Minneapolis City Council explores subpoena powers to get answers from city staff

The Minneapolis City Council on Thursday approved a staff directive seeking clarity on whether the body has the authority to subpoena city employees for information.

Council members voted 10-3 to request a legal opinion on the matter from the City Attorney’s Office, saying they’re frustrated with what they call a lack of responsiveness and transparency from city departments, particularly as they’re shaping the city’s budget for next year.

“We see this as a simple governance and transparency question,” Council President Elliott Payne said on Thursday when introducing the item for a vote. “I think that the best course is obviously to work collaboratively with the administration, use our agenda settings to structure our meetings in a way that is best suited to get our information to the public and balance staff time, but we need to have a willing participant to do that type of colla...