Administration & Enterprise Oversight Committee Meeting Summary

Meeting Information

• Date: March 3rd, 2025
• Title: Administration & Enterprise Oversight Committee Regular Meeting
• Present: Robin Wonsley (Chair), LaTrisha Vetaw, Katie Cashman, Linea Palmisano (Vice Chair)
• Absent: Jeremiah Ellison, Aisha Chughtai (notified absence)
• Guests:
  • Rich Parocha (HR Manager)
  • Christopher Gators (MPD Assistant Chief)
  • Maurice [last name not provided] (Zencity Senior Advisor)
  • Dr. [first name not provided] (Zencity Head of Survey Research)
• Votes: 3 (consent agenda approval, Urban Scholars funding approval, receive and file Zencity presentation)

Highlights

• Urban Scholars Program funding and updates for 2025, including transfer from Civil Rights to HR Department
• Zencity community perception survey preliminary findings and methodology discussion
• Contract amendment with FCC Environmental Services Minnesota for South Side waste transfer station
• Contract amendment for Hennepin Avenue South reconstruction project

Discussion

Urban Scholars Program Updates

HR Manager Rich Parocha presented on the Urban Scholars program’s transition to the HR Department, with $127,000 in funding transferred from Civil Rights. The program has received over 1,250 applications for 2025, exceeding last year’s pace. The program will support 8-10 internal scholars and approximately 45 total positions including external partners. Council members expressed strong interest in the program’s expansion and departmental participation.

Councilmember Cashman inquired about legislative department participation and expressed interest in hosting an intern. The program will run June 2nd through August, with placements finalized within the next month and a half.

Vote: Approved unanimously

Zencity Community Perception Survey

Extensive discussion occurred regarding the methodology and preliminary findings of Zencity’s community perception survey of MPD. The survey measures trust, fairness, safety, and procedural justice metrics across precincts. Council members raised concerns about data transparency, geographic representation, and alignment with consent decree requirements.

Chair Wonsley questioned the baseline metrics and suggested incorporating pre-2020 data: “I want to get a sense of where our community perceptions of MPD, in particular, and using a baseline of 2020, May 2020… maybe, also, pre-May 2020 to now also be able to assess to where you are focusing.”

Councilmember Vetaw, initially skeptical, expressed support: “This information has been good in guiding us for what we need to focus our public safety efforts on… I’m excited to know what action we can take in the future based off this data.”

Key concerns included data privacy, AI usage in analysis, and public accessibility of findings. MPD committed to working on making the data more publicly accessible.

Vote: Received and filed unanimously

Public Comments

No public comments were made during this meeting.