In the wake of the death of Thurman Blevins, Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon has proposed a city charter amendment concerning the mayor's and council's authority over the Police Department ("Proposal seeks shared Mpls. police oversight," June 30). Before we have even seen proposed language, the debate about this proposal has become highly politicized. I think that is a shame.
Charter amendments should never be about the current council and mayor. These are choices that will affect governance 10 mayors from now. Who knows whether you'll feel the same way about the mayor or your council member then? Who knows what the political dynamic of the day will be?
Opponents of the amendment claim that shifting authority over the Police Department to the council would cause complete chaos and that the responsible thing is to maintain the status quo. Complete chaos sounds really bad. The status quo is really bad. I would not vote to put a choice between chaos and the status quo on the ballot, if that were actually the question. I don't think it is.
What if, instead, we focused on responding to the clear community demand for increased public oversight and transparency for the Police Department? What if the question we asked was: "How do we maximize Minneapolis residents' access and voice in decisions about MPD?"
I like that question a lot better.
The mayor and the City Council serve different functions, and giving either one "complete control" over the Police Department, as our charter currently gives the mayor, misses the opportunity to take advantage of each institution's strengths.
The council is, by design, a deliberative legislative body. We do our business in public, hold public hearings, conduct our meetings at set times, televise our proceedings and publish public agendas in advance. The cost of our transparent, predictable processes is a lack of speed. Nothing moves very quickly through the Minneapolis City Council.
The mayor, by contrast, is an executive, much less encumbered by process. The mayor can be decisive and can fulfill duties largely behind closed doors.