Good morning everyone. My name is Elliot Payne. I'm the president of Minneapolis City Council. I'm going to call to order this regular meeting of the city council for February 5th. The clerk will call the role. >> Council member Warren, >> present. Council member Schaefer, >> present. >> Council member Wanssley, >> present. >> Council member Shaktai, >> present. >> Council member Whiting, >> present. >> Council member Chadri, >> present. >> Council member Stevenson, >> present. >> Council member Rainville, >> present. >> Council member Vita, >> present. >> Council member Pomisano, >> present. >> Council member Chavez, >> present. >> Vice President Osman is absent. President Payne, >> present. >> There are 12 members present. >> Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. Uh and again, welcome back to our chambers. This is starting to feel normal, but this is anything but a normal time. Uh as you saw on Tuesday, the council has adjusted its calendar to reflect the the reality that we're living under, which is a federal occupation of our city. Uh there is a lot going on in the city. Uh we are in the national news once again, not for a good reason. Once again, uh, we are seeing leaders from the Trump administration make claims about how they're moving forward with this occupation, and the claims that they're making in public don't match the reality on the ground of the experience of our residents. They are still terrorizing our communities, kidnapping our neighbors, um, and creating chaos on every corner. And so we still have business to run at the city. That's why we still are maintaining these meetings. But we know that this is happening under um a lot of duress for everyone in our city. So I just wanted to acknowledge that before we started our meeting. And before we begin, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members and staff that this meeting is broadcast live to enable greater public participation. The broadcast includes 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. With that, the agenda for today's meeting is before us. Are there any amendments? Council member Chuck. >> Thank you, Mr. Pre president. Um I would like to uh move to amend the agenda to include under the order of notice of ordinance introductions a notice of intent relating to regulations regarding owner entry into a rented dwelling unit. I will move um this amendment and ask for a second. >> Second. >> Uh council member Chuckai has moved to amend the agenda. It's been seconded. Is there any discussion on that amendment? Seeing none, I will ask the clerk to call the role. >> Mr. President, just clarifying, call the role as amended. >> On the agenda as amended. Thank you. >> Council member Warren, >> I. >> Council member Schaefer, >> I. >> Council member Wanssley. >> Hi. >> Council member Shai. >> I. >> Council member Whiting. >> Hi. >> Council member Chowry. >> I. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> I. >> Council member VTO. >> I. >> Council member Pomisano. >> I. Council member Chavez. >> I. >> Vice President Osman is absent. President Payne. >> I. >> There are 12 eyes. >> That carries and the agenda is adopted. The next item is acceptance of the minutes from our regular meeting of January 15th. May I have a motion to accept those minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. >> The clerk will call the role. >> Council member Warren. >> I. >> Council member Schaefer. >> I. Council member Wsley. >> Hi. >> Council member Shuktai. >> I. >> Council member Whiting. >> I. Council member Chowry. >> Hi. >> Council member Stevenson. >> Hi. >> Council member Rainville. >> Hi. >> Council member Vita. >> Hi. Council member Pomisano >> I. >> Council member Chavez >> I. >> President Payne >> I. >> There are 12 eyes. >> That carries and the minutes have been accepted. Finally, we have the referral of petitions, communications, and reports to proper committees. May I have that motion, please? >> So move. >> Second. >> The clerk will call the role. >> Council member Warren. >> I. >> Council member Schaefer. >> Uh I Is this including all 1 through 67? >> Council member Schaefer. This motion is actually allowing reports from uh departments and committees to be referred in the next cycle of council. Thank you. I >> council member Winsley. >> Hi. >> Council member Chuckai. >> I >> council member Whiting. >> Hi. >> Council member Shadri. >> Hi. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> I. >> Council member Vita. >> Hi. >> Council member Pomisano. >> Hi. >> Council member Chavez. >> Hi. >> President Payne. >> I. >> There are 12 eyes. >> That carries. And those matters have been referred. The next order of business is the presentations of reports from standing committees. As you know, due to the unprecedented nature of the ICE occupation in our city, we're operating under a temporary structure that has condensed all our standing committees into a single super committee of the whole. I want to offer my thanks to council member Chowry for her able leadership of that meeting this past Tuesday. It was a marathon meeting, but I think it was very well organized and she did an excellent job in helping us navigate an extensive agenda with a wide variety of issues. So, thank you and congratul congratulations to our super cow chair, council member Chowry. With that, I'll ask her to present the report from our first super committee of the whole. >> Thank you, Mr. President. The super committee of the whole is bringing forward 67 items. Items 1 through six were originally intended for the Enterprise Labor Relations Committee. One and two are both collective bargaining agreements. Three through five are working compensation claims and six is accepting a grant for the Minneapolis Democracy Center. Items seven through 16 were intended for the business housing and zoning committee. 7 through 10 are liquor and gambling license approvals and renewals. 11 through 16 include various contracts, grants, and appointment and an appropriation for demolition. Items 17 through 34 were intended for the public health, safety, and equity committee. 17 through 19 are gift acceptances. 20 through 32 are contract amendments, funding redistribution, grant acceptances, and a grant extension. Lastly, 33 and 34 are legislative directives. Items 35 through 58 were intended for the climate and infrastructure committee. 35 through 38 are street reconstruction projects and a related appropriation. 39 through 45 are various grants and agreements for services. 46 through 51 are various bids for project and services. And 52 through 58 are various contract amendments and a grant acceptance. Items 59 and 60 are budget amendments. Item 61 is a gift acceptance for President Payne. Item 62 is a contract with Idea Analytics for police misconduct training per the settlement agreement. Item 63 is approving the 2026 legislative agenda and policy positions. Item 64 is a lease agreement with the U of M. Item 65 is a bid for the MPD training annex. Item 66 is a budget amendment related to immigration legal services. And finally, item 67 is a rental assistance resolution and was brought forward without recommendation. I will move approval of all of these items and just pull item 67 for a separate vote and discussion. >> Council member Chowry has moved approval of the committee report minus item 67. Is there any discussion on the remainder of those items? Seeing none, I will ask the clerk to call the role. >> Council member Warren, >> I. >> Council member Schaefer, >> I. >> Council member Wanssley, >> I. >> Council member Shai, >> I. >> Council member Whiting, >> I. >> Council member Chowry, >> I. >> Council member Stevenson, >> I. >> Council member Rainbow, >> I. >> Council member Vita, >> I. >> Council member Pomosano, >> I. >> Council member Chavez, >> I. President Payne >> I. >> There are 12 eyes. >> Those items carry. We will next take up item number 67 and I will recognize council member Wansley. >> Thank you President Payne. Um colleagues in taking into consideration the discussion and um statements made during Cal related to this item on Tuesday. I think it's important to level set what this proposal is and lay out that or lay out why um it should earn the support of all 13 council members. The need for rental assistance is indisputable. There are thousands of families who have lost income from ISIS occupation of Minneapolis and will be evicted without financial assistance. Families have had their bread winners detained. workers fear leaving the house due to the threat of racial profiling by ICE that could lead them to also being detained, deported, or even killed. And there are also families who are not being directly targeted by ICE, but have lost access to child care or their workplaces have closed and they've had their hours reduced as a result of ISIS presence. Residents are doing a phenomenal job at fundraising to support each other, but that isn't a substitute for governmental action. And yesterday, a parent leader shared that it's estimated that rental assistance fundraisers by Minneapolis public school families have raised over a million dollars cumulatively to support other families. Minneapolis residents have made international news because of their incredible response and supporting each other during this occupation. But it's incredibly unfair and illogical to depend on these working-class people to pay each other's rent when the city has a responsibility in keeping these neighborhood safe. Minneapolis has opportunity to step up to be the first governmental entity to take action on a response and recovery plan related to the looming eviction crisis. And the city cannot address the impacts of this federal occupation alone. which is why I am working with state legislators to advance significant investments in rental assistance as soon as the state legislative session starts in a few weeks. But in the interim, the $1 million from the city can begin getting help to residents who need it. Not all impacted residents are plugged into mutual aid networks or are lucky enough to have a neighbor host a GoFundMe for them. Many people are relying on their local government to help them during a crisis. And this is one of the ways in which we can demonstrate to residents that council hears them, cares about them, and is stepping up to do something to support them. The city sets aside an un unallocated contingency fund for unanticipated costs and emergencies. Rental assistance for families because of ISIS's violent occupation of our city is a unanticipated cost and emergency. Making it appropriate use of contingency funds. And I know that council member Whiting has a proposal that um essentially aims to cut funding from the affordable housing trust and and I will note while we've had many conversations together to also get to a place of how do we get rental assistance across the finish line um I I want to name very forward that I can't support the source on that item. Um cutting investments in affordable housing is not how we also get through this crisis in an equitable way. And it's pitting the most vulnerable communities and populations against each other. And the impacts of the cut will be fed felt two years, 5 years, 10 years, even 25 years from now when our neighborhoods are less affordable, less diverse, and less equitable. And it will be felt most by working-class families who aren't getting um or who are getting priced out of their communities. And when we take up measures of cutting um some of the tools that have helped to promote affordable housing and the development of um 30% AM AMI housing, it leaves us to look at what else do we have left. Um and we we don't want to be put in that predicament. Um, and that said, if for some reasons my colleagues prefer to not use um the contingency fund that is set aside exclusively for situations like this, I will be also bringing a alternative option that draws funds from the cash balance. Unlike contingency, this requires um just also uh no programs to be cut, which I think is the underlying goal of of how we're balancing this appropriation and making sure that communities, specifically vulnerable communities, are not being dested in and we're not also leading to department or programmatic cuts. Um and contingency is the strongest way to get there and that is what is uh for consideration before you and this will allow thousands of residents to have um housing stability and to protect them from ICE in the moment where that is one of our clearest objectives and responsibilities in which we could be showing up for. So with that I will move approval with recommendation for this item. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Wansley has moved approval of item number 67. It's been seconded. I'll also note that we've been joined by Vice President Osman. And Vice President, would you like to have your vote recorded in the affirmative for the prior items? >> Yes, please. >> Uh Mr. Clerk, if you could recognize that. Uh and I will next recognize Council Member Warren. >> Thank you. Um, President Payne, um, I'm just going to state again in respect to the rental assistance and the ask that is coming um, from the council with respect to um, Minority Chair Wanley's um, resolution. We still have to take into consideration that with a lot of our immigrant neighbors, they are in fear of providing their information to city and state services. So it is an unfair ask for them to then go and report when we have issues around trusted data privacy and things of that nature to believe that there will be some allocation of funding that is specified just to them because that smells like discrimination. The county's ramifications that it has around emergency assistance and emergency assistance programs also speak to sustainability for families. So if you are in an emergency or an e situation, they want to know how you are able to sustain yourself beyond that situation. And that is an important factor to uplift because we do recognize that we do have a crisis within our city. But I don't understand nor do I believe that the county will soften their guidelines and expectations around this specific situation just to cater to a certain class or group of individuals. We also have a number of families that have been affected through the closure of DHS who have been pro providing essential services to families and community members throughout the state as PCA servicesers and all of those things who have not been paid since December. That does not have anything to do with ICE. It has to do with the fraudulent impact that is currently reigning over our state and with putting a discriminatory type of resolution as this where we're saying we're only catering to individuals who are impacted by ICE that is going to also smell and spell out some type of fraudulent discrimination that is going to further impact marginalized communities and it's not going to work in any way. That's all I have to say about that. >> Council member Chowry. Thank you, President Payne. I just really want to take a second to paint the picture that we're in. And I think it's really important to state that we're in a all hands-on deck situation, right? Like it's been clear for the past few months. All we have is our community and in local government. We are all looking for ways to improve the material conditions of those whose lives are actively falling apart while knowing that there were several hundreds and hundreds of community members who are already before this crisis struggling. And what we know is we don't have enough of those resources. And what we know is that this $1 million is about to be a drop in the bucket for the rental assistance that we need. But it's going to be a lifeline. that's going to help many many families in this moment. And I I I need to I need to make sure that we're protecting this body. Us allocating funding for rental assistance is not fraudulent. It's prioritizing in this moment a million dollars, a drop in the bucket for those experiencing harm in this crisis. And we need to go to the legislature and make sure that we have rental assistance for everyone to recover. Whether it's due to the impacts of ICE or because you had um a predatory predatory situation in your part of town and you've been living paycheck to paycheck and you're a single mother and you've been struggling for some time and you are trying to avoid an eviction, right? And in this moment, the phone calls that I've been getting with community members have looked like this. I talked to one gentleman who was like, I have lived in this country for 17 years and I have never asked for help. I have never wanted to ask for help. But I have no choice now because I am scared. I am scared that I'm going to be kicked out of my home and I need to stay here. I've talked to many women especially. It's a lot of women and I know a lot of community members in Minneapolis resonate with this. Many women that are trying to figure out what's happening for their family. Women who have lost their partner because they have been taken and abducted and that income is not now gone. women who were already single parents and were going to work and now are fearful of going to work because they are the lifeline to their child that they have no option again to just ask for help so they can stay in their home. Women who are working but because their workplace has been so impacted by this ICE occupation are not able to pay their paycheck on time and so they're laid on rent. And so I just want to say like this $1 million is certainly not going to meet the need, but it is a measure that we can take to lift lift some boats and also leverage future rental assistance. And I know that there are risks that people take when it comes to applying for rental assistance with their data, but I think we should give people the agency to decide to take that risk and not decide that for them. I don't think that's our job as government. And when you get an eviction letter, when you get a letter that says you're going to proceedings, sometimes the only option you have in that moment is to apply for emergency rental assistance. And I think this is a moment where us as a city can step up and also be a model for getting more assistance and more resources for the black, brown, indigenous communities that have long suffered in the way in which our housing system is set up. Right? It shouldn't be that precarious for people to stay in their home. And so I think it makes a lot of sense for us to vote for contingency. I understand the concerns that several of my colleagues have. I just implore you. I think this is the best source for us to do it in. I think it has a lot less risk than us going into our cash fund and I think it matches the emergency type of situation that contingency requires. So, I just really implore you and ask for your vote on this one today. >> Council member Chuckai. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um colleagues, I am really excited to support this item today and I want to urge um all of you sincerely um to to support this item and I want to talk about the that through three different lenses. The first is around programming and what happens when should we approve this um money what is going to happen on the the side of Henipin County. So um the total amount of money that is allocated for rental assistance um through rent help henibin is approximately $10 million at the at the county. um each year uh that that entire f that entire pot of money gets used um fully. Last year additional money had to be added um uh during the fourth quarter um because the the resources were all um entirely tapped out. There is no way for a person to receive um this form of rental assistance unless they have um unless they earn approximately minimum wage about 30% of area median income and um they are um and they have received court summons um they've been served summons to show up at eviction court. meaning um their names are on that, their address is on that, right? Like the government um has the information, the personally identifying information that we may have concerns people don't want to access already, right? That's that's the nature of how people get here. Um I think there's some really incredible things that are happening in our city right now. Uh, Council Member Wanley highlighted uh $1 million raised through um our school families um there through the through mutual aid funds um and GoFundMes. There's been approximately $10 million raised in the last couple of weeks um that is almost entirely going towards uh rental assistance directly uh paying people's rents. Right. So, we're we're doing our community is doing everything we can to catch people on the front end before they get served their eviction, before their eviction gets filed, before they uh receive their summons. This pot of money is about catching the people that we don't find that don't get connected to a mutual aid network that that can't that aren't able to connect with their neighbors and get their need met. Um this is for the people that slip through the cracks. Um this amount of money. Uh so for if you are a person who is either a senior um have children or have a disability, your entire um backlog of of rent is completely paid for. um $1 million would would allow for 250 families to benefit from this this assistance. That's that's the scale of need, right? And and 250 families, I don't know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you. I think it's a drop in the bucket compared to the need I personally see. Um and I'm just one person in the city from my perspective, right? Um so I think I I want to just talk very briefly about discrimination. Um this was brought up during committee as well. Um and again here today and I really I would urge us to reflect back on um the actual language of the resolution which has no mention of uh this these resources being um being catered to only people who are impacted um by the the the presence um and occupation that that ISIS is conducting in our city right now. Um, the exact language is one-time rental assistance for residents in need. I So, I just like let's please stick to the facts as we're going through these conversations. Um, as the as the budget chair, I really want to implore us to um use the use contingency as the mechanism to fund this. Right? Contingency is 1% of our general fund expenditures. It is money that is set aside for emergencies every single year. Um, you know, in a couple of the conversations I had with colleagues yesterday, um, I did hear there was a concern that contingency needed to be backfilled within a calendar year. That is not true. Um and and this is the the best way for us to get an urgent need in our community met while also um preventing any cuts to services um or frontline programs or um taking money out of our cash balance when we know the amount of overtime um for police and fire that's already been spent this year. we we shouldn't be putting our our financial position as a city in in a worse condition. Um, and this is this is the most this is the best way we can we were able to come up with to make that a reality at the at the pace it needs to. Um, and then the last thing I want to just lift up is, you know, since Monday night, I have been in touch with so many of my constituents and and just people across the Southside who have found their way to me through word of mouth there. Since Monday night, the amount of rental assistance that just the people that I've been in touch with need is nearly $76,000. That's the scale of need. Every person who we are not able to crowdfund their rent is is someone who is likely to face an eviction. Every single one of these parents, every single one of these people are parents. I You know, I spoke to a mom who's who is disabled. Her husband is in detention. She's now suddenly become a single parent. She's behind on rent. These are the every story is tragic. It is heartbreaking. This is one small piece of the puzzle. And I think this is a moment where we can be united in saying we're going to do every last thing we can to protect the people that are slipping through the cracks. Please, I urge you all to support this. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Council member Vita. >> Thank you, President Payne. Thank you, um, Council Member Chuptai for your comments. I think you're right. We We should all support this. I think where the issue is is that we have a difference of opinion on where the money should come from. And I I find it to be um challenging to listen to a conversation about um where we know things aren't going to pass versus where we know we have the votes for something to pass because that's all got to play out up here. I think it's smart for us to um vote how we know there'll be success from this council to this community. And I think all 13 of us knows what that is, right? So like anything outside of that to me feels performative and feels like a forced vote for something that you know is not going to um pass. We can act like we don't know, but we know. Um, so I think like there's a pot of money that all of us may not agree on, but we know like I I like I mean um thank you council member Palmisano and Council Member um Warren for talking through this. I had a lot of questions about how these programs actually work. um you answered the questions that I had two days ago when I wasn't even at a place of being certain if I could vote for this. So, I appreciate you answering my questions about the pro uh the program itself and then about how we fund it, how we get to a place where all of us can vote on making sure this money gets to uh Henipin County because one thing I don't we had a great presentation yesterday from uh Director Seers who is our the head of our um what is it? >> Emergency management. There we go. Um, and she said something that I've heard a lot in the last month, that families who really need these services aren't going to use the county. They're too afraid to give their information. And the most telling thing she said was, if we're supporting families, not as a council, but just as people, we shouldn't tell people that something is specifically for rent. We should just give people a dollar amount for a household and let them choose their needs in their household because some people may need rent, some people may need food, some people may need utilities, some people may need to get their car fixed. There's a lot of um expenses people are having in the household at this time. And so in my mind, I would like to figure out how we can get people just a dollar amount and they're able to use it. And I had some great conversations with philanthropy this week where I think we'll make some progress in that area. Um what I'm afraid of is this is a one-time thing for families. From my understanding from speaking to Council Member Warren, you can apply for Henipin County assistance like once a year. And so these families have a one-time opportunity uh to apply for this. We don't know what the impact of this is going to be in three months. So we have people who are going to apply this month. Hopefully they get it. I want anybody who applies to get it, but we're not going to have opportunity for them to get this money again in 3 months or even this year at all. So, I have deep concerns about that, especially knowing that this can get worse. Um, 250 families is, you know, that's fantastic. We want that. We want to help 250 families. We want to keep fundraising. We want to give uh people what they need. But I I just I know the language. I've read it. I understand like it's not to target a certain group of people. It's not discriminatory, but I know how this conversation started and I just don't know that this is going to impact the people that we need it to impact if they're going to access it, if they're going to be eligible, and I still haven't got answers on the county's backlog because this doesn't get expedited in their system. They have um already applications. My understanding is that they already have a lot of applications. they're working through now. And this gets put in as people apply. So, I don't know. I I heard from people who said, "I applied for rental assistance and I didn't get it. I was denied." I don't even know how I didn't get it or why I didn't get it. I thought Some people said, "I tried to fill out the application and it just rejected it right away." Some people said, "I got an interview and I thought I was getting it and I they said they denied me." And these are some of the most vulnerable people in this city who said they couldn't even get it. And so I'm fearful that we're giving it to the county, but we're not giving it to the people who need it. And so I support uh I think it's council member Whiting's resolution. I'm I'm on board for that. But I really do think the the larger conversation for us as a council is to look at how we actually support families and how we actually get the money in their pockets so they can make a decision um for their household and how the city can better support them. If that's us individually fundraising, if that's us calling on to community partners, if that's us um we just had a wonderful war for resident here today for the Black History Month celebration, Destiny Prosper, who's raised $30,000 for Lucy Laney families herself. She single-handedly did that. She's helping with rental assistance. I mean, I know we can't um, you know, fund raise to get oursel out of this, but I do think for now we could. For now, we could help and we can use our resource. We could take our time as a city to figure out a strategy and a plan to make sure three three months from now, five months from now, and a year from now from now that we are still able to support those families when the worst of the worst is going to happen. Thank you, >> Vice President Osman. Thank you so much uh President Payne. Um so immigrant a council member who's here uh a member of this body and uh someone who federal government attacked uh its community my community. I think I can speak for for for immigrants. Um, what have we done since this crisis has happened? Um, other than go to the press conference and just talk and tell people they have rights, which I don't even know we do anymore. Um, what is the city of Minneapolis doing? What what's more crisis than what we're facing today on the street streets of city of Minneapolis? Look, look back to the history. It's it's it's up there. We got families that are getting kidnapped. Maybe the average person in Minneapolis is not thinking about, oh, I don't know who's who's going to pick up my kids today from school when I'm no longer there and I've been kidnapped by ICE and in few hours back to Texas. It's it's about the children. It's about it's about this human beings that are being attacked by so many ways. It's not about choosing one group or another. It's about responding to specific harm that's happening to our most vulnerable people, immigrants who are being targeted. Maybe it's not happening your community or member of today, but history teaches it happens to all the communities. We're being targeted. I don't know if you watch the national news. We're being called garbage. We're being otherred. We're being discriminated. We're being killed in Minneapolis uh on the streets. I don't know what's more emergency than going to the contingent funding. This is what the city is supposed to do. It's supposed to look out for it for its uh for its citizens and and and community members are raising money. That's great. But where we can sit here and say, "Oh, the local government is not doing anything. We can't even touch specific money that we put for this kind of activities or this kind of situation when when when they arise. So, um I don't know. It's it's kind of really sad that to to hear that uh we can't we can't tap this money because uh it's not emergency enough or for whatever reason. It is it is more emergency than anything else. I'm looking at the city leadership. I'm looking at the administration enough with the, you know, um, press conferences and promises. That's not really I is here we here yesterday. They will be here. They're not leaving. Your conversation on the on the federal government. I'm looking at the governor. I'm looking at the mayor. I'm looking at all the council members and the city leaders. This is needed. This is actually one of the least thing we can do. You know, we're not protecting our residents out there that are being kidnapped, that have been harassed. We can't even do anything because we are afraid of being invaded by the military. Um, it's been very difficult and emotional for everyone. Um, and we can kind of throw all kind of things out there and say, oh, uh, people are afraid to go seek money for for for the government. That's No, if I can't pay the rent, I'm I'm going to go get the money from anywhere there is because Minneapolis has a separation ordinance. People understand, people trust me. They trust people like Council Member Chavez who can communicate through that. City of Minneapolis is safe, a place that you can go get help. If this fails, I will be the most disappointed thing. the whole time, the entire time I've been here, there's absolutely nothing more emergency than what what's been happening last four years. It's not happening to all groups, but it's happening to specific groups that are being targeted that have it the hardest. The stories are are are horrifying. A mom who just gave birth was snatched from her baby in a few hours. She was put in in an airplane. She would never see that baby again. Is that a story that that that any human being can can relate to? So, let's save that baby's house today. That's what it's about. And um thank you colleagues uh for for speaking out uh for continue to stand for the for for the marginalized communities for targeted communities by the strong force of federal government. Thank you, >> Council Member Wanley. >> Thank you, President Pay. Um, I just wanted to address um some of the concerns raised about uh Henipin County's ability or efficacy in being able to administer these funds. And some of the concerns I heard uh raised during our conversation right now and even on Tuesday was rooted in perceptions around uh fraudulent activities. And I just first want to implore us to use caution when using um fraud as a basis of creating distrust with government agencies, especially in light of that same type of rheto rhetoric being weaponized by right-wing and MAGA uh pundits and officials um who used it and weaponized it to lay the groundwork for Trump's enactment of Operation Metro Surge, which has created the conditions for us to even have to uh consider consider rental assistance in the first place to protect residents who are having to shelter in place as a a defense mechanism against ICE. So I would just implore us to be cautious about using that language and also just to further double down on the fact that Henipin County is a reputable agency. Um, our own staff highlighted this on Tuesday, but they have attorneys who advised them on how to comply with all relevant rules and regulations and they have been dispersing rental assistance for years in a legally compliant and legitimate way and they've actually won national recognition for this work. And I would implore also if any member of this body has evidence that Henipin County is committing fraud and rental assistance, then please go submit evidence to the authorities located right across the street or consider joining the MAGA movement because those are kind of the two avenues that you you have right now. Um, but I want to note also, I shared this on Tuesday, the county also sent a letter over to this body, um, where they highlighted once again their ability to meet this need. Um, specifically in the letter sent by David Hwitt, the director of housing stability there. Um, the letter states, "In 2025 alone, Henipin County administered approximately 11 million in emergency rental assistance to 3,000 households facing eviction. And they were able to do so effectively by braiding a variety of state and local funding sources with unique requirements and criteria while ensuring payments were delivered in a timely manner for applicants, averaging 14 days from the initial request in 2025. and then with the ability to um be able to deploy these resources um using even the city's appropriation that we're considering today. At the end of the letter, they named Henipin County has the ability to leverage its various funding streams in rent help Henipin to ensure any new funding for rental assistance reaches residents quickly and while a funding agreement is codified. So there is parameters and procedures in place to make sure that these dollars get out the do door once they are approved and sent over to Henipin County upon the completion of that joint agreement or funding agreement that we talked about yesterday and that staff mentioned is a requirement of this process. So I at least wanted to highlight that they have the ability to and once again to reiterate there is no way you are going to gofundme our way out of a eviction crisis. This funding governmental funding is literally the last line of defense and council member Chuck Tai highlighted this for every single person who do not have access to a mutual aid network or who are not able to have a neighbor fund raise for them. this is a a resource for them because there's thousands of residents who do not have access to that network. And as council member Osman highlighted, they will be seeking out support from their governmental partners. And state legislators know that because when they move their emergency rental assistance package, which is being led by Senator uh Port, guess where they're sending that money to? They're not sending it to your local neighbors. They're sending it to counties. They're sending it to fellow aligned governmental agencies to disperse emergency relief so that people can have the resources they need to stay housed. So this is one of the ways in which we can prevent eviction as opposed to waiting for it to happen and still being the the same conundrum of people being at our door saying why did you let this happen when you had a mechanism to prevent it. And this gives us that preventative opportunity to show up for our residents who are doing 10 times more than any of us are doing in this moment and has been for several weeks to say $1 million is is a drop in the bucket of what we can offer right now. And we're going to do everything that we can to mobilize other governmental leaders to give and mobilize resources with the exped expediency that it deserves and the urgency it deserves. >> You're at time council member. Yep. Uh, Council Member Warren. Thank you, um, Council President Payne and, uh, Minority Leader, um, Wanssley. I appreciate your comments. And, um, we won't use the word fraud, but what we will say, um, if if you're offended by that, um, I I don't want to offend you in that respect, but it definitely is a very real and present instance that we are facing here in the state of Minnesota. My uncle drove for Metropolitan Transit for over five, six years. Ended up with stage four cancer, living in his apartment right in Southside Minneapolis in the City View, right off of Hayawata. He also did part-time property management there. So, his apartment was discounted because of his property management when he ended up with stage four cancer just this past year. um was not able to get an expedited caddy waiver, was not able to get emergency assistance, was not able to get any of his essential needs met because there was not a plan for sustainability. Again, I want to highlight so that you understand because I have been a welfare recipient. I received 437. I stood in the food stamp line on Franklin. I know how these programs work. So, when you go down there and you apply, what they're going to ask you is, do you have the ability to pay going forward if we provide you with $2,000, $2,500? If we activate an application because your lights are getting cut off or your gas is getting disconnected, what is your plan for sustainability going forward? If we have families who are unfortunately being kidnapped and robbed and taken away from whomever and they do not have sustainable income in the household, they are not going to be eligible for these targeted funds. Again, the individuals who need it will not be the ones who receive it. And we have to also keep in mind even pivoting these funds to nonprofit organizations who again the county is reputable. These nonprofit organizations are reputable. But anytime they give out a dollar be it petty cash or what have you, there has to be an accounting of a name, place, who, what, where, why, when, how, what this looked like and what it was for of where these funds went to. I am licensed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. When you fill out a 9902 form to report to HUD of what you do with funding, it states who, what, where, why, when, and how. Anything with respect to housing. So, I want us to be cautious and educated on what it is that we're doing. I'm not saying that I don't want to help our immigrant families and families in need. We not only have people who need rental assistance, but we also have families that are homeowners that are drowning in their homeowner debt because they cannot afford to pay their mortgages because they have been disrupted and disenfranchised in this situation. We need to figure out how to help them too. But it will not be able to come from a city or a county or a nonprofit organization. It is going to take colle individual collective efficacy. And if people are in fear of data breach, data privacy disruption, people following Uber drivers, food delivery people, and all of these other things that are jeopardizing the safety and well-being of our immigrant families and community members, we have to be cautious and very careful of what protection looks like and how we protect those individuals. And I don't believe that it is something that should be discussed on a dis. I think we should take a note during this great Black History Month out of the Underground Railroad and not be blasting people's business all over the city because that is not how we protect our most vulnerable. That is not how that works. And I thank you so much for your time consideration. I love you all. The end. >> Council member Stevenson. >> Thank you. Uh Council President, I have a few questions. I'm not sure if the clerk, attorney or or you, Mr. President, can answer these for me. Um I I am new as well as some others here. And so I just have a few questions about the different funds. Um what is the definition of what an eligible use for the contingency fund? >> Uh uh Mr. Attorney, would you like to speak to that? >> Unfortunately, I'm not the appropriate person to speak to that. I I think if we could have someone from finance here to speak to how the fund balances work. Are they in the back? Okay. >> Do we have any professional staff in the back that could come to the chambers to speak to council member Stevenson's question? >> She's coming. Great. >> The question I would not be the first. >> Welcome. Did you catch the question from >> I did not. >> Okay. Uh, Council Member Stevenson, would you like to ask your question again and then if you could introduce yourself? >> Yeah. Um, so my question is, uh, what's the definition of allowable uses for a contingency fund? through the chair. Council members, contingency is defined only in the financial policies. Um I believe the language and perhaps the budget chair has it pulled up, but is around unanticipated um expenses. >> Uh council member Chuck Tai. >> Yeah, thank you. Um contingency in our financial policies is defined as uh the budget that we set aside for undesated expenditures. These expenditures cannot be placed in departmental budgets primarily because the level and timing of expenditures are uncertain when the budget is adopted. These funds are earmarked for emergency or unanticipated expenses, special projects or revenue shortfalls. What that means is the an eligible use is something that we um could not have planned for when we adopted the budget in December um of of 2025. >> Thank you. >> Is that accurate CFL >> through the chair? Um yes, I think it is largely um the the language is not more specific than that. Um and I believe I forgot to introduce myself. So Jane Design, the deputy CFO for the city. >> Thank you. uh and and we haven't met. So, I'm I'm looking forward to sit down sometime. Um this crisis we're in seems unanticipated. I don't think any of us thought we would be starting uh this term with uh the federal government murdering our neighbors. And uh it started in December, but kidnapping thousands and thousands of others. So, this seems pretty unanticipated and urgent uh to me. Uh could someone please share what the last use of contingency funds was? Deputy CFO, do you recall? >> Um, >> correct. >> Um, through the chair, the council's voted affirmatively a few times over the past few years. I believe AGOT was one of the last. Um I know that there there was a potentially a vivo south when that was under deliberations was going to be um and then um just generally in operations when we when we overspend our expenditure budget that is also a reason for the contingency to be there. That's why it's so important that we have a contingency budgeted every year. So when we have cost overruns and revenue shortfalls as we had last year the contingency is a valuable cushion for that as well. Um, are we expecting uh overruns currently >> through the chair, council member? Yes, absolutely. Departments are encourage incurring major costs in responding to this crisis. Um, and so um we have a very small cushion um of general fund balance before we hit our minimum fund balance. Um and then the contingency is is further cushioned there. >> Okay. Uh so are there current plans to use this contingency for certain uses >> through the chair? There are not um specific plans to use it but um it's early in the year. We don't know what else may befall us besides this um crisis and so um I think finance would urge caution in deploying further resources at the moment. >> Okay. Um how often were contingency funds used last year >> through the chair? I do not believe there was a council vote on contingency funds, but we'd have to do some limbs research to confirm that. >> Okay. Okay. Um, yeah, from what I see, >> council member Stevenson, I think our budget chair may have an answer to that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So there were uh so the the AGOT example that deputy CFO Denza uh highlighted um I know you experienced that as as a person that was impacted on the on the employer employee side um in that in that important fight. um that was that was a use of contingency that was approved um contingent on um matching funds and so it never actually went out the door even though the use was approved. Um, I can another example that comes to mind is the uh MIWRC, the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center um where we authorized $100,000 for them to expand um their uh warming shelters um and and have the capacity to keep those open longer. Uh that was that was a use of contingency that was both approved and actually um went out the door. I I didn't realize when I started this line of questioning that I was personally involved with both uses of the contingency last year. Um that's interesting. So it sounds like housing issues have been a a a frequent use of contingency funds at least recently. Um I I do want to mention again that this is perhaps the most unanticipated and most urgent uh situation we potentially could have imagined. So this really fits the definition of what contingency could be used for as far as I am seeing it. Um and I would I would urge my colleagues to do this as well. I I would like to note one thing about another use and I'm not realizing how much time I have 30 seconds left. Um if we take this money from the affordable housing trust fund uh we will uh we will be going against uh stated priorities of this body including uh the mayor in his inauguration speak he he speech he spoke very eloquently and powerfully about building affordable housing everywhere in the city. Cutting these funds will go directly against that. Um I I support the mayor's priority of building more affordable housing. my community on a day-to-day prior to the invasion. Uh housing issues were the biggest issues. Uh dealing with unsheltered homelessness, dealing with evictions, uh rents being too high, it being too expensive to buy a home. So, uh I'm loathed to take from affordable housing to in order to do this. Uh and I see this as the most urgent and unanticipated um expense. And so I would urge us to use contingency funds for that purpose. >> Council member Chuck Tai. Uh >> thank you, Mr. President. Um so I want to start actually by addressing a question that council member Vita asked um quite a while ago during discussion which is around what is the backlog of um the the resources for um rental assistance at Henipin County. Um it has been confirmed yesterday through um the director of housing stability at Henipin County that there is currently no backlog um for the for for the rental assistance fund um at uh at Henipin County. I think uh as we were having this discussion on Tuesday um you know there were several sets of numbers that were thrown around and it took us a little bit of time as we were having this discussion to just dig a little bit deeper double check triple check what what's happening. So, of the $10 million that they have allocated, um approximately at this point um uh about a million of that um has been dispersed uh to every um every person who has been who has applied and has been eligible to receive these funds. Um and uh and it is important to note that the $1 million at this point in the year um is comparable to last year, which tells us that the severity of the crisis has not yet hit um where evictions are being filed. A part of that is also um that we've extended pre- eviction notice here in Minneapolis, which means that um you know, if you're a person that didn't pay your your rent in in January um you're likely getting your pre-eviction notice um and and and you you you had an an additional cushion and uh so I think that's that's an important factor. I appreciate that we have talked about um you know how our emergency management director um has brought up um the the the road map ahead that um you know that that recovery from this moment that we are living through that we don't know when it's going to end right um is going to take years and years I think an important factor that both our deputy CFO um and our economic development um staff have brought up is um what happens as as half of all immigrant-owned businesses in our city are shut down. Um what happens as people's hours are cut, they're losing their jobs, um they're sheltering in place, um their families are being impacted by family separation through deportations. Um it as there's more economic instability within individual families, the risk of people um losing their homes and then subsequently um having an eviction that follows them on their record um permanently making it harder for them to access housing for the next decade of that family's life, right? um what happens as people then are pushed out of our city and the economic impact that has on property values here that we need to the best the best tools we have right now are ones that keep our communities stable. This is this is the last safety net that catches people before they end up unstable out of a home unable to rent again. um forced to leave the city and be displaced out of Minneapolis. Um and I I think that that is just worth um continuing to um to uplift. And then I just I want to end with talking about um the people who need this assistance and whether they will be eligible to receive it. I I just I really feel like I need to strongly assert that if you are a person who is making minimum wage and you couldn't pay your rent for whatever reason and you have been served eviction papers, you are a person in need objectively and like we got to move past saying that the the wrong group of people or people who don't really need it are going to end up with this assistance. Thank you, >> Council Member Schaefer. >> Thank you, President Payne. Um and thank you first of all to all my colleagues for bringing this important topic forward. I hear all of our hearts around this issue and um it is uh time to bring this forward for discussion. Um I had a couple more questions for director Denza. First of all, um could you give me an overview of where we are approximately at over budget across all departments in related to the ice scourge on our city >> through the chair, council member Schaefer. Um we've seen at least $5 million of spending from city departments just associated with those couple weeks in January when um so for just the police department uh I think we're at $4.3 million in overtime associated with this response. So, if you project that out, certainly over budget. >> And then there's Minneapolis Fire Department public works. Would those be the main two other departments that have been greatly affected >> through through the chair? I think every city department has contributed staff, time, and and energy to our emergency operations center. Um, I know finance, the CPAD, health, I I we could go through all 26 departments, they are all contributing hours to that response. >> Yep. Thank you. And do you foresee that any of these impacts as we continue this year could could affect our long-term health, our budgetary health or our bond rating? Um could you kind of speak just from your 50,000 foot perspective on that impact >> through the chair? Council members, uh certainly zooming out, you know, um the city has many obligations um and we serve all of our residents um and we need to meet those obligations. As I mentioned previously, we have the small cushion between where our general fund balance is pro projected to sit at the end of 2026, assuming departments don't overspend their budgets this year. Um and again that may be difficult given what what they are being forced to do because of the federal incursion. Um the risk long-term for the city if we are to deplete our resources this year we've we've been put on notice by bond rating agencies. They are watching our use of fund balance. We have a AAA rating and that matters for constituents because it allows us to borrow at a lower rate to do our capital work. So, um I think the concern long term would be that um without raising property taxes, we would we would risk dipping below that minimum fund balance and and residents would feel the impacts of that. >> Thank you for those um comments. I appreciate that's all the questions I had. Um I do have some questions for this potential third proposal that may come forward. Um, I'm happy to ask those now of Director um, H. Hansen or if we should wait till later. Uh, President Payne, do you have a preference? >> You have four minutes. >> All right. Uh, Director Hansen, I had a couple questions um around this. I noticed in the language um, I didn't foresee any specifics around a joint committee established in the resolution. Can you speak to a little bit about how this partnership would work and what um authority we would have or ability to put boundaries on the direction of the use of that funds might be in particular? Um obviously we would like to make sure this doesn't go to suburban county residents but would stay in Minneapolis. Um secondly, is there options for condo owners um or home owners in this housing assistance area or is a specific rental? Is there flexibility within Henipin County to look at both of those? Um and um those would be the main two things to start with. >> All right. Good morning, uh Council President Payne. Uh Council Members, my name is Eric Hansen. I am the director of CPED. And to answer through Council President Payne, Council Member Schaefer's questions. The first question, I don't know exactly what resolution you're looking at, but if it's the one that's published in limbs under council member Wansley's name, this is for rental assistance for rent for through the county through a joint powers agreement for those impacted by operation metro surge. Is that correct? >> Any any Okay, because I I was looking at was in limbs file. Um, we would work on a agreement with the county. That agreement would come back to the council for approval. It is our understanding it would be their current program. We would be adding funding to their current program under their current guidelines. I am not aware of any assistance true rental assistance that would affect um homeowners. I don't believe that's in the cards in their programs. Uh it is a question I can confirm, but I'm you should be um you're probably looking at just renters in this. >> Okay. Um but that's something you could confirm with Henipin County. I know during co I believe there was some for um homeowners but I could be incorrect. >> Uh through the council president, council member Schaefer, there was there are some for um ev foreclosure prevention programs. This is not one of those for foreclosure prevention programs. >> Thank you. That's very helpful. Thank you, Director Hansen. That's all the questions that I had for you. Thank you. >> Um >> so yes, I would love to see some joint powers agreement added to this language. um unless I'm missing something here in the third resolution that we will get to eventually. But um I do want to say I cannot support taking um the this million dollars from the contingency or the general fund. Um, when I hear the director of finances of our city describe that our we've already gotten question marks about our bond rating when there is already 5 million of overtime spent um that we need to take care of to take care of the residents of our city um that gives me pause. So I will not be able to support um use I am supportive of rental assistance but in the first um case of contingency funds I will not be able to support. Thank you. Council member Chavez. >> Uh, thank you, Council President Payne. Uh, Director Desensza, can you let us know what percentage of the $1 million that is being proposed is for the entire budget >> through the chair? Could you repeat the question, please? >> Uh, what percentage of the $1 million, the $1 million, what percentage is that compared to the entire city budget? >> Um, the entire city budget is is uh on the order of $2 billion. Our general fund is around 700 million. So the contingency the contingency is required to be 1% of the general fund budget. >> Thank you. Uh colleagues and council president Payne, I hope that members of the public are actually watching this meeting unfold and that they re they rewatch the committee of the whole meeting because I am extremely disappointed. I did not hear concerns about a source until today. In fact, what we heard in cow ant today is that this vote is somehow fraudulent and that we are cherrypicking which is not true. That rhetoric is very dangerous. In fact, it is the same rhetoric that Donald Trump uses to kidnap our immigrant neighbors in this country. It is not fraudulent to want to prevent the eviction of our neighbors. It is not fraudulent to support neighbors with rental assistance. It is not fraudulent to lift the voices of our immigrant neighbors who are in need. It is not fraudulent to want to support neighbors who need help with rental assistance despite their immigration background. And I will say that our immigrant neighbors and neighbors who are in need, which can be two separate communities, live in every single ward in the city of Minneapolis. I would encourage members of this body, this 13 member body that I'm disappointed to be a part of today to talk to your constituents. Neighbors across the city are scared right now. They are late in paying rent. February 1st just passed. Rental eviction notices are on the rise and I'm just extremely disappointed about this conversation today. It actually makes me sick to my stomach. What I have heard from residents across the city of Minneapolis is that we are not doing enough and that we need to do more. And what I will say is that we cannot rely on the backs of our neighbors and our neighbors across the country to keep everyone on float. We should not be asking the community to fund raise if we aren't willing to fund those same initiatives. I also need to bring us back to what Minneapolis residents are experiencing because I think it's important to center what we are doing today instead of this quote unquote fraudulent activity. I will say that many of our neighbors have been impacted by Operation Metro Surge and those individuals are also our neighbors. People impacted by Operation Metro Surge are our residents. They may not be able to vote sometimes, but they are our residents despite their immigration background. I have never felt more unwelcome on the city council until today. I will say that out loud. I am freaking heartbroken. There was a 2-year-old in Mai that was kidnapped by ICE in Parthorn. Is that not an emergency to people in this body? Does that not raise alarms? Two Minneapolis residents were murdered by federal agents. A Latino resident was shot in the leg in North Minneapolis. A Latino resident was kidnapped in Minnesota by ICE, then died under custody in Texas. Our community members are being kidnapped on bus stops on the way to work. And those who came to live the American dream are now facing the American nightmare. This is only $1 million. It is not even enough to meet the need of our actual neighbors who are struggling in Minneapolis. I am so freaking proud of Minneapolis residents. They are definitely meeting the needs of our community members in their own ways and our neighbors in Minneapolis understand the importance of what our neighbors are experiencing. But I will continue to say that the conversation that we had in committee of the whole and today is not matching what our residents are experiencing on the ground. I ask that folks talk to your neighbors and and hear about the sentiments that they're experiencing because when they watch this meeting, they're going to be so disappointed. I will support the underlying motion because this is an emergency. In fact, I hope that everybody in this body agrees that an occupation of a city is an emergency. And if that doesn't pass, then I will support the motion for cash fund because we can't exasperate the affordable housing crisis at the same time either. Thank you. Council member Chowry. >> Thank you so much, President Payne. Um, I just wanted to do a couple of things in my comments. I had questions, but I also wanted to state a few different facts. Um, first, 50% of the awards of the Rent Help Henipin go to the city of Minneapolis already. So, that just one goes to state the existing need for our city when it comes to emergency rental assistance and how it's compounding right now. And then $1 million is 0.05% of our city's total budget. I'm really glad to hear that Henipin County is willing to work with our city to make this work however they want and dedicate it to the city of Minneapolis if that's what we are choosing to do, which I am supportive of. And if we dedicated it entirely to the city of Minneapolis, that would increase the available rent help money for Minneapolis by 20%. Um, I had uh a few questions for Director Hansen, if that's all right. Um, I I I specifically um wanted to get a picture from you about the fiscal cliff of the affordable housing trust fund. You and I have had several conversations about this um last budget season and I've been thinking a lot about it as we see the LAA allocation before us. I know it says LA, but LA is severely overprescribed by the city of Minneapolis. That was a huge part of the discussion we had. We faced a crisis around shelter operations and agreed as a body together that in our city budget process we would move it there. Um, but it was also a conversation with a lot of caution that this would if we continued to take from LAA, it would impact the affordable housing trust fund directly or perhaps even the Minneapolis homes program which allows for the creation of affordable home ownership opportunities in our community. So, I just wanted to get the picture from you about the affordable housing trust fund um financial cliff. Director Hansen. >> Uh, Council President Payne, Council Member Chowry. Um, yes. So, the way we have set up our affordable housing trust fund, it, you know, conotes a thing of like there's this funding in it, but the city funds it every year through its annual budget and it's what is the thing that um provides funding for affordable housing um affordable housing units all through the city of Minneapolis. uh that had been funded by um some discretionary funds that were targeted towards this type of use, mainly through tax increment financing districts that are coming off of TIFF and going back to the tax roles, which is a positive thing for the for the overall tax base, but it takes away from that source. And so, every time we take money away from the affordable housing trust fund, it gets us closer to the end of that fiscal cliff. And I'm looking up my um stats. Um and it it it really basically um impacts how many units we can um we can uh support. Typically the council and the mayor have set the affordable housing trust fund at about $18 million a year. Uh that will precipitously decline over the next couple years because we will lose um that tiff funding in about uh a majority of it in 2027. So in the 28 29 is where we'll see that start to dip. Without other financing sources, we'll just have fewer dollars for affordable housing production. Um so if you take money today from the affordable housing production from the afford from the um trust fund, it just means this year we'll have fewer housing units that we can invest in and next year uh because it would be one time next year we will still be in the same situation but fewer houses today. And they think about it in the when we help produce um affordable housing units that is affordable housing units for the next 30 years. So they kind of they compound and they're cumulative in in the >> the housing ecosystem in the city. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah, that does. And just a followup to that is we have only a certain amount of um the allocation that we get from the state for LAA. And is it true to state that like by the time we get to 2027 and onwards, we will be using most of that allocation as projected for the affordable housing trust fund to address the fiscal cliff and some for the Minneapolis homes program >> in 22nd. >> Yeah. Through the council president, uh, council member Chadri perhaps. Those decisions have not been made, but that will be one of our main funding. >> Thank you. I'll just close by saying um the watchdog for the affordable housing trust fund is no longer on the council. So, some of us have to take that mantle up and it's overprescribed. We need this for affordable projects to happen long into the future and that's why I'm supporting contingency funding. I think we can get 10 votes for this. I think it's important that we do it and I think it's a better option than our cash fund, but if we have to vote for a cash fund today, that's what I'll ultimately end up doing. Council member Whiting. >> Thank you, uh, President Payne. First of all, I think we want to center this on, uh, our discussions that we've been having for weeks, and this is this is something that I think all of us are are seeing as an emergency. I think all 13 of us sit here, uh, and with the mayor agree that this version of assistance is required and is an emergency in this moment. Uh and if this is an emergency, I think it it is uh on all of us to figure out a way to actually move this forward. Uh right, I I I believe that this emergency does fit within the definition of contingency funds. Uh but I also believe that if this does not go forward, we have to figure out the best way to actually get these funds into people's hands as soon as we can. Uh that being the case, I believe LA funding and our affordable housing trust fund is the best version for that. uh as as all of you sat through, I know all of us sat through a meeting kind of discussing our financial picture. We just had uh our deputy director discuss with us and tell us uh in and a lot of flowery words that we're broke. I I think we all know and have heard that this is this is kind of where our city is at. And I think continuing to pull from general funds will exacerbate the issues that our city not will just have for for the city of Minneapolis and not this body, but every single one of our residents and the same exact residents that we hope to serve uh with what we're doing today. Uh that said, uh I just want to read the first elable eligible use for LAA funding uh local affordable housing aid uh as prescribed by the state. The first qualifying projects include emergency rental assistance for households earning less than 80% of area median income. If we are looking at the definition of how funds should be used, LAAHA funding is particularly subscribing an eligible use for emergency rental assistance. Uh I don't believe there's a better definition for that across our city. Uh and and again I I I kind of want to add here and we'll end with this. Uh we are seeing good work across the city uh not just by uh our residents as they are standing up and doing the work but our our employees well as well in the city. Uh we are seeing it by the the large overrun uh both by MPD, fire and public works uh and across our city. People putting in the work to actually show up uh for our neighbors and I believe we are trying to do that as well. uh while I be will be supporting our contingency funds, I cannot support any level of pull from our general funds uh because I believe that will only exacerbate the issues that we have and I think none of us want to move forward and we don't believe any of these funds are I think ideal uh but we are an emergency situation. We have to figure out how to get there and I hope and I urge all of you to consider our luba funding as well. So thank you >> council member Fita. >> Thank you chair. Um, just a few things. Uh, Council Member Warren, I'm sorry that you're being uh, compared to MAGA because you have an opinion about um, Henipin County, its funding, its uh, programs, its procedures. Uh, you know, last year or maybe the year before, a council member sitting on this body accused the city of Minneapolis of waste, fraud, and abuse, and that in no way was compared to MAGA. So I don't think just because you use those words that means that you're MAGA. You have an opinion, you stated it, you talked about not only using the services yourself, but also um helping others in in our communities to use the service. I I relied heav heavily on you because I know you have experience. So, you spent hours talking to me about how these programs work from a place of knowing yourself and also helping hundreds of families use these programs and gain access. So, I would say you're the opposite of MAGA because I don't think they would ever help anybody get any type of assistance, especially a welfare someone on welfare. They actually think the opposite of it. So, thank you very much for using your expertise. I'm so proud to have you here sitting on this dis. I don't even have that expertise and I'm so grateful for you being here. You don't deserve that. You should. What I love about this job is when something comes up about public health, that's what I have over 20 years of experience in and I get to talk about it. I have personal experience and also professional experience. So, I'm sorry. I'm apologizing. I'm not apologizing for the body. I'm apologizing because you don't deserve that. It's unnecessary. It really is. is you get to have your opinion and I know this is meeting two and I'm drained already for how you got treated this in this meeting for having an opinion and having expertise and subject matter content for something. Um so sorry council member Warren to the the comment about there not being a waiting list. There's somebody in this audience that text me and said they were told by Henipin County that they're on the waiting list. So, I don't know where this um you know information about a waiting list or not is coming from, but I know I've heard from lots of people that they're on the waiting list and they don't even know. I mean, I heard from people who called me directly and said give the million dollars because I'm on the waiting list and I don't know what I'm on the wait why I'm on the waiting list. So, if you all give the million dollars, you can um you know, I can maybe get off the waiting list or find out if I'm eligible or not. So, I I I don't know if there's a waiting list or not. I wasn't able to find out, but I know that many people have reached out to me since we had the conversation on Tuesday about the waiting list and how they're on it and if they're going to be eligible for it, and I do agree that everyone should be eligible for it. Uh my question though is for Director Hansen. We keep having these conversations about how much the county has uh versus what we have. You know, there was a before I go to my question so I don't lose my thought. There was a comment about the city's budget being $2 billion. It is $2 billion, but it's not $2 billion in the bank waiting. A lot of money has already been allocated to basic city services and what people are looking forward to us doing as a res as a taxpaying resident or a resident of Minneapolis. So, um we don't just have $2 billion that we can call on. We did a budget that spent up a lot of money. We with the mayor's proposed budget along with all the things that we wanted for our ward cost money. They're not free. They don't get to just sit there. So, we don't have $2 billion. This million dollars, it is a little bit in the bigger scheme of things, but it's not something that we foresee we foreseen in any other budget. So, we have to we have to make a way to figure it out. But, I'm trying to figure out how this is going to work. There's conversations around the county. Director Hansen, this is for you. I'm sorry. I may have called you up too soon, but the the the county has $10 million in their housing budget is my understanding. We're going to give them a million dollar. So now they'll have $11 million. Is like I I'm trying to understand will we get our million dollars back if they don't use our million dollars? Will how like how soon will they use $10 million? If they use 10 like how much do they use a year and will we get our money back? I guess it's two questions >> in 20 seconds. >> In 20 seconds, council president, council member, uh we will add it to the $10 million and uh last year they told us they spent about $1 million in their program. Okay. Um and it would be a agreement that we would bring back to you uh with all of the details on how the money would be used. >> Thank you. >> All right, Council Member Stevenson. >> Yeah. Thank you, Council President. Um, a few things. One, there's been a lot of discussion about the bond rating. Um, last year, uh, when we were in much less crisis, MPD over spent its budget by $20 million. Um, how did that affect our bond rating? Um, deputy CFO. >> Um, through the chair, Council Member Stevenson. Um, we meet with the I should say the CFO along with our banking, investment and debt team meet with the bond rating agencies annually. I believe they have an annual report and that comes out I believe in the summer. You can take a look at it. They're on the city's website. So, we have not yet had those um processes again since that time. >> Okay. Thank you. um what has changed in that department and in other part departments in order to spend according to their budget >> through the chair, council member. Um it's a good question. I think there are ongoing conversations about what it would mean. Um uh the council members referring to our our police and fire departments over spent their budgets um in 2025. You all will get a presentation from the controller um upon year end uh accounting year end of 2025 with the specific figures um uh departments including the police department brought forward budget reduction scenarios through the budget process last year. One of the key things that the police department has changed is backing off of the critical staffing overtime which was an elevated overtime rate that they had been in um while they were understaffed. that is no longer the case. So, they have a standard overtime rate going forward and we anticipate um savings from that. I believe the chief has also issued um stricter policies around overtime usage. >> Great. Thank you. Um I'll have more questions that but they'll probably be rhetorical, so feel free to sit down. Um given the financial state of the city, uh we should have a lot of questions uh about what's being done to limit department spending. I've heard from folks both in the administration and on this council that a large amount of money now is being used for graffiti removal. Uh and that that's having public works go over. Is that really where our money needs to go right now? Um I think rental assistance is vastly more important. Um I think our constituents need it. My constituents have been crystal clear that they have been demanding this of me and they've been demanding this of all of us. Um, so we're going to have to we're going to have to see some things go and and I I think rental assistance is not one of those. Uh, we need this rental assistance and and we need to do it in a way that's not uh uh stealing from Peter in order to pay Paul. Um, lastly, LAA is already allocated. Uh, these we would be doing out lethal cuts to vital projects and services that uh I I simply don't want to do. Yesterday I met with Catholic Charities uh which runs homeless shelters among other things. Homeless shelters are are an eligible use of Laha. Um and we are still in a homelessness crisis. Uh taking LAHA and affordable housing dollars is uh it's it's much worse than stealing from Peter to pay Paul. Uh it's relegating future evictions, future homelessness, and crushing financial stress and debt on our residents um under the current housing crisis. So, um we we can and we should use uh contingency funds because this is uh this is a thing that is unanticipated and we desperately need it and we also desperately need our affordable housing projects uh and other housing services to be fully funded. Um and with that, I I'll give it back to the president. >> Council member Palmo. >> Thank you, President Payne. Um, the facts given to us by Deputy CFO Denza have been front of mind to me this past week. Um, I I do recognize that other than council member Vita as a park commissioner, others here on this day were not around when we had to redo the budget several times until Council Member Osman joined us late in the year during the COVID crisis and pandemic. Um, we've all been exploring how to best show up with what we can possibly afford with city dollars in this moment. We all get deeply personal stories of need, immediate and dire need these days more than ever for the crisis that we're in. At the same time, Minnesota Multi-Housing Association, and they've given me permission to source them, they report to me that rent collections are tracking with normal rent collections right now. That's the macro view, and that's as of today. But we all know that this road is very long and that philanthropy is filling known needs right now, but likely not into the future as long as it's going to need to go. So, of course, I see a huge need for emergency rental assistance in our community. This is an unprecedented time, and I support the intent of this resolution, but I do not agree with this funding source. Using contingency funds has a very high bar, and using them for this purpose would be shortsighted. I'm very concerned about our general and contingency fund balances. Right now, we did not anticipate the enterprise cost of responding to Operation Metro Surge. This would be for things like an immense amount of staff time in emergency operations. That includes every department, police, public works, communications, and on. Um, these increased costs were not forecast in our 2026 budget, and the strain on our general fund is going to be significant. But earlier my colleague said, "What are we really doing?" And I think that is a slap in the face to every single city worker who has been showing up in this moment. This isn't business as usual. City workers are not going about our days as though nothing is wrong. Every department of our city is showing up differently. There is a CPED representative in the EOC overnight on weekends. That is in addition to their regular day-to-day job. So this is not meant this money it is not meant to be a public philanthropy fund. Yes the AGOT idea was successful. I think it was a couple of years ago. It was unprecedented at the time and it was an unsuccessful ultimate attempt at using it for philanthropy. Agot did not to my recollection get the rest of that money together. But thank you to every worker in the city enterprise for working so very hard this past month in responding to this unprecedented crisis. And also they are getting to everything that we also need every day to have a city that works. People all over our city have been part of that. Residents, people that care about our city from overseas even. I know that other cities department heads and bureaucrats are seeing how great Minneapolis is doing in this moment and they are asking for advice on how they responsibly respond to ICE agents in their cities. Our role here is about coordination in this moment, not about being able to fill the need with local government funds because we will never be able to fulfill that need. $1 million is a significant and monumentally difficult amount of money to find in this moment. And it should come from decisions we made last year on how much we can possibly put in our budget toward affordable housing. Last budget season, we made a decision not knowing the urgency of this moment. So, let's make a different one. I am also, like Council Member Stevenson said, loathed to make this change. Long term, it's not a good one. Long-term it means we will get help to finance less 20 to 30year affordable new housing units for example. But in this moment we need to find something and we cannot stop responding as a city and delve into a terrible financial position. So I think we need to ground ourselves and one another on what our briefings have said that government dollars is not what people need for rental assistance right now. that people struggling right now need cash and let them decide what they are going to use for their different needs of the moment and that equitable assistance has to be equitably distributed and that is a really hard thing to do and like director Hansen said not today but on Tuesday it will take a while the road here is very long much longer than people are energized to donate in one moment and perhaps able or willing to donate so let's figure this problem out in a much longer term basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Council member Schaefer. >> Yes. Um I would just add this as for a thought process. Um there's I think there is general support across our body for this idea. We're getting hung up on how and what we should use to fund this idea. I believe that Henipin County has some wiggle room still with the funding that they have. One option on the table would be for us to revisit this in a couple weeks in a month once Henipin County has drawn down their funds um and reassess what is our budget at that point. Are we $10 million over budget at that point? Um, I'm just saying is that a more measured approach for us all to say we know this is a problem. We know it's immediate. We know the GoFundMes have stepped up above and beyond. We all have contributed, right? Um, and there is a role for the city to contribute. But is now the right timing if we have disagreement to make a decision that could impact our budget process this whole year? Um, that's my question. Um, maybe some other people have some comments and have an ability to make a motion to head us in that direction better than I can as a newbie. Um, so what I mean, so maybe I can can I make a motion to postpone all of these resolutions until >> Chavez, help me. What do we want to postpone this to? >> Today. Let's vote today for the actual money. Let's help people get rental assistance because they need it. >> Okay. All right. Well, I I guess um I will I will postpone um to revisit on uh let's say end of March and see where Henipin County funds sit. I'm I'm I'm able and willing to change that date if that helps people come this direction. Um, but I would make a motion to postpone all of these resolutions and revisit all of them with all the funding sources um the end of March. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh, Council Member Schaefer made a motion to postpone to the end of March. I think we need a date certain. I would say the 19th would be the next the endish March council meeting. Um, that's been seconded. Uh, we have Council Member Schaefer in Cuba. Maybe you you've said your piece. Council member Chavez. >> Uh, thank you, Council President Payne. I will urge my colleagues to vote against the delay of these motions. We are in an emergency. People are facing evictions. Rent was due on February 1st. We cannot continue to ask our community to fundra for our neighbors. If we are unwilling, as a government, willing to support them. I think it's time to vote. It's very clear that people have made decisions how they're going to vote. I think we just need to vote. So, I'm going to call the question on Council Member Schaefer's motion to delay these items, which I disagree with, >> but I'm calling the question. >> Council member Chavez called the question. Is there a second? >> Second. >> That's been seconded. Mr. Clerk, call the role on calling the question. >> Council member Warren. >> Nay. Council member Schaefer. >> Nay. >> Council member Wanssley. >> I. >> Council member Shaktai. >> I. >> Council member Whiting. >> I. >> Council member Chowry. >> I. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> No. >> Council member Vita. >> No. >> Council member Palisano. >> No. >> Council member Chavez. >> I. >> Vice President Osma. >> Hi. >> Tuesday. >> President Payne. I >> there are eight eyes and five nazs >> and that requires nine. So that motion fails. And uh is there anybody who wants to discuss the motion to delay this item till the 19th? >> The clerk will call the role on the motion to delay this to the 19th. >> Oh, council member Vto. >> Oh, thank you. I feel like every time I'm in the queue, somebody calls the question. It it might it I it feels targeted. But um my my my question was about um what impact this would make for delay. I had never thought about that. So thank you council member Schaefer. What would be the impact on delay? Director Hansen, you said that the county uses $10 million a year of their own. And so if we gave them a million dollars in three weeks or and plus whatever time it takes to process um how how how could this affect that like the ability for rental assistance right now? >> Director Hansen, >> uh Council President Payne, Council Member Vaugh, we would still have to negotiate a deal um and an agreement and bring it back to the council before the money would be ready for their fund. So this would delay that that conversation as well. So, just the agreement conversation, not like the I I guess I'm asking more about the services of the county. Regardless of how this goes, they're still going to be processing applications. >> Council member Payne, uh, Council Member Vita, yes, the county continues to take in um applications >> and at any point in this process, our million dollars could come in and help, but it's not about like like the timing isn't specific to right now. Uh, Council President Payne, Council Member Vita, it's up to the body to tell us that they have the money and then we would negotiate that with the county and then that those funds would then be able to be transferred to the county after an agreement has been reached and approved by the council and the mayor. So, that would still but their program is still intact. Their program is still taking applications as of today. I don't want anybody in the community who's listening to say that they have to wait until the council acts because there is still money at the county uh for rental assistance. Okay, you answer my question. Thank you, >> Council Member Palms. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, one additional complication um would be about if people will then still be eligible for their renters's credit. It shouldn't matter who is paying the rent, whether it's the county or the person with the lease. Um, they should be able to get their renters's credit. There's concern about how that will work at the state level and so we're going to need to be mindful of that. I think this is I I point this out because it's kind of like a brand new wrinkle just in my queue, but maybe something that shows that we should support a delay to iron out all these details. I do not want people um to have to forego their renters's credit in order to be able to get assistance in this moment. Thank you. >> Seeing no further folks in quue, I will ask the clerk to call the role on the motion to postpone uh this item to March 19th. >> Council member Warren, >> yes. >> Council member Schaefer, >> I. >> Council member Wanssley, >> nay. >> Council member Shugai, >> nay. >> Council member Whiting, >> I. >> Council member Chowry, >> I >> What? No. Nay. Sorry. I am like can't >> you don't get to tell people how to vote. >> Council member Stevenson. >> Nay. >> Council member Rainville. >> That was a different item. >> Council member Utah. >> No one's vote. >> Council member Palmisano. >> I. >> Council member Chavez. >> No. >> Vice President Osman. >> No. >> President Payne. >> Nay. >> There are six eyes and seven nays. >> That motion fails. We are returning to the underlying motion. Uh I don't see anybody. Oh, Council Member Chavez. No. >> All right. I'm going to add myself to Q. Uh, a lot of discussion here is on source and timing. Uh, on timing, there is nothing more urgent than what's happening in our community right now. Uh, we got a really robust briefing on the needs of our community from our professional staff and emergency operations. Uh part of that briefing was an acknowledgement that the fastest money is private money and I agree with that. Uh but the other half of that briefing was that recovery is not going to happen in one month. Recovery is not going to happen in one year. This is going to impact our city for years to come. It's going to impact the residents of our city for years to come. There are certainly people on the brink of uh eviction right now today and many many community members are stepping up to fill those gaps to save those people from the brink. Uh but they're not saving everybody from the brink. And there are businesses that are currently closed indefinitely, which means they may open, they may be done forever. Um they may continue paying payroll. I've talked to some of the businesses in my community that are not cutting hours. They're not cutting payroll because they want to support their employees, but those businesses may not have the reserves to continue doing that for another 6 months, another year. Uh, and we're not also just talking about the members of our community that are most vulnerable and targeted as immigrants. We're talking about citizens that have just been struggling long before this crisis and now this is yet another thing that is putting them deeper into crisis. And so um there's no question about the need, there's no question about the timing. um the source I highly encourage this body to support contingency because I think it's going to be private dollars that are already getting out the door right now because we have rent has already been due and the private dollars are already doing as much as they can. Um, but we're going to need it next month and we're going to need it the month after that and we're going to need it the month after that. And delaying this conversation about how we're going to work with the county does not help us. Waiting until we find out the county runs out of money doesn't help us because we know they're going to run out of money. A million dollars is not enough. We're going to need not just relief for this from the state for rental assistance. We're going to need relief for a whole host of economic impacts. The other part of that briefing was the recognition that this is at the scale of CO or worse. And that required the federal government to step in with $300 million of stimulus just for the city of Minneapolis. Um, I don't have a lot of faith in our federal government in this moment to step in with that kind of stimulus to support to backfill these dollars, but we are in crisis. This is not about our bond rating for the next year. This is about the future of our democracy. This is the future of our country. Our bond rating will be irrelevant if we are in an outright civil war. It has felt like we are on the brink of civil war as I'm out on the streets physically getting assaulted by my federal government. Um this is this is there's no more urgent crisis than what we're going through right now. Um and uh the other piece to this is the discussion of the backlog at the county. I think council member Chuckai spoke to this, but director Hansen, can you confirm if they have a backlog because I heard also comments about the waiting list? And one of the reasons we actually extended our pre-eviction notice from 14 days to 30 days is because it still took about that much time to get money out the door even if there wasn't a backlog. So, can you help us understand that distinction? Uh, Council President, uh, Payne, um, under, uh, request from Council Member Chugai, I have communicated with David Huitt, who oversees this program at the county, and I will read no waiting list. Eligible applications are processed within 14 days, quicker when needed to prevent loss of housing. So, there is no waiting list. >> Thank you for that. So, there is an urgent need right now. People needed to pay rent yesterday. There's going to be a need next month and the month after that. And the housing crisis is going to be with us for decades. So, we cannot raid our affordable housing trust fund and exacerbate the housing crisis. We can't just rely on private donors cuz the need is going to go long before that period of time. The city needs to step up right now in this moment. I would prefer us to use contingency because that's what contingency is for. Um, another issue use of contingency that wasn't discussed was there was an emergency because a convention that we were hosting ran out of money for the planner that was that was raised to a level of urgency that got unanimous support from this body because of a convention was running out of money to pay their vendors. This is more of an emergency than that. We should be using contingency. I don't want to use cash balance because of the concerns about our bond rating, but that will have to be our next best choice. So, I would I would prefer us to use contingency. Otherwise, we're getting into cash balance, and we'll have to deal with the aftermath of that. Uh, and seeing no one else in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the role uh on item number 67. And >> Mr. President be clear this is on the original proposal that came forward uh within your agenda packet offered by council members Wanssley Osman Stevenson Chavez and Chowry >> correct >> what is >> council member Warren >> no >> council member Schaefer >> no >> council member W >> council member Shugai >> I >> council member white >> I >> council member Chowry >> I >> council member Stevenson >> I >> council member Rainville No. >> Council member Vto. >> No. >> Council member Palisano. >> No. >> Council member Chavez. >> Hi. >> Vice President Osman. >> I. >> President Payne. >> I. >> There are eight eyes and five naysay. >> That motion required 10 votes. So therefore, that fails. I will recognize council member Wanley for uh a response. >> The next motion is council. >> Council member Whiting. Yeah. >> Uh thank you, Mr. President. Uh I would uh move to approve the following resolution in front of all of you. Uh happy to uh talk to any of the questions about this, but uh happy to answer any questions. Thank you. >> Uh Council Member Wanzley. >> Thank you, President Payne. Um, I would also like to bring a substitute motion um that would still keep uh the basically the original content of the contingency motion that just failed but would um essentially change the funding source to cash balance. Um the intent is still there. This is not the source that we ideally wanted to go for. We brought forward the one that was most appropriate. Unfortunately, majority of or super majority of my colleagues did not agree with it. Um, so this is the next best uh resort that we have to make sure that we aren't cutting um programs and department level um activities. So that said, um I'm moving this forward and also would like to note that council member Chuck Thai is a co-author of this. >> Uh Mr. Clerk, we have two substitutes. Can you give some guidance on how we ought to approach this? >> Mr. President, I know we've been talking about three resolutions and three different subjects, but parliamentary law says one motion can claim the body's time one at a time. So, Mr. Whiting was in Council Member Whiting was in order and made a motion. That's the motion that uh is before the body. Uh then the body could take up the substitute that was offered by Council Member Wanley and several co-authors. I will note that council member Whiting made a motion. It wasn't seconded and we recognized the new member who offered a different motion. So, I think Whiting is in queue. There needs to be a second. If there's not a second, then that would die for lack of a second. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a proper motion in front of us by Council Member Whiting uh sourcing a million dollars from the affordable housing trust fund for rental assistance. Is there discussion on that item? Council member Osman. Uh >> sorry, Vice President Hosman. >> Uh thank you. I think the best option still would have been uh the contingent funding. Uh, I didn't hear any argument why we shouldn't do that other than, oh, it's not going to work for immigrants or the county does different things. There's not a strong argument why we should not take the money. That's what the money is for. And, uh, and let me just say that, uh, Council Member Whiting, I really appreciate your motion. Um, it's, uh, it's trying to find a solution. um after it requires 10 votes I guess uh the last motion and that's why it failed. um really like your uh your bringing this forward but I never since I've been um a chair of BIS committee which everything comes through related to housing affordable housing trust was never go zone place like that was like stay away from it this is our something that we always um you know protected uh and former council member um Ellison was also really uh the the guard of that uh funding and um including in the administration and the mayor's office was always something no goes on area. So um I would like to support it but uh as a chair of B committee I cannot support it now but I will I I wish it would have the the the the cash balance uh would have come first and if it would have failed that would have been my third option to to go because we we got to do everything we can to support the immigrants uh uh at least what we're trying to do a fairly limited we might not help everyone else. People the people will be displaced. People have been displaced. So uh just uh people they elected and people that manages their uh money which is this is uh president's money is uh we're making that decision and as a council body our only power and our power actually is about the you know budget. That's how we are elected to oversight and make sure that we are making the right decisions. But uh I'm gonna wait around and um with your motion and uh not supported now. I wish it would have come later on after the cash balance, but I'll leave it there. Thank you. >> Council member uh Council Member Stevenson, you have a priority motion. >> I'd like to call the question. >> Council member Stevenson has called the question. Is there a second? >> No, it's not a priority motion. >> Not a priority motion. >> Oh. Mr. President, calling the question is a standard motion. It needs to be It's not a priority motion. A priority motion is like a point of order, an objection to the question or a point of privilege. Uh so um a priority motion would have to be in that vein. A call the question or the previous question is a standard motion that you get an order uh in the queue for. >> Council member Council member Chuck. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So, I um I really appreciate um Council Member Whiting bringing this um this this path as an option forward here today. Um, I I I think you are the person I've talked to probably the most about about this topic over the the course of the last couple days and um I I saw a continuous desire um from you to find um a place of agreement and and I I saw um how how deeply moved you were throughout those conversations by the the tremendous need that we are seeing in our community and that I deeply appreciate that. I see that need too and um and and agree that this is we need to take some action um now. So, um you know, C council member Ellison did used to be the bulldog of of the affordable housing trust fund and um you know, that's that's something um that um needs needs its its next set of bulldogs. Um, so let me attempt to do that just a little bit. The affordable housing trust fund was created in 2003 by Mayor RT Ryback. Um, its purpose was to um have a have the general fund property taxes support um the development of affordable housing units in our city. so that every taxpayer had a stake um in in in people being able to continue to live in Minneapolis and afford to live here. Um and over the years, right, we see the investment in the affordable housing trust fund chip away. We see the way it is supported and paid for um become uh less and less um reliable, I suppose. you know, uh, today none of the affordable housing trust fund is is general fund supported. Today, um, we are investing less money in the affordable housing trust fund than we were uh, prior to the pandemic. Um, and it is that it that has real life impacts, right? Um if if we can if we know that recovery um from this current crisis we are in is going to take years and years. It is important that we are we remain in the business of of helping subsidize the development of affordable housing units to continue to come online three, five, 10 years from now. so that you know the people who are directly impacted right now can can have a shot at calling Minneapolis home. We we cannot pit housing um housing critical needs against each other. And you know, I will say this as a person who has voted in in the past, just did last December to to take money out of the affordable housing trust fund, but at that time I made a commitment that this is not going to be a fund we are going to use as as as the thing that bails us out every time something um goes wrong. And and I want to honor that commitment because this this work is really important. We need to continue to do it. Um, you know, and it is it's the state the city's explicit position our our our mayor's explicit position that the best way to address homelessness is through building more affordable housing units, to build more housing in general. Why are we undermining that and pitting people who are facing evictions against people who can afford to live in Minneapolis? in three, five, and 10 years. That's the reason I can't support this as a source. Um, and and I will not be supporting this motion today, but again, um, you know, I I want to thank um, the author for for bringing this option forward um, and trying to get us to achieve some consensus. >> Council member Chowry. >> Thank you, President Payne. Yeah, I I want to thank Council Member Whiting for bringing this forward. I have appreciated our conversations about it. Uh you and I completely disagree on it, but your disagreement with me has been kind and our conversations have been direct and I have appreciated working with you in that. And I think that shows that when we're sitting here and we're having tough debates, which will befall us many more times, especially around budgeting this next year, that we can do that. Um, I just want to uh state really clearly that a million dollars equals a set of units that will be affordable for 30 years. That's always guaranteed when we have funding in the affordable housing trust fund because people regularly apply for the affordable housing trust fund and there are oftentimes applicants I think every single time there are applicants that do not get awards, right? It is soughtafter funding and we are no longer in the build more era that we were in in the city of Minneapolis that has kept our rent down, that has increased our tax base, and this is one of the few tools we have left to ensure that building continues and more importantly affordable building projects throughout our communities because we know that there are not enough units for the number of people that have need for housing. And so I simply cannot vote for this because it is death by a thousand paper cuts. Um we can't cannibalize the affordable housing trust fund. It is overprescribed by the state. We need different resources from the state when it comes to rental assistance and homelessness. That's been really clear and that's something that we will voice in our legislative agenda this year. And we need our community and our partners and philanthropy who's helping cover a lot of these costs to ensure that government shows up to meet these needs. And we're just going to need a systemwide shift on how we do housing. We can't just keep on going through crisis after crisis and our housing system isn't resilient to it because that costs lives. So, I'm unable to support this. I commend um the effort to bring this forward though. >> Council member Stevenson. Um, yeah, thank you for bringing this forward. Um, I I would also prefer to vote on cash. I agree with council vice president. Um, first, uh, I also think, uh, a million dollars directly from the affordable housing trust fund is just too steep and we should have, uh, we should rather take a smaller amounts from from, uh, different departments. But, uh, if I'm still able, I'd like to call the question. >> Council member Stevenson has called the question. Is there a second? Second. >> Uh, the clerk will call the role. >> On the motion to call the question. Council member Warren, >> no. >> Council member Schaefer, >> no. >> Council member Wanssley is absent. Council member Shai, >> I. >> Council member Whiting, >> uh, no. >> Council member Chowry, >> I. >> Council member Stevenson, >> I. Council member Rainville, >> no. >> Council member Vto, >> hi. >> Yeah. >> Council member Pomisano, >> no. >> Council member Chavez, >> hi. >> Vice President Osman is absent. Council member Wansley. >> Vice uh President Payne. >> Uh nay. >> There are six eyes and's and six nays. >> Uh that fails. Council member Wedding. I'm >> so wow. maybe your advice. >> Thank you, uh, President Payne and and I would like to to note to to my colleagues, I do appreciate, uh, the conversations that we've had, uh, for the past, uh, weeks on this motion. Uh, I think all of us again agree that this is this is an emergent need. Uh, that this is an immediate need and and I appreciate the conversations as such as as my council member colleagues both to the side of me, right, we've had long discussions on these. Um, I don't think any of us uh want to put forward a a motion that takes any dollar out of any of our funds here in the city of Minneapolis because we know that takes from individuals that need it regardless of where these funds are pulled from. Uh, again, I think, you know, to re reiterate, uh, I fully believe that this is the best middle portion uh, and movement that we can actually move this forward on. Um my worry is that you know and I'm not sure the political realities of of this uh of the general fund piece. Uh but I do expect that this may come back to us uh in in a couple weeks. And if that is the case uh that fully delays uh this immediate need to help individuals that need this need now like all of you up here I am getting the same conversations of individuals in my ward across the city uh that need this help now and today. Uh I think any delay, any increase in delay continues to put people out of their homes. Uh and that is what the affordable housing trust fund is there to do is to pe keep people in their homes. Uh that is the the direct purpose of the affordable housing trust fund. Uh and I think we all know that is so much more expensive uh to keep people housed if they are out of their homes. two weeks I think is is too long of a time uh to then uh delay this motion or this if if it comes back to us to delay it any further. Uh and and if we were able to get this through I I think I have high confidence that it it wouldn't come back to us. And so uh again kind of urge you all to to consider this again not necessarily for the merits on the on the page of the funding source uh but of the political realities that we do sit in and engage in. Thank you. Council member Warren. >> Thank you, Council President. My question is for Council Member Whiting. You're And if I'm reading this correctly, it says that the million dollars onetime rental assistance provided funds to Henipin County are unspent within a month and a day at the end of Operation Metro Surge. All remaining funds will be returned back to um CPED. Am I it'll go back? So, they'll get the money back. We're just sitting it somewhere else for a a minute and then or however. And if it's used, just use it kind of if you need it, you need it. If you don't, you don't. Is that what we're doing here? >> Correct. >> Okay. Because I don't want to take any money from no affordable housing. That's that's the part that I'm struggling with. Okay. um for uh affordable housing development, ensuring that individuals and families have what they need. I have been a recipient of section 8. I've lived in my car. I have lived at Mary Joe's shelter. I know what homelessness looks like, feels like, and I've housed homeless in Henipin County. So if we can we're not taking away from the stability and we're lending to borrow. I mean the whole thing is to get these funds and all of the red tape and paperwork. I really just want my colleagues to understand I am not antisporting anyone. That is what I do is the biggest advocacy ever for anyone and families. That's what I do. I am a mother of six children and six grandchildren. I am the champion of help someone to help somebody. Okay. But the red tape that you go through just to ask for a crumb of some bread here in I I mean seriously it is a lot. And the eligibility is slim pickings that make you eligible to even receive it. If you've never been in that food stamp line or had to stand at window 5 in Century Plaza, you don't get it. And I challenge you to really put on your thinking caps. I will support this Jameson for this one time. I want us to vote and be done with this cuz I got to pee. There's the red button to say stop. Jeez. >> Council member Chowry. >> Yeah. Thank you. I just uh I feel like one, we don't know when this surge is going to end. Two, how do you even determine if the surge has ended or not? It's not going to be through press conference. Like we're going to have to actually see it. And I mean it because Tom Hman saying we're going to withdraw down 700. Where's the 700? How do we know, right? How do we know that they're not adding more? So, I'm also willing to say that like the need is so high, which we have seen through millions of millions of dollars of mutual aid funding that like we're probably not going to see the million dollars back or a significant amount back. So, I don't want us to just put our hat on this, like the need is incredible. Um, the last thing I'll say is if this is to pass or if it's vetoed, which I'm hearing an illusion to, um, and that that veto is then sustained, I will 100% bring a general fund allocation in the budget cycle to refill the affordable housing trust fund. So, we can either do that now or we can do it later because I will bring it back. Council member Chavez. Uh, thank you, Council President Payne. I want to thank Council Wing for bringing this forward. I cannot support it. I think this would be detrimental to our affordable housing stock across the city, especially when we are living in an emergency if we didn't want to take from the affordable housing trust fund. We should have taken from the contingency fund. So, the other option that many members before we took that vote said was we're going for this cash fund. We had optioned um and now we're going to do something different. Right? So I also want to point out that the way the resolution is written um while I appreciate that 10 could have an impact on who gets these services. It talks about that uh funds to Henipin County that are unspent within one month in a day of the end of operation metro surge all remaining funds shall be returned to CPED. Even if operation metro surge were to end, ICE is still going to be in our city and in our state and they're still going to be kidnapping our neighbors. They have been doing so before operation metro surge. There has been an issue impacting our neighbors way before this operation happened. Many of our families and loved ones are still going to be torn apart. So I feel like while I appreciate the intention of this resource, the way it has been written will also have an unintentional consequence of who can access the resources. So I can't support it, but I appreciate the thought of trying to bring people together. Seeing no one else left in quue, I will ask the clerk to call the role on the resolution brought forward by council member Whiting to source from the affordable housing trust fund for rental assistance. >> Council member Warren >> I. >> Council member Schaefer >> I. >> Council member Wanssley. >> Nay. >> Council member Shtai. >> Nay. >> Council member Whiting. >> I. >> Council member Chowry. >> Nay. Council member Stevenson, >> nay. >> Council member Rainville, >> I. >> Council member Vita, >> I. >> Council member Palmisano, >> I. >> Council member Chavez, >> no. >> Vice President Osman, >> no. >> President Payne, >> nay. >> There are six eyes and seven nays. >> That motion fails. And now I will recognize Council Member Wanley. >> Thank you, President Payne. I will move the motion forward using the cash balance um as a funding source um to go to uh Henipin County in the amount of 1 million. Um and you have the technical amendments in front of you to the revised motion and I will ask for a second. >> Second. >> Second. >> Council member Wansley has moved the resolution. It's been properly seconded. I'll recognize council member Chuck Tai. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just feel so incredibly disappointed that this is this is this is the last option, right? This is the the we're now pulling money out of our our fund balance. Our our financial position is in uh in an incredibly tough place. And um a part of that is a $20 million overspend um by the Minneapolis Police Department in last year's budget um or over the course of 2025 um which has significantly diminished our cushion um we have significant overtime um resources that have been spent so far this year. We're just in fe February. Um, and I really dislike that this is where we are pulling from. This was and I I like I very strongly believe and continue to that the the most appropriate source um was contingency. That was not the will of the body. Um, and it I just um I'm going to support this because because of how large the need is and how few resources exist in the face of it and that that that just matters the most right now. But like this can't be how we keep moving forward. We're going to have a lot of tough choices to make over the course of this year and then as we look towards um our budget for next year and like we can't we there we can't we don't have cushions. We don't have magic money hidden places anymore. And we this is this is a reflection of how significant the need is because I know that that most of the authors here did not prefer this source in the first place. The preference was the most appropriate source given all of the the conditions before us. But here we are. I hope sincerely that this can be um a motion that that this body can improve so that we can do our small little part in keeping people in their homes and in the neighborhoods that they love, in their communities. Thank you, >> Council Member Chowry. >> Thanks, President Payne. And I just wanted to make a quick remark that members, we do have a procedural ability to reconsider our vote on the contingency motion, right? We we can do that if the body so chooses. I mean, it would need the help of the clerks, but there would have to be a will and if there is a change of heart, like it's not over for us to reconsider contingency, which I do agree is the most appropriate place where this should come from. Mr. Clerk, do you want to remind the body how uh reconsideration works? >> Uh Mr. President, the motion to reconsider it requires someone who voted in the prevailing side to make that motion uh assuming it passes then that matter returns before the body and can be uh taken up again for a second vote. So the first thing is to uh make sure that we have someone who voted in the majority or on the prevailing side uh of the original question. Uh and I'll say that the original question I have was 8 to five. It failed because it was a vote which to consider approving it required 10. As the body knows the use of contingency under city charter requires 10 votes. So it was two votes shy from passing the charter threshold. So any of the eight council members who voted uh w with the majority could uh make a motion to bring I'm sorry anybody from the five because it failed and that's the prevailing side would be able to bring a forward a motion to reconsider that uh procedure and then it would be back in front of us would have to be >> council member. >> Okay. Uh council member. >> Yeah. Thank you Mr. President. U Mr. Mr. Clerk, can you or through the chair? Mr. I just I'm hoping if the clerk can um uh list off the the five members that were on the prevailing side just one more time >> through the president. Those who voted nay, which is the prevailing side, uh were council members Warren, Schaefer, Rainville, Vita, and Palmisano. >> Um Mr. chair. I mean, I I would urge one of these members who voted on who who were on the prevailing side to please please make a motion to reconsider. I see that I'm not qu >> uh and uh I guess I'll just add myself to Q just really quickly just to thank Council Member Whiting for you have been very clear about your spirit of problem solving and you brought a very problem-solving approach to this. Um however uh uh although your motion didn't prevail, I really appreciated the effort that you put into that. uh and I will be supporting our uh motion that's in front of us right now. And seeing no one else left in queue, I will ask the clerk to call the role on the wansley motion. For clarity, Mr. President, I'll point out this uh version has revised highlighted in yellow at the top and has council member Shugai also added as a co-author at the end. >> Council member Warren, >> no. >> Council member Schaefer, >> no. >> Council member Wanssley, >> I. >> Council member Shai, >> I. Council member Whiting. >> No. >> Council member Chowry. >> I. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> I. >> Council member Vita. >> I. >> Council member Palmisano. >> No. >> Council member Chavez. >> I. >> Vice President Osman. >> I. >> President Payne. >> I. >> There are nine eyes's and four nazs. >> That motion passes. And that completes the all items on the uh entire supercal report. Uh the next order of business is notice of ordinance introductions. We have three notices today. One of which was added to our agenda at the top of the meeting. First, council members Chavez, Chowry, Wanley, Payne, and Stevenson give notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an ordinance to amend the health and sanitation code to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia. Second, Council Vice President Osman gives notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting the subject matter of an ordinance amending the licenses and business regulations code to amend the regulation of alcohol on licensed parking lot premises. And third, uh, Council Member Chuck Tai gives notice of intent to introduce at the next regular meeting of the city council the subject matter of an ordinance amending title 12, chapter 244 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances related to uh, housing maintenance code uh, section 244.285 to add regulations regarding owner entry into a rented dwelling unit. Uh those notices are hereby given and no further action is required at this time. The next order of business is the introduction and referral calendar. We have two introductions today. First, pursuant to notice, council members Wansley, Osman, Chavez, and Stevenson move to introduce the subject matter of an ordinance to amend the housing code, give first reading, and refer to the business housing and zoning committee for its consideration a proposal to authorize eviction moratoria during states of emergency. Second, council members Wanzley, Osman, Stevenson, Chavez, and Chowry move to introduce an ordinance amending the housing code giving first reading refer to the committee of the whole and set a public hearing to be held at that committee's meeting on February 17th, a proposal to temporarily extend the length of required pre-eviction notices. I'll note that this introduction seeks to bypass the first step for enacting an ordinance, which is notice. So, it will require unanimous consent to accomplish what is being proposed for this ordinance. May I have a motion to approve these introductions? >> Some moved. Second. >> That's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I'll recognize council member Wanley. >> Thank you, President Payne. Uh colleagues, I'm uh asking for your support on an ordinance called Paul's Eviction Save Lives, which is a temporary policy change that will extend the timeline for evictions to protect renters from the impacts of the ICE occupation. Currently, if a landlord plans to file a eviction due to mis rent, they must give the renter 30 days notice prior to filing the eviction. Paul's eviction save lives would temporarily increase the required notice from 30 days to 60 days. This gives family an extra month to acquire the funds needed to cover any missed rent and avoid having a eviction be filed. The 60-day requirement would be in effect until July 31st. Rental assistance funding takes time as we just had a very robust conversation around that. Um and additionally, new financial resources could be available to families once the state legislative session begins on February 16, sorry, 17th. And Paul's eviction save lives give families more time to apply for and receive rental assistance funding and thus preventing evictions and protecting families. My co-authors are asking for your support to expedite the consideration of the ordinance. And I'm going to outline why. The expedited timeline is the difference between families being protected on March 1st or not. This will literally make the difference for thousands of families entering into the eviction process versus thousand thousands of families having to um or having a protection in place when next month's rent is due. And I'm not being dramatic when I say this, but this could absolutely save lives. And that's a huge responsibility and opportunity that this council has. And I hope there would be um not a member of this body who is okay with letting families come up on March 1st, rent being due and not having a protection in place. And it's with that serious responsibility to protect residents in our hands that I ask for unanimous support from council on today's action to wave notice of intent to introduce introduce give a first reading of the ordinance refer to the committee of the whole and set a public hearing for the committee of the whole on February 17th. From there, we would hold a public hearing at the committee of the whole on February 17th, followed by a council vote on the ordinance on February 19th. And during the week of February uh 9th, we have asked the CAO or city attorney's office to be available for briefings on the ordinance to help ensure that you all have all the information that you need prior to council's final consideration and vote of the ordinance on February 19th. If there was ever a time or moment to expedite a process, this is it. And we have the opportunity to deliver protections for our community and hope this is another opportunity in which we can work together to pause evictions and save lives. So with that, I will uh motion the item for approval. Second. >> It's been motioned and seconded. Uh and seeing no one else left in queue, uh I will ask the clerk to call the role, reminding everyone that we do need unanimous consent. And Mr. Mr. Cler, did you want to give any guidance? >> Not guidance, but I actually wanted to offer some compliments and maybe some explanations both for returning council members and new council members in the public who watch. There are some subtle language differences that are clues to council members when we get to the introduction and referral calendar. Um, if you'll notice on number one, the eviction moratorum ordinance uses the phrase to introduce the subject matter of an ordinance. On number two, it says to introduce an ordinance. That's the clerk's subtle way of telling you. Well, number one, we don't have a draft ordinance. It has not been prepared. We're giving a reading to an ordinance that no one has seen. Council member Wanley and her associates on the second one have done their due diligence and there is actually a full ordinance. It's in limbs. It's posted for public access, which is why the usual process should be number two. There is an ordinance that you can see, that the public can see. We are actually giving it its first reading today. This is the first step in the legislative process where council could vote to kill an ordinance. Right? This is the first formal vote on an ordinance. And in 95% of the cases, we don't have a draft ordinance. So, this is the process whereby the council members have done their homework. They've prepared an ordinance. They've worked with the attorneys. They've brought it forward. It was on the LIMS file and available for all council members and the public to see before we take the vote today. So, I wanted to say thank you for for all that work and to say that's the subtle difference. If you're reading those items on the agenda, when it says subject matter, we don't have anything. When it says ordinance, we actually have the draft ordinance. >> Thank you. >> I'm happy to call the role, Mr. >> Yep. Thank you for that clarification. And I'll ask you the clerk to call the role. >> Council member Warren, >> no. >> Council member Schaefer. >> No. >> Council member Wanssley. >> I. >> Council member Shai, >> I. Council member Whiting. >> I. >> Council member Chowry. >> I. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> No. >> Council member Vita. >> No. >> Council member Palmisano. >> No. >> Council member Chavez. >> I. >> Vice President Osman. >> I. >> President Payne. >> I. >> There are eight eyes and five nazs. >> Uh, that motion fails. As required unanimous uh consent. >> Mr. President, the first item passes. It only needed a simple majority. So item one on the introduction referral calendar will move forward as stated. On item number two, it did it failed to get unanimous consent. So I'm assuming that council Wanza would give notice today and move forward >> and that doesn't require um a vote because now it just became a notice of introduction. >> That's right. Uh Council Member Wanley. >> Yep. This is >> Sorry. Yes. Thank you, Cler Carl. uh we had the opportunity to do something very simple with and show unity to expedite a legislative process when the work has been already done to give you an ordinance um and to bring your constituents along for a public hearing that would have took place on February 17th and we could have made sure that uh preventative protections against evictions could have been in place ahead of the March 1st deadline for rent. uh super majority of our colleagues did not want to move forward, but luckily we still have our legislative process uh to move forward with this. So, I'm giving official notice that would still allow us to move forward and would then require a simple majority um vote at the end of it to adopt it and at least and unfortunately at least um after March 1st, this would if adopted by this body would give thousands of families that additional 60 days temporarily um to seek out rental assistance and stay housed. But it's it's really sad that we're almost going into the third month of this operation and a super majority of this body could not get behind uh making sure that residents had a pre-eviction uh protection in place. That said, I look forward to um gaining the support of a majority of my colleagues um to put this in place in the coming weeks and months as we further consider it. >> That no notice is hereby given and no further action is required at this time. And Mr. Mr. Clark, I have several folks in queue, but we actually don't have an item on the table anymore, do we? >> No. Well, the next order of business is uh resolutions. We have one resolution today and that is an honorary resolution to designate the month of February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Minneapolis. We were able to participate in a breakfast event in our historic rotunda this morning. That was the city's official launch of this month's long uh celebration of Black History Month. I want to express the count the council's thanks to uh the city's black employee network embing committee who organized today's breakfast celebration. Do council members have any comments to add? Uh council member of Utah. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. This morning we had a wonderful breakfast and um we had lots of folks attend. It was actually a super fun way to start the day in honor of Black History Month. I just wanted to acknowledge a woman who was there this morning and somehow we missed her. Her name is Destiny Prosper. She's been a hero in North Minneapolis. She has actually fundraised $40,000 for L for Jenny Lynn School uh by herself. You may catch her on the news every now and then talking about the amazing work she's done in North Minneapolis. We have so many heroes like Destiny in our community, but I wanted to make sure that I acknowledged her because uh she has I mean she's just taken this thing by storm with helping with food uh rent rent assistance. She was actually one of the first persons that I met that was doing home delivery. So, thank you Destiny. Thank you to everyone. But in particular in this Black History Month, I wanted to make sure that we acknowledge the phenomenal work she's doing on behalf of families in North Minneapolis. And thanks to everyone else who attended this morning. Fun celebration, good way to start the day and to get a good start on Black History Month. I enjoyed all the fun we had. The good breakfast. Thank you to Latuni for catering the breakfast this morning. That was a great addition to um the event. It's always good when you gather black people, you got to have food. So, that was um a good addition. Thank you so much to the clerk's office for making sure and um also to the building um uh commission and security and everyone for making sure we were safe and we had a good fun time this morning for our annual Black History Month breakfast. >> Council member Warren. >> Thank you, Council President. Um I want to just say thank you to everyone. This was um beautiful. all of the individuals that we recognized and all of the attendees in support of the work and the resilience of of black folks here in America um to have a moment during this time of uncertainty throughout the city to recognize the instrument of leadership, the instrument of creativity, the instrument of resilience that we have embodied for um for hundreds of years here in America. I'm I'm ultimately grateful for the opportunity and that the city took time to uplift this this time and this moment. The work is not done. Um the work continues and I just want to honor and celebrate everyone um in that we recognize today and and all bodies that came and attended and supported and uplifted um those moments and um yeah that's it. That's that's what I got. So thank you for for that opportunity. It was wonderful. >> Council member Chowry. >> Thank you so much. President Payne. Um, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the extreme hardship that are black, brown, indigenous, immigrant businesses particularly are facing. um they were already facing uh many many issues and were in recovery uh prior to the ICE occupation and surge, but we're seeing from our local businesses that they are at some in some cases seeing an 80% decrease in the regular uh customer base that they have. So, I'm just encouraging everyone to uh go to a black, brown, indigenous, immigrant-owned business. Uh double your orders, tip extra if you can. Um if you can share that out on your social media and channels, uh that's something that I continue to hear as a need. uh promotion is really really helpful and our city has been showing up as there's been different direct actions um that fill our streets and then we end up seeing community members go uh to our to our local businesses. So just encouraging everyone that's watching to spread the word and all of us to continue to lean in in that way. >> Council member Chavez. Oh, Council Member Warren. >> Thank you, Council President. I just want to say that it is truly an honor as a new council member to sit amongst a body of of council representatives from all across the diaspora. Um, that that truly feels empowering. It's beautiful. And I wanted to acknowledge that at this at this very same time. And don't ever disrespect me by equating me and or making me um comparing me to MAGA in any way because I'm blackety black. Okay, just so you understand. Foundationally to this. Ain't nowhere they can send me to. I've been here. There never was a time when I was not and I will always be here. The end. >> Seeing no one else left in queue, I'll ask the clerk to call the role. >> Resolution. Council member Warren >> I. >> Council member Schaefer >> I. >> Council member Wanssley is absent. Council member Shaktai. >> I. >> Council member Whiting. >> I. >> Council member Chowry. >> I. >> Council member Stevenson. >> I. >> Council member Rainville. >> I. >> Council member Vita. >> I. >> Council member Palmisano. >> I. >> Council member Chavez. >> Hi. >> Vice President Osman is absent. President Payne. >> I. >> Larry 11 eyes. >> That carries. and that resolution is adopted. And for myself and for the entire city council, I want to uplift our black residents, neighbors, colleagues, and family members. We set aside this month each year to commemorate Black History Month, but it is important that we recognize, honor, and celebrate the lives of black people all year long. Uh, and I want to especially offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Minneapolis Black Employee Network and Gani Omar from the War I 2 office who did a heavy lift to put on today's uh event. Um, and day after day both inside the city enterprise as well as out in the community. So, thank you for that. >> Um, next we have a request for a close session today with our city attorney. But before I recognize the attorney for that purpose, uh I will ask if there are any announcements from council members. >> I'm on Q. >> Council member Chavez. >> Uh thank you, Council President Payne. I just wanted to uh confer with the clerks that all the authors for the temporary pre-eviction notice extension no are reflected on the notice of intent. >> I'm so sorry, council member. Can you repeat that? Since we the notice of intent, I want to make sure that the authors that were submitted for the ordinance are reflected on there. >> Happy to add your name. >> Great. Thank you. Um it's not just me either. Also really wanted to talk about the item and its importance. So I hope that when this ordinance comes before the council that neighbors show up to city hall, talk to your council members about the importance of this emergency temporary pre-eviction notice ordinance. The reality is many of our neighbors are going to face displacement. $1 million that we just allocated in the city council is not going to be enough to prevent the displacement of our neighbors. The GoFundMes, the rental assistance that our our neighbors in Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, across the country are fundraising is not going to be enough to prevent the displacement of our neighbors. I was hoping that we would have taken this action to go the route of a more expedited expedited route to prevent the displacement of our neighbors. I'm disappointed that we didn't do that today, but it doesn't mean we get to stop. Now neighbors get to advocate and ask their council members, their elected officials to take action. And I can't wait for this vote to happen. I'm disappointed it wasn't able to happen in an expedited way, but there is going to be an opportunity for folks to testify, to come to the chambers and ask for change. So, thank you, >> Council Member Chowry. >> Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to make an apology to my colleagues. I did not make mean to make my statement during um the resolution. I had mistaken that for announcement. So, I just apologize that I made that statement during the resolution portion because that's exclusively uh for Black History Month. >> Uh, Council Member Wanzi, would you like your vote reflected for the Black History Month resolution? >> Yes, as a affirmative. >> All right, got that. Council member Chuck Tai. >> Um, thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just wanted to take this opportunity um to um acknowledge that uh this morning um at as early as 6:00 um just less than a day after uh Tom Hullman announced that uh there would be an end to roving um to roving patrols. uh and that uh there'd be a reduction in the number of agents that were that were going to each um or carrying out these these quote unquote targeted operations which we clearly see over the course of the last two days have not that's not been the case. Um and you know this morning so early, you know, dozens of my neighbors were woken up um because because ICE agents um broke down an apartment building's door um and two dozen agents went in and um arrested arrested did a woman that um was our neighbor. And it's just the we're continuing to experience um tragedy after tragedy uh right now. And uh you know, I just want to um hold some space for for my constituents, for all of your constituents, honestly. Um we're all living through this together. Um and yeah, thank you. >> See no one else left in Q. Uh with that, we've completed all of the items on our agenda. I'll recognize the city attorney to provide the legal basis for the requested close session as noted on our agenda. >> Thank you, President Payne. As you just noted, the next item on the agenda uh is a discussion of the state of Minnesota at all versus gnome at all. Your lawyers wish to provide a briefing to the council on this litigation matter. Accordingly, under the Minnesota Open Meeting Law, Minnesota statutes section 13D.05 subdivision 3B, the council may upon a proper motion close the meeting for the purposes of attorney client communication as permitted by the attorney client privilege. In considering the motion, the council should weigh the right of the public to know what its government is doing against the need of the city to preserve the conf confidentiality of its discussion with its attorneys. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Attorney. I move to close our public meeting as authorized under the open meeting law, specifically Minnesota statute section 13D.05 for the purpose of receiving a briefing on the litigation matter of state of Minnesota at all vom at all. May I have a second to that motion? Second. >> The clerk will call the role. >> Right. >> Council member Warren. >> Hi. >> Council member Schaefer. >> Hi. >> Council member Wansson. >> Hi. >> Council member Shaktai. >> Hi. >> Council member White. >> Hi. >> Council member Chowry. >> Hi. >> Council member Stevenson. >> Hi. >> Council member Rainville. >> I. >> Council member Vita. >> Hi. >> Council member Palmisano. >> Hi. >> Council member Chavez. >> Hi. >> Vice President Osman Escon. President Payne. >> I. >> There are 12 eyes. >> That carries. For the viewing public, I'll note that the broadcast of this meeting will continue in the uh and the council will reconvene in public after we've concluded the close session. Tech team are ready. The time is now 1:19 and the city council has reconvened an open session following our close session. I'll ask the clerk to call the role to approve the pre the presence of a quorum. >> Council member Warren >> present. >> Council member Schaefer >> present. Council member Wansley >> present. >> Council member Shai is absent. Council member Whiting >> present. >> Council member Shri >> present. >> Council member Stevenson >> present. >> Council member Rainville >> present. >> Council member Vita >> present. >> Council member Palisano >> present. >> Council member Chavez >> present. >> Vice President Osman >> present. >> President Payne >> present. >> There are 12 members present. >> Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. With that, we've completed our business today with nothing further to come before the council. And without objection, this meeting is hereby adjourned.