The Minneapolis City Council is set to weigh the mayor's police chief nomination amid some fiscal and structural clashes.
Ward 2 council member Robin Wonsley confirming the council will hold a public hearing on November 4th regarding Mayor Jacob Frey's nomination of interim chief Bill Peterson, followed by a full council vote on November 12th.
She says the mayor's choice caught some members off guard because, Peterson is a 30-year veteran of a department that is still working to shake off federal consent decrees issues and civil rights complaints.
"Prior to Mayor Frey making his nomination members of the council sent a letter to Mayor Frey, naming the need to have an external candidate to be selected ," says Wonsley, " we also laid out our rational for that and never received follow up.
Wonsley points to a closed-door selection process as one of the drivers of the council's skepticism.
" All of us were collectively surprised to se that a selection in interim chief Bill Peterson materialize, based off of the process that was articulated. So again it really didn't help to further trust in this process."
The decision is being further complicated by wider city hall friction, including a $20 million police budget gap, and a council push to scrap the Office of Community Safety.
Still, Wonsley says she believes the ongoing clash is just democracy in action, she says the two upcoming November hearings on Peterson's confirmation will ultimately test the relationship between the mayor's office and the council.
