.
good afternoon and welcome to
our regular meeting of the
committee of the whole
forjuly 28, 2026. My name is
aurin chowdhury and I'm the
chair of this committee. I will
call this regular meeting to
order and ask the clerk to call
the roll to verifyhe presence
of a quorum.
» council member payne.
» present.
» wonsley is absent. Rainville
is absent. Vetaw.
» present.
» warren.
» present.
» osman.
» present.
» shaffer.
» present.
» stevenson is absent. Chavez.
» present.
» whiting.
» present.
» palmisano.
» present.
» vice chair chughtai.
» prent.
» and chair chowdhury.
» present.
» there are 10 memberpresent.
» thank you, clerk. Let the
record reflect that we have a
quorum. Before we begin the
meeting, let me offer a friendly
reminder to everyone that tse
meetings are broadcast live to
enable greater public
participa
include real-time captioning to
increase accessibility for our
entire community. So it's
important that all speakers be
mindful o the rate of their
speech so that our captioners
can fully capture and transcribe
comments for the broadcast. We
ask all speakers to please
moderate the speed and clarity
of their comments. S
colleagues, our agenda is in
front of us. Are there any
amendments before we bin? May
I have a motion to adopt the
agenda?
» so moved.
» second.
» all those in favor say aye.
» aye.
» those opposed say nay. And
then before we get into a report
of standing committees, I would
just like to give a big welcome
back to council member chughtai,
the vice chair of this
committee. We are so excited to
have you back. So we'll start
with our reports of standing
committee. Starring with the
business, housing and zong
committee chaired by chair
osman.
» the business, housing and
zoning committee will be
bringing forward 20 items on
thursday council meeting. Item
one is approves enrique
velazquez for dector of
regulato services. Item two is
interim use permit of people
serving people. Im 4 is an
appeal from fg & c recording 3
very000 minnehaha avenue, aka
the democracy center. Item 7
approves gambling license. Item
8 grants business license for
commercial kitchen. Item 9
amends license fee schedule for
tow trucking services free. Item
10 contract amendment for
macphail music center. 11
authorizes -- 13 accepts a bid
for repcing floor box at
convention center. 14 delegates
authority t cped director of
the owner occupied rehab
program. 16 authorize a
contract extension for greenbelt
development project. 17
approves -- 18 affordable change
for ahtf. 19 authorizes a
program change to naturally
according affordable housing or
noah. And laly, 20 is rezoning
alley vacation. This item was
sent forward without
recommendation. With that, I
will stand for any questions
from my colleaes.
» colleagues, are there any
questions? Seeing none, we'll
move to the climate and
infrastructure committee report.
I will be giving that report.
the climate and infrastructure
committee has 13 items to bring
forward.
of 1 is du nord event permit.
two is banana ball games block
event permit. Three is sway
easement for a portion of 2nd
avue north. Four is metro
grnlight extension. Agreement
number 14. Item 15 is
minneapolistreet lighting plan
amendment. Item 6 is cedar lake
ro bridge project. Item 7 -- 8
is the metropolitan council
municipal infiltration and
inflow grant for reprs of
existing sewers and
oss-connection elimination.
nine is a bid for 2026-2027
public works tree removal and
disposal. Item 11 is columbia
heights membrane plant roof
replacement. 12 is a contract
amendmenwith cs mccrossan
construction for bridge
improvements. 13 is the bicycle
advisory commieeappointments.
I'll stand for any queions if
there are any. Seeing none, we
will next go to the report by
the enterprise and bor
relations committee.
» item 3 is a contract
amendment with shaw lundquist
for city hall restack amendment.
four is a contract amendment
with saba software. Items five
and six are legal settlements.
seven is a claim settlement
where we are receiving money.
item 8 is an indebtedness and
bond authorization. Nine is an
appointed position in the health
department for director of
environmenta health. 10 is our
tonswer questions. . I'm happy
» not seeing any questions, we
will now go to the last report
of the public health, safety and
equity committee gen by its
chair, chair chavez.
» the public health, safety and
equity committee will be
bringing forward 7 items. One
considers the mayor's nomination
of dr. Freeman to appointed
position of fire chief. This was
sent forward without
recommendation. Two is contract
with hennepin technical college.
item 4 authorizes a contract
amendment with the center for
multi-cultural mediation. The
five authorizes a contract
initiative. Six accepts a grant
for the minnesota department of
heth to provide family home
visiting services and authores
an agreement with the state of
minnesota for the grant. Seven
approves legislative directive.
I'll stand for any questions.
» members, are there any
questions? Seeing none, we will
now turn to the consent agenda.
our only item today is a special
law approval for food hall
licenses. This was submitted by
the intergovernmeal relations
department. They're also here to
ask any questions related to
is item. With that, do my
colleagues have any other
discussion or qutions on this
item? Great. Seeing no further
discuson, I will move approval
of this consent agenda. Can I
get a second?
» second.
» all those in favor say aye.
» aye.
» those opposed say nay. That
carries. Now moving on to the
discussion portion of our
agenda. This next item is a
grant application to the united
states department of justice. It
is for the 2026 national
integrated ballistic information
network modernizatn program
known as nibin. I will have mpd
commander kris brown come to
speak more on this item.
» welcome, mmander.
» madam chair, vice chair, and
weome back, and council
members, thank you for this
opp
for the grant in the nibin
modernitization program grant.
sorry for my voice. I lost it on
sunday and I haven't found it
yet. The nibin mernization
grant, it's for modernizing the
technology. The doj historically
provided the funds for this, now
it's provided in the way of a
grant for existing nibin
agencies. So agencies that
currently have nibin have an
opportunity to file in for this
grant. So nibin stands for
national integrated ballistic
integration network. This
provides funding for replacing
the outdated nibin equipment at
existing sites only to give them
modern nibin compatible
technology to irove crime gun
intelligence capabilities. This
will help strengthen
investigations and our efforts
to reduce the violent crime in
nneapolis. And as well as
jurisdictions that also use this
as well. Because it's very much
a partnership. So the grant
funding pays for new nibin
compatible technology and
equipment includes it is for
five years of upgrades and
maintenance which will ruce
the financial burden on
minneapolis. Without this grant,
minneapoliwould own the cost
of it. The grant is over five
years, it's $300,000. So this is
like I said, this is a
non-competitive grant. So it's
those including minneapolis were
invited to attend to apply for
this particular grant. So
there's 170 agencies that
currently use nibin, and they
were giv the opportunity to
apply for this grant to maintain
and upgrade their current
equipment. So nibin is a program
that is managed by the atf.
nibin is a database that
captures, stores and correlates
digital images, which we
oftentimes would call
fingerprints of discharge
cartridge casing. Dccs. So after
you shoot the gun, the bullet
itself is expelled outside of
the gun. But it leaves either in
the gun or on the groun a spent
casing. So the spent casing is
what this equipment analyzes.
and what's unique to that
particular thing is that that
casing and the indentations that
you and I can't see that are on
that particular casing, nibin
equipmencan see those things.
and I'll talk a little bit more
in detail about that. It
identifies the gun. It's the
fingerprints of that gun, that
specific gun. So firearm
evidence from one crime to
anothe is compared with the
purpose of detecting
assoations between separate
shooting incidents through the
firearms evidence. That's
actionable intelligence. Nibin
aids in preventing violence as
well a finding out who
perpetrated the violent crime
that's already happened. Up on
the screen here, you'll see this
is the current equipment that we
have. On the monitor right there
gives you an idea of what it
looks like after a spent casing
is put through the system. It
doesn't look like much, b if
you kinda think of it as a
fingerprint, you're loong at
it that is unique to any casing
that was sent through that
particular weapon. So next to is
is the box that you put the
casing on and it analyzes it and
shows up on that. Then that
information is sent down to atf
to analyze further. So
minneapolis police department
has been part of the nibin
program since 2002. Equipment
was installed in 2014. You can
imagine there's been a lot of
changes and a lot of
advancements since 2014.
upgrades in technology as well
as the program itself is very
important. Earlier on, when we
reportednibin, we would submit
as needed these casings into the
systems and that creates quite a
backlog. So when we did actually
have something happen right
away, it would take weeks or
possibly even months before we
would get the results back.
which is really difficult wn
you're trying to use that
information for investigations
that are currently open. So the
current process eliminates that
wait time by proactively
processing every discharge
casing we come up with, every
dcc. As well as when we recover
any firearm, in our laboratories
through the forensics labs, will
firehat weapon and we'll use
that casing that comes out of
that recovered firearm and put
it through the same system. So
now we have the fingerprints of
that gun that wasrecovered. And
sometimes that can link it to
other guns in other cmes that
we've had happen. So the steps
of nibin are, so mpd will
collect and submit that evidence
into nibin. There's a turnaround
that's as brief as possible
because we want our
investigato
that information. To give you an
idea, itan be done rushed, it
could be done in the same day.
otherwise average time is five
to six days to get the
information back. But the
investigation is still ongoing
and we can link that gun to
other crimes that have happened
when casings are discharged.
there's a follow up with
prosecution investigations. I
was here last week presenting.
while I was in the lobby
waiting, I was here becau they
were presenting on the fast
team. Lieutenant schroeder got
six hits while we were waiting.
not saying you guys took too
long. But while we were waiting,
he got six hits of casings while
we were waiting from nibin.
associated that guwith another
crime that happened in
minneapolis. Those are just our
hitsegarding what we are
submitting them for. This is
critical and essential to
minneapolis. So t
effectiveness of nibin relies on
comprehensive collection of
discharge casings at crime
scenes as well as recovering
firearms and forensic division
to enter that in there
immediately. The operation
adopts a required minimum
required operations standards.
the gold standard is within two
days of collection of the
firearm or the dcc gets entered
into nibin so there's no delay.
so the forensics division can
contribute to the overall
strategy toeal with gun
violence by providing this
actionable crime gun
intelligence to investigators as
well as using forensic data to
not only solve crimes but to
prevent future violent crimes as
well. Take a moment here. I'm
going to give you a case study
for use of the nibin program. So
I can't give you one that's
currently ongoing. So I can give
you an example of one that
happened in 2023. In august 9th
of 2023, minneapolis police
officers were dispatched to the
intersection of thomas avenue
north and oak park avenue in
north minneapolis. The repor
was for shots fired and a woman
screaming. Unrtunately, the
victim was pronounced deceased
at the hospital. Video door bell
captured tha incident. Located
a video of a cargo van that was
likely used in the incident. The
following day officers were able
to locate a possible suspect
vehicle that was used in this
crime. Officers inside the
vehicle were able to, after a
a spent dcc from a .10mm casing
from the scene of the shooting
indicating they had been shot
from the same weapon. This is a
particular example of how the
nibin machine was used. The
video case led to the suspect
vehicle. But the nibin evidence
linked to thcrime. So the
nibin modernization prram. By
receiving this grant and getting
the appropriate updates and
maintenance to the existing
machine system, which are now
reaching the end of their
service life, making repairs,
replacement parts, and
manufacturing support is
becoming increasingly difficult
if we were to maintain our
existing equipment without this
grant. Maintaining operational
capability without the
modernization, agencies will
risk down time as well as
degraded performance that could
result in delayed ballistic
evidence processing, which will
affect crime gun investigations.
newer nibin technology provides
faster processing, higher
quality images and better match
capabilities, helping
investigators identify firearms
more quickly. Upgrading the
systems maintain capability with
nibin software and
infrastructure. So atf is
evolving and improving their
software. Our equipment needs to
keep up with that. At some point
in time, if we don't have cost
covered and we don't make these
changes, we won't be able to
participate in the particular
program. That does conclude my
ief on this particular case.
if you guys have any questions,
I can speak to them now.
» thank you. Members, please
get into queue if you have any
questions for comments. We have
council member chavez in queue.
go ahead, council member.
» thank you, chair chowdhury.
I'd like to first express my
concern about this matter. I
wished the presentation at least
acknowledgement the har to
immigrant residents. I am not
disputing the need for funding
to address this concern or the
ncern to address gun violence
in our city. But I am dputing
the fact that there was no
mention in this presentation
about the harmful rhetoricoted
about our undocumented
neighbors. The notice of funding
the purpose of funding, to at
locate and apprehend quote
aliens" in addition to being
quote unlawfully present in the
united states, investigated
crimes committed by quote
illegal aliens. I want to be
very clear to my commuty that
this language is very
disrespectful. It is
dehumanizing and it is not in
vae with the city of
minneapolis. Activities from
directly or undirectly quote
impeding federal -- failure to
honor dhs notice request. In
this notice of funding
opportunity opetes under a
section which is itself named
the bridging immigration related
deficits experiencing nationwide
by the reimbursement fund. Quote
aliens who have committed a
crime under federal, state or
local law. In addition to being
quote unlawfully present in the
ited states. The mou attached
also states that except as
expressly prohibited by law, the
nibin partner agrees to provide
atf with access to all
information, reports, and any
information regarding to crimes
with evidence -- historical and
case adjudication information on
the use and results and the use
of nibin program and/or systems
or related services by provided
by atf. Capturing of information
and other stuff. I want to first
state that I do not accept the
premise, implicit or explicit in
this or any federal instrument
that immigrant residents are a
threat to public safety
requiring locating and
apprehending. I believe that we
as a city have a duty to ensure
that when we are applying for
and accepting federal funds that
we do not lend the city'same
to a -- I do not accept the idea
that undocumented immigrants are
quote aliens or quote illegal.
and I do not accept the premise
that expressing these concerns
e rooted in rhetoric when
these concerns are coming from
caring about our immigrant
neighbors in the city. If we are
going to pursue this, I will be
working with the city attorney's
office to attach a resolution
that says we do not agree with
the use of calling our neighbors
illegal or aliens, and that
otr conditions will have to be
applied. So I just wanted to
express my concerns today.
» tnk you, council member
chavez. Next, we will go to vice
chair chughtai.
» thank you,adam chair. Thank
you for the presentation,
commander brown. Always a
pleasure to have you in the
chambers. I am wondering if you
might be able to answer a couple
of questions. And specifically,
I'm hoping that you can help
articulate here the city has
contracts with a number of
agencies in the realm of law
enforcement. I know we have a
contract with the stats bureau
of criminal apprehension, the
bca. I think that one is related
to assistance with forensics. I
think there's ballistics and
other aspects that you
highligh
presentation. So just help us
utilize this grant when we have
more impact on it. This one may
be one I can handle. We have
lots of different mous and we
submit our evidence to the a
and pay for it on many different
ways. But what we are doing in
this particular program, this is
thugh the doj and atf. It's a
broader netwk. This is just
looking for funding to maintain,
update the equipment for the
program that still exists.
» generally speaking, is it
sa
partners at the state and local
level have some sort of
relationship with an agency that
has nibin access?
» through the chair, vice
chair, I can say that there's
170 agencies that are currently
using nibin. But that's going to
be primarily large agencies. And
so it does behoove us. Because
some of the crimes tha we're
finding weapons for are going to
be helping our partners in the
immediate area, suburbs and the
such. The guns we capture
casing we may be able to solve
other crimes and prevent future
crimes from happening at all.
» I think what I'm taking away
here is that, you kn, we're
not -- the city isn't going to
lose access to a system that is
critical as a result of not
suitting a proposal to receive
this grant. I think that makes
it a little bit different from
instances in the past I think
when we've had contracts or
things like that for approval
bere the body, and the choices
between having a system or
» thank you. Thank you, sir,
for that presentation. Can you
talk about or address, I'm
looking at the document rca
here. The concern raised by
council memberhavez about the
language used in the
application. Can you touch a
little bit about that?
» through the chair, council
member osman, I can just talk
about it briefly.
» sure.
» sohen we first got the --
so what he's referring to is the
notice of funding opportunity
that's put out by the doj. All
language for federal grants, we
don't write them.
» sure I know.
» the language does come from
whoever the current federal
administrator is. So wdon't
make up that. Whenever we
receive a grant opportunity, we
run allhat through the city
attorney's office and vet it
before we ever make any
agreements of any way. So
traditionally, we would have
been sending -- this information
would have come to you after
they decide. We just were
running late on this particular
case so we sent the whole
package to you at theame time
the city attorney's were looking
at it. The letter did not come
with an explanation by the city
currently does. S time and it
» so my understanding is we are
looking for this funding and
applying through the u.s.
government, and part ofheir
notice or application
information, I includes the
language that is seen to be what
trump, which is illegal aliens
and language like that. That is
actually, it is concern. But I
don't know how this could rate
to what we're getting as in o
department. It's very
concerning ever since trump took
over office. But for us, we are,
as adepartment, I'm guessing
we're applying. We apply a lot
of grants through this
ministration. And I think that
what you mentioned is very
important to nice that this
grant is going to hp us reduce
crimes and help us cch bad
guys that are committing crimes.
can you talk about o more
about accepting this grants.
what is the --re there any
attachment on immigration or any
things thrgh the city that we
have to address? And how is that
related to immigration,
acpting theserants? I don't
know if I heard that. But if
there's any city attorneys here
accepting the grants, how does
that relate to immigration
enrcement in the city?
member osman, city attorneys
will be able to answer that
question.
» thank you.
» good afternoon,embers of
the council. My name is amy
schutt, ad assistant city
attorney. Through the chair,
council member osman, to your
question generally speaking
about problematic grant terms.
we have beeneeing an increase
in these terms since the
beginning of the trump
administration. And that is the
reason that my office has set up
a process for reviewing terms
for all grants that the city is
applying for. So this grant as
was mentioned, went through that
process just as many other
grants do.
I happened to be the one who
received that for review and
reviewed the grant and all of
the documents referenced in that
nofo for any problematic terms
and conditns. That includes
terms and conditions that would
separate the ordinance. As well
as any terms and condions that
would require the city to act in
a way that is antithetical to
our values. My determination in
reviewing those documents was
that there are not any --
there's no information in it a
this point that does require us
to act in a way that is
antithetical t our values.
while it does have problematic
language in it, it has
inappropriate language in it
related to our undocumented
neighbors. That language doesn't
that would force us to not ty
accept thegrant.
» that is really helpful to
understand that. I will suprt
this accepting this grants. Also
that I disagree with a lot of
things that administration says.
but as a city, if we're
following our separation
ordinance and doing the right
it's really hard fors to ng,
contl what this administration
says. But we just gotta keep
going and doing what we can to
keep our residents and citizens
safe. And this grant helps our
police officers capture the bad
guysnd put them in jusce to
make sure that we are not
commitng more imes. And this
is a tool that could help, you
know, keep our community safe. I
appreciate your explanation that
immigration enforcement. But
again, we can't control wt our
president says. Thank you.
» thank you. Next, we'll go to
council member palmisano.
» first, il say I agree whole
heartedly with council member
chavez's admings of the language
used by the federal government
here. This is important language
and also agree to get this
machine's upkeep funded. T
tes of this grant as the city
attorney just mentioned are what
is most important to me. None of
these terms require us to act in
a way different to our common
values here. Just yesterday I
was speaking with a localptown
restaurant owner who had shots
fired into their restaurant last
week, at their restaurant
manager through a window. And
this team of restaurant
employees lives in fear and has
been waiting anxiously, eagerly,
to get those casgs processed.
I have a question for commander
brown. Commander brown, you
mentioned the mpd meets the
atf's gold standards for nibin
entry and it's two-business
days. It sounds like we'
meeting that. You're proud of
at. Does that mean reentry is
getting results?
» yes, it gets entered into the
system within two days. If it
was a case that was given a
eedy, I believe that would be
a response. It could be upo
six days. If you want to know
more specific, I can provide a
forensic director up here.
» I guess I'm just curious, do
we end up with backlogs based on
a number of shootings in our
community ese last two weeks
or is that not really a thing?
» through the chair, council
member palmisano, no, we do not
basically pay it forward by
processing everything as we get
it. All of a sudden everything
is a hurry doesn't happen.
» okay. Well thank you. That is
helpful, and it's helpful as we
connect with people who arehe
victims of gun violence but not
being able to keep our nibin
systems completely up to date
and processing things quickly
like this, like you mentioned in
the slide. Equipment breaking
down or havin problems or not
being able to get replacement
parts. Like, this is
problematic. It impacts victims
who are shot at. It impacts an
investigation. It means less
is why I'll be supporting this
today. Thank you.
» thank you. Go to counc
member chavez.
» thank you, chair chowdhury. A
question for mpd. Do we have
confirmation from the federal
government that they would
interpret us accepting this
grant as having us to enforce
federal immigration enforcement
laws?
» I personally have not spoken
with the federal government
about their interpretations of
this agreement at all. I know
that -
» you haven't?
» I personally have not spoken
through them. I know o city
attorney's office is looking at
what we're obligated to do under
this agreement. And that was
expressed earlier.
» city attorney's office, would
you be able to answer that
questi?
» why is everybody looking at
me like that? I get to ask these
questions if it'salking about
my community.
» I'm sorry. Can you repeat the
last thing tt you said.
» has the feder government
communicated with us that if we
were to apply and accept this
grant that we would then have to
do immigraon enforcement?
» to my knowledge, we've had no
communication with the federal
government about their
interpretation of the law
surrounding this area.
» I think thas important to
figure out if we're applying for
a grant that talks about quote
illegal aliens and immigration
enforcement. W are we not
getting that information? So I
would like that as a follow up
to get an answer to that.
colleagues, there seems like
there's going to be a vote to
approve this. It needs seven
votes. It's going to need nine
votes anyway. So I'm going to be
bringing forward a resolion
that I'll be working closely
with the cityattorney's
expressing concerns of this
language in the nofo.
calls them illegal, calls them
alien, and puts requirements if
this gets accepted. Because what
I don't want is we're going to
be doing things that are going
to be hurting our immigrant
neighbors. I'll be reaching out
and I'll be attaching it to this
nofo.
» all right. Thank you, council
member chavez. Clerks, did you
get that?
» yes, madam chair. The
question related to whether or
not there's been any
communication with the federal
government about this one.
» communication and then if
there is a way to get that
information of if entering into
this grant agreement, it would
be interpreted into eorcing
immigration enforcement as
deiled in the bidened fund
act.
» thank you.
» I put myself in queue next. I
think we need to just say what
the elephant in the room is.
this is like adeeply, deeply
tough position that members of
this council are in. Myself,
included. And I think that was
very clearly cmunicated in our
agenda setting because the nofo
has laid out language for
purpose of funding that doe
speak to our immigrant community
in dehumazing ways, reflective
of the experience that we had in
operatiometro surge. And I
think from where I sit, the
feelings that membersf this
body have and members of our
communityill have in
understanding the purpose of
funding and where the funding
comes from are valid. It's
unsurprising to that people
are having hard reactions to
that. And I think that's the
reality of this. I think the
question before us is should we
that's largely a governance
approach. For me, I am
personally troubled that this
comes from the bridging
immigration deficits experienced
nationwide program. Basically,
immigration enforcement
reimbursement fund for state
governments, local governments,
other units. And it's kind of
hard for us to separate th. I
don'tbject to nibin. I
understand the tool. And it
sounds like it's been showing
clear deliverables. I don't
think not applying for ts
grt means we don't update it.
it does mean that we would have
to look to our own budge to do
it. Which is always the chance
ifor some reason, o, we
apply and this doesn't get
accepted. Two, we apply and
there's terms we can't agree to
becaus the same revw that the
city attorneys do in applying
for said grant, that same level
of scrutiny has to hpen again
once the grant I before us. And
th again, we have to vote for
it. So those are kind of tngs
to weigh. I do want to just ask
a question, and noticed this
la
for committee. It's my
understanding in order for us to
apply for this grant, it has to
pass through this body. It has
to go through final action on
thursday. And then it has to be
signed off by the mayor. And our
final vote on this is on the
30th. I noticed that the
deadlines listed in the nofo are
yond that time. So the
grants.gov deadline is 7/27.
which is now passed. And the
just grants deadline is 7/29,
which is tomorrow before our
cocil meeting. Wondering
how a we applying for thisf
it's past deadline?
» madam chair, actually, we
were notified that it's been
extended beyond that. I believe
it's august. I can get you the
exact date if you'd like.
» think that would be good to
know. If you wanted -- if you're
able to pl it up or if you
want to do it via administrative
follow-up. Ihink that's
important. Yeah. Let's do
administrative follow-up,
commander. Don't worry about
pulling it up. If you can get it
and send it out via email, I
think that's heful. Those are
my comments. And I mean, given
the nature of the question that
council meer chavez asked, and
just like from my viewpoint on
the governance approach is I
personally don't feel
comfortable entering into this
grant. And I also feel like
there needs to be more
transparency on the nofo. We had
grants come before us, like the
burn grant, that didn't have
th type of langue and didn't
come from this bidened fund that
enforcement. So I will now
recognize council president
payne.
» tha you, chair chowdhury. I
first want to thank the city
attorney's office, particularly
ms. Schutt. I think this is
really diligent legal analysis.
I also want to give a special
shout outo ms. Robinson, ms.
lathrop. We just recently won a
case in the minnesota supreme
court protecting our separation
ordinance. I an, our
attorney's office is fighting
day in and day out to really
stand up for the values of the
city. And I say all that to say
that this is active and ongoing
litigation and legal conflict
with the federal administration.
and one of thfirst things that
we did at the beginning of 2025
s authorize the city
attorney's office to proactively
engage with the trump
administration. And the we
renewed that because we had set
an expiration date for the end
of 2025. When we realized for
the duration of the trump
administration we are going to
have to be an active litigation
and activy fighting out the
values of this city that's just
the background and context I
want to share with why ion't
be supporting this is because we
are not operating in a really
stable legal terrain right now
when itomes to this. This
troubling as council member
chavezas highlighte and
we've got strong legal analysis.
buthat legal analysis is based
on today's case law. And we are
not done litigating what that
case law is going to be as it
relates to our relationship to
the feder gornment. And so
if we were under different
circumstances, I mean, the value
is clear. The need is clear. I
am hopeful that, youknow, we're
not operating under a dismantled
system. We have a functioning
system. We are at risk just due
to age that that system won't be
functioning anymore. B it's
not a non-functional system at
this time. And I just think that
the risk of the federal
government, like even with
strong legal analysis, which I
do believe we have I don't
think that strongegal analysis
reallyters when they will
execute o residents. When they
will assault me personally. I
might be a little bit biased
here. But my own persol 4th
amendment righ have been
violated by the federal
government. Not hypothetically,
literally. And I just don't
think that risk is worth it at
thistime. And maybe in
partnership with council member
chavez, we can make sure that we
have really strong legal
protections if ts does move
forward. But again, this does
ha to come back for a final
vote. But I don't even want t
entertain it at this time given
that conte. In fact, I would
make a motion to forward this
without recommendation. If
there's a second for that.
» second.
» counc member vetaw.
» thank you, chair. I don't
know if I'm allowed, but my
question really is for council
member chavez. Because I do
think you get to ask whatever
question you want. To council
member chavez, the question is
you raised the point about like
what we're required to do. With
the contract. And I've been
waiting for close to two years
fo dollars to be released from
the federal administration based
on language that they, like,
very specific language that was
used in a contract for a
railroad grant that literally
had nothing to do with
immigration services. And so
they hadctual language in this
contract that said we needed to
work with ice, essentially, to
litigate that for almt two
years. I mean, it was very
specific. It was not vague at
all. There was no question what
ey were requiring for us to
do, and that is why we rejected
the grant. So maybe to the city
attorney, I mean, the things
th have been in litigation
have been very clear about like
the federal government for us to
receive money, I thought.
» through the chair, council
member vetaw, so I believe
you're talking about the
connecting camden grant which I
still pending.
» yes.
» and it did have language in
this pertaining to ice and
immigration enforcement.
specifically, some of the
similar terms to what we saw
here. And we do have an active
injunction that would prohibit
your point, negotiated those to
terms out to that grant so tt
the grant is still not complete,
to your point. We are still
waiting for final signature on
that grant. But the draft of the
grant that is the most recent
grant does have an exception to
those terms due to the lawsuits
we negotiated.
» I guess what I'm trying to
get at here is none of this
money we want to compromise what
we feel as a city. Not only was
the connecting camden grant,
which was extremely important to
this community, rejected by the
administration, think anything
else that came in with that sort
of language has been rejected.
and we worked as a city
enterprise to make sure we don't
compromise oselves or the
residents like that. I feel like
I need to ask this because the
questions keep coming up. Like
is ts going to be the same
thing for everything that we g
from the federal government? Are
our city attorneys and the mayor
and the council going to
continue to fight the same way
we have since this
administration took office? Like
is tt the commitment from all
of us and the city attorney's
compromise who we are as leaders
and let something slip through?
I don't think that that's the
case here. And so I'm okay with
supporting this because I know
how many conversations I've had
with not only the attorneys
folks that are suing along with
our city in lawsuits similar.
other citie who've had to sue,
that we've had to model what
they've done. The mayor's
office. My colleagues that we
won't compromise who we are as a
city to receive money from the
federal government at all. Like
I think that's been clear since
day one. That we will not do
that. We're not going to
comprose our residents. We've
done a good job of expressing
that not how we roll around
here. So I don't think that
anyone would come into this
chambers before this body,
before the mayor, before the
city attorney's office with
something that they think would
compromise what we've stated
very clearly on our own personal
platforms, professional
thing we've done in the last
year and a half of this entire
administration has been around,
we're standing together as a
city. And if the one thing we
can agree on fighting, its
this administration, especially
when they're comprising who we
are as minneapolis. So I'm happy
move forward with this. I'm
also confident in that if
something came up not only with
the city attorneys, the police
department, know you all
certainly don't want another
scandal on your hands. And so
I'm certain that folks will com
and talk to us if something is
out of order here. But we have
think about what this does
for -- what this grant will do
forhe community, especially
when we're in a budget crisis
right now. Like what we're
talking about here. If this
grant can assist us in a
financial crisis, then I think
we should at least try. I
something comes up that is
compromising us, then I'm with
council member chavez, I say no,
period. Thank you.
» thank you. Next, we'll go to
council member whiting.
» thank you, chair chowdhury.
and probably a few questions. I
think we're speaking about
prram and kind of grants. I'm
trying to get a dper
understanding of wha we have
before us and what this grant
applicatio process looks like.
and so for kind of the language
that council member chavez is
speaking to, and I think all of
us have concerns about, within
the kind of nofo, the notice of
funding opportunity, can you --
at which you can, can you speak
to us about what nofos are
broadly and where this language
isoming from?
» sure. Through the chair,
council member whiting, nofos
are notes of funding
opportunity. They are documents
put out by the federal
government and governments at
various levels providing
sometimes competitive and
sotimes uniform grant
opportunities. So any interested
party can read the nofo and
submit an application to receive
grant funding. So this
particular nofo is for the -- I
forget the name. It is long. The
national integrated ballistic
information modernization
program through the department
of justice. And t funding for
that program, the nibin program,
for short, com fm a recently
passed section of trump's I
believe it's the one big
beautiful bill. The particular
section of that bill that
thorized this grant program
and funding has language in it
related to various things that
the grant funding can be used
for. And among those things are
uses such as enhancing the
capacity of governments to
locate and apprehend quote
aliens who have committed -- and
languages that council member
chavez read. Those are types of
uses that are allowable under
that authorizing statute. They
ar not the only uses of funding
allowable under that statute.
» thank you. And just so I can
kind of clarify it in my mind.
these kind of nofos allow for a
purpose of funding and these
are, to couil member chavez's
point, language in here that
will allow f avenues such as
apprehend aliens or illegal
aliens as noted in the nofo.
but there is nothing that
requires in either the nofo or
an attached mou, there's nothing
that requires this grant to be
used for those specific
purposes.
» that's correct. The section
that council member chavez read
from was from the first section
of the nofo. The purposes. But
that is not the section that is
required use of funding. Goals
and objectives of this funding
sectn that includes more
specific targeted uses of the
funds, and then as I'm sure my
colleagues would be able to tell
you more out, as an applicant,
you provi a program narrative
of how you intend to use the
funds that comports with those
goals and objectives.
» that's really helpful. Thank
you for the clarification.
» thank you. Next, we'll go to
council member warren.
» thank you, chair. I want to
support this because I
understand the importance of
ballistic testing, and I really
want to solve the unsolved
murders and homicides and acts
of violee that have
perpetuated violence throughout
our community. I understand that
it is something that is
uncomfortable because aot of
times we don't suspect that some
of our neighbors who appear to
be one way towards us can be
anothe way towards something
else. A I don't know here in
the state of minnesota, I've
never seen an alien before in my
life. Okay. I've never seen a
spaceship pull up. I've never
seen anybody green jumpp off
of there or anything of that
sorts. But if they come here and
cutting up, need to know
there's something put in place
where we can dl with those
people accordingly. I know there
are individuals who are
committi crimes, like I said
before, we did not suspect
beyond a shadow of a doubt that
that was something they would be
doing. They appeared one way to
us and they do something else
somewhere else. Marilyn manson,
great person. Wonderful dad. All
of these gre things. But then
a heinous serial killer doing
something else. You just never
know. But if this machine and
this equipment and these
testings a going to prove that
someone was involved or they're
able to trace it back to
firearms like I want to keep the
focusn that part of solving
crimes because I just really
want safer communies. And if
it means that we're going to end
up apprehending some individuals
who are even in law enforcement
or apprehending individuals who
are in other fields of public
safety or people who are doing,
then guess what? Nobody is
without being reproved. I'm just
going to say that. So if there's
some things that need to be done
in order to clean up our justice
system and ensure that we are
charging people appropriate with
the crimes that they have
committed and accountability is
going to be present, then sign
me up twice. I don't believe in
individuals bng targeted
around any type of immigration
status at all whatsoever. Do not
target anyone based on their
citizenship or anythin like
that. But like I said, I've
never have seen an alien before
in my life. So I don't know who
this grant application thing is
calling aliens because I've
never seen any. But if there are
people who are committing crimes
who are doing things out here
that they have no business
doing, then those people need to
be dealt with accordingly. And I
was hoping that there was a plan
in order to get them off of the
street so that other people can
go on with their natural lives.
that's what I have to say. And
so I'm interested in supporting
it because I want crimes solved.
I do. There is a lot of
situations with unsolved murders
and childr and young people
and elders and people who have
been harmed and injured by
firearms, and I just want any
y that we can figure out who's
responsible for that, then let's
go with that method of making
sure that we are holding people
accountable for the cmes that
they've committed.
» thank you.
» the end.
» thank you. Next I'll
recognize council member chavez.
» thank you, chair chughtai. I
think the fedal government
when they're saying aliens,
they're referring to
undocumented immigrants. I just
want t provide the context
they're explicitly naming
undocumented neighbors as aliens
and illegal. I will be working
with the city attorney's office
to share the language that I
have draft on a resolution
that I will be attaching to this
nofo that literally condemns the
way our undocumented neighbors
are being called on in this
document that put requirements
on this, if we were to move
forward with seeking this grant
asking for written clarification
from this agency on if they
would interpret our separation
ordinance being in violation if
we would seek this. What they
woul mean by dhs notice.
whether they would interpret us
accepting this grant, us
violating our civil rights
ordinance because cil rights
is mentioned in this nofo, and
other stuff that I think we need
to have written clarification
from. Because what I don't
believe is the federal
government. They have known to
lie about coming to minneapolis
to address cre, but what
they're doing is taking innocent
moms, fathers and ds away from
our city. I want to make sure if
folks are going to move forward
with this, I'm going to attach a
resolution because I have the
responsibility to represent my
constituents and making sure the
could be impacting our hing that
residents.
» thank you. Next, I'll
recognize council member
shaffer.
» yes, I'll be brief. Thank
you, council member chavez for
sharing your heart. And I'll
look forward to seeing wt you
bring forward around this
resolution. And if it's
something that we can indeed
attach, I appreciate that work.
I aed today I have to say on
the heels of ward 7 being on the
border of what happened this
week and the tremendous
violence, this is something I
have to support. We see what
this technolog brings to
insight for mpd in trying to
find out the perpetrators of
some of these crimes. And we
cannot have this bece the norm
on our streets. We need these
tools to be able to find those
who are committing these heinous
crimes. And get them off the
streets. And so I will be
supporting this. I'm a little
surprised at the conversation.
but will be following up with
the city attorney's office to be
able to understand what our
process is. But I just really am
grateful for the thoughts today.
» thank you. Seeing no further
discussion, is there a motion on
this item?
» I moved for forwarding
without recommendation. That was
seconded.
» great. I'm not seeing anyone
else in discussion. So on the
motion, clerk, please call the
roll.
» council member payne.
» aye.
» rainville.
» ay
» vetaw.
» aye.
» warren.
» aye.
osman.
» aye.
» shaffer.
» aye.
» chavez.
» aye.
» whiting.
» aye.
» palmisano.
» aye.
» vice chair chughtai.
» aye.
» and chair chowdhury.
» aye.
» there are 11 ayes.
» that motion carries. Our next
discussion item is a staff
directive fr council member
shaffer and vice chair chughtai.
it is related to the budget
process and analyzes other
factors. Do either one of the
authors want to speak more to
this item? Council member
shaffer.
» yes. This is just a staff
directive. As we head into our
budget season looking at what
other cities, other processes
might be hpening that we can
look at to glean informati
from. And have talked with lro
aff about this and I've
invited andrew to come and give
just a brief couple minute
overview of where this direction
would head.
» welcome, up, mr. Hoggins.
» thank you, chair chowdhury,
vice chair chughtai, my name is
andr hoggins. The staff
direction resembles a lot of the
pieces that we see in staff
directions lro in that it asks
uso understand what is the
landscape of the legislative
budget process as it exists in
comparable cities and pull out
any examples that would benefit
the council for consideration as
we kinda head into this
transition following the mayor's
budget address and delivery on
the 24th of august to the budget
coittee. We wanted to make
sure we're being timely to get
this information t council for
consideration in advance of that
timeline so that any tools that
we observe across other
jurisdictions and comparable
bodies to legislative research
and oversight are able to be
considered and kind of adopted
for use in this process. This
should come to no surprise to
anybody this will be a
challenging budget process. One
thing that there seems to be
quite a bit of agreement on.
om our standpoint, anything we
can do to support this body with
considerations as this process
begins is something that we want
to pursue. Thank you.
» thankyou. Is there any
further discussion on this item?
all right. Seeing none, can I
have a motion on this item?
» so moved.
» second.
» all those in favor say aye.
» aye.
» those opposed say nay. That
motion carries. All right. Now
we will return to our receive
and file portion of our agenda.
our first presentation is about
the city council's work so far
in 2026. I'll welcome up andrew
hoggins again from the
legislative research oversight
team for this presentation.
» all right. Hello agn. I
won't introduce myself twice. So
for this presentation I think
the one thing you'll probably
notice is going to be different,
starting in 2026, the role of
reporting back of the report, we
took the first quarter of this
year tomplement the dashboard
that you're going to see linked
and qr coded and will linked to
our website shortly. How we can
make this more transparent,
provide more information about
all the different items that are
coming through our legislative
it's committees for ncil and
consideration on any given week.
this presentation focuses a lot
more on kind of what that
process looks like and
highlighting some of the items
that are going to be included. I
think subsequently for quarterly
reports we'll be able to focus
on expanded functionality and
additional date points and do a
culminating report at the end of
the year. However, for the
purposes of this one, it's
almost deliberely light
because we're trying to drag
people to the dashboard itself.
to get feedback and make sure
we're improving as we go. So
again, like a lot of our work,
our key reasons for taking this
approach with public
transparency, having public
facing dashboard, accessibility
for residents as well as
council. It also reduces a
burden on entities. Council
offices that have issued
legislative directive, when our
office of city auditor brings
back audit reports that have
findings.
historically there have been
challenges trying to tck down
the status of those. Remediedy
the appropriate departments. And
so I think making this
transparent and acceptable
simplifies that.he ability to
call that stuff out when we see
there's things that have been
outstanding for quite some time.
just again, the one data point I
did include to highlight, 774
total council acts. 520 action
ems. The action items break
down into a number ofifferent
ways to cut across these. I
think we're still working on
what's the most impactful. We
certainly can throw out all
different kinds of stats. But
it's important to work with the
figure out what's important and
what people are the most
interested in tracking and how
we break that out accordingly.
this year, obviously due to the
situation created b operation
metro surge, like the shift to a
lot of what would he normally
gone through committees to this
committee created challenges.
that's something that we're
try
forward. Similarly for the
legislative directive and staff
directive tracking that we're
doing, we have our lros
dashboard is directly plugged
into lims. Unfortunately, in is
the one area where we still
don't have the ability to get
updates on the status through
lims. I should also say thank
you to amalia from the office of
public service, and tim from it
for their help pulling all this
together and getting everything
published in time to ensure we
had a public facing dashboard
for accessibility today. For the
ongoing directives that we're
tracking, right now, and again,
I noticed a couple that
somemes they come through in
different formats based on
modifications to the request.
we're always going to be going
through this to make sure
everything is reflective. Always
feel free to reach us out and we
can make sure it's added. But we
have ocs quarterly updates.
tec
closes so we're trying to figure
out how to capture that
correctly. I know the
shotspotter will be returning in
q4 along side the audit record
on the similar topic. The south
lyndale master corridor program.
I'm presenting that one. The
non-fatal shooting task force.
there was a quarterly report
ju
one that's going to continue to
come back. We' trying to find
a way in the dashboard itself.
e
if you want to find on these
that I'm goi to point out on a
later slide. The ones I wanted
to highlight. The residential
ordinance. Three-part series.
th first was on 5/13. 8/15 is
the next. And then I know the
thrive strategic development
plan has a date of 9/30. Moving
in to staff directives. We had
six that had been completed from
january 1st to now. For the
eight that areeing tracked. I
know we have a couple other ones
that need to get added in here.
I can speak to the ones from
lro. For the crter compliance,
municipality oversight. That one
is ongoing. Charter is q3
target. The public safety
policies and practices, that one
tually is coming forward to
phc next cycle. Presentation in
august. And payment in lieu of
taxes is also targeting
august 25th. And autonomous
vehicle is currently on cue for
assignment. Dashboard using the
link assuminghere's internet
in here, everybody should be
able to access.t continues to
be updated. It pulls in a lot of
data. Any time that you have a
lot of different data sources,
you're going to have kind of
clean up and beautification
efforts that I'm sure we'll be
doing for a little bit. We also
have a lot of function alma
mater that we want to continue
building out. Cutting across
different communities so we can
dive in to what's happening
across different committees to
give people the most insight
that we're able to for things
that areither going through
council, that are coming in the
future, or that we jt
completed. What you see here,
this is the preview review page.
this is the first tab that
people will see when they go to
this dashboard. The purpose of
this it looks forward 14 days
and backward 14 days just to
give people an idea for what's
coming in the future. All of
these items, if you cli the
more info tab on the right side,
we do have links tthe lims
files themselves. Next, we have
the council directive status.
this pulls from a different data
source but trying to track all
the directives we have
outstanding. Allow people to see
who the responsible department
was. If you hover over the tab
on the right, it has responsive
information at least for the
ones that are outstanding. Those
will contain the latest updates
from the departments themselves.
this is something that will keep
evolving and we want to color
code. Flags that turn re
yellow, green, et cetera. And
last, you have the lims file
search. So again, this is
similar to seahing lims. It
has a different functionality. I
think we're going to add fields
in there that you can search by
ju to find legislative files.
when you open it up, it will
everything from the entirety of
this year. If you search the
lims file number or subject file
field by any subject you're
looking for, it will limit that
to anything that will be
responsive to that search. Next
steps, landing page. So we want
to have a home page that
outlines what's covered.
how to use this dashboard and
provide more information. We're
going to continue added updates
so this is updated in real time.
it also does sort of encourage
people that might have
outstanding directives to be
updating that information as
much as they can because it will
automatically go into the
dashboard itself and reflect to
anybody that's interested. And
exnsion of functionality that
I talked about.
ensure we're being deliberate
about how w build it out.
having a tab that exists where
we can track audit findings and
their responsible department and
committee they're assigned to
will allow members of that
committee to ask those questions
when they come up so we're
ensuring the city is being
deliberate about how it's
responding to audit findings.
with that, that concludes my
presentation. I'm happy to
answer any questions there might
be.
» tha you so much, andrew.
members, would anyone like to
get into queue? President payne.
» thank you, chair chowdhury.
and tnk you, director hoggins.
I think this transparency is so
helpful. I think our day-to-day
is such a whirlwind it's nice to
take a step back, zoom out and
see what's getting accomplished
and what we're working on. That
goes a long way towards building
trust and faith in what we do
here in the government.
appreciate your efforts on that.
» thank you. One quickhing I
can share too just from talking
to staff with the wild card
search. There's so much that
happens that we can lose sight.
somebody brought up, I don't
think we've done much with that
this year. I pulled up the
dashboard. I think there were
nine different legislative files
that came up on that topic this
year. It's a good opportunity
for people if they're interested
in any specific topic to
research all the legislative
files to see what you all are
doing and follow along.
» wonderful. Next, we will go
to council member shaffer.
» couple things. Can you speak
to the data format underneath
e item wildcard search? I get
this query functns at the top.
but then for some reason can you
speak to what we see underneath
that and the value of seeing all
that?
» yup. Through the chair,
council member shaffer, so this
is something where again tha
pulls from lims. There's a lot
data. There's a lot in the
more info tab. So if you hover
over that it will open a box.
we're still organizing that and
everything. It's the lims file
number. Which is legislative
information management stem.
it will have the file subject.
the action date is going to be
the date that the action was
taken. So that's where you'll
see it in action. Those columns
reflec the titles as they exist
in lims. It's something where I
want to update them. But when I
start editorializing those, it
affects other things. That's
something I need to be more
deliberate. It will show the
committee that the action was
taken. And so also if you click
on the more info on the
dashboard itself, there should
be a link that pops up on the
bottom of the bble that takes
you to the actual lims file for
each respective one. The reason
these were picked is to show
where things are moving thugh.
obviously, this year being
unique where we had
coolidation of things in to
cow for a while, there's not
going to be as many different
committees reflected as there
would normally be. As we go
forward, that would be populated
now that committees are running
in their normal capacity. What
this does that's interesting,
just for the tailgating
ordinance, is it really does
show the life cycle of some of
these items. Like the sometimes
complex route they can take from
introduction to referral and all
the way back to council for
ultimately for consideration for
adoption.
» okay. So it's kind o a
scrolling function. If you know
approximately it happened in
february but I don't know
exactly the word to pull it up
on query.
» correct. I think the date
function was one that we can add
as well. But the lims file
subject. I mean, you can really
go in and type in anything. So
if you wanted to look at -- I'm
trying to think what have we
been doing. Safe outdoor spaces.
if you type that in to the lims
file subject, every file that
hits with those words will come
back. And if you want just
looking at housing, looking at
public safety. You could keyword
search it. As long as it's in
the file subject as well as the
item title, it will pull back
all of those results. So
sometimes, again, we know
roughly what we're looking for
but we don't know exactly, it
can often be hard to go back and
identify those items.
I know ourctual lims site has
some search functionality. But
this one operates a little
differently. It's quicker to
scroll through because it
doesn't have a lot of
information in the dashboard
itself. It will take you to the
full lims file.
» thank you so much for all
your work on this. It will be
interesting. Can you speak a
little bit to what's your vision
for year-to-year? Like will this
all collapse into 2026ut it
will all -- you do a query it
will all pull up ongoing years?
what's your vision?
» that's a wonderful question.
this is definitely something we
want to keep building. More is
more. So though 26, 27, 28. It
was hard getting it to display
in a way that was digestible is
when we have committees that can
change names. It will start to
display a lot more. Sometimes
comparison. Committee a to
committee b in another cycle. I
think trying to fige out how
to add in even historical data
is something we want to do. This
is something we intend to
continue to accumulate data as
we move forwd.
» it's very exciting and thank
you for all your hard work.
» absolutely.
» thank you. I am not seeing
anyone else in queue. So I will
presentation and report. Now
we'll move to item 5. We have
another presentation to receive
related to our appointed boards
and commission status. I will
invite up julie hofland from the
city clerk's office to kick this
presentation off. Lcome.
» all right. Good afternoon
vice chair chughtai and
committee members, I'm julie
hovland, the abc program
manager, and I'm excited to
share our progress on board
reform. The city of minneapolis
values active community
engagement. Appointed boards and
commissions are one of the most
visible ways for residents to
take part in local government.
because abcs are official cy
groups, their work must align
with the city's operational
framework and their own enabling
legislation. Abc reform is about
making it easier and more
participate in city government.
it gives abcs a clear structure
to their work and it makes their
work stay aligned with city
priorities. It also supports
smoother, more meaningl
collaboration between elected
officials, city staff and abc
bodies. Every abc has now been
placed into a tier. Most of our
work has focused on tier three
and four advisory bodies.
improvements such as creing
and actively using standardized
templates for participation
agreements, bylaws rules, and
establishing resolutions. Other
accomplishments worth
highlighting. We created and
published comprehensive abc
operations manual with all
policies, procedures, and
standards regarding abcs in one
place. We also completed major
lims updates, adding much needed
tomation and new tracking
features for waivers and service
restrictions. New member
profile was developed and
launched. The required online
ethics training is now aligned
with members appointed terms.
the training itself was
redesigned to improve the member
experience and ensure content is
more relevant. A mayoral
executive order was secured
affiing the office of city
clerk as the central agency
responsible for abc operations.
we delivered a comprehenve
training course for department
board staff liaisons focusing on
abc operations, best practices
and collaboration with the
clerk's office. To track
recurring acvities, we created
an annual abc operations
calendar. We revamped monthly
bsl team meetings to include a
mix of quarterly group meetings
paired with one on one sessions
and tech labs. In 2025, we
created the establishment of
eight tier 3 advisory bodies and
created one tier 4 work group.
following remaini tier 3
bodies will be reformed this
year. Looking ahead to 2027, we
plan to reform our tier 2 and 5
bodies. These will be more
complex because they are
establishe by ordinance rather
than resolution. Like all
developing programs, challenges
have emerged. One of our biggest
pinchpoints in the abc program
is managing recruitment cycles.
an area not directly addressed
in the reform ordinance. This
sle shows the assumed
recruitment process two cycles
spring and fall. Each cycle
includes about seven steps from
advertising a seat during open
appointments to having a fully
seated member ready to serve.
one cycle takes about seven
months. Abc recruitment works a
lot like an hr hiring process.
we typically process over 400
applications a year. However, in
reality, we are managing three
recruitment cycles: winter,
spring and fall, plus many, many
off-cycle appointments. This is
caused by unsuccessful
recruiting, resignations, seat
forfeitures and other factors.
the nominating and appointment
processes is in backlog. With
only 12 months in a year and a
process that can stretch for
more than 12 months, delivering
a positive experience. In 2027,
we hope to work with our
partners to find ways to improve
this system. Other items
underway for next year include
orientation program, improving
how we vet applicants, enhancing
the on boarding and off boardg
experience for abc members, and
standardizing work plans and
committee members, that u,
concludes my presentation on abc
reform. I'd be happy to answer
any questions.
» thank you for that
presentation. Do my colleagues
ha any questions or
discussion? Cncil member
whiting.
» thank you, vice chair
chughtai. Just wanted to note
just a level of thank you. I
know this is a large lif here.
I know I helped kind of on the
opposite end when I was in the
city attorney's office and know
the large lift that com with
all of these abcs broadly. It is
really good to see the
culmination of a lot of effort.
just wanted to say thank you.
» thanks.
» of course.
» thank you. Next, I'll
recognize counc president
payne.
» thank you, vice chair
chughtai. Yeah, also a big
thanks. So much of your work is
focused on logists. And I also
want to elevate the role of abcs
and what the potential is to
be part of our partners in
governg. Part of our partners
in policymaking. And I think
there are s many people in the
city who are so civically
engaged and they are frequently
up at city hall and don't know
that it's not an opportunity to
do a public hearing or even for
the folks who sign up to be on
an abc and they don't know
exactly how to get their voice
represented in policy. Not only
for us to get the logistics of
getting people onboarded and
getting applications reviewed,
we on the dais need to do a
better job of making sure we're
emwering those voices and
putting them into action. I
many phases of reform that's ver
going to be at least one
distinct phase. And I'm happy to
be a partner in figuring that
out.
» yeah. I appreciate that.
flsh.
» thank you. And finally, I'll
recognize cncil member warren.
» thank you, vice chair. Thank
you so much for this report.
this and just simplifying the
process. I really appreciate
that because coming in as a new
council member, it was pretty
tasking to look through the
applications and have to, you
know, decide and understand and
go through the whole process.
so to centralize the information
and create a whole -- thank you
so much. I just wanted to say
thank you. Yes.
» hank you. Seeing no further
discussion, I will ask the clerk
to file that presentation and
report. Now I will turn the
meeting over to council member
whiting to chair our settlement
agreement subcommittee. I'm
sorry. I'm going to hold on that
justne second. Did you have?
» [ off-mic comnts ].
» that's right. Perfect. Okay.
now we'll turn the meeting over
to council member whiting.
» perfect. Thank you, vice
chair chughtai. Switching on
over to our settlement agreeme
and consent decree subcommittee.
our consent decree and
settlement agreement
subcommittee has two items on
its agenda today. First is a
presentation related to an
update on implementing the
reforms within the proposed
consent decree. I'll invite our
city attorney kristyn anderson.
thank you.
» hello, chairwhiting, council
members, it's nice to see this
afteoon. It's been a bit of
time since I've been able to
come and be on this side of the
is. I'm always please to come
and make aresentation. My
presentation today is really an
update on the work that the
enterprise has been doing on
implementing the reforms of the
consent decree. And just for
kind of baseline for folks who
are new and/or watching, we have
two things that are kind of in
play in terms of police reform:
one is an actual court
enforceable settlement agreement
with t minnesota department of
human rights that we entered
into and was issued as a court
order in july of 2023. Again,
court enforceable, we have been
working on that project of
police reform really frankly
from before then once it was
negotiated. But also there was
an investigation by the
resulted in a negotiation for
federal consent decree. A
agreement over the course of, I
mean, actually, we negotiated it
pretty fast. And completed the
negotiations and went to court
with the department of justice
during the biden administration
asking for t court to issue
that as a court order and then
there was the change of
administrations and the trump
administration actually
dismissed the lawsuit and walked
away from the consent decree. So
mayor frey determined that
although we weren't going to
have a federal consent decree in
court, it w important to still
do the reforms that we had
negotiated in that consent
decree. And so he issued an
executive oer requiring the
administration to implement the
reforms in the consent degree
and those reforms are really
defined as reforms that are not
in conflict with those that
exist in the settlement
agreement. So we really have the
settlement agreement, and there
are provisions above and beyond
the settlement agreement that
are enforceable by an executable
order by our mayor. And so we
ve been working on
implementing those additional
provisions. Another sort of
grounding thing I want to talk
about is between the settlement
agreement and consent decree,
there are multiple subject
matters that are covered in
both. There are a few additional
subjec matters that are covered
in the consent decree that are
not included in the settlement
agreement. But in the settlement
agreement, for example, in both
documents, there's a whole
section on use of force. And the
settlement agreement requires
certain things. And then the
consent decree reforms require a
few more things on top of that.
so kind of in our implementation
work around this, we start with
theettlement agreement as
being our baseline. And the way
that we sort of building this
reform infrastructure, it start
with creation of policy,
creation of training, then
actually doing the training, and
then holding officers
accountable to those policies
and the things that they train.
at the ground level of this
infrastructure, we are building
policies that are grounde in
the settlement agreement. But as
long as we are doing the
settlement agreement, we are
baking those consent decree
additional reforms into those.
in the kind of examples that I'm
going to give you are working in
the frame. That we're creating
are compliant with both. So I'm
going to start with my slide. In
the consent decree, it required
more of the settlement agreement
and required that officers not
only not consider race and
national origin in their
policing decisionsut also --
unless there are descriptor of a
suspect and there is additional
identifying information. So
that's one example. Use of force
policies are actually a number
of things from the consent
decree that we added on to the
use oforce policies. And in
fact, while we were negotiating
the consent decree, as we were
negotiating things along, we
were starting to incorporate
some of these higher standards
into our policy work under the
settlement agreement anyways. We
don't have a lot of situations
between the two agreements that
conflict because as we were
negotiating the doj consent
decree,e were very mindful. We
wanted to be consistent in what
actually saw between the two,
the provisions that the
department of justice wanted
were in many, many respects
exactly identical to what the
mdhr wanted. I think because
both of them saw some of the
same things and one of tm had
federal jurisdiction and the
other had state jurisdiction,
the reforms were connsconsisten
let's say that. We had a lot of
the same ground. There was just
not a lot of conflict because we
as the city's negotiators me
sure that we were not going to
wind up with -- in use of force,
several things have bn --
limitations on use of chemical
spray of people in the car. --
we've -- flr
-- after review by either
higher level supervisors or
review body. Then body worn
camera. Another policy that we
had open in order to do the work
for the mdhr agreement and add
from the consent decree that
there is a self-reporting
requirement now.
[ please stand by ]
if you could speak to the mpd
limitations of hours worked,
this is the last slide that
you gave us the update on
today.
is the new limitation on hours
worked, and I know you named a
couple of numbers, the 16
hours in a day or in a 24-hour
period, and there was a second
one, I can't remember, but is
this consistent with a
previous policy on limitation
of hours worked?
is it the same number of hours
or has anything changed that
you can tell -- that you might
be able to tell us about?
» it is consistent.
my recollection is that it is
consistent with what the
settlement agreement required
as well.
I can't tell you as I stand
here whether there were slight
differences between the
settlement agreement and the
consent decree, but it is -- I
believe it's the same hour
threshold that was articulated
in the settlement agreement.
so, it is now incorporated in
that policy.
I also can't tell you if that
policy right now is in draft
or if it's been adopted.
and I could follow up with you
on that.
but it's 16 hours per 24-hour
day and 74 hours per week.
» sounds good.
thank you very much.
th's all.
» council member shaffer.
first of all, thank you for
this overview, with broad
strokes, to kind of narrow it
down with each of the
categories, I really
appreciated your mhod of
presentation.
I would like to ask the
question around, you know,
have we determined or tught
about the financial impact of
some of these directions that
we are earking on and have
we ld out a framework for
2027 -- or 2027, yeah, 40
hours times x number of
employees of additional
training is going to land in
april '27, we need to consider
overtime budget for that.
can you speak a little bit to
how we -- how we are
monitoring where our
investments are landing so
that we can better plan for
them and tell the story, if it
is related to ourvertime,
I'm not saying it necessarily
is, but I think we -- I keep
hearing abo all the various
high levels of training that
we're really tryingo
implement, which are really
important, but I haven't heard
anything about budget or
fiscal impact.
» chair, counc member, I'm
not the best person to ask the
budgetary questions.
what I can say, the particular
training that I was talking
about is training for
inveigators in the office of
police conduct review, which
is in civil rigs, and
internal affairs.
I don't know how much, you
know, overtime those folks
would normally incur as a
normal course, and I think for
this kind of training, it's
really a very finite and small
group, and the training would
be incorporated into their,
you know, regular work
expectations.
so this training itself would
not --
» maybe not this one, but
more o a cumulative impact as
we look back.
I just think that piece of the
story needs to be told in our
overtime if it is, in fact,
affecting that.
and I just have no visibility
on that.
heading into the budget
season.
and I think it's really
important that,.
in case it is.
and when you have a work plan,
it doesn't just come for free,
ght, we've got the alifa
dollar amount, that's known
but beyond that I feel like I
don't have any handle on what
that is costing us last year,
this year, the next ten years,
and I'm just wondering when
that's coming.
» chair whiting, council
member, certainly -- I mean,
you're absolutely right that
the ttlement agreement
requires a huge amount of
training for officers and,
frankly, I don't know how else
we could do this police reform
if not for the training.
you know, we can develop and
we do develop really awesome
policies but ifhe officers
don't know what they say and
practice them, whichs really
what happens in training, and
forgive me, because I don't
know that we've had that many
conversations about settlement
agreement consent decree, but
one of the kind of, for the
settlement agreement, and the
consent decree, there's this
really cool, in my view,
emphasis on adult training
techniques.
at are really, you know,
everybody who instructs for
mpd training has to themsels
go through a train the tripper
exercise training in order to
learn how t teach using adult
learning techniques.
and these are verycenario
based, sometimes they're
literally physically running
outside.
that kind of training is the
kind of training that, really,
police reform advocates really
are stressing because this is
the way that we change
culture, this is the way we
make muscle memory so that
when officers get in
ecarious situations, it's
natural to reactn the right
way.
so the training, it's a
huge -- yes, it's a huge
investment and it's, in my
view, absolutely needed.
what the exact budgetary
impact and how that's being
tracked I think is really a
budget office question.
» well, I've asked about it
several different places and
seem to not be able to get an
answer.
and I absolutely agree with
you that training is key to
seeing chae, right?
but also with us being the
stewards of -- a I know I'm
not speaking to the right
person here, but for us being
the stewards of the budget,
for us not to have that
information is really -- is
really amiss in my mind.
as we tell the story that w
know or we'll have to hear the
story in upcoming months about
what's going on in m.
and, so, maybe we can speak
off-line and I can tell you
the places I've checked and I
haven't been able to get
answers so I need some more
direction.
» council member shaffer, if
I may, too, feel exactly the
so we were in these quarterly
meetings that I'm going to
speak to on this next item, in
conversation with ocs and
other folks, we are going to
have that opportunity that
folks from the budget office
and those related to
settlement agreement, consent
decree items are going to be
present and there for
questions.
so hopefully I think that will
be an avenue or venue to
answer those questions.
» my only final point to
make, whenever you start on a
journey, you have to
understand where you're going.
and knowing that budget piece
would be a huge help in
knowing where we're going.
» thank you.
council member chavez.
» thank you, chair whiting.
I guess my question for the
attorney's office, the recent
report shows that they're not
meeting their goal I
settlement agreement, which is
going to add more expense for
the city because we're not
meeting the goals and it's
making us take longer time in
the settlement agreement.
iuess my question is, what
recourse does the city council
have to ensure that there is
compliance with the settlement
agreement?
and, two -- yeah, I guess I'll
start there.
» chair whiting, council
member, the council doesn't
di the administration.
obviously.
you know, we he reporting
tools and I think that that
is, you know, a really
important accountability item.
you know, as I mentioned
before, the ordinance tt
council president payne
introduced and will be coming
soon.
so you know, the council's
tool oftentimes is in
informion and in making
information publicly available
and available in committee
meetings and committee
hearings and heari those
reports and, you know, you're
having alifa come so you have
a really good handle on what
our independent monit, and
remember, they are -- I mean,
they don't work for us, we
work -- which is sort of a
strange situation that we're
paying for them but they are
really our overseers in this
work and they are the ones
with the expertise and are
really gauging our
accountability.
so, you know, we are paying
them.
's a catch rate of $1.5
llion, but they are really
the accountability, as well as
the minnesota department of
human rights and ultimately
the court.
» thank you.
» council member warren.
» I just have a brief
question.
I was listening to you in your
presentation and you were
talking about howhere were
alternate means and methods
for individuals to report
internal affairs complaints,
you know, and I was just
wondering with the current
situation that happened with
our previous police chiefs,
why those alternate means were
not utilized and is it
something that people are
going to be made consciously
aware of as we're moving
around administration in
multiple different departments
around public safety in the
city that people will have
these alternate means to be --
to really feel supported,
rit, in their role so that
they know and understand that
if I do not feel safe and
trusted in sharing this
information or I'mn fear of
some type of retaliation that
these things will be readily
made available and that
they're actively working to
support individuals and create
a better climate and culture
for our public safety
divisions as it stands
currently?
» chair whiting, council
member, so, tre are actually
multiple multiple ways to
ise concerns, whether it be
through the internal affairs
department, the office of
police conduct review has
reporting portals thatre on
the web, human resources
receives reports, the
officer -- sorry -- officer --
the office of cmunity safety
receives reports, and the
ethics line actually is, you
know, we oftentimes get it
reports through the ethics
line that are not actually
ethics complaints but there
are multiple different ways to
get a concern to the city.
» and are those often
responded to and people are
adhering to them like acting
in some immediacy around the
investigatioof those things?
» chair whiting, council
member, yes.
there are processes, there are
folks who are assigned to all
of those things and processes
in place for intake and review
of -- in each different
methodology.
» really?
» yes.
» a those have been in
place for quite some time?
» yes.
» okay.
I'm just wondering, just based
on previou experiences that
we've just had, and I'm not
naming any names or any
specific situation, but we
know the elephant in the room,
so I just want to make sure
that those things are like
clear so that people
understand because I know that
there were some issues with
internal affairs officers
being removed and different
things like that and stuff not
getting done and people not
getting the resolve or the
resolution that they needed
around a number of different
issues.
I just really want us to be
able to work bette and have a
better climate and culture
around our public safety
because what our interoffice
customer service and
communication looks like
reflects on how we respond to
the constituents in the city
abroad, right?
and, so, if that's clean and
our house islean, then we
can have conversations with
other people about whatheir
house and behaviors should
look like.
so I just really want --
that's huge to me, like,
really really big.
and ensuring that we're doing
deep-rooted investigations
about who we let into our
house, right?
because of the culture and the
climate that we want to hold
around our public safety and
what that accountability looks
like.
so if there's smear
campaigns -- and I know
there's going to be haters in
the world because there just
is, okay -- but if there are
things that are being said
about conduct and what have
you that there are deep-dive,
very serious investigations
beg done because we don't
want other people's garbage.
we just don't.
so, I just want to make sure
that there are methods, means,
we're putng those things in
place and you're saying that
that's a thing.
so I'm gone kdwb nah rest and
assured that you're saying
that's a thing, city attorney.
the end.
» thank you, council member.
last question here, honestly,
a little bit of maybe a
refresher for me, and I think
it's helpf for the body and
those that are watching, if
you could kind of just maybe
talk broadly about the areas
of work, bodies of work that
are kind of outside of the
settlement agreement.
so things that d stand alone
that are larger, in those
laer buckets in the consent
decree.
» chair whiting, council
members, so, the jurisdiction
of the department of justice
was significantly -- I mean,
it's federal, right?
they he broader jurisdiction
than the state did and their
vestigation was a little bit
more wide ranging than mdhr's.
so, the specific sections tha
are in the consent decree tha
are notn the settlement
agreemen and I'm not going
to get all of them because
you're asking me off the top
of my head, so let's
remember -- see how well I
remember what I negotiad.
there's a section on
addressing individuals with
mental health challges that
is -- you know, there's
literally one paragraph in the
settlement agreent about
having a behavioral response.
that's it.
there's a whole really robust
seion in the consent decree
reforms on that.
there's a robust section in
the consent decree reforms on
first amendment activity.
you know, how policing happens
with protests and those sorts
of things.
so that's unique.
there is a section on
secondary employment, what we
think of as off-duty, some of
which is kind of in pieces in
the settlemen agreement but
is its own standalone in the
consent decree.
those are the things that come
to mind.
there may be a couple of other
ones, but those are really the
significant ones.
» perfect.
thank you.
youth engagement.
» oh, yes, interactions wh
youth.
thank you.
that's another one.
» yeah, perfect.
» and, again, there are a
cole of pieces of that in
the settlement agreement, but
in terms of the standalone.
see, council president knows
what I negotiated better than
what I did.
sorry for the cold call,
bringing you back to law
school.
with that, colleagues, seeing
no further discussion here, I
will ask the clerks to file
that presentation.
and rort.
lastly, our last item here --
and thank you, city attorney
anderson.
moving to subcommitteetem
number 7, our last itemas
continued from the previs
meeting on july 14th.
at that meeting we received a
presentationrom elefa and
this report covered the end of
2025, going into 2026.
the action today is simply
just to receive and file -- I
guess not even receive but to
file that elefa presentation.
wanted to note here before we
move forward on that.
at that previous meeting, I
know it was clear that many of
my colleagues and myself had
serious concerns about the
questions and findings in
elefa's most recent report.
and concerns which I shared.
I've express mr.ed to many
of my colleagues aesire to
reporting from mpd ocs, city
attorney's office, opcr, I.t.,
budgetary updates, and other
departments as relevant, using
this subcommittee as a
mechanism to receive
continuous quarterly
results -- sorry -- quarterly
updates on the city's progress
towards meeting its
commitments under the
settlement agreement and
consent decree.
mpd currently holds weekly
internal reform stat meetings
where key stakeholders across
the enterprise meet to walk
through the status and
progress of reforms related to
the consent decree and
settlement agreement.
our goal here is to produce
similar meetings for council,
for that kind of oversight
measure.
my office has been in
communication with mpd and ocs
and every other city
department which this work
touches through the
subcommittee and they've
agreed to come before council
to present our own reform
stat-like meetings directly to
th body, making themselves
available to council members
to answer questions or
concerns surrounding the
city's progress, both to
include concerns raised by the
semi-annual reports that elefa
will be presenting in front of
this body on a semi-annual
basis as well.
so the first of these
presentaons will occur
sometime here in august,
depending on individual's
schedules, both council 8
colleagues' schedules and
schedules of key stakeholders.
so looking forward to a time
here in august.
did I say september?
august.
followed by presentations
quarterl november, february,
and may of this year and then
next year as well.
and so I'm very excited to
move forward onhis.
and want to thank many of my
colleagues here for the
collaboration and city half
for oanizing this -- city
heavy for organizing this.
it looks like council member
shaffer has a question.
» this is top of my mind
because I toured yesterday and
I know I mentioned that to
you, council member, as well.
it was very clear when elefa
spoke to us that we were
responsible in providing a new
training facility or an
appropriate training facility.
we heard them clearly that
day in the presentation.
and I had to leave early so I
did not hav a chance to ask
any further questions.
but I guess I would like to
know how we as a council are
going to have an opportunity
to dialogue about that fact
because I agree with council
member chavez that we are on a
clock with elefa, that we have
these imptant deadlines that
we need to meet, and if that
is one that they are clearly
telling us, I guess I want to
have a frank discussion, an
open discussion, because I
really want to move this work
forte.
like, how are we going to do
that?
if we voted down the land, you
know, if we didn't like tt
idea, then what ideas do we
have that we can bring to the
table?
an I guess I'm asking when we
can have an opportunity to
dialogue about that?
» yeah.
inhinking about t I know
we've kind of discussed this,
trying to figure out the best
venue to have these
conversations as it relates
to settlement agreement
reforms and the compliance
measures for that, I think
particularly maybe to this
briefings or policy briefings
that we do in smaller group
settings so we can have those
larger discussions, but also I
think it is something that can
meetings as well.quarterly
so the hope is that all of our
questions -- a my kind of
hope for these meetings is
that all 13 of us can have a
level of expertise on
everything that is goi
through the reform process
broadly.
so I think anything gero
coent decree settlement
agreement reform progress I
think is open and valuableor
conversations concerning
those.
» okay, thank you.
» of course.
council mb chavez.
» thank you, chair whiting.
it would be good to get a
better explanation from elefa
because that's not exactly how
I interpreted what was said.
I hope moving forwa in these
conversations there's a report
back on the internalffairs
backlog in the consent
decree -- no, in the
settlement agreent, that is
a big issue.
there's an issue with the
early intervention system I
the settlement agreement
requirement.
there's an issue with uneven
progress on policy and
training development that's
been flagged across multiple
reports now.
mdhr said the city remains far
from transformational change.
so there's a lot more than
just this safety center.
so wanted to add more context.
» yup, thank you, council
member.
seeing no further discussions
here, I will ask the clerk to
again file that presentation.
perfect.
and with that, I will pass it
over to chair.
» thank you, council member
whiting.
seeing no further discussion,
no further business before us,
with no objtion, I will
declare this meeting
adjourned.