After shying away from the spotlight, Hodges faces her first big test

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges' low-key approach to running the city is about to face its first big test as she prepares a budget that will begin to define her first term.

After campaigning as a numbers whiz, Hodges must convert her promises to improve racial equity, grow the city and run it more efficiently into a $1.2 billion plan of action — and do it amid criticism that she has not shown enough leadership in her first seven months.

"As mayor, I'm charged with a big-picture agenda," Hodges said in an interview. "That was what I talked about all last year. That is the agenda I've been moving forward on as mayor."

A former budget chairwoman, Hodges has been less inclusive in the budget process so far than her predecessor. She is not inviting council committee leaders into high-level budget meetings, a move that former Mayor R.T. Rybak often took in his first two terms to smooth the approval process.

"Whether it's the budget or whether it's Southwest LRT, in some ways folks like myself who are supposedly on the inside — I don't know what's going on," City Council Member Blong Yang said.

Some other council members said privately that they share Yang's concerns, saying the mayor's office has been quiet and distant since taking over at City Hall.

Hodges said that the job of crafting the budget rests with the mayor and that she is talking to department heads "in an environment where I can be free to have those conversations" without the council members' added political dynamics. She will release her budget outline this month, giving the council its chance to weigh in.

"She's a quieter person and a more deliberate person than R.T.," Council President Barb Johnson said, referring to former Mayor Rybak. "She was elected by the people, and I think people obviously like that about her."

A council member for eight years, Hodges said she has intentionally avoided the "quick wins" in favor of building a foundation that would pay off in accomplishments years down the line. She has launched an effort to streamline small-business regulations and created a so-called Cradle-to-K cabinet, a group designed to ensure that young children have the skills and resources necessary to start kindergarten. Hodges' initiative is taking direct aim at the city's stubbornly low graduation rates, particularly among minorities and low-income students. Hodges and many education leaders believe that making sure children are ready for kindergarten will eventually boost high school graduation rates.

"I am going to be glad in two years and three years that I was able to withstand questions and impatience about it, because I know that I have been putting it forward to make sure we get really great outcomes," Hodges said.

She also cited other steps she called accomplishments in her first few months, such as successfully lobbying for state money to renovate Nicollet Mall, boosting police patrols in higher-crime areas and filling out the final key jobs in her administration. The mayor has assembled a racially diverse staff and hired a Somali liaison as part of a broader effort to better connect with East African immigrants.

But Hodges has also faced criticism for what some see as political misfires.

"We felt it was poorly timed to have a campaign bragging about how wonderful the city is in the middle of that," said Anthony Newby, who has generally supported Hodges and heads Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, a group that tries to empower low-income residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Newby added that he would like to see her devote the same level attention to improving racial equality.

The council, meanwhile, has taken action on an array of items, some of them controversial and without much public comment from the mayor. In addition to changes legalizing ride-sharing car services Lyft and UberX, council members forced nightclubs to carry earplugs, renamed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, ramped up a prohibition on Styrofoam takeout containers and pushed to eliminate strict liquor-to-food ratios for restaurants.

Hodges issued a news release after the council legalized the new car services, but generally has been quiet on the other issues.

"The initiatives are all coming from the council members," said Carol Becker, who serves on the Board of Estimate and Taxation and supported Mark Andrew for mayor. "You're not seeing a fresh perspective from the mayor."

Outside Minneapolis, Hodges is gaining attention as part of a new breed of more liberal mayors from Seattle to Boston. In seven months, she has taken 10 out-of-state trips, including to Washington, D.C.; New York, and Portland, Ore. In July, she attended meetings at the White House with seven other mayors designed to find ways to better engage low-income and minority children and help them be successful.

Some of Hodges' early initiatives are getting notice nationally. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard recently said he would pursue a program similar to Cradle-to-K after hearing Hodges speak about it.

There are signs that Hodges is looking to boost her public image as she finishes the budget and pivots to the next new phase of her first term.

She posted on her Facebook page in July that "I get so wrapped up in doing my job that I don't do as well telling you all what I am up to." She said she has enlisted her communications director "to help make sure you all have a better sense of what I am doing as mayor."

Maya Rao • 612-673-4210