Thread by @WedgeLIVE

This morning the City Council is expressing profound displeasure that Mayor Frey used his covid-19 emergency powers to appropriate $359,000 for Agape, which is the group that we were all told a few weeks ago had made the decision to clear George Floyd Square.

Because Mayor Frey has long since stopped showing up for these mayoral covid updates, Ward 11 Council Member Jeremy Schroeder has to give City Attorney Jim Rowader his assessment: clearing 38th and Chicago "had nothing to do with the covid-19 pandemic."

Rowader: "I certainly don't think at first pass that this was at all a stretch, as you put it." Says emergency regulations "provide for plenty of space."

Rowader says that among the reasons the mayor used covid-19 emergency powers was "operational secrecy" and "safety concerns in the execution of that operation."

Council President Lisa Bender: "I contest the notion there wasn't time to bring something like this through council, especially with the amount of the contract" which indicates it was long term in nature.

Council Member Phillipe Cunningham: "It is outside of what would be an appropriate use."

Talking about the city attorney's justification: "When city staff are put into a position in which they are told to justify a use in a particular way, that's what is done."

Cunningham: This is part of a broader issue of a misuse of the Office of Violence Prevention resources. Violence interrupters are a specific set of skills and training. They shouldn't be used for crowd management at protests or funeral security.

Cunningham: We're not looking to have civilians do what police do. "We should not be putting them in these positions." OVP is not the appropriate location to reopen 38th and Chicago, and do every little thing MPD doesn't want to do.

Cunningham: "These are abusive uses of these resources... it's hurting the credibility of folks who have come out of the life... and help get others out of the life. They're being seen as cops because the city is asking them to behave as cops."

Council Member Steve Fletcher: I'm not going to ask question of staff because it puts staff in a terrible position, the mayor asked them to do something improper. "I think it is a scandal. I think we need to call it what it is. This is a misuse" of covid-19 emergency powers.

Fletcher: Mayor Frey has been trying to distance himself from these actions. These are scandals. First, claiming the clearing of GFS was the independent initiative of a community group, then having it come to light that the mayor misused covid emergency powers to pay that group.

Fletcher says the council needs to end the mayor's covid procurement powers because it's being misused.