Minneapolis City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Charter Change for Quorum Maintenance
Executive Secretary Performance Review and Step Increase
Support for Voluntary PILOT Program and Urban Wealth Fund
Votes (3)
Charter Change Resolution Discussion
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [00:04:19] · Seconded by Unknown [00:04:20]
The discussion centered on the need for the charter change due to ongoing quorum difficulties at BET meetings, specifically clarifying that council vice presidents or budget committee vice chairs would serve as full voting members. The Board decided to act as the collective author of the resolution.
Staff Review and Resolution 2026003: Executive Secretary Christina Kaideling Annual Step Movement
Dissent: None
Moved by President Brandt [00:06:40] · Seconded by Unknown [00:06:43]
President Brandt read out the resolution, which stemmed from a satisfactory performance review conducted in a closed session. Board members universally praised Ms. Kaidelin's contributions, acknowledging a challenging start but emphasizing her value and effectiveness as a resource.
Consideration of a Board Action supporting a voluntary PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) support resolution
Dissent: None
Moved by Commissioner Bernstein [00:08:29] · Seconded by Unknown [00:08:31]
The resolution, drafted by Commissioner Bernstein, supported pursuing a voluntary PILOT program for tax-exempt organizations. Key points included acknowledging the city's limited revenue options, the voluntary nature of PILOT funds, and a proposal to use these non-guaranteed funds for an 'urban wealth fund' to invest in public assets and income-producing real estate, rather than for ongoing operational expenses. A friendly amendment was accepted to note the City Council's prior action directing a study of PILOTs. Council President Payne and Commissioner Olsen expressed strong support for the innovative fund idea.
Notable Quotes (7)
a resolution has been drafted to propose a pursuing a charter change via the charter commission and the city council requesting their help in making sure that the vice presidents of the city council and the budget committee would be able to step into the president's role in order to help us achieve quorum whenever the presidents are not available or president or chair are not available.
Is it just on the issue of voting? It says council vice president serve as a voting member of the board when the president is unable to attend or vice chair to serve. So the person serving in thestead of the appointee would be a voting member. They could vote on anything just like the vote would transfer completely.
just really grateful for your service to the BET and I know it's been a rocky start but you are starting something quite new here I feel like and we're just glad you're here.
we conducted a review and everybody agreed that we're lucky to have Miss Kylering and um she's obviously been a great resource to us and um we're excited to see what she does. So happy to uh vote to grant this step increase.
because it's voluntary revenue um it would be coming um it would be not guaranteed in the same way that property tax revenues or sales taxes have the backing of our legal authority. Um and so therefore it would be inappropriate to use that money for year-to-year spending like um to budget that we are going to get a certain amount of it every year.
this res resolution proposes um that the money uh that the city council consider using the money um for infrastructure improvement fund or something that you could call um a urban wealth fund. um which would be you know a fund that ex a a closed fund that exists to make investments in infrastructure improvement public assets like parks, parkletits, plazas um or even housing or commercial real estate that the city could own and operate as it already does to some degree like the convention center for example.
I really like the idea personally. Uh I think it's really practical considering the uh uncertainty of what type of revenue we could you like would generate through a program like this. And so I think being able to articulate a really direct way we would use this revenue given that um lack of certainty makes a lot of sense to me...
Ordinances & Resolutions (5)
Resolution proposing changes to the city charter to address quorum issues for the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
Resolution authorizing an annual step increase for Executive Secretary Christina Kaidelin.
Previous report that informed the discussion on the voluntary PILOT program.
Direction from the June 24th meeting to draft the charter change resolution; also City Council action directing study of PILOT.
Resolution supporting the exploration of a PILOT program and proposing an 'urban wealth fund' for its revenue.