Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pushed back on the City Council after some members claimed a new recruitment and retention agreement between his administration and the city’s police union was sprung on them.
Yesterday, the council’s budget committee voted to not even consider the agreement, which includes spending $15 million in state funding for officer incentives and more funding to help retain those already employed.
The city had already reached a tentative agreement with the police union, but on Tuesday, council members voted to keep the item off of the day’s budget committee agenda.
Council member Latrisha Vetaw questioned her fellow council members about the decision.
“I just don’t think this council is taking how serious this issue is with the pace we’re losing officers. We’ve already lost 66 officers this year, and we’re expecting a lot more next year,” Vetaw said.
Council member Jamal Osman says that the measure would not “save lives,” noting that places of worship, public transit, and other areas in the city that are unsafe should instead receive the funding.
In response, Frey has called a special council meeting on Friday to vote on the agreement.
“It’s not like we didn’t get anything in exchange for the incentives we’re providing,” Frey said. “We clawed back a very important managerial authority that would allow our chief to place officers where they’re needed most without going through a long and extended bidding process, leaving certain precincts in the interim with not enough officers.”
Yesterday’s move by the council indicates there may not be enough votes to approve the agreement.
Frey says regardless, they need to know now, given the city’s serious police understaffing problem. He says if it’s voted down, they’ll go back to the negotiating table.