Minneapolis, MN
Here are a few items in the proposed contract between Minneapolis and the police union
The city of Minneapolis has released its tentative contract with the city’s police union. The agreement would give officers a substantial boost in pay in exchange for more control over staffing by the city’s police chief.
City officials hope that incentives in the contract, which they said would make Minneapolis officers some of the highest paid in the state, will help the department attract new officers and retain current officers after years of declining numbers.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called it “a balanced agreement that will make the department a more competitive employer and provide our chief with the necessary managerial control.”
“This is a good deal for Minneapolis residents who are counting on this local government to do everything possible to replenish our ranks and deliver on change,” Frey said.
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The agreement was negotiated in five open sessions before negotiations were closed to the public after the union asked an arbitrator to intervene. It was ratified by the membership of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis by a vote of 301-63.
Substantial raise for officers
The contract gives Minneapolis officers a 21.7 percent pay increase over the three years of the contract. By 2025, a recruit in the department’s academy would be paid at least $41.62 an hour, which is more than $85,000 a year. At the high end of the scale, a police lieutenant would earn at least $72.98 an hour.
The goal, according to Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, is to replenish the ranks of the department. In the four years since George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer, the department is down about 340 sworn officers, according to data received from the city.
Frey and the city have launched recruitment campaigns, specifically targeting Minneapolis residents and people of color. In an interview with MPR News after Officer Jamal Mitchell’s fatal shooting, O’Hara said these raises are necessary to boost the department’s ranks and attract officers like Mitchell, who want to serve the public.
More powers for the chief
The contract would also give more authority to the police chief about how work is assigned. Chief O’Hara will now be able to fill vacant spots more quickly without waiting to go through the full union process. He’ll also have more control over who gets promoted, rather than requiring a certain number of promotions.
The chief will also be allowed to temporarily assign any sworn officers in higher assignments, like a sergeant or lieutenant, to serve as a police officer when needed.
The police department will also be allowed to hire non-sworn personnel to do some work that was previously done by sworn officers. That includes investigative work, which the department says will allow sworn staff to respond to emergency calls and public safety incidents.
According to the new contract, the chief will also be able to put an officer on paid investigative leave for up to 180 days after allegations of severe misconduct. The chief could previously only put an officer on leave for 30 days.
Transparency
Another provision in the contract would eliminate one-off letters of agreement, which have been used to add provisions to the contract in the past, but were difficult to track. City officials say any past letters of agreement have been absorbed into the new contract.
The contract also changes a policy that the department notify officers of the identity of anyone requesting their public personnel data. Advocates had worried the system was ripe for abuse. The current language still requires an officer to be notified that a request was made.
The Minneapolis City Council will hold a closed-door session on the contract next week. They’ll organize at least one public hearing on the contract before a final vote is scheduled on June 27.
The previous police union contract was approved by the council, but some council members thought it didn’t go far enough in requiring reforms of the department. Some activists are questioning the timeline for approving the contract, arguing that more time is necessary for the public to understand what’s in there.
A shooting in north Minneapolis injured two men on Friday night.
Minneapolis police said officers responded around 9:30 p.m. Friday after multiple reports of gunfire near Lowry Avenue North and North Logan Avenue.Police said they found two men with gunshot wounds outside a home.
Officers said both men were outside when the gunfire started and a nearby hospital treated both men for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police are still investigating. Officers said no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
A 19-year-old man is injured after a shooting in north Minneapolis on Friday, according to police.
Officers responded to the incident on the 2600 block of North Humboldt Avenue at 5:03 p.m. Officials said they found the man inside a home with apparent gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
The officers provided medical aid before the man was taken to the hospital, police said.
According to investigators, the man was outside the home when shots were fired and ran inside after he was injured.
Police said Friday night that no arrests had been made and that they were working to learn what led to the shooting.
The Blueprint
A team led by Lupe Development Partners and Wall Cos. wants to bring more than 100 units of affordable senior housing to a triangular parking area near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, the latest version of a yearslong effort to redevelop the site.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole reviewed plans for the five-story, 104-unit building at 600 Main St. SE. The project would require a comprehensive plan amendment, rezoning and other approvals.
Jess Olstad, a city spokesperson, said in an email that the committee took no formal action.
“The next step for the project team will be to conduct public engagement around their potential comprehensive plan amendment, and to prepare their land use applications for submittal,” Olstad said.
Steve Minn, vice president and chief financial manager of Lupe Development, said Friday that the project received “very positive feedback” from the committee.
“We’re just going to proceed with the rest of our application, which will be in the next week or so,” said Minn, who added that the proposed location is a “perfect site for housing” and that “senior housing is a need.”
A comprehensive plan amendment would require Metropolitan Council review. If the approval process goes well and financing comes together next year, the project could break ground in 2028, Minn said.
A 58-space “principal parking facility” currently occupies the 37,401-square-foot development site, which is framed by Sixth Avenue Southeast, Main Street Southeast, and a railroad property, according to a city staff report.
The project would primarily offer one-bedroom units, though the mix would also include some two-bedroom dwellings and efficiencies. Thirty-nine stalls of underground parking are also planned.
Located near the Stone Arch Bridge trailhead in the Mississippi River Critical Area Overlay District, the project would be “compatible with the surrounding neighborhood architecture,” according to a narrative submitted on behalf of the developer.
The plan includes site improvements such as structured parking and pedestrian spaces, and a new public trail, which would connect to existing Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board trails in Father Hennepin Bluffs Park.
According to the developer’s narrative, the project “represents a reinvestment in a privately owned, undeveloped parcel that is not used for park purposes and is not planned for acquisition.”
The project would align the property’s “land use, built form, and Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area Overlay District designations with the surrounding urban context and applicable regulatory framework,” the narrative states.
Wall Cos. and Lupe Development Partners, doing business as Bluff Street Development, have long wanted to redevelop 600 Main St. SE. In 2023, the developers pitched a plan for 80 affordable housing units on the site.
The developers’ history with the site goes back as far as 2009, when they proposed separate plans for a 98-unit and a 79-unit apartment project, as previously reported. In 2010, Bluff Street sued the city after the City Council rejected the plans. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011.
When development efforts first started, the Mississippi River Critical Corridor Area rules and regulations had not been defined, and “there was a lot of angst in the community” about what those regulations would be, Minn said.
Those regulations are now “well defined,” clearing the way for development, he said.
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