areas.
  • 01:08:53
    Where are those areas that we do want to have those tough conversations as we start to change the trajectory, change minds?
  • 01:09:04
    almost like turning a cruise ship though where we kind of start little by little but definitely in the plans is to start looking at where some new services are some new areas that we can do first response as well as expanding the scope of BCR
  • 01:09:22
    and then we also come up against other challenges.
  • 01:09:26
    For example, one of the discussions we're having right now with Neighborhood Safety, BCR, Fire and MPD is on one of the, like on the check well, the wellness checks, we go and there's no response.
  • 01:09:43
    Who's able to enter?
  • 01:09:45
    that has led us into some legislative issues that we've never approached before.
  • 01:09:56
    Fire has their own specific reasons for being able to enter a unit.
  • 01:10:01
    MPD has their reasons and every you know we've never talked about you know contracted organizations and this is a nationwide discussion so we're definitely expanding and having those discussions and taking a very critical eye to make sure that we ensure everybody's safety
  • 01:10:21
    and put this in, do this in a way where it can be a permanent solution and we can be a model for other cities and then simultaneously looking at other services as well so that we can grow the spectrum of services that we offer.
  • 01:10:39
    But we're just, we're at the beginning.
  • 01:10:43
    So I would appreciate your support, your office's support in assisting us with this initiative as well.
  • 01:10:50
    I know you were instrumental
  • 01:10:51
    and designing BCR.
  • 01:10:53
    So we will likely be reaching out as we look at other models and other services that we can employ as well.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:11:01
    Well, you beat me to the punch because I was going to offer that.
  • 01:11:03
    Just definitely rely on me as a resource, you know, not just from my early days in PMI and having kind of that institutional knowledge to, you know, Councilmember Wonsley's point.
  • 01:11:15
    We lost a lot of institutional knowledge.
  • 01:11:17
    I'm the last one standing, so to speak.
  • 01:11:19
    but also count on me when it comes to I know particularly around issues of traffic enforcement there are some state statutes that are preemptive to maybe some of the ways that we may want to approach that and I'd be happy to be in touch with our delegation to help share what our needs are from a state legislative perspective when it comes to evolving and you know transforming what that looks like.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:11:44
    Yeah, thank you so much for that support.
  • 01:11:47
    We're going to need it.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:11:47
    Thank you.
  • 01:11:50
    Next, Councilmember Rainville.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 01:11:53
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:11:55
    Director, thank you for coming, and I really appreciate the speed at which you helped with that, the Stone Arch and Dinkytown culturally specific event.
  • 01:12:06
    And to my fellow Councilmembers, when that report comes through,
  • 01:12:09
    I'm very happy to share that and express what we've learned.
  • 01:12:15
    In particular Council Member Wamsley, since you will have Dinkytown after the first year that's probably a program that you want to learn a little bit more about.
  • 01:12:23
    It worked very well.
  • 01:12:24
    It was 100% effective the nights they were out the violence did not happen and it was because you responded so rapidly.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:12:32
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:12:35
    Thank you.
  • 01:12:36
    I just have one question, just to follow up on Councilmember Payne's, the barriers with state laws.
  • 01:12:42
    I was just wondering, I know we have an IGR meeting coming up, have you been, will we see some of the potential asks on our legislative agenda for this round or not sure where you're at within that process?
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:12:57
    I don't think you'll see any of the asks yet.
  • 01:12:59
    We're still in planning phases, so no.
  • 01:13:06
    Just a nutshell.
  • 01:13:07
    Helpful to understand what to prepare for.
  • 01:13:09
    Yes.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:13:10
    All right.
  • 01:13:11
    I am not seeing any further questions or comments.
  • 01:13:13
    I appreciate the presentation.
  • 01:13:16
    Thank you so much.
  • 01:13:17
    Well done, your first one.
  • 01:13:19
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 01:13:20
    I was terrified.
  • 01:13:21
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 01:13:22
    We didn't see a single shake, so you did a great, great job.
  • 01:13:26
    Thank you so much, director.
  • 01:13:28
    Alright, see no further discussion at this point.
  • 01:13:30
    I'll direct the clerk to file those presentations with that.
  • 01:13:34
    We've concluded all of this morning's business.
  • 01:13:36
    We have another meeting scheduled at 1 30 today where we are set to hear from fire and our police department.
  • 01:13:41
    See no further discussion without objection.
  • 01:13:43
    We stand adjourned.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:14:23
    Yeah.