The St. Paul City Council approved the creation on Wednesday of a new committee, internal to the council, that will meet regularly to discuss financial matters related to police, fire, code enforcement and other public safety spending.
The effort to create a new regularly standing committee within the council was approved 5-2 and led by Council Member Anika Bowie, who said greater oversight will allow elected officials and the general public a forum to better understand how tax dollars are spent.
St. Paul City Council member Anika Bowie. (Courtesy of the City of St. Paul)
Bowie said council committees already meet monthly to discuss the city’s libraries, water department or general budget. Following the approval of the city charter in 1970, the city council maintained a public safety committee as part of its early subcommittee structure from 1972 to 1978, though it was later merged with a licensing committee and then repealed entirely.
“I think public safety deserves that same attention,” said Bowie, who was announced in January as the future committee chair. “Public safety is no less important. … This vote is about managing our council business better … (and) making sure we have adequate time to hear from our department heads. … It’s about giving our public a transparent space to understand and engage.”
Following extensive back-and-forth with the mayor’s office last year over heavy police overtime spending, Council Member Nelsie Yang was announced in January as the future vice-chair of the committee under Bowie. On Wednesday, Yang said she had withdrawn her support for the effort she once planned to help lead.
Council Member Matt Privratsky joined Yang in casting the sole “no” votes, with Yang expressing concern the committee would be duplicative to the work of the council’s existing budget committee, among other efforts. The city, for instance, already has a 15-member Neighborhood Safety Community Council, which works the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety to evaluate public safety outreach grants and develop annual priorities for the department.
St. Paul City Council member Matt Privratsky. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“There’s already questions being referred over to me about whether something that is going to be referred over to the council is going to be in the budget and finance committee, or the public safety committee,” Yang said.
Bowie was supported in her vote by Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who had voiced some skepticism last month based on a lack of outreach at the time to the Office of Neighborhood Safety, as well as police and fire officials. Johnson on Wednesday said Bowie took that feedback to heart and done her due diligence, and the latest version of the resolution was worded in a manner that had swayed her vote.
“I think it’s important that if we’re establishing any committee, that we’re doing so in partnership with the same departments,” Johnson said. “You did take a lot of the feedback into consideration. … The things that are listed here are within the scope of the council and what the council is (assigned) to do.”
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