Two city council members vie to succeed St. Cloud’s departing mayor
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This fall marks the first time in more than two decades that Dave Kleis’ name hasn't appeared on the ballot. St. Cloud’s longest serving mayor decided not to run for reelection after 19 years in the office.
Two members of the St. Cloud City Council, Jake Anderson and Mike Conway, are vying to replace him. The race is highlighting some of the city’s most pressing challenges, including a housing crunch, a struggle to revive its downtown and a perception the city is less safe.
Both candidates for the nonpartisan office talk about addressing those problems, but they differ — sometimes subtly — on how to do so.
For Anderson, 44, who grew up in St. Cloud, it’s about restoring a sense of pride in the community he feels has slipped.
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“As I talk to people about how do you feel about the city, there is a general kind of ‘meh’ and disappointment,” he said. “It’s under there. I think it just needs polishing, and I think it can be brought back to the surface.”
Anderson is an IT project manager for Stearns County, who’s served on the city council for two years. He said he believes in using data to make informed decisions, and making aesthetic improvements to encourage businesses to invest in St. Cloud.
“What can we do to make investments in our community that will prove the overall appearance of the city, but also seek to build more pride in the city?” Anderson asked.
Conway, 58, is a solutions consultant for the financial services company Wolters Kluwer. He moved to the city in 1991, and has spent six years on the city council.
Visiting small communities across the U.S. for his job has given him a unique perspective, Conway said.
“Being able to travel around with worth work gave me a real good appreciation for what St. Cloud is, and also what St. Cloud could be if we give it the time and attention and freedom to go ahead and expand the way it wants to,” he said.
While the candidates agree on a lot, there are differences. Conway stresses being fiscally conservative and assessing neighboring property owners for street improvements. Anderson says he’s more moderate and thinks some citywide spending is needed to improve the quality of life.
St. Cloud is one of only four Minnesota cities that have strong-mayor systems, along with Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. That means the mayor is the city’s chief executive officer and directs the city staff.
The St. Cloud mayor serves four years and earns a salary of $50,000 a year. Both candidates say if they win, they will keep their other jobs.
Downtown revitalization
Like many cities, St. Cloud’s downtown suffered a blow during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people switched to working remotely.
The city has attempted to revitalize its downtown and attract more people to live, work and visit there. Kleis unsuccessfully sought $100 million from the state Legislature, arguing that Duluth and Rochester both received bonding dollars.
A recent effort to establish a business improvement district downtown failed after a significant minority of downtown property owners rejected the idea. It would have increased their property taxes to make downtown improvements.
Anderson said he supports investing public money in downtown, but said the plan needs to be more focused and well-defined than Kleis’ bonding request, which he calls mostly conceptual.
“I don’t think you can just drive it by the private sector,” he said. “I think you need to obviously be smart with public sector dollars … It’s hard to ask for money if you’re not saying this is the specific need we’re looking to do.”
Both candidates said there needs to be more of a draw to convince people to live downtown, including a grocery store.
Conway said he sees some of the challenges as potential opportunities. That includes the likelihood that Stearns County will build a new jail and justice outside of downtown, leaving two empty buildings.
“Once the county has left that area, we have some really good opportunities to put a really intense development focus on what that land could look like,” he said.
Housing need
Like other Minnesota communities, St. Cloud is facing a shortage of housing. A recent study found the city needs more than 17,000 additional units of housing, including single-family homes, townhomes and senior housing.
Both candidates say housing is a pressing concern. Conway talks about providing incentives for building “the next great neighborhoods” that will provide workforce housing.
“What we need to do is find that balance where a first-time home buyer or a young family who wants to put down roots and buy their first home — how they can do that and then have the ability to grow into that home,” he said.
Anderson said rather than building new neighborhoods with costly infrastructure, he’d focus on making current ones better.
“We have plenty of issues in our existing neighborhoods that we should be working to improve,” he said.
Both Conway and Anderson see a chance for the city to redevelop the neighborhood around St. Cloud State University, which is downsizing and closing some unused buildings due to an enrollment decline.
“If you can turn some of those rentals that were boarding houses and convert them or tear them down and rebuild them into single-family housing, you begin to alleviate some of that housing supply crunch,” Anderson said.
Conway noted that last year, the city passed an ordinance allowing homes to have second living quarters. A family could buy a duplex and rent out half, reducing absentee landlords and making home ownership easier to attain, he said.
“That’s where you can start building generational wealth, and that's important,” Conway said.
Public safety
After a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, serious crime in St. Cloud has been trending down, and statistics show the city’s downtown is relatively safe. But both candidates acknowledge there’s a perception that crime is on the rise.
“If crime happens to you, you don't feel safe,” Anderson said. “Somebody steals your bike or breaks into your house or garage, I don't feel safe then.”
Conway and Anderson both support expanding the work of the city’s community action team, which partners police officers with social workers trained in de-escalating situations and recognizing signs of a mental health crisis.
“Let's face it, if somebody's having a crisis, they call 911, and the police are the ones that show up,” Conway said. “May not be the exact person that’s needed at that point.”
Both also support the police department’s Community OutPost, a neighborhood hub that offers after-school activities for youth, adult English classes and other services aimed at reducing crime. The city plans to open two more COP houses.
Anderson said the police department should be allowed to continue to innovate, but the city also should look at addressing problems such as crime and homelessness by intervening earlier.
“Is it a situation where somebody should have been getting help? Is it a repeat situation?” he asked. “What can we do upstream?”
Differing tempers
The race for mayor has been largely civil. But at a recent forum at St. Cloud State University, Anderson said temperament is a key difference between the two candidates.
He describes himself as even-keeled and able to keep calm in tense conversations, a skill he says is often lacking in today’s politics.
“I don’t get mad. I don’t get worked up,” Anderson said. “Most meetings, I sit quiet. I just listen to people before I formulate a decision.”
Anderson has said Conway created tension on the city council when he attempted to censure two other council members for what he said were violations of the open meeting law.
Conway responded that he’s passionate about the city, which sometimes can be mistaken for anger.
“You have to be able to make your decisions from a principled position,” he said. “Sometimes my principle may come off as being standoffish or quick to judge, but I'm really coming from that option of what's best for the city.”
Correction (Oct. 25, 2024): A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Rochester as a city with a strong-mayor system. The story has been updated.
