Minneapolis council votes 9-4 to eliminate safety office; Mayor Frey meeting with council members

The Minneapolis City Council voted 9-4 to eliminate the Office of Community Safety, including the community safety commissioner position, as part of an ordinance that restructures city government.

The office, created in 2022, supervises the police and fire departments, 911, emergency management and neighborhood safety. Under the ordinance, the heads of those departments will report directly to the mayor or the mayor's designee.

Council Members Linea Palmisano, Elizabeth Shaffer, Jamison Whiting and Michael Rainville voted against. Mayor Jacob Frey was scheduled to meet with Whiting and Palmisano at 3:30 p.m. in his office. The ordinance now goes to the mayor for review.

The ordinance also eliminates the Performance Management and Innovation Department and the Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Department. It adds to the Neighborhood and Community Relations Department's work advancing racial equity and inclusivity in city services and programs, and it codifies the department's existing work supporting immigrant communities.

For the Neighborhood Safety Department, the ordinance removes a reference to harm reduction programs. It adds developing and implementing programs that support public safety beyond policing and incorporating evidence-based public health strategies into the department's work.

Toddrick Barnette, a former Hennepin County chief judge, was nominated by Frey and sworn in as commissioner in October 2023. He succeeded Cedric Alexander, the first person to hold the job.

The council voted 7-6 on April 9 against reappointing Barnette after Frey nominated him for another term. City Council President Elliott Payne said Barnette had been "far too absent and often disconnected from the role." Other council members who voted no argued he failed to control overspending and poorly managed the city's violence interruptor program. Frey vetoed the decision. A city spokesperson said no one had vetoed a cabinet appointee before, at least since the current city government structure was established in 2013.

The council voted 7-6 on April 20 to override the veto, falling short of the nine votes needed. The outcome meant the council's rejection did not stand, but Barnette did not receive a new permanent term either.

Barnette has since served as interim commissioner. A city spokesperson said in August that he will leave at the end of the year while a search for a permanent commissioner moves forward.