Minneapolis Mayor Frey weighs report on how to handle new powers

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey might consider hiring a chief operations officer to help oversee city departments under a new form of government that strengthens his power over their daily operations.

Or, he might consider convening a cabinet that includes one manager to help oversee most departments and require other staff focusing on high-profile issues to report directly to him.

Those were the recommendations presented Friday by a work group convened by Frey to help him implement one of the most sweeping changes to Minneapolis government in decades.

"This is a gigantic shift and represents what could be some of the most important decisions that we ever make in our government," Frey said in a new conference, where he was joined by the group's co-chairs. "The changes that we make, the decisions that we're making today and tomorrow and over these next several months will have long-lasting impacts."

Voters in November approved a ballot question that designated the mayor as the "chief executive" responsible for overseeing most departments' daily operations and prohibited City Council members from interfering with those powers. Previously, Minneapolis had a system of government unlike those in most cities and, many staffers said, left the lines of power between the mayor and council murky.

Frey and some council members welcomed the change. They said it would help avoid the confusion that left key city staff caught between elected officials and hampered their ability to respond to emergencies such as the unrest that followed George Floyd's killing or the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other council members said they feared the proposal would limit their ability to enact meaningful change — particularly if their political views conflict with those of the mayor. They argued it would diminish representation for people living in areas with lower voter turnout, including many people of color.

He's expected to present his decision to the council March 22.

Council Vice President Linea Palmisano, who chairs the committee that will vet the recommendations, said Friday that she hadn't yet read the full report but looked forward to doing so. While the change technically took effect in early December, many aspects of it haven't been implemented.

"It's gonna take time to do so," Palmisano said. "Obviously, we're gonna get there. Right now, the biggest challenge is trying to keep everybody on the same page as to what are the hard parameters that the voters actually voted on versus what is that gray space in between, that connective tissue, that is really up for us to be thoughtful about and design well."

Shortly after the election, Frey convened a 14-member workgroup to recommend how to set up the new form of city government. The group included a mixture of people who helped write or campaign for the change and others who opposed it.

The group gathered for seven three-hour meetings to analyze the pros and cons of other city governments and what might work in Minneapolis, co-chair JJ Haywood said. Those meetings were not open to the public, and members were required not to "record or report out" details of their deliberations.

One option presented by the group calls for the mayor to have a chief of staff focused on supervising the internal workings of his office and a separate chief operations officer, who would be "responsible for operations/managements of all city departments." That option would allow the mayor to have "high-level staff" to help oversee daily operations and potentially reduce bottlenecks in government, the group said.

It cautioned that the roles and responsibilities of the chief of staff and chief operating officer would need to be clearly defined to avoid conflicts.

The other option calls for the mayor to have those same two staffers — and to require the heads of additional, unspecified departments to report directly to him if needed "for policy/political reasons or during crises."

Kathleen O'Brien, a former City Council member and city coordinator who formed a political committee advocating for the change, said that option would give the mayor flexibility to prioritize issues

"I would say at different times, a city faces different challenges," said O'Brien, who served as a co-chair for the workgroup. Thirty years ago, she said, economic development might have been the top priority. "Today, we know that we need to transform policing and that we need to utilize multiple public safety strategies," she said.

Frey said the costs of the options — both called for hiring additional staff — have not been analyzed, but extra expenses are not expected to be "major or significant."

The report noted that many cities that moved to an "executive mayor" system also consolidated departments and recommended that be considered in Minneapolis as well. A reorganization, the group said, is "essential" to achieving the goals of the proposal voters approved in November.

"We recognize that this will undoubtedly require additional [charter] amendments, largely of a technical nature, to implement fully the expressed will of the electorate in choosing this new form of government," the report said.