 Dear Neighbor,
It is hard to believe it is already August! As you probably know, tonight is National Night Out. If you have questions or need more information about NNO, take a look at the section below. This summer has flown by and I want to take some time to update you on two of the major pieces of legislation I’ve been working on.
The first is the Biennial Budgeting Charter Amendment. This is something I have been working on for almost two years now and I am excited to announce that our City’s Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Committee took a favorable action, passing the amendment to the City Council for final action, after the public hearing on July 24th (you can watch the public’s feedback here). The amendment would have transformative impact on the City’s budgeting process. The final vote at Council will be at either the August 8th or August 23rd meeting.
This change is important because we often only have time to analyze the “new” budget requests without a more thorough, public evaluation of our $1.7B annual budget. With a shift to a two year cycle we’ll be able to take a deeper dive into our city’s performance metrics and allow the City to better analyze the outcomes previous budget decisions before the next one is drafted. We can develop more impactful initiatives and encourage cross-departmental collaboration, something that time and time again we strive for, but often times find the answer to be that there’s just not enough time. This will lead us to better governance over the City’s budget.
Many stakeholders came together to find the appropriate language for this amendment by ordinance. Working with our City’s finance staff, attorney’s office, Mayor’s office, Council Member Cunningham, Minneapolis Park and Rec Board, Board of Estimate and Taxation, and Charter Commission has been a rewarding experience and I look forward to the potential positive impacts of implementation.
The second ordinance is something you’ve probably read a lot about in the past few months during the state’s legislative session: wage theft prevention. The state passed a historic, comprehensive package that we are enhancing to address the peculiarities of Minneapolis. Business owners, especially from the 13th ward, became important partners in this work. Changes have been made that I believe shows responsiveness to feedback and ideas from our own small business community. On Monday July 29th hundreds of construction workers, non-union workers and community supporters came together downtown on 4th Ave S to show their support for the ordinance.
Immediately following the rally, the Public Health, Environment, Civil Rights, and Engagement (PECE) Committee held the public hearing in a standing room only City Council Chambers. We heard stories of workers across sectors talk about their experiences with wage theft and how these changes will help prevent those experiences from happening to others after it is passed.
Council Member Fletcher, Council Member Cunningham and I have spent the better part of the last year working on this effort to ensure that stakeholders at every level, including the Minneapolis Workplace Advisory Committee that started this conversation in early 2018, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry who is the enforcement arm at the state level, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, workers, business, and worker advocates, were heard.
The City Council will vote on the wage theft prevention ordinance on Thursday August 8th and it would go into effect on January 1st 2020.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you at City Hall. As always, please reach out to our office with questions about what we’re working on!
Enjoy your last few weeks of summer.
Warm Regards,
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