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Committee considers extending deadline for Minneapolis Lake Street grant after contract delays
Summary
The committee heard testimony on House File 3,079, a bill to extend the spending deadline for a 2023 appropriation to the City of Minneapolis tied to post-2020 Lake Street business recovery. City and state witnesses told lawmakers contract and implementation delays prompted the request; the committee laid the bill over for future consideration.
House File 3,079 would change the deadline for spending a 2023 appropriation to the City of Minneapolis related to business support on Central Lake Street.
The bill, presented to the Workforce, Labor and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee by Representative Gomez, would move the grant spending deadline from June 30, 2025, to June 30, 2027. Gomez said the delay reflects that the city did not finalize its implementing contract with the state agency until June 2024, which compressed the time available to complete grant activities.
Katie Topinka, director of government relations for the City of Minneapolis, testified that a combination of factors on both the city and the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) sides slowed finalizing the contract. She said there was extended back-and-forth over whether a request-for-proposals process was required, which the city ultimately used to select the Graves Foundation as the implementing partner, and substantial discussion about eligible expenses.
"There was quite a bit of back and forth between the city and the agency about the process for getting the money out," Topinka said.
Representative Dave Baker and other members expressed frustration that the implementing contract took so long, calling the delay disappointing and saying DEED appeared overwhelmed by implementation tasks. Gomez said about $1 million or slightly more has been distributed so far, but additional time would allow more thoughtful, impactful uses of the appropriation for businesses still operating on Lake Street.
The chair laid House File 3,079 over for possible future consideration; no final vote was taken.
The discussion took place during the committee's regular meeting and included public-availability notes from committee staff about paper copies of documents.
Ending: The committee did not act on the bill and left it for future consideration; lawmakers said they expect to revisit implementation timing and oversight as budget discussions continue.
