Minneapolis City Council votes on MPD overtime, driverless cars, mayor subpoena power

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Three major Minneapolis City Council votes put oversight, police spending and robotaxis at the center of a growing clash with Mayor Jacob Frey.

Council pushes for City Hall oversight

A series of Minneapolis City Council votes Thursday exemplified growing tension between the council and Mayor Jacob Frey, since Frey earlier this fall restricted his staff in their appearances at council meetings.

Local perspective:

At the council’s direction, the city attorney will determine whether the council has any legal way to subpoena the mayor and his staff and force them to attend meetings to answer questions. Council members expressed frustration at the change in procedure back in September. Since then, Frey’s staff has been providing written answers to council questions. Frey said he made the change after noticing his staff members were spending an inordinate amount of time waiting to be called on in the council chambers.

The frequently divided council united in their protest of the decision, and disappointment in Frey.

"We need to have a willing participant to do that type of collaboration. And I have not always experienced that. And I think that just making sure that we have the full set of tools around oversight would be important for us to get an opinion on," said Minneapolis Council President Elliott Payne.

What's next:

The city attorney will now review the question and decide whether the council has any legal path to compel the mayor and staff to appear at meetings. The city attorney Thursday did not say when that opinion could come back to the council.

Police overtime faces new scrutiny

The council is also trying to rein in Minneapolis Police Department spending, as they work to balance next year’s budget. Council Member Jason Chavez sponsored resolutions asking for more information from MPD on why the department has not remedied issues found in audits dating as far back as 2019. These audits, according to Chavez, found the department has not followed policy when tracking off-duty officer work and fleet maintenance.

By the numbers:

The council also voted to audit the department’s use of overtime. The city has spent more than $20 million a year on police overtime since 2022.

Why you should care:

Frey has said the overtime spending is tied to low staffing. Council members say the spending reflects mismanagement. Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson, who Frey has nominated to take the roll permanently, said in a council budget meeting last month he inherited a budget "mess" from former Chief Brian O’Hara.

The city council will host a public hearing on the potential appointment of Peterson to police chief in a future Public Safety, Health and Equity committee meeting.

It’s another pressure point in the council’s larger fight with the mayor over control and accountability at City Hall.

Robotaxi rules hit veto wall

The council also tried to override Frey’s veto of its driverless car regulations. The council had previously voted seven to six to require human safety monitors to sit in the driver’s seat.

The other side:

Waymo, which is already testing its cars in Minneapolis, has called that rule a de-facto ban. Frey agreed and vetoed the rule shortly after the council’s decision.

The council did not have the votes Thursday to override the veto, so the veto stands and driverless cars can proceed without humans behind the wheel.

What we don't know:

Rideshare drivers are worried about job loss. 

"While the mayor's veto of Workers Drive Minneapolis does represent a huge win for Google, Elon Musk or even Jeff Bezos, we do still have thousands of working-class families who are going to have conversations in the coming weeks and months about what they will do or how they will make ends meet," said Council Member Robin Wonsley. "If a breadwinner loses their income to a driverless robotaxi."

Wonsley said she plans to try again with other regulations on robotaxis, but she did not say what those regulations would be.

Thursday the city council also unanimously voted to direct the city auditor to review how MPD responded or failed to respond to Mariah Samuels’ multiple calls for help to police and the city before her former boyfriend shot and killed her. 

Samuels had an order of protection filed against David Wright. The family says Minneapolis police failed to act on multiple violations of the order by Wright.

"The systems that we have in place wholly failed her," Council Member Aisha Chughtai said.