Budget Committee June 24, 2024   6/24/2024

Consent

• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:00:20
    Good afternoon.
  • 00:00:21
    My name is Aisha Chugtai and I'm the chair of the Budget Committee.
  • 00:00:24
    I'm going to call to order our regular meeting from Monday, June 24th, 2024.
  • 00:00:29
    At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify the presence of a quorum.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:00:35
    Councilmember Payne.
  • 00:00:37
    Present.
  • 00:00:37
    Wonsley.
  • 00:00:38
    Present.
  • 00:00:39
    Rainville.
  • 00:00:40
    Present.
  • 00:00:42
    Lee Tom.
  • 00:00:42
    Present.
  • 00:00:43
    Ellison.
  • 00:00:44
    Here.
  • 00:00:46
    Osman.
  • 00:00:47
    Present.
  • 00:00:48
    Cashman is absent.
  • 00:00:51
    Jenkins is absent Chavez present Chaudry present Palmisano present Vice Chair Koski present Chair Chiktai present Council Member Kasman present There are 12 members present
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:01:08
    Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.
  • 00:01:11
    We will begin with item number one, which is our only item on the consent agenda.
  • 00:01:15
    This item is technical amendments to the 2024 budget based on the council's recent actions related to the 2024 consolidated plan and action plan.
  • 00:01:25
    I'll move approval of this item.
  • 00:01:27
    Do I have a second?
  • 00:01:30
    The item has been moved and seconded.
  • 00:01:32
    Is there any discussion?
  • 00:01:36
    Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
  • 00:01:40
    Aye.
  • 00:01:41
    Those opposed say nay.
  • 00:01:42
    Any abstentions?
  • 00:01:45
    That motion carries.
  • 00:01:47
    Next item number two is related to an appointed position of Deputy Commissioner of Public Health Initiatives and Operations.
  • 00:01:56
    I understand from Human Resources that they are requesting this item be returned to staff for more work to be brought back in a revised form to a future meeting.
  • 00:02:06
    I will make that motion to refer to staff.
  • 00:02:09
    Do I have a second?
• • Elliott Payne
  • 00:02:10
    Second.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:02:11
    The item has been moved and seconded.
  • 00:02:13
    All those in favor of returning it back, referring the item back to staff, please signify by saying aye.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:02:19
    Aye.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:02:20
    Those opposed say nay.
  • 00:02:22
    Any abstentions?
  • 00:02:23
    That motion carries.
  • 00:02:26
    Next we'll move on to item number three which is the City Council's fiscal year 2025 budget priorities for inclusion in the mayor's 2025-2026 recommended budget.
  • 00:02:37
    I presented on this item at our last meeting on June 10th.
  • 00:02:41
    As I shared via email prior to our last meeting and during our committee meeting, all council members had the opportunity to offer any amendments to the packet which were due last Monday.
  • 00:02:51
    My office received amendments from several council members which are reflected in updated documents that are publicly accessible in the LIMS file with the posted agenda for this meeting.
  • 00:03:01
    I've also prepared an updated presentation that reflects the amendments we've received which I will now present.
  • 00:03:07
    But in the interest of time, I'm going to skip over slides that haven't changed and cover only those that reflect the submitted amendments.
  • 00:03:17
    Kai, will you skip ahead to slide number five?
  • 00:03:22
    Perfect.
  • 00:03:23
    Um, as we noted last time, based on the priorities council members submitted, we saw 11 major themes which are noted here.
  • 00:03:31
    Um, my office received amendments from Council President Payne, Vice Chair Koski, Council Member Wonsley, Council Member Cashman, and Council Member Chavez, um, which I will now cover based on the themes that are listed here.
  • 00:03:45
    Next slide please.
  • 00:03:47
    There were no changes to the levy or arts and culture themes related to the climate theme.
  • 00:03:53
    However, at the bottom of this slide, Councilmember Cashman's amendment ranked the priorities that she submitted which updated her zero waste proposal as priority number two.
  • 00:04:04
    Next slide, please.
  • 00:04:06
    All right, there were several changes related to the community safety theme that we received.
  • 00:04:12
    First, Council President Payne's amendment updated the funding amount for the behavioral crisis response proposal to a to be determined one time amount for a supervisor vehicle along with $295,000 ongoing for staff capacity.
  • 00:04:27
    Councilmember Wonsley's amendment added a violence prevention funding proposal.
  • 00:04:33
    Councilmember Cashman's amendment changed the name of her previous uptown safety proposal to uptown safety ambassador program and ranked it as priority number one.
  • 00:04:42
    Councilmember Chavez's amendment added
  • 00:04:45
    First, a Lake Street Cultural District Safety Ambassadors Proposal, a Muslim Youth and Family Services Community Safety and Youth Programming Proposal, and if you'll skip ahead to the next slide, a Next Step Hospital-Based Support for Victims of Violent Injuries Proposal.
  • 00:05:04
    Next slide please.
  • 00:05:06
    Related to the business development and support theme Councilmember Cashman's amendment changed her changed first the name of her promise act support proposal to technical assistance for uptown revitalization and significantly reduced the one-time Allocation from 1 million dollars to a hundred thousand dollars And ranked it as priority number three next slide, please
  • 00:05:30
    on Homelessness, Housing, and Tenant Protections.
  • 00:05:34
    Vice Chair Koski's amendment added a proposal on affordable home ownership preservation for $590,000 ongoing.
  • 00:05:44
    Next slide, please.
  • 00:05:46
    On infrastructure and capital projects, Council Member Cashman's amendment reflected the traffic calming proposal she co-authored as priority number four.
  • 00:05:55
    There were no changes to the public health theme.
  • 00:06:00
    On the city enterprise theme, Vice Chair Koski's amendment added a proposal for enterprise resource planning, internally known as the ERP.
  • 00:06:12
    Council President Payne's amendment modified the funding amount for his youth programming proposal.
  • 00:06:29
    which was formerly to be determined to $800,000 one time.
  • 00:06:34
    Next slide please.
  • 00:06:35
    And then finally on the public services theme, Councilmember Cashman's amendment modified the name of her previous Skyway signage amendment to Downtown Wayfinding and Skyways and ranked it as priority number five.
  • 00:06:49
    I will you skip ahead two slides.
  • 00:06:52
    I will note that since most council members did not rank their priorities that they submitted we found the previous priority number ranking to be misleading to the public and to other members so we changed it to say priority name unless
  • 00:07:11
    So that completes the submitted amendments and presentations.
  • 00:07:23
    I will move to approve the revised version of the City Council's 2025 priorities.
  • 00:07:28
    Do I have a second on that motion?
  • 00:07:31
    It has been moved and seconded.
  • 00:07:33
    I will now open up for discussion.
  • 00:07:35
    Do any council members have any further amendments they'd like to propose at this time?
  • 00:07:40
    Would any authors wish to speak on their proposed changes or offer any comments?
  • 00:07:46
    I will first recognize Council Member Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 00:07:48
    Thank you Vice President Chuktai.
  • 00:07:50
    I just wanted to speak to my amendment around the violence prevention funding.
  • 00:07:56
    I know also several of my colleagues have specified initiatives related to violence prevention or community safety here and I do want to just speak to why I think I'm seeing so many desperate unarmed public safety initiatives being created at a war by war level.
  • 00:08:11
    I know right now as we're seeing even in PHS it feels that we have a piecemeal approach
  • 00:08:17
    when it comes to our community safety initiatives and I know council members are doing their best to be responsive to the variety of concerns that they're hearing from their wards and communities and are being responsive because we're having troubles having a coordinated response from the administrative side.
  • 00:08:35
    So I'm very excited to see, you know, we do have a shared agreement or shared value of our community safety work and a lot of these initiatives at the local level are being kept alive from council members.
  • 00:08:48
    I know like with BCR for instance and a number of these safety ambassador programs.
  • 00:08:54
    So I
  • 00:08:56
    I do want to highlight for my piece, though, we've had these ongoing conversations around, you know, violence prevention funding not being consistent and seeing that with Councilmember Chavez next up's proposal and hearing that from vendors ourselves of the constant fear of are they going to have the resources needed to pay people or keep programs continuing that helps keep our community safe.
  • 00:09:21
    We want to make sure that there is
  • 00:09:22
    I'm really excited to work with my colleagues in advancing community safety overall at a war by war level as we're continuing this work with the administration to also enact that city-wide approach that our communities have desperately been asking for
  • 00:09:51
    and needing.
  • 00:09:52
    So that's a little bit about mine.
  • 00:09:55
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:09:56
    Thank you.
  • 00:09:56
    Now before we continue discussion, I'll recognize that Councilmember Jenkins has joined us in this meeting.
  • 00:10:02
    Next I'll recognize Vice Chair Koski.
• • Emily Koski
  • 00:10:06
    Thank you, Chair Chuktay.
  • 00:10:07
    I just wanted to speak to the two amendments first and then I have a quick comment.
  • 00:10:12
    The first one I had was for the Affordable Home Ownership Preservation Grant Program.
  • 00:10:16
    This is a current program and this amendment seeks to maintain the city's relationship with Habitat for Humanity and expand funding for the city's Affordable Home Ownership Preservation Grant Program.
  • 00:10:26
    which provides grants and assistance with repairs to vulnerable homeowners who have been cited by housing inspectors through the Department of Regulatory Services.
  • 00:10:34
    Very low income and other at-risk homeowners such as seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans are often at risk of losing their homes due to expenses of resolving housing code issues and other deferred maintenance.
  • 00:10:48
    and so this will support homeowners in that way and this amendment is reflective of a regulatory service department budget proposal submitted to the mayor as part of their 2025-26 bi-annual budget recommendation.
  • 00:11:01
    The second amendment that I had was for the Enterprise Resource Planning Transformation Project Phase 2.
  • 00:11:08
    and this seeks to fund acquiring and contracting for a new enterprise resource planning or ERP system software including software licensing, implementation costs, implementation staffing and staffing backfills needed for implementation.
  • 00:11:22
    As I think many of us know, the current system is outdated, expensive to maintain, doesn't talk to one another and to other important systems.
  • 00:11:31
    It is soon also to not be supported by the current vendor.
  • 00:11:35
    The new system will consolidate many separate systems into one as a single source of truth and eliminating many manual processes and streamline many key city business processes.
  • 00:11:46
    This transition will create efficiencies enterprise-wide for human resources, performance management, hiring and onboarding, payroll, finance, procurement, banking,
  • 00:11:56
    and the budget and other related lines of business.
  • 00:12:04
    And this amendment is reflective of an IT proposal submitted to the mayor as part of their 2025-26 bi-annual budget recommendation.
  • 00:12:11
    And then, lastly, I just had a comment.
  • 00:12:13
    I just want to thank Councilmember Chug Thai for creating this process for all of us.
  • 00:12:18
    This is new for the council to put our You know what what our priorities are as individuals, but then as a body together and it was really Interesting and really enlightening for me to hear from all of my colleagues and I really loved learning about you know early on in this process What's been really important to you whether it's a citywide initiative or it's something specific in your ward.
  • 00:12:47
    It really helps
  • 00:12:48
    It has really helped me learn early on about what I might see and kind of what's going on in your areas too.
  • 00:12:56
    So I just want to say thank you to all of my colleagues too because it was really helpful to learn about what's been important to you.
  • 00:13:02
    So thank you so much.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:13:04
    Thank you, and next I'll recognize Councilmember Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 00:13:09
    Thank you Madam Chair.
  • 00:13:10
    As you know I didn't submit priorities or participate in this process and I think it's fine to have a public conversation about priorities.
  • 00:13:20
    It's important maybe to get a new council together in a conversation about priorities but I don't see anything
  • 00:13:28
    I'm particularly new here and in light of our current financial situation, I don't think it's appropriate for any of us to be prioritizing and finding dollar amounts that sometimes we haven't worked with staff with to prioritize our own wards pet projects.
  • 00:13:44
    It feels like many of my colleagues have prioritized using government money to support a specific project or population in their own ward.
  • 00:13:52
    and these major themes that I see are consistent with the broader goals of the city.
  • 00:13:58
    Things like 38th Street Thrive have been going on for many, many years.
  • 00:14:03
    The 4th Precinct Renovation and Community Center which was highlighted in an audit that took place last term and has come out in several ways such as with MDHR.
  • 00:14:12
    Zero Waste Initiatives without any amount of money attached feels like a theme we've had here since 2014.
  • 00:14:19
    Traffic calming, lead remediation, opioid response, all of these are things that we've prioritized now for several years.
  • 00:14:26
    I hear my colleagues talk about wanting this body to have the power of the purse, but you have to understand that it is not the power to spend taxpayer money as we please.
  • 00:14:37
    Ultimately, this is simply what we've done to be in conversation with the mayor.
  • 00:14:42
    but I'd really urge you all to have a real conversation with the mayor.
  • 00:14:47
    And so to that statement, this statement that you're about to make, here's what I would like for it to say and it doesn't.
  • 00:14:55
    I'd like for it to say that we have a responsibility to look at the bigger picture and ensure the city has a balanced budget, especially now.
  • 00:15:03
    That means we have to consider the needs of every resident in the city and we need to consider the constraints of our depleting
  • 00:15:10
    ARPA dollars are federal money and are rapidly increasing labor costs.
  • 00:15:16
    We simply don't have the funds to pursue new programs and I think it's incredibly irresponsible and tone-deaf and creating false expectations for us to be having conversations and prioritizing some of these things.
  • 00:15:29
    Thank you for letting me add in my two cents.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:15:33
    Thank you, Council Member.
  • 00:15:35
    Next I'll recognize Council Member Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 00:15:38
    Thank you, Chair Chogtai, for sharing all these budget priorities and for reflecting the amendments that I submitted.
  • 00:15:44
    For me, it's a process of getting my priorities in line.
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    I have already had a meeting with the mayor.
  • 00:15:49
    I'm sure most of us have and will continue to have meetings in the coming months, so this process is for us to do that deep work of reflecting what our communities are asking us to do with the city's budget, and I think it's important that we do that ahead of time before the end of the year.
  • 00:16:03
    I just wanted to make a quick comment.
  • 00:16:05
    My number one priority is funding Uptown Safety Ambassador Program that actually was funded in the 2024 budget at $300,000.
  • 00:16:12
    And so ahead of the Office of Community Safety presentation that we have today
  • 00:16:18
    I just wanted to note that it's important for us to have budget clarity because my plans around the implementation of this program and getting that funding out into community making this program successful for the uptown area depend on our departments being able to implement the budgets that we do put in place so the 2024 budget that was passed last year being implemented this year so that we can plan as well for next year.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:16:44
    Thank you Councilmember.
  • 00:16:46
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Chowdhury.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:16:50
    Thank you so much Chair Chug Thai.
  • 00:16:53
    I just wanted to echo some gratitude to you and Vice Chair Koski for setting up this process.
  • 00:17:03
    I've seen many a budget cycle
  • 00:17:05
    and the City of Minneapolis both as a resident, as a policy aide and one thing that has always been hard to follow along when it comes to the budget process is how complicated it is and understanding council members' priorities and the way to engage there.
  • 00:17:20
    That part has always felt a little clandestine, a little unattainable and then working with council members behind the scenes
  • 00:17:30
    You're so limited in having the conversations that you need to have with everyone at the table around what people's budget priorities are.
  • 00:17:38
    What are they likely to support?
  • 00:17:39
    What are they hoping for?
  • 00:17:41
    This moral document that we get to voice the voices of our residents into one and I thought this process was really helpful in creating that accessibility both for our community and then doing what we're supposed to do is have a discussion about the budget in a public meeting all together so we have an understanding
  • 00:17:59
    I know that there's some council members that I talk to with some regularity and there's some that I don't and so for the council members that I don't oftentimes get to check in with it was really clarifying to know what their priorities are and what we can expect come
  • 00:18:16
    December November and we're really in the throes of the busyness of budget season and I also kind of wanted to echo what Councilmember Cashman brought up in terms of her priorities.
  • 00:18:28
    I didn't rank my priorities, but one of my number one priorities is
  • 00:18:31
    is transit safety and that is a proposal that was again funded in the last budget cycle but is potentially likely to get cut and so it felt really important to uplift a project that's not shiny and new, something that has been asked for by residents.
  • 00:18:48
    In my community and other communities and uplift that I want to see some funding happen here I want to start engaging in conversations with our Department heads and our budget office and get that there and then this has also been really helpful in preparation for my meeting with the mayor and just getting my priorities straight as a new council member and lastly in terms of
  • 00:19:11
    us being fiscally responsible and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, I really, really want to see
  • 00:19:19
    Our Office of Performance Management and Innovation give us the tools necessary to determine what's working well in the city, what's not as efficient so we can make decisions on where to tighten our belt because it's true.
  • 00:19:32
    We have a big deficit before us and we have some expensive projects that we have to take a look at and I believe that this body deserves to have all the tools necessary so we can make decisions together to address that and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars while making sure
  • 00:19:49
    We're representing the values and the needs of our constituents.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:19:55
    Thank you.
  • 00:19:56
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:19:58
    Thank you, Chair Chuktai.
  • 00:20:00
    I just want to begin by thanking you, Chair Chuktai, and Vice Chair Koski for helping us go through this process.
  • 00:20:06
    I think it's an important process that sheds light to the public the work that we all do for our residents.
  • 00:20:12
    Last year, Vice Chair Koski went through a similar process, asked us about our priorities ahead of a meeting with the mayor.
  • 00:20:19
    And just for the public to know, last year when I met with the mayor, he didn't include any of my priorities in the budget.
  • 00:20:25
    and we didn't go through this process so the public didn't know that the Mayor of Minneapolis didn't include any Ward 9 priorities which meant that none of the priorities that my residents asked for through the process that I went to were included in the budget.
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    What this does now is it puts it in the public.
  • 00:20:40
    It shows the residents I represent what priorities I want to see get funded in the budget and if it's not included, best believe I'm going to make an amendment this coming November to make sure it's included to make sure that my residents are represented in this budget.
  • 00:20:52
    I do believe that budgets are moral documents and I believe that moral documents should uplift and help our residents thrive.
  • 00:20:59
    So I'm just very thankful for this process because I want to make sure that we are having collaboration in this city, that our residents are being represented well and that our priorities
  • 00:21:09
    It isn't like our priorities, it is our residents' priorities through the multiple hundreds of conversations, constituent contacts that we make, phone calls, community meetings.
  • 00:21:18
    That's how we develop these proposals is because what our residents want to see get funded, what they want to see get done.
  • 00:21:24
    You'll probably see one of my proposals is the Lake Street Safety Ambassador Program that is being threatened to get cut as well.
  • 00:21:31
    When we fund these projects, we hope that they get implemented and I think that should be the case.
  • 00:21:37
    But again, the Lake Street Safety Ambassador is being threatened to get cut and the public safety of my residents is being in threat because of that.
  • 00:21:45
    So I appreciate this process because it's public.
  • 00:21:48
    It lets our constituents know whether the mayor is going to include the priorities of our residents or not.
  • 00:21:54
    And I think that's an important conversation to have.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:21:58
    Thank you.
  • 00:21:58
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Jenkins.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 00:22:01
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 00:22:03
    I appreciate this conversation.
  • 00:22:07
    I hope that in the future we can go back to our strategic planning process as a council so that we can come up with priorities for the entire city that we all agree on instead of these one-off
  • 00:22:25
    Board specific, my constituent type of projects because we represent an entire city and so our budget has to be in accord to ensure that all of our residents are being served and I think a strategic process at the beginning of our term
  • 00:22:52
    can help us to all have the same goals, the same priorities and instead of sort of this one-off kind of process.
  • 00:23:04
    So that would be my request of leadership and the people who set our agenda is that we have a strategic planning process that includes the mayor.
  • 00:23:19
    that's public that we can announce our priorities to everyone at the beginning of the term and then subsequently live out those values and priorities.
  • 00:23:33
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:23:36
    Thank you.
  • 00:23:36
    I put myself in queue just to share that on the piece about strategic planning being an important part of how we set our goals and priorities and then as a result our resources.
  • 00:23:53
    That was a part of a conversation that Council President and I had with the clerk at the beginning of the term and the highlight
  • 00:24:04
    or the conclusion of that conversation was, you know, strategic planning is a process we go through every four years and we went through one at the beginning of the last term and there wasn't as much of an interest from, there wasn't as much of an interest in revising those so soon and so instead we went through a different type of strategic planning process at the beginning of
  • 00:24:33
    of this term.
  • 00:24:40
    aside from that that you know all members as has been noted here meet with the mayor as a part of the the annual budget process to share their priorities oftentimes those priorities are are specific to their ward sometimes they're citywide and this year is no different all members have had the opportunity to meet with a mayor whether that's happened yet or hasn't
  • 00:25:08
    And in addition to members meeting with the mayor to share their budget priorities, so do all departments.
  • 00:25:17
    And they each bring forward proposals that are specific to their departments and their scope of work for his consideration and inclusion in the recommended budget.
  • 00:25:30
    naming what's important to each of the parties involved is what allows us to get closer to finding places of alignment or at minimum to have shared understanding about what's important to everyone who's involved.
  • 00:25:46
    So I want to thank all of you for your participation in this process and for helping us understand how we can better improve this process moving forward and hopefully continue to engage in public
  • 00:26:06
    around what's important to the residents who we serve and who fund our entire enterprise so that our budgets can more and more reflect the needs of the people that we serve.
  • 00:26:20
    Thank you.
  • 00:26:21
    I'll next recognize Councilmember Vita.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:26:23
    Thank you.
  • 00:26:23
    Thank you.
  • 00:26:24
    I have a question for Councilmember Chaudry in regards to the transit safety ambassadors.
  • 00:26:30
    What's Metro Transit's role in this and isn't public safety at like the transit stations and in those transit corridors, shouldn't that be a priority for them?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:26:42
    Councilmember Chaudry, would you like to address?
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:26:44
    And also like shouldn't they be paying for that?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:26:48
    Would you like to address Councilmember Vita's question?
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:26:50
    Yeah, through the chair, if it's all right.
  • 00:26:54
    It's not necessarily to do the work of Metro Transit Councilmember Vita.
  • 00:26:58
    I recommend going back to the last budget meeting and going to the part where I discussed the transit safety priority and the vision around it.
  • 00:27:07
    It's more so to have a coordinating function.
  • 00:27:10
    I think Metro Transit has actually done a phenomenal job of creating new programs.
  • 00:27:17
    alongside the state delivering some funding for the trip agents.
  • 00:27:21
    What I am seeing and what other council members have been seeing at different transit stations is they're often time reacting to safety issues.
  • 00:27:30
    For example, in a transit station in my ward,
  • 00:27:33
    There's increasing livability issues that lead to antisocial and criminal behavior and small businesses, residents, school-aged children, transit riders are all having to deal with them and it requires inter-jurisdictional efforts to address the safety concerns both with Metro Transit, with Hennepin County, there's a little bit of interaction with MnDOT, there's a little bit of interaction that I've already had to do with our public works team, some interaction with
  • 00:28:02
    CPED when it's connecting to small business to address these issues and in the past council members in a council office that I've worked in before Ward 9 Have had to hold the line share of coordinating all of the safety issues for a specific transit station coordinating with the school board all of these things and coordinating with Metro Transit who is willing and able to do so but that has been unsustainable and
  • 00:28:28
    Over long term would make more sense to be a service.
  • 00:28:32
    I believe that belongs to the neighborhood safety department and This is the start of the broad budget process.
  • 00:28:38
    I'm naming that it's a priority I see Commissioner Barnett's in the audience and I'd love to talk to him More about the vision and what's possible and I'm certainly flexible in this vision and what's what we can do and what we can pilot and
  • 00:28:51
    but I just want to make sure that the city continues to play an integral part of safety specifically on transit because I do feel like as a local government in this entity we can play a really valuable role so thanks for giving me an opportunity to further clarify my vision.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:29:10
    Thank you.
  • 00:29:12
    That's not my question.
  • 00:29:14
    My question was simply, what is Metro Transit doing?
  • 00:29:18
    Is Councilmember Chaudry working with Metro Transit on the issues that she's seeing in her ward and with all these other partners, and what dollars are they bringing to the table?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:29:29
    Councilmember Chaudry.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 00:29:31
    Yeah, Councilmember Vita, through the Chair, I am in conversations with them.
  • 00:29:36
    I'm happy to take this conversation offline to send you the information about what Metro Transit is investing in in terms of resources.
  • 00:29:44
    They have multiple on transit folks.
  • 00:29:48
    Ernesto Morales, the chief of Metro Transit is also working hard.
  • 00:29:53
    Been talking to him as well.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:29:54
    I'm aware of community groups who get contracts with Metro Transit to do a lot of this work.
  • 00:30:01
    I'm concerned that we're duplicating services and putting money in the budget that we could be using for other things and Metro Transit could continue to fund these groups and do that community safety work.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:30:16
    Before I recognize Councilmember Choudry for any additional comments, I'll just name, you know, it has been a while, several months before, or since we took up markup last year to the budget.
  • 00:30:32
    This is a budget amendment that I brought forward alongside the very
  • 00:30:37
    for the
  • 00:30:58
    a year's worth of work that Councilmember Chavez and I did through our offices with Metro Transit along with Hennepin County and our different libraries, business owners, business associations, residents, neighbors understanding that a safe and healthy
  • 00:31:22
    public transit system is an important part of our city in residents being able to get from place to place, but also in our ability to have visitors in the city and have visitors feel safe being in Minneapolis.
  • 00:31:37
    This is a pretty consistent theme that we hear across the board.
  • 00:31:40
    It's not just my experience.
  • 00:31:42
    And one of the things that has come out of
  • 00:31:47
    the ongoing partnerships between offices that struggle with issues along transit corridors in our work with these multi-jurisdictional partners was the need for additional resources from the city in the form of this type of coordinator position
  • 00:32:07
    and a part of it was also meant to address the fact that when we addressed safety issues along one specific transit station, some of those issues then moved to a different one and so the need for a holistic approach rather than a council ward by council ward based on who's dealing with it the most was not effective.
  • 00:32:27
    It was not working.
  • 00:32:28
    So that's where this amendment came from.
  • 00:32:30
    I'd really encourage anyone, any member or member of the public that's interested in further information to check out the pretty extensive budget proposal that we submitted last year.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:32:41
    Do you have some data along with that to show like what you succeeded at in that previous budget amendment or do we have some results from you know what we've invested in?
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:32:53
    Council member, I don't have the data off the top of my head, but I know it is included in the budget proposal.
  • 00:32:59
    Okay.
  • 00:33:00
    Thank you.
  • 00:33:00
    Thank you Next I'll recognize.
  • 00:33:04
    Is that the end of your questions council member?
  • 00:33:07
    Next I'll recognize council member Chavez
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:33:09
    Thank You chair Chuck Tain just for the public so they know so this was funded in December 2023 so this was a new proposal and it's being proposed to get cut by the administration in the following conversation today so this hasn't even had time to get off the ground because before that even had the chance to get off the ground even though we all voted for it the ones that have returned for it it's being proposed to get cut so I just wanted the public to know that it hasn't even started because it's being proposed to get cut now thank you
• • Katie Cashman
  • 00:33:41
    Council Member Vita Thank you Council Member Chavez.
  • 00:33:45
    So there you never started it There is no data or anything to support like what you had done the previous year because it never got started Council Member Chavez, would you like to address the question?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:33:57
    Thank you Council Vice President Chuck Chad.
  • 00:33:58
    What I was saying is that this particular budget amendment, which was around the work of transit coordination between the city, Metro Transit, Chief Morales, was to help additional support to do that.
  • 00:34:10
    The data isn't here for the position because it never existed because it passed in December, it just is getting proposed to get cut later today in the agenda.
  • 00:34:19
    So the staff hasn't released the RFP to hire these coordinators if that makes sense.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:34:23
    Got it.
  • 00:34:24
    to supplement that.
  • 00:34:25
    I'll just add that the data that is included in the supplemental budget proposal that I mentioned earlier was data to reflect the outcomes we saw in doing that coordination work around specific safety centers.
  • 00:34:48
    Council Member Chavez, are you in queue again?
  • 00:34:50
    Seeing no further discussion on the motion to approve the revised version of the City Council's 2025 budget priorities for the Mayor's consideration in the 2025-2026 recommended budget.
  • 00:35:10
    All those in favor signify by saying aye.
  • 00:35:13
    Aye.
  • 00:35:13
    Those opposed say nay.
  • 00:35:16
    The ayes have it and that motion carries.
  • 00:35:19
    Next we will move to our final item which is item number four and that is a proposal to reallocate public safety aid.
  • 00:35:29
    Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnett is here to present on this item today along with COO Anderson Kelleher.
  • 00:35:44
    Welcome Commissioner and welcome COO.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:35:47
    Thank you and good afternoon.
  • 00:35:55
    I'm Todd Barnett.
  • 00:35:56
    I am the Commissioner of Community Safety for the City of Minneapolis.
  • 00:36:00
    Of course with me is also Margaret Anderson Kelleher, who is our COO.
  • 00:36:08
    We're here today to present on the proposed reallocation of the Public Safety Aid funds that were allocated as part of the 2024 budget process last year.
  • 00:36:20
    And COO Margaret Anderson Kelleher will get us started with some background information.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 00:36:27
    Welcome CEO Anderson Kelleher.
  • 00:36:29
    Good afternoon Madam Chair as well as committee members and want to thank the Commissioner for the introduction of the topic so You many of you are familiar with This process.
  • 00:36:43
    I'm just gonna move this up here.
  • 00:36:44
    It's easier that way a little a little easier than Keeping it down there
  • 00:36:52
    So background, why are we here today?
  • 00:36:55
    In 2023, the state of Minnesota appropriated $300 million statewide for public safety specifically, one-time dollars.
  • 00:37:08
    and of our portion of that, you might wonder where did the rest of that money go, counties, tribal governments, other towns and cities shared in that money.
  • 00:37:19
    Our portion, 19 million dollars came to us and the legislature said there are various and specific needs that can be included, purposes for the expenditures.
  • 00:37:31
    And so they include community violence prevention, intervention programs, community engagement,
  • 00:37:36
    mental health responses, victim services, training programs, first responder wellness, equipment related to fire and rescue and emergency services, and to pay for personnel and equipment costs.
  • 00:37:51
    There are a number of things that are also prohibited and for the public, if they want to go to the Minnesota Department of Revenue website, that is where that list is of what's prohibited.
  • 00:38:04
    During the budget process, the council allocated approximately $10 million of that money out into programs and set aside $9 million for future allocation spending in the finance area of the city.
  • 00:38:21
    Funding for the programs which we'll go over a bit later in this presentation covered numerous areas Multiple departments and that's why I am here with the Commissioner today because some of those departments are in the Office of Public Service as well and with the largest amount of that allocation $4.8 million primarily going to the Department of Neighborhood Safety
  • 00:38:51
    We're gonna next go through the reasons for the proposed reallocation and then cover both what the administration what through our analysis we would ask that stays appropriated what needs to change and Where where we can see the result we will see results from those changes and why so commissioner I
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:39:22
    Just talking a little bit about OCS and OPS department staff capacity and limitations.
  • 00:39:32
    There's been a lot of talk today about the 2024 budget process.
  • 00:39:38
    Back then, I think all of you, we've probably talked since then about the challenges in the allocation of this amount of funding for new programs and new pilot programs.
  • 00:39:52
    Back then I stated about the capacity of our staff across the enterprise to be able to implement those new programs.
  • 00:40:00
    I've talked a little bit about the infrastructure concerns and also program design limitations.
  • 00:40:08
    And back then I also suggested that we give a little bit more time to the Office of Community Safety to really prioritize the allocation of this money and what could be done.
  • 00:40:20
    So during quarters one and two of this year, our office has worked across the enterprise to evaluate if the funds as allocated could be used in ways that are both legally permissive and also aligned with staff capacity.
  • 00:40:36
    We also examine what funds could have immediate impact now and have midterm impact on safety in Minneapolis.
  • 00:40:46
    The overall budget outlook
  • 00:40:49
    The importance of this analysis was emphasized by the city's overall budget picture that began taking view some months ago.
  • 00:40:56
    As you all are aware at this point that the current projections, which indicate a sizable budget hole for the city, and so this will require creative funding solutions to maintain the current service levels.
  • 00:41:11
    Using OCS analysis in the budget forecast as a backdrop, we're now requesting reallocation of the entire public safety funding to align with feasible program designs, staff capacity, and also to offset the budget costs that we anticipate coming forward that will have a substantial impact on Minneapolis taxpayers.
  • 00:41:39
    We will discuss our proposal as following.
  • 00:41:42
    Proposed maintained allocations, the proposed amended current allocations, proposed new allocations, and proposed reallocations.
  • 00:41:54
    I'll hand it back to our COO.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 00:41:59
    Madam Chair, we're going to start with the allocations that we propose maintaining from the 2024 budget process.
  • 00:42:10
    And as you can see, a number of these items include staffing items.
  • 00:42:15
    So Office of Community Safety Staffing, a little under a million dollars.
  • 00:42:20
    Office of Public Service Staffing, $625,000.
  • 00:42:25
    Warehouse District Live program, three quarters of a million dollars, the LEAD contract, which is $250,000, Neighborhood Safety Initiatives, $200,000, Lake Street Safety Coordination, $300,000, as well as the Lake Street Temporary Safety Center is also recommended to stay.
  • 00:42:51
    So then there is another category, which is changed allocations, recommended changes to current allocations.
  • 00:42:59
    So this maintains much of the work that is happening and what is able to be delivered within this budget year.
  • 00:43:09
    And that's what I would stress here, is that after further analysis, and I know that the commissioner had shared during the budget process as well concern for a number of these items,
  • 00:43:20
    So Truth and Reconciliation, a reduction down to $300,000.
  • 00:43:26
    It reconfigures that money to fit into the definition of the public safety aid and what we can do with it in the Truth and Reconciliation area.
  • 00:43:36
    cultural district ambassadors and I do want to say Minneapolis just announced a cultural arts district ambassador grant program.
  • 00:43:46
    This is a different thing and want to note that on the slide.
  • 00:43:51
    But taking that down to about half will allow under the staffing that we have and the constraints that we have to be able to deliver on that expectation.
  • 00:44:01
    Crime and hate crime prevention.
  • 00:44:05
    This money is both being recommended to be increased slightly and you might wonder or if you're remembering this money went into CPED first but the recommendation is it actually moves over to MPD to use a data-driven approach and we can talk more about that, what that will look like.
  • 00:44:30
    And then the public safety recruitment campaign which has been going very well to fund that through the end of the year a slight increase here of $500,000 to continue that work the 9-1-1 and MPD recruiting campaign and So next to cover the proposed new allocations.
  • 00:44:50
    The Commissioner is going to come back up chair if that is okay with you Welcome back Commissioner
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:45:01
    Thank you Chair
  • 00:45:03
    So, as I stated earlier, part of this analysis is to identify areas in which funding could be beneficial immediately and in the midterm for community safety.
  • 00:45:17
    So, 311 Staffing at the Lake Street Safety Center, we're proposing to fund two new temporary 311 agents to staff the Lake Street Community Safety Center, which will open up later this year.
  • 00:45:33
    I think you've heard director Amanda Harrington talk about that.
  • 00:45:38
    This amount is anticipated to cover two years for these two positions and that will coincide with the two year lease as well.
  • 00:45:48
    and we're looking at the technology for the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.
  • 00:45:54
    This technology or this funding allocation would cover the expense and cost for equipment and technology needed to coordinate and dispatch non-sworn personnel and services that are related but not distinct from a 911 response.
  • 00:46:13
    This is similar to the DID program downtown.
  • 00:46:18
    This is an essential function associated with the ambassadors and safety resources and other technology needed, which includes a 311 service center, network backbone, and wireless internet in a community room as well.
  • 00:46:36
    Community engagement This shouldn't be any surprise.
  • 00:46:40
    It's throughout the Minneapolis safe and thriving community report We're proposing this allocation to support further community engagement for the city for the for the safety design and implementation
  • 00:46:55
    Amanda Harrington has been doing a lot of that work with her staff.
  • 00:46:59
    This funding would be key to support the continuing engagement effort on issues such as the overall community safety ecosystem and corresponding projects like the safety centers.
  • 00:47:17
    When we look at Community Safety Pilots, this next recommendation really came out of PMI some time ago.
  • 00:47:25
    And this is really about bringing some mental health support in 911.
  • 00:47:33
    This would help free up our 911 staff in handling urgent calls.
  • 00:47:39
    The potential here is for our staff
  • 00:47:42
    and 9-1-1 to deal with those urgent calls while we provide some mental health services to some of our folks who are repeat callers or frequent callers.
  • 00:47:53
    Generally, they're in a mental health crisis but it's not an immediate threat to themselves or others and in some cases is really taking the time to work with them to maybe open the door for a BCR, open the door for police.
  • 00:48:11
    Sometimes they're calling just to talk about their day or to talk about their mental health status and having some support with our 911 callers Call takers and dispatchers would be helpful
  • 00:48:25
    The second one there is really about having a response to traffic accidents where there's not an injury at all but allowing our unsworn code compliant specialists from traffic control to respond to non-injury collisions, property only incidents in which there's an accident and they can provide direct response, provide support
  • 00:48:49
    investigate the scene, write a report, and clear traffic, allowing our law enforcement officers to attend to other important matters around community safety.
  • 00:49:02
    Of course, this next proposal is the police federation contract.
  • 00:49:08
    This proposed allocation is obviously the most significant change from the council's original allocation as part of the 2024 budget.
  • 00:49:18
    We specifically propose allocating $9 million of the Public Safety Aid funding to offset the known cost that will impact the city's budget going forward.
  • 00:49:28
    This contract, of course, as all of you know, is forthcoming to Council in the next couple of weeks.
  • 00:49:34
    It will have several key reforms and also have a pay rate increase equaling 21.7% over three years.
  • 00:49:43
    This contract, of course, will bring our officers in line with other law enforcement agencies, giving them a competitive salary, which is important to our retention and also recruitment.
  • 00:49:57
    This contract, in addition to other already settled and soon to be settled labor agreements, will have a substantial impact on our budget for 2025 and beyond.
  • 00:50:11
    This proposed allocation is intended to reduce the impact on our Minneapolis taxpayers Joint Powers Agreement We're proposing this allocation to help fund mutual aid from other jurisdictions for the next couple of months through the summer and beyond In the previous years, this was a one-time budget allocation for mutual aid but it was not in the 2024 budget
  • 00:50:43
    Next.
  • 00:50:44
    I'm sorry here.
  • 00:50:54
    proposed reallocation.
  • 00:50:58
    Here, I just want to say that I know that a lot of the budget amendments from 2024 were important to council, all council members.
  • 00:51:10
    This is not to say when we look at reallocation that they were not good ideas, but we're just trying to make some, we have to, and make some tough choices here.
  • 00:51:20
    So the collaborative public safety strategies to reduce gun violence, we're proposing to reallocate this funding.
  • 00:51:29
    I know from talking to Councilmember Chavez, this is not, it was new to me, but not new to Minneapolis, a program that was, I think, originated under former Mayor Hodges.
  • 00:51:43
    The reason for this allocation is really about our staff capacity to really evaluate
  • 00:51:51
    the design and implementation of this program.
  • 00:51:54
    We're currently committed to YGVI and GVI.
  • 00:51:59
    OCS, NPD, Neighborhood Safety and PMI of course will continue to prioritize strategies to reduce gun violence in its existing programs and any forthcoming programs as well.
  • 00:52:14
    Next, there's been a lot of talk about this one, the Transit Safety Coordinators
  • 00:52:21
    Metro Transit, I think since our budget process back in December, has really had a more robust presence in all of its stations and they, as been talked about already, they have included having community organizations to do outreach.
  • 00:52:41
    There's been some talk about their trip initiative, which started, I believe, in February of this year.
  • 00:52:48
    These agents, of course,
  • 00:52:50
    are helping people with the routes and information at all their transit stations.
  • 00:52:56
    They help remind people of the code of conduct when you're on Metro Transit and also they have the ability to administer first aid.
  • 00:53:07
    Although
  • 00:53:09
    I know there's been some talk about duplicate services, whether it's duplicate or not, I do think we need to give Metro Transit more time with implementing their trip program.
  • 00:53:19
    And not only that, just making these tough choices, we would like to reallocate this
  • 00:53:26
    this funding.
  • 00:53:28
    We believe that Metro Transit is seeing positive results.
  • 00:53:32
    Of course, all of the departments in the enterprise will continue to partner with Metro Transit to increase safety on and around its transit stops.
  • 00:53:44
    The $4 million for pilots that we are asking to reallocate, they're
  • 00:53:52
    We know that pilots are essential to the success of the community safety ecosystem, and in here we are proposing three pilots, two of which I've talked about already.
  • 00:54:04
    One is the mental health support 911, the other is having our traffic control non-sworn agents help with traffic accidents, and also reducing the ambassador program.
  • 00:54:17
    This would put OPS and OCS at near staff capacity.
  • 00:54:23
    Looking at that and trying to implement what we can immediately.
  • 00:54:27
    Also looking at the Federation contract which is an immediate need for us and OCS is recommending funding the contract.
  • 00:54:39
    The unassigned amount that's here of $4.9 million, of course, we're asking to reallocate that money for the contract as well, mainly to help offset the significant burden that taxpayers might feel and also giving us more time to understand fully what the budget impact will be.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 00:55:06
    Thank you.
  • 00:55:10
    We want to speak to both the long-term financial plan in regard to this recommendation as well as both the projects and the administration side of this.
  • 00:55:24
    And so this slide has been prepared to take a look at the adopted projects
  • 00:55:30
    that are in this, and then I'm going to just go forward because this is where I wanted to end up.
  • 00:55:37
    We have a few priorities here in the reallocation.
  • 00:55:41
    And we've been asked often about a financial plan for the fiscal cliff created by any sort of temporary funds.
  • 00:55:50
    And generally speaking, these recommendations that we're bringing towards you today
  • 00:55:56
    are really about that important question.
  • 00:56:00
    These are one-time funds.
  • 00:56:02
    And the impact of those one-time funds going away can be quite disruptive if we were to staff up in a program or a pilot that maybe can't continue because of our almost $22 million deficit.
  • 00:56:18
    in our city budget in 2025.
  • 00:56:21
    And so, you know, there's smart, I think smart uses of these dollars for one time funding, the one time expenditures, things like the Lake Street Safety Center.
  • 00:56:32
    the Hate Crimes Prevention Project and in some cases there's funding that's actually duplicative and that is the transit coordinator piece because of what has happened with Metro Transit both the funding that they received through the 2023 legislative session and the program that they have been able to implement, start implementing the TRIP program as well
  • 00:56:57
    and we will continue to evaluate any of these one-time expenditures and continue to talk to you about them.
  • 00:57:04
    So the long-term effect of these recommendations are really about that right match to the right dollars at this moment in time.
  • 00:57:16
    And so they include funding of the one-time projects like the Joint Powers Agreement for summer safety,
  • 00:57:23
    The Community Safety Center technology, a perfect one-time use of dollars
  • 00:57:29
    Funding temporary needs, the 311 staff at the temporary safety center on Lake Street The funding of pilots that can be supported by current staffing levels And that's what you're seeing in this recommendation as well And then prioritizing community engagement as we go forward in the community safety ecosystem as we are building this new system together
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 00:58:07
    In closing, the proposal that we're bringing forward for the allocation and reallocation of the public safety aid is grounded
  • 00:58:17
    and three critical realities for us.
  • 00:58:20
    Of course, staff capacity, that ability to do the work that we have, especially the limitations that we have.
  • 00:58:30
    Program design expectations, of course the feasibility of design and implementation, and then the budget realities in that we all are facing a budget deficit and we have very few options as we look at where the funding will come from.
  • 00:58:47
    At this time, we ask to move this item forward.
  • 00:58:50
    That concludes our presentation.
  • 00:58:54
    And I'm sure we'll have questions.
  • 00:58:56
    Thank you, Chair.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 00:58:57
    Thank you for that presentation, Commissioner and COO.
  • 00:59:03
    So knowing that this is a contentious item, before I make a motion on this, I will open it up for discussion and questions to staff from committee members.
  • 00:59:14
    I will ask that we engage in discussion in a respectful manner both with one another and with the staff that are here presenting today and that we please refrain from or do our best refrain from speaking over members
  • 00:59:31
    Assigning intent and do our best to abide by our council rules and decorum as we continue with this discussion.
  • 00:59:39
    With that, there are several members that have questions or comments.
  • 00:59:44
    I will first recognize Council Member Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 00:59:47
    Thank you Chair Chai.
  • 00:59:48
    I'll begin by just saying a few words to my residents.
  • 00:59:51
    I know that in this proposal you'll see four out of the seven cuts or amendments are through amendments that my office specifically authored and this is in no way or shape.
  • 01:00:02
    The decision was in no way or form or shape informed by my office and wasn't made by my office.
  • 01:00:08
    This is a cut being made by the mayor's administration.
  • 01:00:11
    So I just want to let my constituents in particular know that
  • 01:00:14
    While I did offer four out of the seven amendments to be implemented this year, they're not being brought forward by my office.
  • 01:00:21
    I do have two questions and I'll first ask either COO Anderson Kelleher or our commissioner right here if there were concerns about capacity
  • 01:00:32
    Why didn't the administration just leave the funds there for next year?
  • 01:00:37
    Because we know that public safety isn't going to be resolved overnight.
  • 01:00:40
    We know we're going to have public safety issues going on next year.
  • 01:00:43
    The administration could have still said, your residents matter.
  • 01:00:46
    They matter in your neighborhood.
  • 01:00:49
    And we know that we don't have capacity to implement them this year, but next year we will.
  • 01:00:54
    And the administration could have decided to leave the money for next year, but instead it's being completely cut out or amended.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:01:02
    Chair Tuktai, Council Member Chavez, I think if you look back at the criteria that we really used here, we are really focused in on not only just staff capacity, but also looking at what the budget forecast is as well.
  • 01:01:25
    We also
  • 01:01:27
    and making these decisions, and they're tough decisions, is that what can we get done now, you know, immediately?
  • 01:01:35
    What can we get done midterm?
  • 01:01:38
    And all the recommendations that we're making here are things that we think we can feasibly get done, at the same time trying to take that burden off of the taxpayers as we look to 2025.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:01:54
    Thank you.
  • 01:01:55
    I just want to note that our council members in this body are still going to have to find money for these programs next year.
  • 01:02:02
    And now they're being threatened to get cut and we're still going to have to go in the budget process in November finding any money we can to make sure that our residents are safe in our neighborhoods.
  • 01:02:14
    And again,
  • 01:02:15
    these are projects that
  • 01:02:37
    that being said it could have been used next year as well because we're not going to get done with truth and reconciliation overnight or and I authored that amendment too or the cultural district ambassador being cut in half don't know where the locations are going to be at but this is funny that I have been telling my residents that we fought really hard to get in the budget because their safety matters on our cultural districts whether you're on Franklin, Lake Street or 38th Street that is being cut in half I also authored that one
  • 01:03:03
    or the Hate Crime Prevention Program that is being moved from CPED to MPD for cameras.
  • 01:03:09
    I'm not saying we shouldn't use cameras but the program I put in was in CPED and to develop a more comprehensive approach to address hate crime.
  • 01:03:18
    Not everybody believes that surveillance is the way to address
  • 01:03:22
    Council,
  • 01:03:39
    in February, a wild flyer to talk about LGBTQIA community safety, they wanted to address hate crime prevention through a non-surveillance way.
  • 01:03:49
    And now we're cutting that by saying the only way through hate crime prevention in the city is through cameras.
  • 01:03:54
    And I think we could have had a both-and approach and something that I'm going to have a conversation with my colleagues up here of it doesn't have to be pitting MPD cameras against a hate crime prevention program.
  • 01:04:04
    I do have a question on the public safety recruitment.
  • 01:04:07
    When I voted in favor of this, I believe Councilmember Vitale brought it forward.
  • 01:04:11
    My understanding of what I voted for was to support our 9-1-1 city staff.
  • 01:04:16
    I went to an event to talk about how our 9-1-1 staff feel unsafe and they deserve, you know, better pay.
  • 01:04:24
    And what I voted for was
  • 01:04:27
    funding for collective bargaining to help them.
  • 01:04:30
    And can you explain what's happening here?
  • 01:04:32
    I think it's getting moved from collective bargaining and maybe potential increased wages to just recruitment on a program that already existed, or did I read that incorrectly?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:04:45
    Chair, Chuck Teich, Council Member Chavez, I think that's incorrect in this way.
  • 01:04:54
    We had a contract with Accenture and that contract was for a campaign for first responders which focused in on reimagining yourself and that was with NPD and 911.
  • 01:05:09
    So I'm not sure specifically what you're talking about because we're asking to continue
  • 01:05:17
    That campaign that campaign will move from Accenture in August to the Office of Community Safety and Can I just say one other thing from your comments earlier if you don't mind?
  • 01:05:30
    Yep Councilmember Chavez In no way are we saying any of these programs aren't important what we're trying to do is look at this and
  • 01:05:45
    Analyze it and just these are the decisions that we've had to make in light of the budget in light of staff capacity in light of Program design and implementation Thank You Commissioner.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:05:58
    I understand that that's maybe your stance but to our residents it's telling them that we don't have capacity to protect your safety on this particular budget amendment and
  • 01:06:09
    My question, and I'll go back and ask it, Councilmember Vitale brought a budget amendment last year that was for $1,350,000, and it was for 911 recruitment and retention efforts subject to collective bargaining as required.
  • 01:06:23
    I was proud to vote in favor of Councilmember Vitale's amendment.
  • 01:06:26
    What I'm seeing here is that that money is being dissolved into a new program, or I just want to learn what that actually means into the recruitment campaign rather than retention.
  • 01:06:35
    So that's my question.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:06:38
    So Chair Chug Thai councilmember Chavez two separate issues there was a Retention bonus as well as some additional money.
  • 01:06:51
    That would be collective bargained I believe that money with 911 has been expended in terms of the Bonus, but that is in an issue of collective bargaining.
  • 01:07:03
    That is not this money so this is taking a
  • 01:07:06
    additional money.
  • 01:07:07
    I don't know exactly if it's from the $4 million.
  • 01:07:12
    You could see if we go back.
  • 01:07:15
    Let's see.
  • 01:07:16
    It could be coming from the unassigned pool.
  • 01:07:20
    It could come from some of the pilot pool.
  • 01:07:23
    This is $500,000 going into that recruitment campaign.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:07:31
    COO, if I may, the $1,350,000 that's on slide 4, it is included on the slide that discusses proposed amended allocations.
  • 01:07:42
    Yep, that one.
  • 01:07:43
    So that amount is the exact same as the 9-1-1 amendment and so just want to make sure that there are different amendments that you're talking about, different allocations that you're talking about.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:08:01
    Madam Chair, we're going to have the Budget Director come up.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 01:08:07
    Welcome director chair Chug Thai members of the committee.
  • 01:08:09
    Thanks for having me Jane DeCenza budget director So yes, the 1.3 5 million in the 2024 adopted budget you can find the narrative for that and the HR but part of the budget book And that was for a variety of recruitment retention options in the public safety sector
  • 01:08:28
    What this proposal would do is add $500,000 to that amount with the intention of continuing the ad placement for the public safety recruitment campaign that began in the winter this past winter Okay, thank you so just to because I still want to get back on cue so 1.3 million dollars essentially still going to go to 9-1-1 recruitment and the additional would just go to continue the recruitment campaign
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:08:59
    It's $500,000 that will increase that amount so we can continue the recruitment campaign.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:09:06
    Thank you, I appreciate it.
  • 01:09:07
    The way I read it, I was a little confused, thinking that we were going to completely move the amendment that I was very happy to support into just the campaign that we had funded previously.
  • 01:09:16
    Thank you so much for the clarification.
  • 01:09:19
    I'll keep going, just because I want to let my residents know which programs are being threatened to get cut.
  • 01:09:26
    This one was one of the most important ones that I amended in the budget last year and it's the collaborative public safety strategies to reduce gun violence and I'll repeat that collaborative public safety strategies to reduce gun violence into neighborhoods in North Minneapolis and I'll talk about the two neighborhoods in South Minneapolis East Phillips and Midtown Phillips if you've been following My residents concerns there has been an increase in gun violence in both East Phillips and Midtown Phillips including this weekend and
  • 01:09:54
    and this project was modeled after and we were gonna work, my goal was to work with administration to figure out what the best program was for this neighborhood.
  • 01:10:02
    What Mayor Betsy Hodges did when she worked with Little Earth and folks in Northside on developing public safety proposals to reduce gun violence.
  • 01:10:09
    And this is a program I've been talking to my residents all year long and now it's on the chopping block even after folks in my ward have been getting shot in a time when we need to reduce gun violence in this city.
  • 01:10:25
    So, I committed to my residents that I'm not going to let this one go particularly.
  • 01:10:30
    I'm going to fight to protect them and to reduce as much gun violence as we can in our city.
  • 01:10:38
    and Commissioner, you know the Latino community in particular is very scared right now with the shooting of one of our community members and we need to do everything we can to reduce gun violence and taking this program away from them and all residents in East Phillips and Midtown Phillips isn't fair.
  • 01:10:59
    And then, yeah, those are my comments.
  • 01:11:02
    I want to let my residents know which priorities are being threatened to get taken away.
  • 01:11:10
    And I understand that you may think that this doesn't mean that they don't matter, but to my residents, they feel like they don't matter when they hear this.
  • 01:11:19
    Thank you.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:11:20
    Chair Chuktay, can I?
  • 01:11:24
    Thank you.
  • 01:11:25
    Chair Chavez,
  • 01:11:27
    gun violence of course in any neighborhood
  • 01:11:33
    is something that we want to address.
  • 01:11:35
    We made a commitment to the GVI program and why GVI, which is, of course, citywide.
  • 01:11:43
    It's a program that, you know, has been talked about here and something that we've restarted.
  • 01:11:51
    We think that we're on a good path there instead of starting up a new program with the capacity that we have and then trying to implement this program.
  • 01:12:02
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:12:04
    Next, I'll recognize Councilmember Wonsley.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 01:12:06
    Thank you, Council Vice President.
  • 01:12:08
    I'll just point out a couple of things as to why I'm not supporting this proposal today and some of the contradictory and red flags.
  • 01:12:16
    So, first being on slide number five, you talked about, Commissioner Barnett, the community safety pilots, which I do think is interesting that it's only framed as community safety pilots.
  • 01:12:27
    Similar, as you mentioned, Council Vice President, I wrote a very thorough budget amendment
  • 01:12:33
    for this particular proposal.
  • 01:12:35
    And it wasn't called Community Safety Pilots, it was called Community Safety Center Pilots.
  • 01:12:39
    Because these were tailored to basically support the unarmed safety services that are supposed to be relegated at the new South Minneapolis Community Safety Center that's opening up in my ward.
  • 01:12:50
    And many of you are aware we passed a resolution that said we want to have the opening of the third precinct alongside the comprehensive side on the same day.
  • 01:13:00
    But also in the mayor's fry proposal,
  • 01:13:02
    We didn't get a budget amount of what it would cost to actually do the layout for the comprehensive size.
  • 01:13:08
    So this is where that $4 million came into play.
  • 01:13:11
    To say let's have a basis for funding the non-armed services that must be placed here.
  • 01:13:18
    So it's very troubling that we're removing the very dollars that is supposed to not make this precinct or the center a rebrand of the third precinct.
  • 01:13:27
    And on June 5th, the Public Health and Safety Committee actually received an update from OCS leadership and staff where they laid out an update about the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center in particular.
  • 01:13:39
    and in their timeline it even mentions they're going to, well they're supposed to, June is over, June request dollars for the community safety center work, these particular dollars, public safety aid dollars.
  • 01:13:52
    It also has it for pilots there too for the fall of 2025 timeline.
  • 01:13:58
    It also has an asterisk that says they were planning to
  • 01:14:01
    I have lots of concerns about defunding the very dollars that's going to guarantee that it's not just a third precinct that's going to be moving forward and now the new opening of, I believe you all said, spring of summer of 2025.
  • 01:14:20
    Removing this funding essentially gets us closer to having a third precinct in spring of summer of 2025.
  • 01:14:26
    So, very concerned about that piece.
  • 01:14:29
    I also want to flag the community safety pilots, again, which are completely different from the community safety center pilots.
  • 01:14:37
    From my understanding, PMI also received not only a transfer of about 200 or so thousand dollars from the Neighborhood Safety Department last budget cycle, there's also federal dollars that they receive around 2.5 million dollars to also do alternative pilots.
  • 01:14:52
    So it seemed that PMI, based off of what they presented last year, they had resources to be able to do pilot work that doesn't require us repurposing public safety aid that we already relegated to other priorities for whatever this is.
  • 01:15:08
    So I was very concerned about the PMI repurposing and didn't understand what the need was for that.
  • 01:15:13
    also for the OCS personnel reallocations I would just name outright my skepticism related to that.
  • 01:15:21
    We keep hearing about staffing capacity and infrastructure and I've had this conversation with you Commissioner Barnett where I have a little bit of skepticism and trusting that is this body last budget cycle specifically when it came to Neighborhood Safety Department
  • 01:15:37
    actually brought forth several positions to say, let's support the infrastructure.
  • 01:15:42
    And we were told by you and Director Brown that we did not need that.
  • 01:15:46
    And now, this is in email records, we learned that Director Brown did let you know those resources were needed for those infrastructures, those two FTEs.
  • 01:15:55
    And you said no, we're not going to move forward with that and told us something different.
  • 01:15:58
    so I have a little bit of distrust of a reconciling you know this body has been showing up and bringing budget amendments to support the infrastructure and being given misinformation from our own leadership around how best to show up for that so I'm concerned about the personnel allocations here and then also even a little bit of the
  • 01:16:17
    you mentioned this appropriation is also to go to help safe summer
  • 01:16:34
    We just also learned in PHS this recent budget cycle that Safe Summer, at least on the MPD side, is being postponed to the end of July.
  • 01:16:42
    So that's already halfway through the summer.
  • 01:16:44
    Why are we paying for something?
  • 01:16:46
    Is this reflected in that new adjustment of the postponing of Safe Summer?
  • 01:16:51
    Because we literally just got that update last week.
  • 01:16:54
    So there's a number of things where it just don't make sense in terms of how did we land here, the lack of engagement with council members around the intention of our budget priorities.
  • 01:17:03
    We did thorough discussions and budget amendment process last year that is being responsive to our constituent needs, like big projects, capital projects, like the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.
  • 01:17:15
    And we're literally seeing dollars be repurposed to fund solely one thing, a police contract.
  • 01:17:20
    So I have named.
  • 01:17:22
    I have no interest in defunding our comprehensive safety initiatives to fund
  • 01:17:28
    that moves us away from comprehensive public safety in itself.
  • 01:17:34
    So I would really appreciate if we're going to vote on this today.
  • 01:17:37
    I'm not supporting it.
  • 01:17:38
    I won't let you all know.
  • 01:17:39
    I think we all have talked about different variations of wanting more time to think through different appropriations or allocations because I definitely don't agree with what the administration has brought before us because some of these pieces just don't make sense based off of prior information given to this body.
  • 01:17:55
    So if we are taking it up today, won't be supporting it, but I also would love to have some time if there's a postponement or a delay to also really think through how we can bring counter amendments to this so that yes, we're acknowledging the toll that this will place on taxpayers, which again, it's great to see the administration bring forth this counter proposal.
  • 01:18:17
    It would have been great to see this
  • 01:18:19
    last year and also anticipation of you knew you were in contract negotiations with the police federation.
  • 01:18:26
    You should have anticipated a funding per package that also didn't take public safety aid that was already repurposed into consideration.
  • 01:18:35
    So it sucks that we're trying to play cleanup duty for mistakes made in terms of fiscal management on the administrative side, but that's where we're at.
  • 01:18:45
    And I would love to take some time to figure out how to do that cleanup duty appropriately.
  • 01:18:49
    but this is not the answer right here.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:18:54
    I caught a question for COO Anderson Kelleher.
  • 01:18:58
    Oh, Commissioner Barnett?
  • 01:19:03
    In addressing the Joint Powers Agreement and...
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:19:12
    Chair Tuktai, sorry, and Council Member Wonsley,
  • 01:19:19
    I don't remember exactly what COO Margaret Anderson Kelleher said, but I can talk about the joint powers agreement.
  • 01:19:26
    Maybe there was just a misstatement there.
  • 01:19:28
    In the past, we have had mutual aid agreements.
  • 01:19:37
    Those mutual aid agreements has helped us with law enforcement throughout the city.
  • 01:19:48
    So I think like last summer, I think we had an agreement with the State Patrol.
  • 01:19:53
    In the past, we've had agreements with Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.
  • 01:19:58
    This is not money for safe summer.
  • 01:20:02
    What I was saying about the Joint Powers Agreement is if we have a Joint Powers Agreement, it can help us this summer and the months beyond.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:20:16
    I don't think I misspoke.
  • 01:20:19
    I mentioned summer as part of the JPA.
  • 01:20:21
    So I just want to be clear I do want to say council members that We could not have anticipated where the negotiation with the police contract would have landed We would have had to have a crystal ball.
  • 01:20:34
    It's broken mine is at least and Why are we here today?
  • 01:20:39
    is because that contract is now coming before you.
  • 01:20:42
    We know what the impact of that contract is going forward.
  • 01:20:46
    That $9 million will be used $3 million in 2025, $3 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, and that is about almost one levy point.
  • 01:21:01
    It's about three-quarters of a levy point in terms of property taxes.
  • 01:21:06
    and so it is really an offering of being able to not have the property tax hit even harder to people who are least able to pay it and that is usually renters, senior citizens, people in low income
  • 01:21:23
    and so that is why we're bringing it now.
  • 01:21:26
    That $9 million, there's no way we could have anticipated what that dollar amount is.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 01:21:33
    I'm sorry, Council Vice President, just a quick thing on clarifying that piece because we'll have conversations about the police contract in the coming days, but the $9 million is only one part.
  • 01:21:42
    We haven't even talked about the back pay.
  • 01:21:45
    So we also know that there is 9 million is not finite for the cost of this contract too.
  • 01:21:52
    So we're hopeful to hopefully receive some of the information around the back pay.
  • 01:21:55
    It seems like staff hasn't been able to provide that.
  • 01:21:58
    And knowing that that back pay is also going to officers who've possibly left the force as well.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:22:03
    So, Madam Chair, if I could, I believe if we asked the city attorney, I am not
  • 01:22:10
    I know there was a statement in a news story that said that could go to officers who've left the force.
  • 01:22:17
    That is not the understanding of the city, and I want to be very clear about that.
  • 01:22:21
    And furthermore,
  • 01:22:24
    Any sort of retro pay including just wage increase or any of the back pay wage increase or overtime is accounted for in the current MPD budget.
  • 01:22:38
    We are talking about lessening the impacts going forward on property taxes through this proposal.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:22:53
    Is that the end of your questions, Council Member?
  • 01:22:56
    Yep.
  • 01:22:58
    Next I'll recognize Council Member Palmisano.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:23:01
    Thank you, Madam Chair.
  • 01:23:02
    I think I have a question for Commissioner Barnett, and it's this.
  • 01:23:08
    I heard from some of my colleagues today for the second time, they also said this in the previous Budget Committee, that they have top priorities that they funded through public safety aid money.
  • 01:23:20
    Commissioner Barnett, can we feasibly implement those priorities?
  • 01:23:26
    Given the scope, the scale, the resources, and since this is one-time money, can we implement those programs with the dollars that they allocated?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:23:37
    Sure, Chuck Tai and Council Member Palmisano
  • 01:23:43
    The answer is a little bit complicated in this way, and the only reason I say it's complicated is that you could start to implement those programs.
  • 01:23:53
    And the approach that we've taken, and I believe in either PHS or AEO, I mentioned
  • 01:24:03
    the process that we've taken the first and second quarter and that is building up the infrastructure for neighborhood safety to be able to do the work that it currently has and to be able to take on new projects.
  • 01:24:16
    With the budget forecasts and with how robust it takes to start some of the new programs the answer is no.
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 01:24:32
    Council Member Cashman had mentioned earlier that it was in last year's budget, some of these things, but I think it's really important to understand how it came into this budget.
  • 01:24:46
    I don't believe any of my colleagues had engagement with staff prior to bringing some of their amendments forward last year for this money.
  • 01:24:54
    Commissioner Barnett warned us at the time that many of them were not even within the capacity of the Office of Community Safety, nor were they recommended by staff back then.
  • 01:25:09
    And my colleagues went forward anyway.
  • 01:25:11
    But the commissioner made these concerns clear.
  • 01:25:14
    last year when you were like a month new on the job.
  • 01:25:18
    My colleagues refused to recognize subject matter experts and you proceeded with these allocations despite these warnings and you passed dozens of amendments without prioritizing any of them.
  • 01:25:31
    So the commissioner and OCS staff are returning to us now after analyzing what's feasible after hearing you from the budget amendments of last year and recommending against going forward with all but a small fraction of them that they think are realistic.
  • 01:25:46
    I hear you and I hear your disappointment to my colleagues too.
  • 01:25:50
    But the things that they're recommending are things that can help us now.
  • 01:25:54
    their recommendations strike a balance between short-term needs like summer safety and longer-term needs like the Community Safety Center.
  • 01:26:04
    So from what I have heard from your presentation it is our responsibility to make decisions that are informed by facts and grounded in reality and it makes sense to use one-time money to backfill things like increases in a contract especially
  • 01:26:22
    when it is sound budgeting.
  • 01:26:25
    It doesn't make sense to allocate one-time money for ongoing programs that we can't even implement this year.
  • 01:26:32
    So I don't think we should have to lay off staff or reduce department capacity to avoid using public safety aid for something that it can be used for.
  • 01:26:41
    We have the means to avoid raising taxes by reallocating this funding and we should absolutely do so.
  • 01:26:48
    The other point I was going to make, though I didn't want to make it without Councilmember Wansley here, is the $2.5 million grant that she just referenced, we could not accept that money.
  • 01:26:57
    And Ms. Hasbergen is here now, actually, in case there are more questions about that.
  • 01:27:01
    But that $2.5 million doesn't exist in the city of Minneapolis.
  • 01:27:06
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:27:10
    Thank you, Councilmember Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:27:12
    Thank you Chair Chug-Tine, thank you Commissioner Barnett, thank you COO Kelleher.
  • 01:27:17
    I will say it's really disheartening to see proven community safety initiatives like the ambassador program that is modeled after the highly successful downtown improvement district ambassador program that's been going on for years being defunded when we really need comprehensive public safety initiatives both police and non-police initiatives across the city.
  • 01:27:38
    that I do understand that we need to come up with nine million dollars to fund the police budget for the contract this year so I'm wondering if you looked at any ways to fund the police union contract from existing departmental ongoing funding sources and not
  • 01:27:54
    I see that we have almost 5 million dollars in the one-time funding that hasn't been allocated.
  • 01:28:02
    Absolutely support using that to offset this.
  • 01:28:05
    Can we come up with the other 4 million from unspent departmental budgets for ongoing expenses instead of just a one-time expense?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:28:15
    I know you used the word defund.
  • 01:28:21
    I'll disagree with that.
  • 01:28:23
    We looked at what is it that we can do immediately and
  • 01:28:32
    These are tough choices.
  • 01:28:34
    That's what we think we can do.
  • 01:28:36
    We recognize the DID program has been successful.
  • 01:28:40
    It's something that we want to model.
  • 01:28:43
    But we can't implement the entirety of that ambassador program right now.
  • 01:28:48
    But we can start out and get some of the things done.
  • 01:28:52
    As far as where other funds are,
  • 01:28:56
    You know, that's not a question I can answer right now as far as do we have nine million dollars in another place?
  • 01:29:02
    I'm not aware of that.
  • 01:29:06
    Oh I'm sorry.
  • 01:29:08
    Someone better qualified to answer that question.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:29:11
    We'll invite Budget Director Jane DeCenza.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 01:29:14
    The only other options really are to increase property taxes to pay for new expenses This is for the police federation contract or for any increased expense or to find those dollars elsewhere in the budget And so if the council wishes to pursue cuts in order to pay for that that would be something that the council has the authority to do But it would need to articulate what those are
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:29:38
    Okay, thank you.
  • 01:29:39
    And we have approved, this might be for you also Director DeCensa, we have approved other union contracts this year that also had big salary increases.
  • 01:29:47
    I think the La Yuna contract was in the 20% increase as well.
  • 01:29:52
    And knowing that we didn't budget last year for such large salary increases in our union contracts, how did we fund those other union contracts this year?
  • 01:30:01
    How did we fill the gap?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 01:30:03
    Sure, through the Chair, Councilmember Cashman, we fund all labor union increases the same way.
  • 01:30:09
    So for a department that's impacted by those pay increases, their general fund existing dollars will be tapped first.
  • 01:30:18
    And then because we budget we revisit the current service level budget annually We're able to build those increases into the current service level budget So for the Federation contract as well as the three six three laborers contract those increases to their pay are part of that 2025 2026 presentation that I gave this body in May so the MPD's general fund allocation was tapped first and
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:30:46
    to fund this $9 million gap?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 01:30:49
    Through the Chair, the contract has not yet been approved, but if and when it is, and there's back pay, and increased pay going forward, it will impact the police department's budget first.
  • 01:31:05
    There would not be a transfer of funds just because the contract is approved.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:31:11
    Okay, COO Anderson Kelleher, you said that cutting funding in half, which I do consider defunding, cutting funding in half for the Cultural District Ambassador Program, which I call the Safety Ambassador Program, would allow you to deliver on implementing that program.
  • 01:31:27
    So can you speak to how you plan to implement that program, because it was dedicated for
  • 01:31:34
    10 pilots, 10 areas throughout the city at $3 million total, $300,000 in each of the 10 areas.
  • 01:31:42
    For me, that's Lake and Hennepin, which borders Ward 10 and Ward 7, a very critical nightlife area.
  • 01:31:48
    You know that we're spending three quarters of a million dollars on Warehouse District Live, which is also in a very critical nightlife area.
  • 01:31:56
    I believe that there are other nightlife areas, like Lake and Hennepin, that deserve to have nightlife ambassador presence.
  • 01:32:03
    and in the RCA I've now seen that the spending is proposed to be cut in half and to be restricted to just two geographic areas instead of ten.
  • 01:32:15
    So I'd like an understanding of what that means.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:32:18
    Yes, chair and council member Cashman.
  • 01:32:22
    What we're looking at is where can we immediately or soon implement and not have it in all ten.
  • 01:32:32
    So we're two geographical areas in which we think that we can implement these programs.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:32:42
    I'll also mention I've met with DID on this about their ambassador program many times.
  • 01:32:46
    They actually have a contract for PV Plaza that's only $100,000 a year for ambassadors at PV Plaza.
  • 01:32:53
    So the money actually goes a long way.
  • 01:32:55
    That funds thousands of ambassador hours in 2024 just at PV Plaza for $100,000.
  • 01:33:02
    So when we're asking for $300,000 for ambassadors at Lake and Hennepin,
  • 01:33:07
    It's not too much to ask, it's not unreasonable, and it greatly relieves MPD.
  • 01:33:13
    The 5th Precinct is having such a hard time getting to 911 calls.
  • 01:33:17
    Their response rates are very slow because they have to prioritize violent crime.
  • 01:33:22
    They have to be there for cases of domestic violence.
  • 01:33:24
    They have to be there for disputes.
  • 01:33:27
    And people who are on the street who have a smaller level
  • 01:33:31
    Safety incident happened to them aren't getting any response.
  • 01:33:34
    So ambassadors are a way that we can cover that gap and relieve MPD of the pressure that they feel.
  • 01:33:40
    It's a proven model that's been working downtown.
  • 01:33:43
    We have the RFP and the contracts from the downtown improvement district.
  • 01:33:48
    They are ready and willing to provide us with technical assistance to put out an RFP.
  • 01:33:53
    So for me, it's just really hard to understand what the staff capacity holdup can be when
  • 01:33:58
    We have a model of this RFP.
  • 01:34:00
    We have actors who have been doing this for over 10 years downtown and who are ready to help us implement it in other parts of the city.
  • 01:34:07
    And that's what I'm really struggling with today is why we should be defunding an initiative that has so much potential to help with safety across the city.
  • 01:34:19
    Okay, if I can ask one last question, I... Councilmember, just excuse me.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:34:24
    Commissioner, COO, would you like to address...
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:34:27
    I didn't feel like there was a question.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:34:30
    Okay.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:34:31
    Continue.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:34:34
    You know, I'm supportive of the joint powers agreement mutual aid proposal.
  • 01:34:37
    I think that's a really good idea.
  • 01:34:39
    My district borders St. Louis Park and Edina, and so we have a great need for support from these other jurisdictions, and I know it happens in one-off cases, but that it's not in format.
  • 01:34:50
    I recently asked our attorneys if we have any joint powers agreements in effect for Uptown, which they said there are none.
  • 01:34:56
    Can you
  • 01:34:57
    advise on if there are any in the works or how we can expect that money to be spent this year because I understand it would probably take a long time to develop an agreement like that.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:35:08
    Chair Chuktai, Councilmember Cashman, where we've had previous mutual aid agreements or a joint powers agreement, I think there are documents which we can probably modify and have those available quickly.
  • 01:35:28
    I've had informal conversations with some law enforcement agencies, but nothing formally.
  • 01:35:36
    Mainly because of just knowing, do we have any funding to do any type of mutual aid in which we can have a joint powers agreement.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:35:46
    Okay, thank you.
  • 01:35:47
    I'll call on the City Attorney.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 01:35:50
    Thank you, Chair Chuck.
  • 01:35:51
    Just one point of clarification on the, not that question from Council Member Cashman, but the previous question.
  • 01:35:58
    and it was a point that was made during budget deliberations last year
  • 01:36:03
    but for the committee's benefit.
  • 01:36:04
    Note that the funding source for something like the Downtown Improvement District and the Ambassador Program that's furnished through that is perhaps not an apt comparison.
  • 01:36:14
    The Downtown Improvement District is a special services district established by state law through a process in state law.
  • 01:36:22
    It's funded and paid for by the commercial and industrial property owners in the district through service charges imposed on them.
  • 01:36:29
    who see benefit in paying this money for a whole suite of services including the ambassador program.
  • 01:36:37
    And so I think different from a funding perspective, not from a substantive does the model work perspective, but from a funding perspective, it's apples and oranges I think to some extent.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 01:36:51
    Thank you for that clarification, Attorney Nielsen.
  • 01:36:54
    I fully understand how the Special Service District is funded, how the Downtown Improvement District's model is funded, and we're proposing to fund that through the taxpayer money because of how effective of a service it is.
  • 01:37:10
    And it was funded this year, at the tune of $3 million.
  • 01:37:13
    So when the council budgets for something, we expect it to be implemented, and now we're halfway through the year saying,
  • 01:37:21
    It's gonna be cut.
  • 01:37:23
    So how do we plan for future years?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:37:25
    And for these programs if we don't have certainty about their implementation and their longevity Sure tuk-tuk councilmember Cashman, I think When you say how can you be assured I think part of that is
  • 01:37:47
    For me, I tried to, early on, I think end of November, beginning of December, talk about some of the challenges that I saw.
  • 01:37:57
    I didn't have the details of it, but I at least tried to forecast that there would be challenges with the amount of
  • 01:38:07
    money, I think it was 4.8 million dollars that was allocated and the majority of that was for new programming and so I think part of it is from my standpoint going forward would be to probably as I go through these amendments is to sit down and say here's where I think things are.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:38:36
    Thank you, Councilmember Jenkins.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:38:40
    Thank you, Chair Chaudhai.
  • 01:38:42
    And thank you, City Attorney, for that explanation.
  • 01:38:48
    I was going to bring up the same thing, that the downtown improvement district is paid for by the commercial businesses.
  • 01:38:57
    and I think I've been an advocate for ambassadors, DID in communities for at least minimum 15 years and I think if we can't
  • 01:39:14
    rely on the businesses in some of our communities, which I know it's a huge challenge for them, that we have to have other jurisdictions be a part of the funding of these
  • 01:39:31
    Ambassador programs, these cultural ambassador programs.
  • 01:39:35
    Some people call them safety programs.
  • 01:39:36
    And I do think that cleaning the streets and eyes on the streets and all of those things do provide safety and awareness for folks.
  • 01:39:50
    But we have to have other
  • 01:39:55
    My question was around the hate crimes and crime prevention reallocation
  • 01:40:25
    I'm sorry, but $175,000 doesn't seem like a small or insignificant decrease to me, given that it's only $375,000.
  • 01:40:46
    But I'm not sure what data-informed
  • 01:40:54
    Council Member Jenkins.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:41:01
    I think
  • 01:41:05
    When we think of hate crimes, I think there's two different things.
  • 01:41:10
    One is the legal definition of a hate crime in order to prosecute someone that way.
  • 01:41:17
    And what I think here, when we look at data, we can look at
  • 01:41:24
    for instance, what's happening surrounding a mosque, right?
  • 01:41:28
    It might not be technically legal terms a hate crime, but I think people there would feel it as a hate crime.
  • 01:41:37
    Some of the instances that we've had where these situations have occurred have been with some folks who are mentally ill.
  • 01:41:49
    and they focus in on different places.
  • 01:41:55
    So I think just looking at the data, acknowledging that the crime itself might not be technically charged out as a hate crime.
  • 01:42:07
    It could be instances where we see a repeated disorderly conduct
  • 01:42:15
    or assaults in a certain place and it doesn't reach that definition but we know that if we focus in there that we can prevent it from happening or being charged out as a hate crime, if that's helpful.
  • 01:42:33
    But it is an increase of $175,000 that is going, not a decrease.
  • 01:42:41
    So it goes from $200,000 to $375,000.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:42:49
    Thank you for that correction.
  • 01:42:57
    Who is going to be carrying out this work?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:43:01
    Most of this work would move from CPED to MPD.
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:43:13
    Yeah, thank you.
  • 01:43:14
    I mean historically I was under the impression hate crime prevention lived in the Civil Rights Department and so I'm just really confused now.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 01:43:27
    That's that's what my whole confusion is stemming from Chuck tie council member Jenkins, you are correct
  • 01:43:40
    A lot of the hate crimes work does live in civil rights.
  • 01:43:45
    In fact, we have a federal grant that right now is being implemented through civil rights.
  • 01:43:54
    Honestly, Madam Chair, I don't know who the maker of this amendment was that went to CPED.
  • 01:44:01
    I think that CPED may have had some confusion about how to implement a hate crimes program, and that's why you see a change to this, both an increase and in terms of who is going to carry out the work in this recommendation.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:44:21
    Yes COO, this proposal allocated this amount of money $200,000 to CPED and that was an amendment that was authored by Councilmember Chavez, myself, I believe Councilmember Chaudry, I believe Councilmember Wansley and Councilmember Osman.
  • 01:44:44
    and the purpose of putting it in CPED, which again there were extensive conversations that were had with CPED prior to this budget amendment being made.
  • 01:44:56
    It was around offering technical assistance and grants to individual through a public process.
  • 01:45:07
    so that places that were vulnerable to hate crimes could invest in preventative measures and could receive site analysis along with using technical assistance grant money to invest in preventative things such as
  • 01:45:28
    Yes, cameras, but also perhaps it's an updated security system, perhaps it's new locks, perhaps it's changing the points of entry, perhaps it looks like reconfiguring parking lots or things like that.
  • 01:45:44
    So that was the purpose of putting it in CPED instead of within MPD.
  • 01:45:49
    Does that address that question?
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:45:51
    Yeah, thank you.
  • 01:45:52
    I mean, it explains the rationale.
  • 01:45:56
    However, I mean, I don't think CPED has the capacity to say what security measures and what cameras should go where.
  • 01:46:06
    I just don't think that expertise lives in that department, personally.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:46:14
    I see Councilmember Chavez in queue for a priority motion Councilmember Jenkins before we go to him.
  • 01:46:21
    Did you have any further questions or comments?
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:46:26
    No Yeah, that satisfies my inquiry.
  • 01:46:31
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:46:31
    Thank you Councilmember Chavez, are you in queue still?
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:46:36
    Council Vice President, I just want to make sure, I authored the amendments so I just wanted to add some clarification.
  • 01:46:41
    I see a lot of other people on cue, so I don't want to budge the line, but if it's helpful I can give some input.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:46:50
    Councilmember, would you like that?
  • 01:46:53
    Would that help address your inquiry?
• • Andrea Jenkins
  • 01:46:56
    It's your committee, Madam Chair, but sure, yes, I would love to have that answer.
  • 01:47:01
    Yes.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:47:02
    Council Member Chavez, go ahead.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 01:47:03
    Please make it brief.
  • 01:47:04
    Thank you, Council Vice President Chuktay.
  • 01:47:06
    And my office had been meeting with the Director of CPED, Eric Hansen, and they were well underway of being able to implement this program.
  • 01:47:12
    So the concerns of staff not being able to do this, my conversations with CPED is that while it may have taken a little bit longer throughout the year to implement it, they had the capacity to do this, and they were going to do this.
  • 01:47:25
    and you can't purchase cameras, lighting necessarily for like a private or a non-profit entity, but you could do site analysis.
  • 01:47:33
    So I just wanted to correct the record to make sure that public safety aid can't be used for that, but it can be used to do site analysis, support mosques, synagogues, locations with who are vulnerable to hate crimes.
  • 01:47:46
    So that was the goal of this program that is now being used just for cameras.
  • 01:47:51
    I'm not saying we shouldn't use it for cameras,
  • 01:47:54
    the program was for site analysis that was what was written in the budget amendment that's why it's CPED it can't be used for cameras that's just not allowed under public safety aid and probably our taxpayer dollars so I just want to make sure that that was said out loud and CPED had the capacity to do it because I had been meeting with them about it and they were gonna do it so I just want to clarify that too.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:48:16
    Wonderful.
  • 01:48:17
    Next I'll recognize Council President Payne.
• • Elliott Payne
  • 01:48:21
    Thank you Vice President Chug Thai.
  • 01:48:24
    I feel like this, well first I'll just acknowledge my first reaction to this was just like sheer outrage to just be honest.
  • 01:48:33
    I think defund is not an inappropriate word to describe what's happening here.
  • 01:48:40
    But I think you know upon reflection a lot of this proposal is grounded in a couple of assumptions that I think really need to be explored.
  • 01:48:48
    Assumption one and I heard it referenced here was
  • 01:48:52
    the ability to meet expectation and I think that part of the challenge here is that even just in this discussion of the other amendment that I wasn't an author of and I wasn't familiar with there was a clearly a misunderstanding of the expectation of how those funds were supposed to be deployed but for me on the cultural district safety ambassador program
  • 01:49:14
    My expectation wasn't that 10 districts would be deployed in year one.
  • 01:49:19
    My expectation is that we would get these districts launched as we had capacity to do it and we would have the resources to do it across all 10 districts, whatever time that took.
  • 01:49:29
    And one of the big provisions of that safety aid is that there isn't a time gap.
  • 01:49:36
    It didn't need to be all spent within one year.
  • 01:49:38
    So
  • 01:49:40
    It would not be accurate to say that my expectation was that this all get spent in one budget year and if we can't have the capacity to do it all in one year then let's like reset expectations.
  • 01:49:52
    My expectations are that these will be deployed in the time that it takes to deploy them.
  • 01:49:57
    The other thing that is really troubling for me is, and we talked about this a little bit one on one, but if we go to slide five
  • 01:50:08
    Community Safety Pilots, implementing two previously recommended pilots, mental health support for 911 callers, and non-sworn accident response.
  • 01:50:18
    I have to refresh my memory because I'm pretty sure I'm the one that worked on the budget proposal for that because I was a staff member at the time in the PMI department, well, Office of Performance and Innovation at the time.
  • 01:50:30
    And, you know, I'm sitting on this dais
  • 01:50:35
    because we experienced the administration slow walking our work.
  • 01:50:40
    So I'm very happy to see that, hey, we're funding this now, but we proposed that funding in the summer of 2020.
  • 01:50:47
    And here we are four years later, you know, promoting this as like a big new thing that we're gonna do.
  • 01:50:56
    And I'm not, I'm saying this from personal experience, that was, that work was slow walked.
  • 01:51:01
    to the point that I was outraged enough to have to run for office, right?
  • 01:51:06
    And fortunately we were able to have enough energy behind BCR to get that launched.
  • 01:51:11
    Now it's been really well received, but at the time that was also getting slow-walked.
  • 01:51:16
    And so there's a big difference between, and by the way, we have the capacity to implement that work.
  • 01:51:21
    We were held back from implementing that work.
  • 01:51:24
    And so, when we're on the dais now, when I sit on this side instead of presenting, I'm not as intimately aware of the capacity, right?
  • 01:51:32
    So we just have to go onward that the capacity is there or it's not there.
  • 01:51:36
    But I know from lived experience at the staff level
  • 01:51:40
    that capacity can sometimes have some political spin on it, right?
  • 01:51:44
    And I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but I'm just saying that's a caution.
  • 01:51:49
    And I think for other people who haven't had that lived experience of working at the staff level, there are times when you are extraordinarily busy in this institution and you really don't have capacity and there are people doing sleepless nights trying to get work done and there's times where there's a little bit more slack and you can actually take on a little bit more.
  • 01:52:06
    And so
  • 01:52:07
    One of the big things about where the state of this proposal is right now is I'm glad we're having this conversation in public right now, right?
  • 01:52:14
    Because I think there's probably some room for us to collaborate and find a solution because I think there's a lot of shared goals that we all have up here.
  • 01:52:23
    I don't think this is fully baked, right?
  • 01:52:25
    This proposal as presented to us right now today with this type of defunding to this important of programming
  • 01:52:32
    this is not
  • 01:52:54
    and getting to some point where we have a healthy collaboration with police and non-police and that's part of what this contract funding is about, right, is how do we have all of these pieces fitting together and I think that we're all pretty committed to having, figuring that out.
  • 01:53:11
    I just don't think this proposal is baked enough for that yet.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:53:17
    Thank you, Council President.
  • 01:53:18
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Chavez.
  • 01:53:23
    Council Member Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 01:53:32
    Thank you so much and thank you Commissioner for giving us presentation.
  • 01:53:36
    I, you know, respect to your work and other staffs really, your input is very important.
  • 01:53:43
    Same way as our input is also important.
  • 01:53:46
    No one knows my word better than me.
  • 01:53:48
    Really no one.
  • 01:53:52
    What I see and how to solve the issue is what I come forward when it comes to the budget and I believe that you know last year every council member what they brought through is what they have vetted, what they have talked to their residents, what they have talked to the staff and that's what we put forward right and
  • 01:54:14
    Now you guys are coming back because of the department staff capacity limitation.
  • 01:54:19
    I understand it's a new department.
  • 01:54:21
    I understand the work you do.
  • 01:54:23
    It's really a tough, tough work.
  • 01:54:27
    But cutting the budget and making
  • 01:54:31
    things like things that work in my ward coming back to me and saying well this is not going to work because I don't have a time or I'm limited to this I'm limited to that it doesn't work for the resident it doesn't work for me.
  • 01:54:45
    We talked about the crime hate crime at two mosques that have been burned we you know synagogue different different religious places get funded get
  • 01:55:01
    you know, burn and vandalize and so I think with those three mosques during that time in my work and World War II also that had vandalism and for us stepping back and saying that where we gotta do something about this and this is the solution to solve it.
  • 01:55:24
    It's one way to solve the problem and to serve the residents.
  • 01:55:30
    Also, the part that gets difficult, and I think I communicated this with you and also your staff.
  • 01:55:36
    Thank you for working in our office to really, you know, some of the money we allocated last year to get out of the door because this is the time we need the most.
  • 01:55:45
    It's summertime.
  • 01:55:46
    The people are outside.
  • 01:55:47
    What also makes it difficult was that when we allocate things and we want to address the issue right away,
  • 01:55:57
    because of the capacity, because of the limitation.
  • 01:56:01
    Things do not follow the timeline we wanted.
  • 01:56:03
    You know, sometimes RFP go out in October and, you know, it's not really great.
  • 01:56:07
    We're not being sufficient.
  • 01:56:09
    We're not being to that.
  • 01:56:11
    So just want to make that comment and say that with respect to your proposal.
  • 01:56:16
    and the staff proposal, you have a very good point, but at the same time we also, as council members, know the word and our district more than anyone else.
  • 01:56:28
    Thank you so much, Commissioner.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 01:56:31
    Thank you.
  • 01:56:33
    Council Member Vitaw.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:56:34
    Thank you.
  • 01:56:35
    I just first want to say I believe staff when they say they don't have the capacity to implement programs, right?
  • 01:56:42
    Like I don't think anyone here is intentionally trying not to implement programs that will help our city.
  • 01:56:50
    I can't speak to what
  • 01:56:53
    a contractor for the city of Minneapolis' experience was four years ago.
  • 01:56:58
    But I do believe in the staff that I've been fortunate enough to work with that if they say they can't implement something or need more time, I don't feel like anyone said we can't.
  • 01:57:09
    I feel like what's been said is we don't have time right now.
  • 01:57:13
    And there has been so much turnover
  • 01:57:15
    here at the City of Minneapolis since I've been here for two and a half years.
  • 01:57:19
    And turnover equals time to do stuff.
  • 01:57:23
    If you have an overhaul in the entire department, then yes, you're not going to have the capacity to build up million dollar programs in the right way.
  • 01:57:35
    I'm a huge advocate for the DID work.
  • 01:57:39
    But I voted for it.
  • 01:57:41
    I was happy to vote for it.
  • 01:57:42
    I'd love to see it implemented on Lowry, which is the area that it would be activated in on my work.
  • 01:57:50
    But I also would rather have Director Nelson Brown figure out what's happening with the current services we have on Lowry Avenue.
  • 01:57:57
    and the programs that we are investing money in.
  • 01:58:00
    So I'd rather hear from her about what the current service level is doing for me.
  • 01:58:05
    It doesn't mean that we don't have DID in the future.
  • 01:58:08
    It doesn't mean that we don't have some of these other programs that this money was allocated to that we were told last year
  • 01:58:17
    you know, they might not happen.
  • 01:58:19
    So I'm happy to see that some stuff can happen and then some stuff is delayed.
  • 01:58:23
    I just don't want people, the general public to feel like these things are never going to happen.
  • 01:58:29
    What's been said to us today before this body is that we can't do it right now.
• • Robin Wonsley
  • 01:58:34
    It doesn't mean it's never going to happen.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:58:36
    And then just a question, with the changes will there be any layoffs or will anyone lose their jobs?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 01:58:46
    Chair Chuck Tai, Council Member Viton My basic understanding is that the sources that we have for funding are, of course, the public safety aid
  • 01:59:13
    and the enterprise.
  • 01:59:14
    So throughout the enterprise there, there's funding and then the levy.
  • 01:59:24
    So
  • 01:59:26
    If we're not getting the funding from the public safety aid, you'll have to get it from the levy.
  • 01:59:35
    And that means increasing the levy.
  • 01:59:37
    And so I think that part is important.
  • 01:59:41
    If we're not getting it from the levy, we're not getting it from the
  • 01:59:46
    from the Public Safety Aid, then I think $9 million forces us to make some tough decisions about programming and about layoffs.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 01:59:59
    I don't think that was my question.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 02:00:01
    Madam Chair, I think what I heard you ask, Councilman Vito, is the changes in what are proposed here.
  • 02:00:10
    Either reductions, reallocations, or keeping things the same, in some cases increasing.
  • 02:00:15
    Is anyone going to lose their job if you vote yes on this proposal?
  • 02:00:21
    Correct.
  • 02:00:21
    And the answer to that is no.
  • 02:00:25
    No one is going to lose their job or be let go or be laid off if you vote yes on this proposal because these things have not been implemented and so there's not contracts associated with them.
  • 02:00:41
    There are not employees associated with them.
• • Katie Cashman
  • 02:00:45
    So there's not a program that we're going to have to say, you're done, there's no more or any of that.
  • 02:00:53
    Chair Chug Thai, Council Member Vita, correct.
  • 02:00:57
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:01:00
    Wonderful.
  • 02:01:01
    Thank you.
  • 02:01:01
    I put myself in queue.
  • 02:01:02
    I have several questions.
  • 02:01:06
    COO Anderson Kelleher, I'm so sorry if you'll come back.
  • 02:01:11
    The first one is for you and perhaps for Budget Director DeCenza.
  • 02:01:17
    There was a comment made earlier during discussion around this money being used to backfill.
  • 02:01:23
    And I think it would be really helpful if you laid out one more time
  • 02:01:28
    the $9 million that we're talking about here to pay for the federation contract.
  • 02:01:34
    Is it, like, what is it for?
  • 02:01:37
    Is it for 2025?
  • 02:01:37
    Is it for something else?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 02:01:42
    Chair Chugtai and committee members,
  • 02:01:45
    it is going forward, the $9 million.
  • 02:01:48
    So the $9 million will assist.
  • 02:01:53
    Right now, we all face a nearly $22 million deficit, a 6.1% levy increase with nothing else happening in our budget.
  • 02:02:06
    You so choose to vote yes on this proposal.
  • 02:02:09
    $3 million for 2025, 2026, and 2027 will go into the budget to help pay for and ease us into the cost of the contract over time.
  • 02:02:26
    Should you not do that, then there are really very few choices left, and the major choice is likely
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:02:33
    Now, in easing us in overtime, I appreciate that framing.
  • 02:02:42
    But by overtime, we're really talking about we're gonna have to figure out what we're gonna do in 2026 because we're using one-time money to pay for a one-time cost in 2025.
  • 02:02:53
    So, you know, just from the information I received from Commissioner Barnett to myself and Councilmember Koski when we met with him and asked him some questions and he sent some follow-up information.
  • 02:03:05
    You know, the cost impact in 2025 is about 9.2 million dollars and I'm curious if you can speak to the discrepancy between 9.2 and 9 million that we're seeing here.
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 02:03:17
    So, Madam Chair, and I think I will have Director DeCenza come up, I think
  • 02:03:23
    Where you'd be looking for that three million dollars potentially is the budget of 2028 Because this takes you through up to 2028 with three million dollars each year You could choose to use the entire I suppose nine million dollars in one year in 2025 but then the cliff is still pretty large to climb back up with property taxes and
  • 02:03:49
    what is built into our budgets going forward and even that 6.1% levy increase is at the very least I believe 2.5% in wage increases.
  • 02:04:02
    So there is a gap between that 2.5% increase and I don't have that off the top of my head for the police department what that amounts to.
  • 02:04:13
    So already some money has been
  • 02:04:17
    It is really about easing so that you do not have to
  • 02:04:25
    Unless you choose to raise property taxes further than already going to be necessitated by this budget.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:04:32
    So $9 million spread out over three years, so approximately $3 million every year.
  • 02:04:38
    The cost in 2025 is still $9.2 million, so then we're talking about finding $6.2 million elsewhere, likely through property taxes anyway.
  • 02:04:48
    Yes?
• • Margaret Anderson KelliherCity Operations Officer
  • 02:04:50
    So, Madam Chair, I think what you look at when you look at the full cost of that contract is being fully staffed up to the charter amendment number.
  • 02:05:03
    We are nowhere near that number and although we probably will
  • 02:05:09
    and MPT probably will use much of their budget, there has often been budget savings that helps buy down in the last few years that impact and maybe Ms. DeCenza would like to add further.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:05:23
    And certainly understand that there are costs that are absorbed through vacancies, but we still budget for the full charter amount, right?
  • 02:05:31
    So that's where the question on, we're still talking about a raise in property taxes to cover that six million
  • 02:05:39
    gap.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:05:43
    Chair Chugchai, Council members, there's any number of ways that the council could decide to pay for this increase.
  • 02:05:50
    The department has proposed one way to ease us into that increase, which would be in keeping with how we've handled the Fire Department Safer Grant, for example, where we
  • 02:06:01
    have a grant for three years for 15 firefighters in our long-range financial plans, our five-year financial direction.
  • 02:06:08
    We have accounted for those firefighters to come onto the general fund in future years when that grant ends.
  • 02:06:15
    So if you want to think about it that way, it's not an unprecedented action to take.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:06:19
    Although in 2025 the SAFER grant is going to expire and so in this in this upcoming year those 15 firefighters that you're talking about are going to be included as General fund revenue or general fund expenses in this year's budget for the fire department just as an example
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:06:37
    Chair Tuktay, yes, so they're coming through it would be a budget proposal to add those to the general fund But we are able to plan for them in the long run because we know about it in advance.
  • 02:06:46
    So In that same way we plan for five years for personnel costs for all city departments including the police department
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:06:54
    So I want to just loop back to the $6 million that will need to be covered for the current service level cost impact in 2025.
  • 02:07:06
    The current proposal or the current planning that the finance department and the mayor's office and the administration are thinking about includes paying for that $6 million through increasing the levy or something else?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:07:22
    Chair Chugga, I'm not going to get ahead of the mayor's August budget recommendation.
  • 02:07:26
    OCS is proposing one way of beginning to pay for that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:07:29
    Understood.
  • 02:07:30
    Thank you.
  • 02:07:32
    Commissioner Barnett, I think this next one is for you.
  • 02:07:40
    Going back to slide five where we talk about the joint powers agreement, $500,000 with other jurisdictions, understand that this has been a part of our practice for several years now.
  • 02:07:51
    It's become an increasingly important practice and something we've used state resources for, at least in my two and a half years here.
  • 02:08:02
    In the 2024 existing budget for the Minneapolis Police Department, there's three million seven hundred seventy two thousand nine hundred ninety four dollars three point seven five million dollars in the police department's budget for Exactly this use in we're sitting at the end of June right now.
  • 02:08:23
    Are you
  • 02:08:24
    saying that we have run out of all $3.75 million that we allocated for this exact purpose, and that's why we need the additional $500 million?
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 02:08:37
    Sure, I would have to go back and look at what our expenditures are in that particular area.
  • 02:08:43
    I don't have that exact answer for you right now.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:08:46
    Wonderful.
  • 02:08:47
    Clerks, can we note that for administrative follow-up, please?
  • 02:08:50
    Thank you.
  • 02:08:56
    I'm going to hold the rest of my questions as we can continue to discuss them offline and last in QIC right now is Councilmember Chavez.
• • Jason Chavez
  • 02:09:09
    Thank you Council Vice President.
  • 02:09:10
    I just wanted to, my last comment on the safety ambassador program because it wasn't mentioned earlier but Council President Payne and I actually worked really hard on this particular budget amendment and it included talking and meeting with the Office of Community Safety so we met with staff from the Neighborhood Safety Department about this budget amendment in particular actually.
  • 02:09:32
    We consulted with them, we asked them how this could happen and what they needed to make this project happen.
  • 02:09:37
    So the Council President and my office worked really hard to get staff input on getting this project off the ground and they told us what they needed to get this project done.
  • 02:09:47
    And those were the positions that Council Member Wanzi keeps talking about that Commissioner Yu and the former COO Heather Johnson said you didn't need.
  • 02:09:56
    while Luanna Nelson Brown said this is what I need to get these off the ground.
  • 02:10:02
    So I just want to make it clear.
  • 02:10:03
    We consulted with the Office of Community Safety.
  • 02:10:05
    We were told what we needed to get these projects off the ground.
  • 02:10:08
    Council President Payne and I believe Councilman Murkowski proposed staff positions that were then recommended by OCS to not fund and now we're in this position of limbo.
  • 02:10:17
    So we did consult with staff.
  • 02:10:19
    We were told what they needed to get this done, which is why we proceeded with the budget amendments and that we're told that we did not need the staff positions because it wasn't being asked at this time and now we're in this position of cutting programs and defunding them.
  • 02:10:32
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:10:34
    Seeing no further discussion right now, I am going to offer some quick comments and then make a motion to continue item number four, one more cycle.
  • 02:10:48
    As I shared with you all via email this morning, I've had the chance to review the options in considering this proposal and engage in high level discussions with Vice Chair Koski, Council President Payne, Commissioner Barnett, and Mayor Frey since we were first made aware of this proposal.
  • 02:11:07
    and what we see here in front of us today and in ongoing conversations, what's become really clear is that there are three options in front of us.
  • 02:11:19
    It's either to raise property taxes or use this one-time public safety aid or repurpose existing resources.
  • 02:11:29
    and the proposal we see here in front of us supported by several of these conversations is the administration has a very clear position in pursuing the second option, in pursuing the use of one-time public safety aid to fill this gap.
  • 02:11:48
    I think that there is another way that we can move forward here that both finds the resources that the Office of Community Safety has outlined here today and ensures that existing programming doesn't get cut, that nobody loses their job.
  • 02:12:03
    In reviewing our financial reports and our budget books going back to 2017 and looking at what our spending looks like and what our budgets look like versus what actually gets spent and goes out the door, there are options here.
  • 02:12:23
    and in going back and reviewing so far back, including three years prior to the pandemic and three years after, really seeing how those spending habits are not a fluke or a rarity as a result of the pandemic.
  • 02:12:40
    In each year over the last seven years, our city budget and specifically our general fund is underspent by somewhere between two and nine percent.
  • 02:12:52
    There are ongoing resources across the enterprise that go unused year after year, meaning there isn't a person or a program, a person who has a job or a program that we're trying to get out the door that just doesn't get used.
  • 02:13:07
    and so to pay for this proposal using and trying to find dedicated resources instead of creating fiscal cliffs for us to address next year, the year after and in following years, there is a far more responsible thing that we can do here in finding unused resources year over year.
  • 02:13:27
    I didn't bring a substitute
  • 02:13:46
    Thank you Madam Chair I think that we should be mindful of the Mayor's budget process here If you delay this today
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 02:14:16
    It won't be possible to consider this proposal in the mayor's budget planning.
  • 02:14:22
    This is the actual budget planning that comes up with a levy and comes up with a proposal.
  • 02:14:28
    And this isn't just about inside baseball what we're sending to the mayor with the mayor's sending to us.
  • 02:14:32
    This is about what goes out in public.
  • 02:14:34
    So I'd like if you are willing to ask Director DeCenza to explain that better than I could.
  • 02:14:40
    What are the impacts of a delay at this point?
  • 02:14:45
    if that's alright with you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:14:48
    We'll come back.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:14:50
    Chair Chugtai, Councilmember Palmisano Yes, so we're about to wrap up budget presentations to the mayor and that means that we're entering the decision-making phase for the budget And so depending on when the council delayed this to or made decisions about this We would be too far into the decision-making process and I would need to proceed assuming that there would be no There would be no reallocation of public safety aid to lessen the blow of the levee So madam chair with that in mind I
• • Linea Palmisano
  • 02:15:21
    I want to say this, I work hard every day up here on this dais to see things your way, to hear from my colleagues and to truly work to listen and I hope that for this next minute that you can try and see it
  • 02:15:36
    from my perspective.
  • 02:15:38
    The one new thing that I learned in these last two budget meetings is that public safety is our collective number one priority and that's great because it's mine too.
  • 02:15:48
    But it doesn't mean anything unless we can implement it.
  • 02:15:52
    Our staff have taken a careful look at what can be implemented and this is it.
  • 02:15:58
    So I really urge us not to end up in some type of
  • 02:16:03
    I'm not sure how to explain this.
  • 02:16:05
    A turf battle.
  • 02:16:06
    I don't mean to offend anybody.
  • 02:16:09
    But I think we need to look at this like Councilmember Vitale does.
  • 02:16:13
    One, we need to believe our staff when they tell us their resource constraints.
  • 02:16:17
    And if we don't, and if we don't approve this, we have less safety in our city because of this.
  • 02:16:27
    I just want to put that in front of you.
  • 02:16:30
    I won't be supporting a delay here.
  • 02:16:32
    I think we need to get as much safety as we can implemented right now with the Public Safety Aid money and this proposal in front of us.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:16:39
    Thank you.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:16:44
    Thank you, Chair.
  • 02:16:46
    I had a different comment and question, but now I have shifted that in a moment.
  • 02:16:50
    I was just wondering if perhaps, Director, you could just walk through the...
  • 02:16:55
    I understand what you just described, but perhaps you can...
  • 02:16:59
    I mean, the mayor gives his recommended budget August 15th, so I think it would be helpful for clarity to the public that that is
  • 02:17:07
    roughly what are we at?
  • 02:17:09
    I mean that's roughly almost eight weeks away so if you could potentially walk us back I understand that the BET is also part of this process this is part of the process so if we could maybe understand why one cycle delay so that would be I want to say the next meeting is July 8th if this were to be brought forward again on July 8th
  • 02:17:33
    That would automatically make it impossible for any other changes before August 15th.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:17:44
    Through the chair councilmember Koski There's many people involved in budget decision-making not least of which are the budget team And it takes a lot of time for us to assemble the budget book for August 15.
  • 02:17:55
    And so we have to plan backwards from there I also need to Part of my work is guiding the mayor and the mayor's team through the decision-making process and that does not happen in one day and
  • 02:18:07
    We have the added challenge this year of solving the budget gap whereas we usually are doing the fun work of deciding where are we going to spend new money.
  • 02:18:14
    We have an additional problem to solve and so I need to be very realistic about my time constraints.
  • 02:18:21
    The work of finance also does not
  • 02:18:24
    and during budget decision-making we do that on top of all of our other existing work and so our capacity to wait for the council until you know I don't know when the calendar is but if it were to be at the end of even mid-july I think that would be too late for me to realistically build that into the budget for August 15.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:18:47
    Okay, thank you.
  • 02:18:48
    And I know that the maximum levy is set in September.
  • 02:18:53
    So is there, does that give us a little bit more time with this or no?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:18:59
    Through the chair, the BET takes up the levy that the mayor proposes in August and has not deviated from that in my memory.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:19:11
    So the mayor can propose the levy and then the BET which does comprise of two council members would also be able to weigh in at that time too.
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:19:22
    Through the chair, they vote yes or no on the maximum levy amount.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:19:26
    Okay, I appreciate that.
  • 02:19:29
    Yeah, and I appreciate the comments from Councilmember Palmisano and kind of the predicament that we are in at this moment.
  • 02:19:37
    I want to note that it was the commissioner who wanted to move this back.
  • 02:19:42
    Two weeks, I don't think we also at that time understood the impacts that we wouldn't have more time Director DeCenza also talked a little bit about how you know what our options are and that is to increase the levy from my understanding if we were to accept this today or Not accept us I guess would be the best way to say that is that there would be an almost 1% levy increase
  • 02:20:09
    per year, if we weren't to accept that, is that correct?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:20:15
    Through the chair Councilmember Koski The levy is one way we look at it.
  • 02:20:21
    I'm I'm not gonna preview mayor's decisions I'm not gonna put a levy number out there at this time.
  • 02:20:26
    Okay.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:20:27
    Thank you And I think it's you know for me, you know, like we have all said community safety is my number one priority It is a top priority for most of us here.
  • 02:20:39
    We also have a conversation coming tomorrow with the
  • 02:20:43
    is a very important
  • 02:21:04
    It's also important for me to really make sure we're having robust, transparent conversations about how we're going to fund it.
  • 02:21:12
    And today the director said that the council could dig in on other ways of how we want to fund this, whether it's the levy.
  • 02:21:21
    I do feel our hands are a bit tied here because we haven't had that time to take a deeper dive on other ways that we would want to think about reallocating or have a deeper conversation about the levy.
  • 02:21:34
    So, like I said, I am going to prioritize the contract, the Police Federation contract, but I also feel that
  • 02:21:42
    It's important for us to make sure that we're making the best fiscal decisions here.
  • 02:21:47
    I understand this is one proposal, but the council has not also had time to dig in a little deeper.
  • 02:21:53
    So I am feeling a little conflicted today on that.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:21:58
    Thank you.
  • 02:21:58
    Next I'll recognize Councilmember Osman.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 02:22:02
    Thank you so much, Chair.
  • 02:22:04
    I do want to vote.
  • 02:22:08
    Some of these proposals are very sound.
  • 02:22:10
    I want to move forward.
  • 02:22:14
    But I think having the Chair propose that we come together to work together
  • 02:22:20
    give ourselves the time to make the best decisions.
  • 02:22:25
    It's the best way to go.
  • 02:22:26
    So I'm asking the commissioner and the CEO if they are willing to agree to extend a couple weeks or a week, whatever you propose, to come together and work together and move this proposal forward with all of us supporting when we don't work together.
  • 02:22:48
    We have seen it last year.
  • 02:22:50
    on the Police Incentives.
  • 02:22:53
    That was something that was put in front of us and said, if you don't vote on it, that's it.
  • 02:22:59
    There was no discussion.
  • 02:23:00
    There was no input on my side.
  • 02:23:02
    And I'm someone who supports public safety and supports police officers and supports union contracts and so on.
  • 02:23:12
    I'd like for us to come together, and if we don't work together, our city will not be safe.
  • 02:23:20
    Let's put it that way.
  • 02:23:21
    I'm not just a voter on this one, so I'm asking would that be something you're open to?
  • 02:23:28
    Working with the leadership, working with us.
  • 02:23:31
    I think some of the proposals you brought forward today are very sound, and I agree, some of them.
• • Todd BarnetteCommissioner of Community Safety
  • 02:23:43
    Chair Choctaw, also Council Member Osman, I think, well I'll say a couple of things.
  • 02:23:52
    When I returned, I think on the 6th of June, I did review the information.
  • 02:23:59
    I don't remember, I think that day, or maybe the day before, I got an email from Chair or Council Vice President Chuck Tai requesting some information.
  • 02:24:12
    And so part of that, and given some time to answer those questions, I tried to do that.
  • 02:24:19
    and that's one of the reasons I asked for the two weeks.
  • 02:24:24
    I think there's been a couple council members who have reached out and we've talked about this.
  • 02:24:31
    The vote on delay is totally up to you.
  • 02:24:33
    From my perspective, and I don't want to talk for Margaret Anderson Kelleher, but we are always open for discussion and so
  • 02:24:49
    If you go forward, that's your decision.
  • 02:24:53
    If you don't, that's still your decision.
  • 02:24:55
    That's something that you have to do.
• • Jamal Osman
  • 02:24:58
    Thank you, Commissioner.
  • 02:24:59
    I think I agree with the Chair the best way is to come back together to discuss this.
  • 02:25:05
    This is the first presentation we're getting and also the public is getting.
  • 02:25:09
    We're making big decisions and big amounts of dollars.
  • 02:25:14
    having one cycle and coming back with a united vote will be the ideal choice that I will go with.
  • 02:25:23
    Thank you.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:25:25
    Thank you Councilmember and finally I'll recognize Councilmember Chowdhury.
• • Aurin Chowdhury
  • 02:25:30
    Thank you chair Chugtai.
  • 02:25:32
    I just will keep my remarks brief The entire time I was listening to this presentation I was just like wow we have all a lot of work to do and when I say we I mean the council and our respective city staff because we're essentially doing an 11.5 million dollar budget markup in one meeting and
  • 02:25:57
    with a new awareness that we are on an extremely limited timeline and apparently that timeline runs out as soon as this meeting closes and I don't think that is a correct or good way to govern.
  • 02:26:14
    I feel like the situation that we're in is rather unfortunate and I wish we could have foreseen it.
  • 02:26:23
    I'm having trouble just saying that we should move forward on an $11.5 million budget markup when so many of the amendments and changes that we're seeing there, council members voted together on and authors were listed and there were opportunities for conversations to kind of discuss what things could look like and how we can move things around.
  • 02:26:49
    I'll say this option plus raising the levy I'll echo what Council Vice President said.
  • 02:26:57
    That's not our only option.
  • 02:26:59
    We can look at other places where funding is available and really dig in and not raise the levy and have a win-win.
  • 02:27:09
    I just I believe that there's a real lack of process here and There's a lot of work before us before we can move ahead And with that I'll close my remarks, I just don't feel like I'm able to move forward on such a big budget markup in one meeting today and
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:27:35
    Thank you, Councilmember, and next in queue we have Councilmember Cashman.
• • Michael Cashman
  • 02:27:39
    Thank you, Chair Chogtai, and I'll admit it does feel like a little bit of a conundrum here that it wasn't until a few minutes ago that we realized, oh, if we don't vote for this, then all of a sudden it throws off the whole budgeting and levy process.
  • 02:27:53
    It just seems like a little bit alarmist.
  • 02:27:57
    I think that there are other ways that we can
  • 02:27:59
    Fund us through current service levels and with unspent Budgets of different departments including the police department budget.
  • 02:28:07
    I think there was unspent like 11 million dollars last year And I also want to say I really do support using the 4.9 million dollars of unspent
  • 02:28:18
    on public safety aid.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:28:43
    Thank you for offering that Council member and offering your thoughts on the issue.
  • 02:28:51
    So, seeing no one else in queue for discussion unless I'm missing any flags.
  • 02:29:00
    Oh, Council member, Vice Chair Koski.
  • 02:29:03
    Thank you, Chair Chuktay.
• • Emily Koski
  • 02:29:07
    I just want to just make sure I get clarity so if maybe Director DeCenza could come up one last time.
  • 02:29:17
    You can tell that I have this conundrum here.
  • 02:29:19
    So if we wait to approve or deny this pass today and we do this at the next Budget Committee meeting
  • 02:29:37
    Would you be advising the mayor then to increase the levy?
• • Jayne Discenza
  • 02:29:45
    Through the chair, Councilmember Koski, I think the next budget meeting is the 15th of July, is that correct?
  • 02:29:51
    Will be well underway in decision-making so I will have had to present a number of scenarios to the mayor already and so
  • 02:30:01
    It puts me and my team in a very difficult position to be able to effectively advise the executive and to be able to get a book out to all of you, a budget out to you that's balanced by, I think, August 14 is when the mayor is going to be presenting his budget.
  • 02:30:15
    So it's not to say that you can't still take that action at that time, and it may still be a policy decision that you wish to do, but it makes it very constrained for budget planning purposes.
  • 02:30:25
    So that's my point.
  • 02:30:27
    The policy of it, that's all up to you, but in terms of the budget calendar, that is set by the charter.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:30:34
    Okay, thank you.
  • 02:30:36
    All right, seeing no further discussion on the motion to delay, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 02:30:43
    Councilmember Payne.
  • 02:30:44
    Aye.
  • 02:30:45
    Wonsley.
  • 02:30:46
    Aye.
  • 02:30:47
    Rainville is absent.
  • 02:30:49
    Vita.
  • 02:30:49
    No.
  • 02:30:51
    Ellison.
  • 02:30:51
    Aye.
  • 02:30:53
    Osman.
  • 02:30:54
    Aye.
  • 02:30:55
    Cashman.
• • 02:30:56
    Aye.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 02:30:57
    That item carries.
• • Aisha Chughtai
  • 02:31:21
    With that members we've completed all the business to come before this committee today and without objection we stand adjourned.