Meeting Information

• Date: December 10, 2023
• Title: Committee of the Whole Regular Meeting
• Present: Rainville, Vetaw, Ellison, Cashman, Palmisano, Chowdhury, Chavez (Later joined by: Payne, Wonsley, Chughtai, Koski)
• Absent: Osman, Jenkins
• Guests: Commander Wright, Sergeant Vanessa Anderson (MPD)
• Votes: 3 (Consent agenda, TASER contract amendment, adjournment)

Highlights

• Dissolution of three advisory boards: Minneapolis Animal Care and Control Advisory Board, Violence Prevention Steering Committee, and Futuro Latino Empowerment Commission
• Evaluation request for unpaved alleys in the Capital Improvement Program
• TASER-10 upgrade contract amendment for MPD ($1.2M increase)

Discussion

Unpaved Alleys Evaluation

Council President Payne and Council Member Palmisano brought forward a legislative directive to examine the city’s approach to alley maintenance and paving. The current annual budget of $250,000 was described as inadequate. The discussion highlighted that some alleys remain unpaved and the city has historically deprioritized alley maintenance compared to streets.

“At a systems level, we have had a fixed amount of money allocated in our capital plan for many, many years on alley maintenance. And it is a very small number in total,” said Council President Payne. “The question here is, given the lifetime of this infrastructure and its current conditions, is that the adequate amount of money to be allocating?”

Passed unanimously as part of consent agenda.

TASER-10 Contract Amendment

MPD presented an upgrade to their TASER equipment, including new TASER-10 devices and virtual reality training components. The upgrade includes improved features such as:

• Extended range (45 feet vs 25 feet)
• Removal of drive stun capability
• Better accuracy with individually targeted probes
• Virtual reality training capabilities

Significant discussion focused on safety improvements and training opportunities. Council members raised questions about the fiscal impact, with Council Member Wonsley noting discrepancies in the fiscal note. Due to concerns about unclear financial information, the item was moved forward to full council without recommendation.

Quote from Commander Wright: “The VR training portion does come with the contract amendment… we saw that the need for continuous micro learnings and smaller trainings where we increase the number of repetitions and it reflects in their ability to perform their job better.”

Moved forward without recommendation (unanimous).

Public Comments

No public comments were recorded in this session.