St. Cloud mayor announces future Amazon site, music-focused festival in State of the City address

ST. CLOUD — Mayor Dave Kleis delivered his 2021 State of the City address to a crowd at Lake George Tuesday afternoon.

"After the year we've had, isn't it great standing together with people," Kleis said as he began his 16th annual address.

The year before, due to a stay-at-home order in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, he delivered his address to paper printouts of potential audience members' faces in a closed City Hall.

In fact, Kleis said, St. Cloud Singer Laureate James Calacsan's performance of "God Bless America" before the mayor's address was the first performance on the Lake George stage since the pandemic began.

Last year:City projects $10 million shortfall due to COVID-19 — but projects, celebrations continue

"The last year that we had in the pandemic has been a very challenging year for all of us," Kleis said during his address. "It's challenging to our business community, it has been challenging to our families, it has been challenging to every aspect of what we have in our community."

Despite those challenges, the mayor's address took an optimistic tone.

Economic development includes Amazon fulfillment center

Kleis announcedthat Amazon has completed permits for a new fulfillment center on Heatherwood Road in south St. Cloud that would bring "hundreds of jobs" to the city.

"Look for some more exciting news later this year on that," he said.

The announcement was not the only good news for St. Cloud's economic development in 2020.

What was projected to be a $10 million shortfall in the city's budget for 2020 turned out to be over $7 million, Kleis said during the address. The shortfall required significant cuts, but he said the city was able to be fiscally responsible and not lay off any city employees.

"The city has been hit hard, but we wanted to make sure we did not pass the burden on to you," Kleis said.

Property tax rates in the city have been held flat during the pandemic, and remain below the state average, he said. In some cases, city fees were reduced in 2020.

"Despite COVID-19, we've had more start-ups of businesses than closures this year," he said.

During 2020, he said, the city has been able to focus on its top priorities — public safety and infrastructure.

Public safety

He praised the city's efforts in community policing. "We didn't just start doing that last year," Kleis said. "Our community policing agreement was actually first signed in 2005... There's a goal in the agreement to meet with various communities in our area every year. That has been more than once a year in many cases, especially over the last year and a half."

"The most important part of community policing — or policing — is neighborhood involvement," he said. "So from here until next year, when I give this speech again, the goal is to double the number of neighborhood watches in our community."

Infrastructure

The city has spent 2020 making its infrastructure more sustainable, Kleis said during the address. In 2018, about 84% of the power used by city facilities came from renewable energy. In 2020, the city produced over 100% of its usage from renewable sources, chiefly from solar, biomass and hydroelectric.

"The wastewater treatment facility used to be a huge cost to the city for energy," Kleis said. "In October of last year, for the first time... it actually is a net producer of energy."

St. Cloud was the first city in Minnesota to make its wastewater treatment facility a net producer of energy, he said. He thanked Public Services Director Tracy Hodel and her team for the achievement.

"They have to be creative, because they know how cheap I am," he quipped. "Not only do they save money, your resources, but they save our precious natural resources, and that's something that we should all be very proud of."

In the near future, Kleis said, the construction of an additional bridge over the Mississippi will be a top priority.

"It's a project that we need to get done," he said. "It has been planned for 40 years, but it is something that has to happen in the next five years, and that is our goal."

Other upcoming improvements to the city include the renovation of the old Tech High School building into a new city hall, which is set to open by the end of 2021, he said.

The high school's Clark Field will become the 97th park in St. Cloud, Kleis announced during the address.

Festivals will be about music

This summer is also set to be the return of St. Cloud celebrations like Summertime by George and Granite City Days, Kleis said.

This year's festivities will be about music, he said.

"When COVID started, it was the day the music died." Kleis said. Concerts nationwide, including St. Cloud's weekly Summertime by George concert series, were canceled.

This year, the city will be holding a song contest as part of Granite City Days. "Write a song about St. Cloud and submit it, and we'll have some valuable prizes."

There will be a downtown "music crawl" as part of the festivities, and even the mayor's upcoming town hall forums will have musical elements.

In closing, Kleis praised the resilience of the city during a challenging year. He said St. Cloud lived up to its moniker of the "nitty-gritty Granite City" as it weathered the worst of the pandemic.

"We as a city should be proud," he said. "I know as a community, our future is bright."

Erik Newland is the education reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8761 or enewland@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @SCTimesErik.

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