Title
Authorizing the Office of Neighborhood Safety to formally accept a graduate Fellowship from Harvard University wherein the City would provisionally hire the Fellow, Manasa Acharya, as a Research Analyst in the Office of Neighborhood Safety.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of St. Paul created the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) pursuant to City Ordinance ORD 22-9; and
WHEREAS, ONS is charged with establishing, coordinating, and advancing crime prevention, violence interruption, and reconciliation strategies in order to increase safety and overall wellbeing for residents; and
WHEREAS, ONS’s mission of improving public safety will be enhanced by employing a Research Analysist with graduate-level education and training in the field of urban planning and design to assist ONS in program evaluation, research analysis, and the application of the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to City Ordinance ORD 24-303, Mayor Carter and the City Council authorized ONS to pursue engagement of a graduate-level Fellow from Harvard University trained in urban planning to be assigned to ONS and provide expertise related to ONS’s mission; and
WHEREAS, ONS and Harvard determined that Harvard Fellow Manasa Acharya was well qualified for the ONS role and Ms. Acharya began working for ONS in the capacity of a Research Assistant while ONS pursued approval of the Mayor and City Council to hire Ms. Acharya as a provisional City employee for the duration of her Fellowship; and
WHEREAS, ONS and Harvard have agreed on the terms of Ms. Acharya’s Fellowship with ONS and memorialized those terms in the attached Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); and
WHEREAS, in accordance with the MOU, ONS will continue to employ Ms. Acharya for the remaining period of the Fellowship, scheduled to end August 13, 2025, providing that she is performing her work at a level expected of City employees in her job classification; and
WHEREAS, Harvard University will continue to pay to the City the costs of Ms. Acharya’s employment, including salary and employee benefits; and
WHEREAS, once the Fellowship period ends on August 13, 2025, the City will have no further obligations to Harvard or to Ms. Acharya as an employee of the City; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor, pursuant to Section 10.07.1 of the Charter of the City of Saint Paul, does certify that there are available for appropriation total revenues in excess of those estimated in the budget, funds of $78,999 in the Office of Neighborhood Safety Special Fund; now
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Council of the City of Saint Paul, upon recommendation of the Mayor that $78,999 is available for appropriation in the Office of Neighborhood Safety Special Fund, as heretofore adopted and amended by this Council, be hereby further amended in the particulars as specified in the attached financial analysis and Authorize the Office Neighborhood Safety to enter into the MOU with Harvard University, thereby making Harvard Fellow Manasa Acharya a provisional employee of the City in ONS.