Minneapolis City Council’s Shameful Attempt to Bypass Accountability

“Before this money is moved, the public must demand to see the full results of the competitive RFP process”

In my previous op-ed, I laid bare the systemic corruption and institutional violence that Black women in leadership face in Minneapolis when they dare to demand accountability. What has happened since only further proves my point.

Council Member Robin Wonsley and her allies on the Minneapolis City Council are now pushing to move over $1.25 million in violence prevention funds from the Neighborhood Safety Department (NSD) to Hennepin County. Their justification? NSD supposedly lacks the infrastructure to manage these funds. But let’s be clear—this is a deliberate deflection.

I built that infrastructure.

Despite relentless obstruction, harassment, and gaslighting, I ensured that NSD transformed from a small office within another department into a fully functioning agency with clear policies, staff, and processes. I put systems in place to stop millions of taxpayer dollars from being funneled into the same favored organizations without oversight. The council’s attempt to move this money now isn’t about supporting NSD’s growth—it’s about dismantling the fair and transparent process that was built. It’s about returning financial control to the same small group of connected insiders who benefited from the previous lack of accountability.

The Truth About Council Member Wonsley’s “Documentation”

To justify this power grab, Council Member Wonsley recently distributed a packet that she claimed documented NSD’s failures. In reality, this document largely reflects two years of obstruction and challenges my department faced in implementing oversight. It is a political smokescreen designed to shift the public’s focus away from the real issue: the millions of taxpayer dollars unaccounted for.

Not once in those pages do they address the actual problem—financial mismanagement and a broken procurement process that allowed violence prevention contracts to be paid out with no documentation of services. Instead, the “concerns” raised in Wonsley’s document focus on matters that, while relevant to community engagement, pale in comparison to the urgency of stopping public funds from being wasted.

They claim NSD lacks the capacity to manage GVI/YGVI effectively, ignoring the fact that these programs continued functioning even amid council obstruction. They cite staff turnover without acknowledging that turnover was a direct result of the toxic environment created by the very council members now pushing this narrative. They argue that NSD did not provide internal performance metrics, yet ignore the fact that NSD had to first clean up a broken system before meaningful metrics could even be developed.

Instead of addressing these realities, Wonsley’s report presents a one-sided, misleading case that conveniently aligns with the Council’s push to shift funds away from a fair and transparent RFP process.

The Council’s Deflection: “It’s Not All About Contracts”

At the most recent press conference, Council Member Wonsley attempted to dismiss the issue of financial accountability by saying, “It’s not all about contracts.”

But when millions of public dollars are unaccounted for, it absolutely is about contracts.

This statement raises serious concerns:

• Are these Council members truly unaware of their responsibilities?
• Do they not care about the misuse of taxpayer dollars?
• Or are they actively complicit in allowing these financial irregularities to continue?

An Attempt to Run from Accountability

Their latest move—pushing to shift these funds to the county—isn’t about “helping NSD build infrastructure.” It’s about escaping the accountability that a fair, competitive RFP process has created.

Before I took over, these council members had free rein to direct city funding to their chosen recipients, without due process or transparency. Now that a fair system is in place, they want to burn it down and send the money elsewhere, where they can continue to wield influence over which organizations get paid.

They are not transferring these funds because NSD is incapable of managing them. They are transferring these funds despite NSD having established a fair and transparent process.

The Public Deserves to See the Full RFP Results

Before this money is moved, the public must demand to see the full results of the competitive RFP process. If the process was done fairly—if it was truly about finding the most qualified providers to serve Minneapolis—why are these council members trying to undermine it?

If certain organizations did not receive funding, it is because they did not meet the standards of the process. It is not the council’s job to rewrite the rules simply because their preferred vendors were not selected.

Minneapolis Residents, This is Your Money—Show Up and Speak Out

The City Council will vote on this transfer this Thursday, February 13. Minneapolis residents should be deeply concerned about this blatant effort to evade financial oversight and should demand transparency.

• Show up to the Council meeting. If the Council is inviting media presence, the public should be there, too. This is your money at stake, and you have more of a say in how it is spent than the media does.
• Contact your City Council members. Demand that they release the full RFP results before any funds are moved. Ask them: Why is this money being shifted away from a process that was finally conducted fairly? What are they trying to hide?
• Share this story. The only way corruption continues is if the public remains silent.

A Community That is Fed Up

At the most recent press conference, we saw the frustration of the community on full display. Pastor Jerry McAfee interrupted the meeting to demand answers and accountability—only to be dismissed with complete disrespect by Council Member Wonsley, who waved him away and continued eating an apple as he spoke.

That moment encapsulated everything wrong with the approach of some of Minneapolis’ council members. Instead of listening to legitimate concerns from the community, they dismiss them with arrogance and disregard. Instead of engaging with the people, they silence them. Instead of addressing real problems, they deflect, manipulate, and lie.

Minneapolis: Do You Want Real Change or Just the Illusion of It?

This is about more than just NSD. More than just one budget vote.

This is about whether Minneapolis is willing to face its own internal corruption. Whether this city will allow its leaders to be held accountable. Whether the people of this city are willing to stand up against backroom deals that put political interests ahead of public safety.

I built the infrastructure they claimed to want. I created the process they said was needed. Now, they want to dismantle it, erase the progress made, and revert to a process that previously lacked transparency.

Minneapolis, this is your moment. Stand up. Speak out. Demand that your leaders stop running from accountability. Because if they succeed in this, they will only be emboldened to do worse. And next time, it won’t just be one department—it will be your tax dollars, your services, your city.

Don’t let them get away with it.