St. Paul’s reparations commission plans to contract with a research company for a “harm study” examining the impact of “historic and ongoing harms” suffered by the city’s Black descendants of chattel slavery, an undertaking budgeted for up to $250,000.

While the city council appears to be on board, the evaluation process surrounding competing research proposals recently drew objections from some of the city’s Black elders, as well as the city council’s two Black members, who were of opposite minds about a full restart.

The city’s request for proposals for a researcher closed on Oct. 3 after being extended in September because it had drawn just a single response. Three research companies have since responded to the solicitation, though details have yet to be made public. While a single appointee from the 11-member reparations commission served on the evaluation committee, the contract selection — which has been made but not finalized — is otherwise being led by city staff according to the city’s procurement guidelines, which include scoring and ranking, and will ultimately be finalized by the city council.

Marvin Roger Anderson, chair of the Rondo Center of Diverse Expressions, wrote to the city on Nov. 4 that many Black-led organizations like his own were not aware of the RFP until it was published.

“It is troubling that city staff — representing institutions directly tied to historic policies of displacement and exclusion — are solely responsible for administering and evaluating proposals,” Anderson wrote. “This creates a conflict of interest that compromises the credibility and independence of the study.”

Regina Jackson and Arthur Ray McCoy, who both serve on the reparations commission, recently called for the city council to put the request for proposals on hold and redesign the selection process, which is almost complete.

“There’s been a selection made, but there hasn’t been a contract put in place,” said council member Anika Bowie, in an interview Monday. “I’m not objecting to who got selected. But the city should have been guiding that process, not the one that makes that decision for them. That selection should have been made by the reparations commission, not by city staff.”

Selection process

The prospect of redesigning a selection process at more than mid-stream has alarmed city staff and raised concerns about legal exposure.

On Nov. 5, Bowie presented the city council with a resolution that would have established a citizen-driven review committee to evaluate the proposals, with members largely recruited from community groups, as well as staff or interns from her Ward 1 office and council member Cheniqua Johnson’s Ward 7 office.

Her resolution was effectively voted down by the city council, at Johnson’s urging. Instead, it was replaced on a 6-1 vote with the original timeline and staff-driven review process recommended to the council by the commission itself.

Johnson noted that the 11-member reparations commission, appointed by the council in 2023, adopted a framework and scope of work around the request for proposals in April and the city then published the request for proposal in August with a traditional review process in mind.

Confusion for city staff

Bowie’s resolution, which would upend the selection process already underway, “created so much confusion for staff and for my community,” Johnson told the council last week. “It poses a real legal, financial and procedural risk that if left uncorrected, could jeopardize our entire (project).”

Bowie’s proposal had called for the reparations commission to appoint five community members who are not city staff to the evaluation committee, including at least one descendant of the Rondo neighborhood. They would join a legislative aide from the Ward 7 office, a graduate intern appointed by the Ward 1 office, the city council staff director, the executive assistant to the reparations commission, and an appointee of the commission chair. Under her resolution, the committee’s recommendation would be due back to the commission by Dec. 31.

Johnson’s “version two” resolution — which eliminates long sections of the Bowie text and replaces it with her own — drew the support of the rest of the city council, which voted 6-1 to adopt it as an amendment to Bowie’s resolution, over Bowie’s objections.

Among the differences, Johnson’s resolution calls for the city council to hire the study partner, making the final selection after city staff ensure the proposals have been reviewed according to the city’s formal scoring and procurement process, with input from the reparations commission.

The timeline

Bowie said key voices in the Black community were unaware of the request for proposals until the selection was almost complete and had been left out, including the African-American Leadership Council, the St. Paul NAACP, the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center and the Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Those groups “were not even aware of the timeline,” said Bowie, during last Wednesday’s council meeting. “They have never seen the RFP. … How is it that we are having a harm study report that’s based on reparations, but yet the community that’s been most impacted are not even made aware?”

Bowie said the city council itself had not been kept abreast of the harm study, and even some members of the reparations commission had been surprised to discover late in the process that reparations chair Trahern Crews had appointed commission member Jeremie English onto the evaluation committee.

Johnson and fellow council members Nelsie Yang and HwaJeong Kim said they’d received individual updates about the harm study and felt it was time to move forward.

Confident in the process

Crews, in a phone interview Monday, agreed that further delay would impede progress.

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“We did our job getting the word out about the RFP,” Crews said. “(The RFP deadline) was at least extended by two weeks. … We’re excited the way things are going.”

On Friday, council President Rebecca Noecker noted that Johnson has been “very engaged in the work of the commission” and she was comfortable with the outcome of the vote.

“I take issue with many of the things that were said at the table about the lack of process or lack of fairness,” Noecker said. “I feel really confident in the process that we’ve run.”

Tanner Wilde joined the U.S. Army through its delayed-entry program when he was just in high school, viewing it as an opportunity to see more of the world and to be part of something bigger than himself.

“Largely, what it came down to was, ever since I was young, I always found a lot of satisfaction in being able to serve others and see their satisfaction from services provided,” Wilde said.

Wilde was deployed to Afghanistan at age 20, originally with the Bravo Company 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment. He trained as a paratrooper and eventually became a special operations civil affairs team sergeant and medical sergeant.

When Wilde ended his military service in 2021 after having served in Afghanistan, Syria and Bangladesh, his next steps were figuring out a purpose outside the military. At the same time, he also was experiencing depression. He had attended various rehabs following traumatic brain injuries and that, combined with physical and mental stress, impacted his mental health.

“I was searching for what my purpose was because the military is all I ever knew,” said Wilde, who lives in Mounds View. “I didn’t … feel there was any joy, hope, you know, just nothing.”

Things came to a head in 2023 and Wilde said he was starting to go down a path toward suicide.

“And thankfully, through my wife and through many of the other veteran-centric organizations that pressed into me, I was able to finally accept help,” Wilde said. “And because of that persistence, I am where I am today, still alive, family better than it has ever been, being able to re-experience joy, having a re-instilled purpose in what service is.”

Veteran outreach

For Wilde, that service has been his work doing veteran outreach, both with Veterans Affairs and as a volunteer with multiple veteran service organizations. Organizations that Wilde volunteers with include Nodens Outdoors, which provides a bowhunting therapy program to veterans, and Believet Canine Service Partners, which provides service animals to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other disabilities.

“It may not be what I was doing in the military, but being able to currently have a role in helping veterans and even those that are transitioning out of the military find hope where hope doesn’t seem present is beyond rewarding,” he said.

U.S. Army veteran Tanner Wilde sits next to his service dog, a four year old mix breed named Taz. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

This Veterans Day, Wilde and his service dog, Taz, volunteered with Believet Canine Service Partners, where he does much of his volunteer work, raising awareness around invisible wounds and the benefits of service animals.

“They’re trying to continue to provide service animals for veterans, but they do cost thousands of dollars and that’s something, the only way to help expand the availability is to go speak about them and the benefits that they do to help veterans,” said Wilde, who credits Taz with being part of his healing journey.

‘Somebody that will listen’

It’s OK to not be OK, Wilde said, and the first step in getting help is to start talking about it. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has people available to talk, he said, including for veterans.

“And as hard as it is, there will be somebody that will listen. And I wish there was more hours in the day for me to be able to help as many as I can,” he said. “And more capacity just because I see how much it helped me regain, benefit in being able to experience joy, of being with my kids and my wife and enjoy doing activities more.”

A new furnace

Meanwhile, for Veterans Day — and just in time for colder weather — Wilde was the recipient of a new furnace at his Mounds View home. The Snelling Co. and local Bryant distributor Auer Steel provided him with the new, high-efficiency unit.

The Snelling Co. wanted to show gratitude for Wilde’s service to the community.

U..S. Army Veteran Tanner Wilde was photographed next to the new furnace he was provided by The Snelling Company. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“He served our country, fought his own battles, and now fights for others. This is just one way we can give back and thank him for his service,” said Phil Krinkie, president of the Snelling Co., in a statement.

With his time in the military, Wilde said he’s moved 14 times, making the furnace donation a big deal.

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“This is a home we don’t want to have to pick up again. We’re in a wonderful community. Coming from the military, we’re very community-centric,” Wilde said.

For help

If you need immediate emotional or mental health support, or are worried about someone else, call or text 988 or visit the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988lifeline.org to connect with a trained specialist.

For veterans and others looking for more information, including resources on ways to support veterans, how to talk to veterans in crisis, or to find local mental health resources, go to mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention.

By ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three paintings from famously chill public television legend Bob Ross sold Tuesday for more than $600,000 at auction. The paintings were the first of 30 Ross works being sold to benefit public TV stations hurt by cuts in federal funding.

At the live auction at Bonhams in Los Angeles, a serene, snow vista called “Winter’s Peace” that Ross painted entirely during a 1993 episode of “The Joy of Painting” went for $318,000 to a bidder on the phone.

“For a good cause — and you get the painting,” auctioneer Aaron Bastian said during the bidding. He invoked a common sentiment of Ross, who died in 1995, during a brief lull. “Bob would remind you that this is your world, and you can do anything you want.”

Another painting done on a 1993 episode, a lush, green landscape called “Home in the Valley,” went for $229,100. A third, “Cliffside,” sold for $114,800.

The final prices include a charge for the auction house added to the final bid known as the buyer’s premium. The identities of the buyers weren’t immediately revealed.

Bids for all three paintings went well past pre-auction estimates of their value, which topped out around $50,000.

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Three more Ross paintings will be up for auction at Bonhams in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 27, with others to follow in New York and London.

All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.

Ross, a public television staple in the 1980s and ’90s, was known for his dome of hair and warm demeanor.

The special sales seek to help stations in need of licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that along with Ross’ show include “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child’s French Chef Classics,” and “This Old House.” Small and rural stations are particularly challenged.

The stations “have been the gateway for generations of viewers to discover not just Bob’s gentle teaching, but the transformative power of the arts,” Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., said in a statement.

As sought by the Trump administration, Congress has eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, leaving about 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations.

Ross died at age 52 of complications from cancer after 11 years in production with the therapeutic how-to show, “The Joy of Painting.” The former Air Force drill sergeant was a sort of pioneer, known for his calm — and calming — manner and encouraging words.

Ross spoke often as he worked on air about painting happy little clouds and trees, and making no mistakes, only “happy accidents.”

He has only became more popular in the decades since his death, and his shows saw a surge in popularity during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputies arrested a Mounds View High School teacher Tuesday on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct of a 17-year-old female student.

The 58-year-old was taken into custody at his Minneapolis home, according to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

The teacher was put on administrative leave Monday and the school is cooperating with the investigation, Principal Rob Reetz wrote in a letter to parents on Tuesday.

“Because this is an active investigation and at this time there are no formal charges, we are limited in what we can share and when we can share it,” Reetz wrote. “We understand that this news may be upsetting to many, and our top concern remains focused on our students.”

The man is being held in the Ramsey County jail. He is an English language arts teacher and has worked for Mounds View Public Schools for 26 years, according to the school district.

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