Mayor Frey can’t veto Thursday’s rent control decision by the Minneapolis City Council after all

That rent control measure that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey promised to veto on Thursday? Turns out he can’t veto after all, the city attorney says.

Although Frey, as mayor, has the power to veto a policy passed by members of the city council, he cannot block a council request that the city attorney draft it for them. , according to a note released on Friday.

In the grand scheme of whether or not Minneapolis will adopt a rent control policy, this latest development will likely be a blow — but it does affect the way things play out.

Here is what happened :

A divided city council on Thursday approved a resolution directing the city attorney to draft a rent control policy that should ultimately be approved by voters in the November election.

In a victory for rent control advocates, the council voted 7-5 to start with a policy that would limit rent increases to 3% per year with a few exceptions, making it perhaps the most restrictive in the world. country.

Frey, and probably the majority of council members, consider this too restrictive and do not support it. The mayor announced that he would veto the council’s action.

But he doesn’t have the power to veto what is essentially a council request for his attorney to draft something, according to a Friday memo from City Attorney Kristyn Anderson, whose office serves as an adviser. legal to both the city council and the mayor.

The confusion wasn’t entirely Frey’s fault, Anderson suggested.

“Before and during the council meeting, there was talk of the motion being presented to the mayor and subject to the mayor’s veto power,” she wrote in the memo to Frey and the council chairwoman. Municipal, Andrea Jenkins. “This notice has been given to the Mayor.

“Upon review, I have determined that the notice is not correct. The motion is not an ‘act of Council’ and is therefore not subject to presentation to the mayor, nor to approval or veto of the mayor.”

With no veto in play, the next step is for the city attorney’s office to draft the policy, which will be debated by the city council and submitted to a public hearing.

If and when council approves a rent control policy to appear on the ballot, This could be vetoed by Frey before it goes to voters.