ST PAUL, Minn. — With a lot of ground to cover, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter jumped straight into talking about violence within the city.
"Our community was sent reeling by another senseless act of violence, of gun fire erupting in a funeral home killing one and injuring three others," Carter said via a Teams video conference.
And when addressing violence in the city, Carter brought up two things that go-hand-in-hand: police response and gun safety itself.
"I will ask the city council to consider and pass an ordinance requiring legal firearms be stored locked, unloaded and separate from ammunition when not under the owner's immediate control," he said.
He touched on a grant that would allow for the city to have a second police academy; something Police Chief Todd Axtell had flagged as a staffing issue months back.
"I have already approved the commencement of the hiring process to add a second police academy this Spring," Carter said. "And I'm pleased to announce that St. Paul will accept a federal cops grant to bolster the number of officers in that class as well."
And in terms of where the city stands at sunsetting Chief Axtell's term, and finding a new one?
"Chief Axtell's last day will be an entirely different question, that is up to a conversation between he and I, so we'll determine that together," Carter said. "I don't anticipate any challenge or any controversy or disagreement."
He says if the search for a new chief does not conclude before the expiration of Axtell's six-year term, an interim chief will be installed.
Carter also addressed reporting that the city council was looking to sunset his emergency powers after nearly two years.
"That's something that's a shared goal for all of us," he said. "I know that they're moving forward, their first step to do that is to move forward is to permanently codify some of the changes that we've made. I don't foresee that being a conflict or a controversy at all, it's something that we're all in agreement on."
And that policies like city-wide indoor mask mandates will be something they determine together, considering several factors.
"COVID positive rates, COVID hospitalization rates, death rates as well as ICU capacity ... that combined to create a a totality of circumstances that we watch very closely with our department of public health," he said.
Carter ended on a positive note saying that he's confident the people of St. Paul will continue to bet on each other moving forward.
"Today I stand confident that the state of our city is strong enough, resilient enough and bright enough to continue lighting the path forward."
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