Minneapolis city council to discuss 3rd Precinct after ultimatum from mayor

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Later today, the Minneapolis City Council will meet to discuss where to house the police department's Third Precinct and what to do with its former site. That building burned in the unrest after an officer from the precinct murdered George Floyd three years ago.

Today's conversation comes after Mayor Jacob Frey wrote a letter to the council urging them to make a decision. They approved a plan earlier this month and in a sudden twist hit the pause button. Frey told the council to make a decision or let him do it. MPR News reporter Jon Collins has been following all of this, and he joins me right now to explain. Hey, Jon.

JON COLLINS: Hey, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Remind everybody, if you would please, where have the Third Precinct officers been working out of these last three years.

JON COLLINS: So the Third Precinct itself, as you mentioned, was abandoned by the city during the unrest that followed George Floyd's killing. The building was damaged and at least partially set on fire. And since then, the officers that are assigned to the precinct, which does cover much of South Minneapolis, have been working out of temporary spaces in downtown. And that's something that it seems is not acceptable to many council members and other city leaders, including the mayor, who just don't see it as sustainable.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So I know that the council, there were three options on the table in terms of where the Third Precinct would be located. Can you explain that?

JON COLLINS: Sure. The city commissioned was a really limited survey asking residents whether they want, number one, the precinct to be rebuilt on the same land, so Lake Street in Minnehaha. And this option would utilize much of the old building which is still standing and add on a couple new things like an entrance and a parking garage. And the cost for the first possibility is $12 million.

In the second option, the city offered just a few blocks away on city-owned land would be all new construction. And that could cost up to $26 million. But with those two choices, many residents were unhappy. They said they don't want either of those choices, which really led the mayor and Council President Andrea Jenkins to put forward a plan to temporarily colocate the Third Precinct along with the First Precinct in a building that's on the edge of Downtown. It's called Century Plaza.

And that proposal seemed to be on the way to passing. But when it came to a full council, members were surprised at the price tag, something around $25 million or so, and the timeline for it. So they decided last time around to hold it back for more discussion. That's what's happening today.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Do you know how long officers would be in the Century Plaza location?

JON COLLINS: That was one of the sticking points. So interim city coordinator Heather Johnston told the council last time around that it would be temporary. And she estimated it could serve in this capacity for about 10 years. So that surprised the council.

And even if they went forward with the plan, Third Precinct officers couldn't move in into Century Plaza until January 2025. And there have been other concerns, of course, in the neighborhood about response times to emergency calls. That sort of thing.

And I remember Andrew Johnson, who represents part of the area covered by the precinct, said they need a precinct sooner. But the council decided to push back to allow for more discussion on that possibility. And it's on the agenda today.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So then Minneapolis Mayor Frey writes this letter to council members yesterday. What did he tell them?

JON COLLINS: Well, he told the council that they needed to take action to make sure first responders can reliably deliver services to people in the area. And Frye said there are upsides and downsides to each of these three possible locations.

But he broke down the decision like this saying, if money's concerned, rehab the old building. If they want a temporary place while the city goes through its public safety revamp, including a likely federal consent decree, he said Century Plaza would make sense, or if the council is just eager for a permanent facility in the neighborhood, Frye said the 2600 Minnehaha location would be the choice. And in the letter, Frye did draw a line in the sand and tell the council they need to either choose or step aside to give him authority to take action here.

CATHY WURZER: So what are people in the community saying about all this?

JON COLLINS: I think it's safe to say many people are skeptical of the limited choices that have been offered. For instance, if you walk around the area, you'll see signs up in business windows essentially urging the city not to rebuild the old precinct on the same location after what happened there.

Some don't think a precinct should even be allowed back in the neighborhood at all. But, of course, there are others, even some who did testify during the public meetings held by the city, who said they're concerned about safety. They want the officers back in the neighborhood. So there are really a lot of factors for the council to weigh here as they make these final decisions about the Third Precinct.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So what's happening at the meeting today?

JON COLLINS: So they'll continue the discussion on Century Plaza. And as we've seen from our experiences before, that could go a lot of ways. But the item beneath the discussion is whether or not to approve the purchase agreement for Century Plaza. So one way or another, they'll make some sort of decision on that location.

And if they do decide to move it along, it will go to the full council for official approval this week. But the council is also going to be hearing an update on how the old precinct building is doing, a review that's expected to be done finally this month.

And they did note in their presentation that site cleanup is going to start there next spring. It's still surrounded by a fence and quite a few other objects the city put there. And consultants they hired are going to pull together a working group of people in the neighborhood and help them decide what other uses that building could be used for once it's rehabbed and ready to go again.

CATHY WURZER: So the final fate, who knows, right? It's still a bit of a way off. All right, Jon Collins.

JON COLLINS: Yeah, the final--

CATHY WURZER: Go ahead.

JON COLLINS: Yes, I was going to say, yeah, the final fate of the precinct is still a little ways off. And we will be following this as it kind of moves along through the process.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely, we thank you too. All right, Jon. Thank you.

JON COLLINS: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Jon Collins is a reporter for MPR News.