Mayor Frey's vetoes of eviction notice extension, drug paraphernalia ordinances will stand

The Minneapolis City Council voted Thursday to keep two recent vetoes from Mayor Jacob Frey intact, while paving the way for what is likely to be another mayoral veto.

The council first fell short of the two votes needed to override Frey’s veto of an ordinance that would have decriminalized drug paraphernalia and aligned the city’s policy with a 2023 state law signed by Gov. Tim Walz.

That ordinance was recommended by addiction outreach workers who said the city’s current policy discourages people who use drugs from seeking help, though some council members opposed to the ordinance worried it would lead to more public drug use.

Frey also prevailed in his attempt to block an ordinance temporarily extending the notice period landlords are required to give tenants before filing an eviction to 45 days. The ordinance’s authors aimed to give renters impacted by the ICE surge more time to catch up on rent, as many immigrants continue struggling to make ends meet after months without income, job loss and family separation — and as eviction filings track higher than last year, when the state hit a record for the most filings.

The mayor and council members opposed to that ordinance sided with a coalition of affordable housing providers who said that extending notice periods would lead to too much rent debt and hurt their ability to collect the rent that maintains their services.

“Eviction extensions and moratoriums will create a larger debt trap for our already vulnerable neighbors facing housing insecurity as a result of Operation Metro Surge,” Frey said in a statement after his veto, while also highlighting his support for increasing rent assistance.

But some housing advocates, academics and rent relief organizers said the extension would have been crucial for people to stay housed and get connected to community resources and new citywide rent-relief.

“From an evidence-based standpoint, if we can delay and avoid eviction as much as possible, especially in the fallout of this acute, traumatic event in the cities, I think that’s worth doing,” said Nick Graetz, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and former researcher at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, ahead of Thursday’s vote.

The council majority had also previously attempted to pass a temporary 60-day pre-eviction ordinance but failed to override Frey’s veto.

The council also voted again to deny the mayor’s appointment of Toddrick Barnette to another term as the city’s community safety commissioner — a move that is likely to invite another veto.

In April, the council voted against Barnette’s reappointment, which Frey vetoed. The council failed to override his veto late last month, which nullified the council’s initial vote and brought it back to the chambers Thursday.

Some council members in the meeting criticized the mayor for what they said was a lack of collaboration on finding a new choice that works for everyone.

“A no is a no. Let’s move on,” said council member Jason Chavez, who again voted to deny the re-appointment. “Let’s work on community safety issues that our neighbors are dealing with. Folks on Lake Street are struggling with community safety issues, and instead, we’re going to continue to not work with the council in finding a new commissioner. It’s kind of disappointing.”

Council member Elizabeth Shaffer, who voted in favor of the re-appointment, proposed a motion to postpone the vote in order to start that discussion, though that motion did not happen because of the vote denying his appointment.

“For us to send a motion of deny at this point, I believe, is too strong of a signal to send at this point in time to the mayor that we want to discuss,” she said.

In total, Frey has vetoed 24 council actions since his first term began in 2018 — a total that has surpassed all previous mayors on record. The most recent mayor elected to three terms, R.T. Rybak, averaged one veto per year across his 12-year tenure.

Last term, the city council’s progressive majority often had the nine votes necessary to overturn many of Frey’s vetoes — including his unprecedented veto of the council’s 2025 budget.

The current divide on the council has, so far, voted to sustain all four vetoes Frey has issued since January.

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