Inside the vote to pass the Minneapolis police contract

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: And after weeks of public hearings, the Minneapolis City Council decided this morning to approve a proposed contract with the City's Police Union that will make Minneapolis officers some of the highest paid in the state. Reporter Jon Collins was at the meeting. He joins us right now. I know you've just got out of the meeting, Jon. How did the vote go?

JON COLLINS: You know, there were supporters and opponents of the contract in the chambers, you know, from both sides. So that really mirrored the split on the council itself. Council member, Robin Wonsley, was the first person to speak. She brought up that, you know, in the past, city leaders, including the Mayor, have blamed the police contract for a lack of change in the department, saying, it tied their hands.

She said, she doesn't understand why the city appears to have abandoned that approach. Wonsley also said she disagrees that the contract is not the place for reform, and she was disappointed that more priorities from the council were not included in the proposed contract. And she says, the contract she doesn't believe is going to be successful in attracting or retaining officers.

ROBIN WONSLEY: If this contract passes, I don't necessarily believe that it's going to dramatically change our staffing numbers. In fact, I think we should expect to see a significant number of our officers retire once this contract passes. I don't necessarily see it's going to retain or suddenly increase our officer ranks to get back to the glory days of pre-2020. And that's largely because pay raises without real and permanent reform does not actually lead to an increased healthy workforce.

JON COLLINS: And there were council members, of course, on the other side. Council member, Linea Palmisano, said this contract does have reform in it, but also, that she believes it will attract officers to rebuild the police force, which, you know, has been struggling to keep its numbers up. And she says, the public input that was, you know, public hearings that were held on this issue were a great precedent, and they were fruitful.

LINEA PALMISANO: It's been a long road with this contract, but I think we're finally there. As I said at committee, there have been historic levels of engagement on this, both with the public and the council. We've been in conversation about it for years, and I'm glad we have an opportunity to hear from residents at public hearings.

JON COLLINS: And in the end, the council voted eight to four to approve the contract, and there was one member who was absent.

CATHY WURZER: What are some of the elements of this proposed contract?

JON COLLINS: So over a three years, this contract would give officers a 21.7% boost in pay. And that raise translates to an annual salary of more than $85,000 a year for a recruit at the Department's Academy, so bottom of the rung of the ladder. And then some officers near the top of the scale after this contract goes through, will be making almost twice that much.

Minneapolis, of course, has been struggling for years to keep up the police force, you know, since 2020 and George Floyd's killing. So city leaders, including the Mayor, argued that they need to do something to recruit new officers and retain the ones who are still there. So they see these raises as essential in accomplishing that.

CATHY WURZER: So we heard a couple of the council members. And I'm curious, with the council having this new, more progressive majority this term, how did they split on the vote?

JON COLLINS: You know, a few members did stand against the contract. They were Jeremiah Ellison, Aisha Chugtai, the Vice President, Jason Chavez, and Robin Wonsley. But most members, and Council President, Elliot Payne, ultimately supported the contract. Council President Payne says the contract he realizes, does not go far enough. But he said, it's clear that transformation of public safety isn't going to come just from the text of the contract. He said, residents in the city need to stay on top of what's happening with police reform and put pressure on negotiators.

And he said, he's supporting it today because it's a step in the right direction of creating a more holistic public safety system that includes mental health responders, police, and also other alternatives to armed police. But he warned the public that the contract is not the end all be all in reform.

ELLIOT PAYNE: But what we learned through this process is that transformation is not going to happen solely in the text of the document. It's going to happen from continuous pressure, not just from us here on this dais, but from you out here, not just in this room, but across the city. We had a history of a toxic racist police department because we had a broad community that was willing to look the other way. We need a majority of voters in this city to start paying attention.

CATHY WURZER: So, John, let's talk a little bit about reform. Are there any reforms in this contract?

JON COLLINS: Yeah, there are some things that the city is characterizing as reform. The main thing the city got was more authority for the chief. The current chief, Brian O'Hara, will now be more easily able to assign officers and to fill vacancies. Previously, the chief's hands were tied by the contract. And in some cases, filling a vacancy in a needed area would take weeks, or even months.

So the city has also negotiated to allow the hiring of civilian investigators, and that change allows them to keep trained officers out on the street responding to emergency calls, and also to bulk up the investigations unit. And then there's another provision that essentially ends the use of what are called side letters in the contract, which the city said is going to make future negotiations and future contracts more transparent for the public. But activists who spoke this morning argued that this contract, they said, is obscenely imbalanced.

They want more in exchange for the races. They wanted it to be sent back to negotiations. And this is activist, Jay Yates, who has pushed for community control of the police.

JAE YATES: There are no real reforms in this contract. The CCPO still hasn't put forth even a recommendation to the MPD. The city continues to manufacture our consent to bloat the already massive police budget. And through all these fumbles, the police department has continued its decades long patterns of racism, abuse, incompetence, and cover-ups without challenge. Enough is enough.

CATHY WURZER: So, John, I'm wondering here in terms of the cost of this contract, I mean, those are hefty pay hikes, right? The city is facing this expected budget crunch next year. So how will the city pay for this?

JON COLLINS: You know, that's a question that was also addressed by the council today, because the additional cost of this contract over two years, according to budget chair, Aisha Chugtai, is almost $20 million. So that's additional. So the council did support the contract in the end, even if some of them were reluctant. But they did not adopt the Mayor's preferred funding of the contract.

He wanted to reallocate money from state public safety aid, and taking it away from some projects that council members support, and that they already allocated the money for, so a gun violence program, and cultural ambassadors. But in a pretty close vote just a few minutes ago here, the council decided instead that they can use money that's in a convention center renovation funds, and other downtown assets to pay for this, you know, police contract, the additional costs of it. So they say, taking $7 million from that fund is not going to affect the remodel of the convention center, and just allows them to start moving forward with this contract.

CATHY WURZER: OK, Jon, thank you so much.

JON COLLINS: Thank you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: We've been talking to NPR News reporter, John Collins.