(KNSI) – St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis held his 900th town hall Thursday morning at the Paramount Center.
He faced a range of questions from those in attendance; downtown revitalization, property tax valuations, and the possibility of a returning outdoor pool. The YMCA is in the process of raising capital for an outdoor venue and is beginning design plans. Kleis hopes it will be in place by 2024 at the latest.
He teased a series of announcements coming up at the downtown summit later this month and recapped Tuesday’s East St. Germain meeting. Kleis was particularly excited about the new Iron Street Distillery, which is opening near the railroad. He also mentioned the new plans for the Copper Lantern restaurant and its expansion beyond being a breakfast destination.
Kleis says the nice thing about having frequent gatherings is there isn’t a need to prioritize questions and that means different topics are covered.
“The town hall a month ago might have had a different issue. A town hall a month from now might be all about snowplowing. I do it every week because topics change.”
Kleis says his largest town hall had 550 people in attendance at the old city council chambers after a racist flyer was found posted around St. Cloud. The smallest was a lone person, and yes, it still lasted a full hour. Kleis joked that he made two promises when first running for mayor, be more accessible and bring the paddleboards back to Lake George. He says the town halls are proof of his commitment to the first promise.
Another topic that generated a lot of discussion was property tax valuation increases and whether that will turn into a budget surplus. Kleis doubts that will be the case, saying inflation has hit city government hard.
“We’re seeing in some cases fuel leveling, but still high, still much higher than they were prior to those huge increases that we’ve seen this last year. We’re seeing some areas where we’re even higher than we had even in the last year and that’s some of our projects. We do a lot of road projects.”
The labor shortage is another problem. Kleis says that turns into overtime and costs going above expectations.
Kleis says a bright spot in containing costs is the renewable energy efforts at the water treatment plant and other city facilities.
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