Minneapolis City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Charter Amendment Process and Timeline
2026 Meeting Calendar Adoption
Technical Amendments to City Charter
Comparative Analysis of Municipal Councils
Department Head Appointment Process
Even-Year Municipal Elections and RCV
Votes (6)
Adoption of 2026 Charter Amendment Submission Timeline
Dissent: None
Moved by Rubenstein [Timestamp] · Seconded by Nye [Timestamp]
Mr. Carl presented the timeline for citizen-initiated charter amendments, effective January 1, 2026, for filings, with a July 7 deadline for submission to state officials. He clarified that this timeline differs from Commission-initiated amendments and detailed public awareness efforts via the city website and a 'Guide to Amending the City Charter.' Discussion also covered the Commission's role in approving summaries for petitions over a thousand words.
Adoption of 2026 Calendar
Dissent: None
Moved by Sandberg [Timestamp] · Seconded by Cooper [Timestamp]
Mr. Carl presented the proposed 2026 calendar, scheduling regular meetings quarterly (January, May, September, December). Commissioner Nye inquired about the potential need for more frequent meetings in an election year. Chair Ginder explained the historical shift to quarterly meetings to ensure substantive agendas, while affirming the flexibility to call additional special meetings as needed.
Government Structure Workgroup Technical Amendments Overview
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A · Seconded by N/A
Assistant City Attorney Andrea Nef presented a comprehensive overview of the current working draft of technical amendments to the City Charter. These amendments aim to align the Charter with the city's 2022 Omnibus Government Structure Ordinance. Key areas of proposed change include superseded laws, clarification of city powers, city council vacancies and removals, explicit due process for auditor removal, adjustment of mayoral staff provisions, structuring executive offices (Public Service, Community Safety, City Attorney), re-locating commission provisions, and simplifying civil service rules. Commissioners inquired about legal alignment, pathways for amendment (ordinance vs. ballot), and ballot question strategy. No action was requested at this meeting, as the draft remains under review by the workgroup.
Comparable Research on Municipal Councils
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A · Seconded by N/A
City Clerk Mr. Carl and Legislative Research Director Andrew Hawkins presented an extensive analysis comparing the Minneapolis City Council to five other large U.S. cities (San Diego, Seattle, Milwaukee, Columbus, Denver) across various indicators. The presentation covered population, election timing and methodology (including RCV use), council terms, representation models (ward vs. at-large, hybrid systems), council size, constituent-to-member ratios, committee structures, and dedicated staff resources (personal aids and professional institutional staff). Key findings emphasized Minneapolis's unusually strong separation of powers language and the dilution of its City Council's legislative authority by other independently elected bodies like the Park Board and Board of Estimate and Taxation, contrasting with the more unified legislative structures found in other comparable cities. Commissioners expressed strong interest in further detail on election costs, functional comparisons of park/BET responsibilities, and staff duties.
Government Structure Workgroup Report on Department Heads
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A · Seconded by N/A
Chair Ginder provided an update on the Government Structure Workgroup's recent meeting concerning the appointment process for department heads. The workgroup considered two options: (1) mayoral nomination and council ratification for the three executive officers (Chief Operations Officer, Community Safety Commissioner, City Attorney) plus the Police and Fire Chiefs (Mayor's proposal), or (2) the Mayor's proposal with additional council ratification for Public Works and CPED (Community Planning and Economic Development). The workgroup voted 6-5 in favor of the Mayor's proposal. This item was received as a report, with further information from the Guidehouse comparative analysis anticipated before final decisions.
Even-Year Municipal Elections and RCV Update
Dissent: None
Moved by N/A · Seconded by N/A
Katie Smith and John Martin presented an update on Minneapolis's recent municipal election turnout and the ongoing discussion around shifting to even-year municipal elections. Minneapolis saw 55% turnout in its 2025 election, the highest in 50 years, largely attributed to competitive races. Data showed a trend of increasing early voting. They detailed St. Paul's transition to even-year elections, including Ramsey County's new compact RCV ballot design and use of RCAB tabulation software. Challenges for Minneapolis include legal limitations on ballot card numbers, state-mandated ballot formats that don't accommodate RCV, and the complexities of integrating RCV tabulation into an even-year cycle with a higher volume of contests. The Elections Department is prioritizing RCAB adoption as a legislative agenda item to address statutory issues.
Notable Quotes (13)
This is a timeline we bring forward and ask for your formal acceptance each year. What it does is outline the process and the timeline that's associated by state law with a citizens petition to amend the charter.
If it's over a thousand words, the first responsibility of this body is to make sure that you approve the summary that goes on the petition signed by registered voters so that um if it's over a thousand words, that would be impossible to take around on a clipboard and have people sign.
Historically the charter commission had meetings scheduled every month and historically a number of those meetings were cancelled or people showed up for a five minute meeting. They discussed something briefly and then they they left. And so, uh, I believe it was two years ago, we changed it to a quarterly meeting so that the idea that when we showed up, we all took the time to come downtown, that there was some meat on the agenda to talk and discuss.
The charter amendments adopting the executive mayor legislative council form of government were approved by the voters in November of 2021. Following the voters's adoption of this new form of government, the city began the process of developing the organizational structure that would be necessary to implement it... However, there were some gaps between the city charter and the government structure ordinance and therefore a draft of technical amendments to the charter were brought forward in order to align the charter with the code of ordinances.
It's obviously a hope that the more uh changes that we can all agree on that can go by ordinance and limit the amount of ballot initiatives, it the better off we'll all be.
Attorney Nef, I I will say as a non- attorney on this panel, um, I just want to thank you for your help and in bringing me up to speed rather quickly over the last year. I I don't want to say that I understood everything at the beginning and I'm not going to say that I understood every that I understand everything uh at this point, but I understand more than I did at the beginning.
The charter commission, is like the city's standing constitutional convention. It is the charter commission which holds the charter and trust for the people of this community. And one of the commission's primary duties is to study local government and to propose amendments in the form of charter amendments that would improve the long-term well-being of the community.
Minneapolis is the only city among the comparable jurisdictions where council's legislative authority is diluted by other elected bodies created within our charter. Specifically in Minneapolis, powers that normally would be assigned to the city council have been assigned by the city charter to the park and recreation board of commissioners and the board of estimate and taxation. The presence of these two elected bodies diminishes the centralized policymaking authority of the city council in Minneapolis.
This is amazing. This is I believe in my opinion uh resources and time well spent on getting these numbers.
The mayor's proposal where it was just the uh the three uh executive officers and police and fire and the the middle ground which was the mayor's proposal plus public works and CPED. Um then we just kind of we took a vote on that and it ended up uh that the mayor's proposal was one as a on a six to five or six in favor and five in favor of the other method.
Minneapolis had a turnout of 55% representing 147,72 votes. This turnout marks the highest turnout the city has had for its municipal election in about 50 years.
I think it's we you've seen that turnout is often times based on the competitiveness of races and we've I I think we've seen really since 2013 that the both the mayoral elections here plus city council elections and then in 2021 with the three ALEC questions that they have shown to be very competitive races which brings people out out to vote more often than if there was not a competitive race...
St. Paul passed this by it was a petitioner initiated uh charter amendment and so they did not uh have the benefit of professional staff advising them on the the issues that might arise or legal advice about the issues that might arise which is what you know we have done in our the past years we've studied this and so um St. Paul is in fact going to be until the law changes, they're going to be the guinea pig as this upcoming election.
Ordinances & Resolutions (9)
The foundational document of the city's government, subject to amendment and the focus of the Charter Commission.
Known as the 'con rule', this state law mandates recurring two-year terms for the Minneapolis City Council following each decennial census.
A resource produced by the City Clerk's office to inform citizens about charter amendment pathways.
Adopted in Fall 2022, this ordinance detailed the organizational structure to implement the executive mayor/legislative council form of government.
State constitution referenced in aligning charter provisions for removal of local officers.
Published by the National Civic League, serves as a standard for municipal government structure.
State law governing how cities can change whether their elections are conducted in even or odd-numbered years.
Rank Choice Voting tabulation software used by Ramsey County for reporting results and being considered for adoption as a legislative agenda item for Minneapolis.
Adopted by the Minneapolis mayor and council to guide interactions between legislative and executive branches.