Minneapolis Public Health & Safety Committee Meeting Summary
Meeting Information
- Date: January 11, 2024
- Title: Regular Meeting of the Public Health and Safety Committee
- Present: Chavez (Chair), Payne, Rainville, Palmisano, Wonsley (Vice Chair), Ellison (arrived late), Cashman (arrived late)
- Absent: None explicitly marked
- Guests: Director Nelson-Brown from Office of Neighborhood Safety
- Votes: 2 (consent agenda, postponement of item 6)
Highlights
- Consent agenda including setting public hearing for ordinance on city-owned resource fees for off-duty policing
- Legislative directive for analysis of mental health and substance use disorder treatment access
- Violence Interrupter program deployment and evaluation presentation
- Postponement of Safe and Thriving Communities Plan discussion
Discussion
Off-Duty Policing Resources Ordinance
Vice Chair Wonsley discussed the importance of the ordinance allowing the city to charge fees for off-duty policing resources. She noted this aligns with recent Department of Justice consent decree requirements and could have generated up to $1.4 million in revenue. She emphasized this has been a three-year effort to implement these regulations.
Quote: “The delay from the Frye administration in implementing this fee is not only bad public policy. It’s also a bad financial one.”
Passed as part of consent agenda unanimously.
Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Analysis
Councilmember Rainville introduced this directive to study treatment access and options, particularly for residents experiencing homelessness. Multiple council members expressed support for studying treatment access while voicing concerns about potential coercive treatment measures similar to California’s CARE Court model.
Quote from Council President Payne: “We need to acknowledge the real need in the community… when we have culturally appropriate treatment options, people will actually want to pursue that support.”
Passed as part of consent agenda unanimously.
Violence Interrupter Program
Director Nelson-Brown gave an extensive presentation on the city’s violence interruption programs, including data collection methods, deployment strategies, and evaluation metrics. Significant discussion followed regarding:
- The distinction between Violence Interrupters and Group Violence Intervention (GVI) programs
- Data collection and analysis capabilities
- Geographic deployment of resources
- Contract management and flexibility
- Staffing and infrastructure needs
Several council members, particularly Vice Chair Wonsley and Councilmember Cashman, expressed concerns about the lack of specific data visualization and metrics in the presentation.
Received and filed.
Public Comments
No public comments were recorded in this transcript.