» Good afternoon and welcome.
my name is jamison whiting and
I'm the vice chair of the
enterprise and labor relations
committee.
linea palmisano has let us know
that she is unable to be here
today and I will be chairing
today's committees meeting.
I'm going to call to order our
regular meeting for august 3
3rd, 2026.
before we begin the meeting, I
want to offer a friendly
reminder to all committee
members staff and the public
that these meetings are
broadcast live to enable greater
public participation.
these broadcasts include real
time captioning as a further
method to increase the
accessibility of our proceedings
to the community, therefore, all
speakers need to be mindful of
the rate of their speech so that
our captioners can fully capture
and transcribe all comments for
the broadcast.
we ask all speakers to moderate
the speed and clarity of their
comments.
I'll now have the clerk call the
roll.
» Vetaw
» Present.
» Shaffer.
» Present.
» Stevenson is absent.
chavez.
» Present.
» Chughtai.
» Present.
vice chair whiting
» Present.
» We have five present.
» Thank you.
let the record reflect that we
have a quorum.
I'll remind my colleagues we'll
be using speaker management
today, and it looks like it's
running so please make sure that
you are signed up.
perfect.
so we'll start with our consent
items, which I'll read for the
record.
we have item number one.
authorizing an agreement with
the la 2028 summer olympics
organizing committee to have
minneapolis as a host city for
the 2028 olympic games flame and
torch relay.
and passage of a resolution
authorizing commitment of
in-kind city services.
item number two is authorizing a
contract amendment with rochon
corporation for the police
department training annex
building build out project.
item number three is an
amendment to a previous council
action related to a contract
amendment for computer-aided
dispatch, cad, and related
mobile equipment support
services.
this correction will reduce the
contracted amount for hennepin
healthcare systems by
approximately $63,000 and 500
bucks.
item number four approves a
legal settlement for workers
compensation claim of heather
beightol.
is there any discussion on these
items?
council member chavez.
» Thank you, chair whiting.
I would like to pull out number.
» Thank you.
seeing no further discussion,
I'll move approval of the
consent agenda minus number
four.
all those in favor please say I.
[ ayes respond ]
those opposed say nay.
nonepposed.
the ayes have it.
and that motion carries.
let's see.
perfect.
moving to discussion items here,
we can start with discussion
item number five.
our next item...
do we want to do four first?
okay, go ahead.
discussion item number four.
and as we will note, I will read
that again for the record item.
item number four is approving a
legal a legal settlement for
workers compensation claim of
heather beightol.
do we take it as a motion to
approve?
do I need ale second.
» Second.
» Perfect.
all right.
all those in favor please say
aye.
[ ayes respond ]
all opposed say nay.
the ayes have it.
and that motio carries.
wonderful.
okay.
so then moving to item number
five for discussion here.
is it five or four?
it is five.
perfect.
our next item is related to the
establishment of the assistant
city clerk position.
I'll now invite up city clerk
casey carl to present on this
item... The full name... Claire
carl.
» Thank you, mr. Chair, and to
the committee this item is
before you because we're asking
two things five and six on your
agenda are related items.
five is authorization to create
another assistant city clerk an
appointed position within the
office of city clerk, which
would restore having three
assistant city clerks, as we've
had in the past.
so I put a chart here on the
screen.
it's also in your briefing
materials, to show those three
divisions that actually carry
out work assigned by law and
charter to the city clerk are
each headed under the leadership
of an assistant city clerk,
under the charter the
appointment of an assistant city
clerk is made by the city clerk
and is subject to the council's
confirmation.
so being here today is two
steps.
one, authorizing the creation of
the third assistant city clerk
job.
to do that we are proposing to
eliminate two existing positions
within the legislative support
division, which is shown on the
right side of this chart.
you can see we're striking out
the legislative editor and the
manager of legislative support
to recreate the assistant city
clerk director of legislative
support position previously held
by outgoing longtime assistant
city clerk, jackie hansen, who
is in phased retirement now.
her last day is the end of this
year.
so that's the first action,
number five.
and then the second action,
number six, relates to the
appointment of that position.
I'll stop to see if there are
questions from the committee
about the authorization of the
creation of the position first.
» Council member vetaw.
» Well, I just wanted to just
say a few kind words... We're
not ready yet?
» I'm sorry, mr. Chair, this is
action five on the agenda, which
is authorizing the creation oftn
we'll take up six.
» Okay.
» Perfect.
so your question is on number
six?
perfect.
all right, thank you for the
presentation, clerk carl.
are there any questions on
number five?
perfect.
council member shaffer.
» Yeah, I would like to hear
your motivations for this
change, and kindf your thought
process behind that, and what
you see as a vision for your
office around this reorg.
» Certainly.
through the chair, council
member shaffer, years ago when I
first start as the city clerk
in 2010, worked for several
years to increase the number of
assistant city clerks who report
directly to me, subject to
council's confirmation.
each of those functions you see
on the chart, elections and
voter services, records and
information management, and
legislative support are
functions directly assigned totr
state la or under city charter.
and so I consider those
extensions of my core
responsibilities.
having an assistant city clerk
who's qualified to lead each of
those divisions, has expertise
in that subject matter, and canf
those similarly subject matter
experts is important, I think,
especially for a city the size
of minneapolis, where we are
fortunate enough to be able to
have a clerk's office with very
structured divisions.
in most cities, you'll find a
clerk's office has maybe a city
clerk, one or two assistant city
clerks, and then some staff.
and so the smaller team is
expected to provide that
expertise across all of these
different divisions.
here what we've done is allowed
the development of
specialization und a leader,
who then becomes the subject
matter expert in either
elections or records management
data practices, legislative
support and council process.
and that continuity has been
important to me.
I also think in terms of keeping
the confirmation of council, so
there's a direct line from
council through me to those
assistant clerks is important,
to provide continuity in the
office.
that used to be written into the
charter, the plain language
charter of 2013 removed that
requirement.
I continued to bring my
appointments of assistant city
clerks forward, though, because
I personally believe it's
important that you all have a
touch upon those leaders in my
office, because the clerk's
office, as you know, is the
arm... The administrative arm of
city council.
so having a connection between
council members and those
sistant city clerks is
important.
in addition to those, you'll see
on the chart, however, we do
have two other divisions that
report to our chief assistant
city clerk, kelly geisler, who
supervises two directors, who
are also appointed.
they're not assistant city
clerks, because the function of
department operations and
legislative research and
oversight are not clerk
functions.
those are functions created to
assist the city council in the
performance of its work, and so
those are separate.
they are all under appointed
positions that are director
level, but the three assistant
city clerks perform official
duties of the city clerk.
I hope I answered that question.
» No, that's really helpful.
and, you know, I like the vision
of, you know, having an
expertise in focus.
and I think also one thing that
you didn't really mention but I
think is adjacent is really the
idea of accountability as well.
you know, that not only can they
lead that area, but we also have
a direct line of accountability
when we have issues we need to
deal with.
so, thank you.
» Absolutely.
» Seeing no further discussion,
I'll move approval of this item.
» Thank.
» Second thank.
» You all those in favor please
say aye.
[ a ayes respond ]
» The ayes have it and that
motion carries.
» Thank you.
colleagues moving to discussion
item number six here.
our next item is the appointment
of mr. Ken dahler to the said
position above.
I'll have clerk carl come back
to introduce and speak to this
before we invite up mr. Dahler
for any comments.
» Thank you, mr. Chair.
I just have a few brief
comments.
ken dahler has been a steady and
positive presence in the clerk's
office for many years.
he transferred to the office
after brief stint as a policy
aide in the ward 13 office.
and like many of us who find
ourselves in clerk world, it was
not a position that he sought.
in fac I doubt he knew much
about it.
he was looking to transition to
something new and different and
important.
but, like many of us, he found
his calling in this unique
position.
that is being a city clerk.
he brings the right temperament
and the demeanor to the job.
he is meticulous.
he takes the work seriously, but
not himself.
he cares about the ultimate
product, which is a legislative
record that is accurate, legally
defensible, complete and
accessible.
he's a mentor to our new clerks,
witnessed by their presence next
to him in the in the chair.
he develops their talent.
he invests in them, a similar
love for this very quirky but
indispensable position.
and he parers with others
across t entire enterprise and
at all levels to provide timely
and accurate advice and
assistance.
personally, I've come to depend
heavily upon him in more ways
than I can describe.
I'm very happy to recommend him
for appointment to this
position, and I ask for your
confirmation of that
appointment.
and I'm certainly that mr.
dahler would appreciate the
opportunity to make some
comments but also encourage all
of you to grill him with many
questions.
so with that, I would bring
mr. Dahler up to the dais.
» Tnk you.
» Thank you, chair whiting and
committee members.
it's very funny that clerk carl
and I did not share our comments
with each other before today.
and it is shocking how similar
what I have prepared today is to
exactly what he said.
but as has been said, my name is
ken dahler.
I am honored to stand in front
of you today both as a public
servant and a city resident.
I am a proud resident of the
city of minneapolis.
I've been here since 2014,
currently a ward ten resident,
but also having lived in both
wards 8 and 13.
as clerk carl said, I started in
the city clerk's office in 2016,
starting as a legislative clerk
on a detail assignment.
moving into my current role as
the legislative support services
manager in 2016... Sorry, 2019,
late 2019.
and when I was considering the
promotion, I, you know, thought
a lot about whether I really
wanted kind of a manager and
leadership role, and I remember
thinking, you know, the clerk's
office is such kind of a quiet,
calm, stable division here in
the city.
and of course, within months, I
was attempting to hire and train
new staff in the middle of a
covid pandemic, the murder of
george floyd, and early
retirement incentives that
changed kind of the makeup of
our office much quicker than
anyone h anticipated.
since then I've supported...
this is my fifth iteration of
the city council, all while
expanding our team scope to add
several other bodies that we had
not originally staffed when I
started this work, and
continuing to learn more about
this work every single day.
and because I'm more comfortable
talking about the work than I am
talking about myself, let me
talk about the work.
like many clerks, I did not come
to this work intentionally.
I never said to my mother, "I
want to be a clerk when I grow
up."
unless you are already a clerk
or work closely with one, you do
not think about the work we do.
you have no idea what the work
is that we do at all.
and by its nature, it's
invisible.
when I'm hiring new clerks, I
often make a point of saying
that when the clerk has done
their job well, you often have
no idea that the clerk has done
anything at all.
so, honestly, the fact that I'm
standing here right now makes me
feel like something has gone
horribly wrong, because the
clerk should not be standing
here, but here I am.
even when this job gets
difficult, and I know you'll all
believe me when I say it's had
its moments... I fall back on
the immense value of the work
clerks do.
every single day, the public,
the media, elected officials,
city residents rely on the
integrity of our records.
we've all seen how a rushed -amd
can derail the legislative
process unexpectedly.
my team's debates over document
titles, formatting, whether an
edit is substantive or clerical
all of these things are make our
work accessible today and for
years into the future.
our names might not be on the
final documents, but our mark is
on the work and I'm very proud
of what me and my team do.
and it's a privilege to
continue... To get to continue
to do it.
I'd be remiss if I didn't take a
moment, though, to thank council
member palmisano for hiring me
in 2014 to work in her ward
office, which became my entrypo.
of course, thank you to all the
clerks who have mentored me as
I've learned this work,
including city clerk casey carl,
retiring assistant city clerk
jackie hansen, several clerks
who've already retired and
taught me a lot, and our crent
chief assistant, kelly geissler,
who was one of the first calls I
made when I thought about
transitioning to the clerk's
office, she had taken the leap
just to maybe about a year or so
before I did.
and finally, a huge thank you to
the current team of legislative
clerks.
as casey kind of alluded to, we
all take the work very
seriously, bute don't always
take ourselves very seriously.
and as I wrestled with my
comments today, one of the
things I always struggle with is
how to end.
so I'm going to take the lead of
council member warren and simply
say "the end."
» Thank you, mr. Dahler.
are there any questions or
comments from my from my
colleagues?
seeing counc member vetaw.
» Thank you.
she's going to love that.
you've already taken a page out
of her book she'll appreciate
it.
ken, I didn't realize we've
known each other for 12 years.
I met you in council member
palmisano's office when we were
workin on tobacco stuff.
it just didn't seem that long
ago, and I always appreciated
coming to that office, because I
knew you would tell us the
truth, even when you were tired
of seeing us.
when there had been maybe five
advocates before me, you would
remind me at my meeting, there's
already been four of you here.
we got it.
we support you.
stop them from coming.
and then that transferred into
when we would come to public
hearings and there'd be 75 of us
signed up, you let us know that
there were 75 of us, and maybe
only five of us needed to speak.
thank you so much, ken, for your
years of commitment.
you really are such a smart
person.
I mean, just like incredibly
knowledgeable of so many things.
I know that my office relies on
you heavily for what's right.
we have a lot... There's three
of us, and we have a lot of
discussion, and a lot of times
someone says, "go ask ken," and
then we know we're going to get
the right answer.
and so I appreciate that.
I value the relationship I have
with you.
I know services, too,
the way that intersects with
your ability to clerk and to
lead the other clerks, I admire
that.
because you... Everyone don't
have that experience with having
constituent calls and having to
figure out things, and how that
translates on paper.
and, you know, like the way you
respond to people and answer is
such a key part of this job, but
it's behind the scenes, and it's
every day, and it's constant.
and so you need people who are
leading that have that
experience, and you display that
every single day.
on a more personal note, you
love '90s r&b music, that's our
jam.
we sing together.
and you know all the songs from
the '90s, and you know all the
r&b songs, all the artists, all
the videos, everything.
and so we certainly bond over
that.
and I'm just really proud of the
progress you keep making.
you are a true testament of when
passion meets knowledge.
you know it.
you're passionate about it.
you weren't sure about it, but
you took it.
you took that chance, and you
just keep progressing.
one of the things that I know
about the work that all of us do
as servants is that people are
watching.
and so there are so many people
in that office who are watching
you.
young people.
you have a lot of new young
people in there, and they're
watching you.
and you're such a good leader.
you're such a model, that I'm so
proud that we have you here, and
you keep progressing, and we
have people who are looking at
that, and they can see their
future, because there is no city
hall without the clerks.
and so we always want that
profession to be spotlighted in
a way where people are
passionate about it and want to
keep doing it.
and you are the face of that and
I so appreciate that.
I'm so proud of you for
accepting this.
I'm so proud of you for knowing
that we need you here, and we
need you to be trained in the
leaders you've been here during
some amazingly hard times and a
lot of people left.
a lot of people were like, I've
had enough of this.
and you stood with the city of
minneapolis, and you see the
vision, and you care about
minneapolis.
and we need more kens.
thank you.
you are ken-nuff!
» Thank you, council member
vetaw.
council member chavez.
» Thank you.
I have faux questions... I'm
kidding.
I'll move this for approval.
» Motion to approve and
seconded.
no, I just want to say I'm very
excited to vote for your
appointment, ken.
thank you for the work that you
do.
I know that whenever I have a
question, you always figure out
a way to respond as soon as
possible, make sure that my
offi has the information
needed to move anything forward
in general, and I think that's
just the work that clerks do in
the city of minneapolis.
the folks in the public may not
be able see it, but the work
that this body, the cy
enterprise, does would not be
possible without the clerks that
help run this enterprise every
single day.
so, just very excited to vote
for this.
I'm proud of you and the work
that you're going to continue to
do for our city, and want to
give a big shout out to the
clerk staff that make this
happen.
so, thank you.
» Thank you, council member
chavez.
council member shaffer.
» I'll just mention two things
I really appreciate is... Number
one, you are always very
accessib.
I always seemo time my
impromptu questions to you
duringour lunch.
but you just happened to roll
with it, because you're working
through your lunch and y can
talk to me at the same time.
so thank you for your
accessibility.
and number two, I would say I
appreciate your attention to
detail and doing things right
and working with us around
honorary resolutions that have
commitments that reay
shouldn't be in there and things
of that sort.
so, thank you to all the clerks
for all that you do.
we notice it.
I notice it and you should be
really proud of the way you
support the city of minneapolis.
» Thank you, council member
shaffer.
council member chughtai.
» Thank you.
I'm really excited to close out
the discussion this item.
I want to congratulate you ken
on this appointment.
it's very well earned and
deserved.
and I think I have nothing
further to add to the discussion
here, but join all of my
colleagues isinging your
praises andhanking you for
your work, and thanking the
entire clerk's office for your
work every day.
we like to say here in the
legislative department that
nothing works without the
clerks, and it certainly rings
true all of the time.
but I will say personally I'm
the most excited about the
continued takeover of the
legislative department by the
10th ward, and our residents
that continue to just be
excellent in this department.
so, congratulations.
and thank you, th mr. Chair.
» Thank you, council member
chughtai.
I will add a note as well.
and very much, I think I feel
exactly the same way as my
colleagues do.
and just want to note, a few
months ago I was able to kind of
take a tour with some of my
family members with clerk carl
and clerk geissler, and was able
to see the kind of the archival
rooms of the of city of
minneapolis.
many of which have been here
from as early as last week all
the way to the 1800s.
right?
and when you go up the bell
tower, you kind of get to look
upon the city of minneapolis,
and I think it is an example and
of an analogy of kind of where
the clerk's office sits here.
when you look out across the
city of minneapolis, at the
bottom of that, the foundation
of that is the clerk's office.
it is the thing that the
responsibility of this city is
held upon.
and I am seeing how you have
been a vision of excellence in
this city.
and it's been, for me, as
someone that's brand new, just
like I think council member
shaffer and I, we've been able
to see that excellence that
you've given to our city, and
the clerk's office has done.
it has been an invaluable, I
think, measure of help, for
especially us as new folks going
through the hecticness of
federal government that is
occupying your city, and very
much, I think, you know, has
been helpful.
you let us do stupid things,
right?
and I don't think a lot of
people see that as well, right?
when we send things over to all
of you, I'm like... I do stupid
things.
man, I'm sorry.
I do stupid things and you let
me do those stupid things and
learn by those mistakes and
figure out how best to navigate
within that.
and so thank you for being that
standard of excellence and being
that for our city.
and so we have a motion for
approval and was a seconded.
we'll ask all those in favor
please say aye.
[ ayes respond ]
all those opposed?
say nay.
ayes have it.
[applause]
» Perfect.
with that, colleagues, we have
concluded all business to come
before the committee today and
if there are no objections, we
are adjourned.
there we go.