St. Cloud Mayor Anderson Hosting Town Hall Meeting

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud Mayor Jake Anderson is hosting a Town Hall meeting this Thursday. It will be held from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the police station.

The focus will be on public safety.

We're going to have fire, police, and health and inspections there, they are each going to do about a 10-minute spiel on what they do and the statistics they have.  And then provide a good hour for folks to ask questions.

Anderson says he chose the topic for his first quarterly Town Hall because it is his number one focus.

He says the city needs to do some hiring to be fully staffed in the police and fire departments.

What we're budgeted at is not what we're actually at.  This is a nationwide issue.  So we're doing what we can to make sure our pay and our benefit package is competitive to get staff to the right level.

He says the city is about five or six officers short right now. He says the city just approved a new bargaining agreement with a modest bump in pay.

Get our free mobile app

Since the first of the year, all three of St. Cloud's top leadership positions have changed hands. Besides Anderson being sworn in as the new mayor, the city council elected Mike Conway as the Council President, and Tracy Hodel is scheduled to start her new role as City Administrator on May 12th.

Anderson says it is an exciting time.

Council President Conway and I get along really well.  Ms. Hodel and I get along really well.  We're going to try to continue to collaborate and cooperate to make this a better community.  Let's face it, there are issues, we have opportunities, but it's a sense of teamwork that we'll be able to address those.

Four of the seven city council members are also new this year.

READ RELATED ARTICLES

• Matt Love Dancing For Greater St. Cloud Public Safety Foundation
• Kevin Johnson Dancing For Tanner's Team Foundation 
• Tickets On Sale for 'Last Out' Play at Pioneer Place Theater
• Jules' Bistro Minnesota Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year
• Nonprofit Project 37 Buys Building In Downtown St. Cloud