Todd Barnette will remain in city safety post during replacement search
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Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette has agreed to stay in his post until the end of the year as the city searches for his permanent replacement.
Barnette has served one three-year term as commissioner for the Office of Community Safety, which was created in 2022 and oversees police, fire and neighborhood safety. He’s the second person to hold the position, following Cedric Alexander, who served for a little more than a year and retired in 2023.
Barnette, the former head judge of Hennepin County District Court, was appointed in 2023 with just one council dissenter, Council Member Robin Wonsley, who said then she was disappointed Barnette didn’t have more of a plan to ensure the city met its obligations under state and federal consent decrees on policing.
Mayor Jacob Frey nominated Barnette to a second term this spring, but the Minneapolis City Council twice rejected his nomination. Council members cited the slow pace of police reform in the city and almost $20 million in police budget overruns last year.
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Barnette presided over a number of high-profile public safety events in Minneapolis in the last three years, including the shooting death of Officer Jamal Mitchell, the Annunciation school shooting and the federal government’s surge into Minnesota this winter.
Barnette said he hasn't decided his next steps, but that his work in Minneapolis isn’t yet complete.
“It has truly been an honor to serve the city I love and to work alongside the dedicated staff who show up every day to keep people safe in their homes, neighborhoods and communities,” Barnette said in a statement to MPR News.
A spokesperson for Frey said they don't yet have anything to share publicly about the search for a new commissioner.
Correction: The previous story incorrectly identified whose appointment Council Member Wonsley voted against. The story has been updated.
