St. Cloud Senator Wants To Hear From Public on Bonding Projects

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud senator is holding a first-of-its-kind town hall to hear from the public on what kinds of regional projects the legislature should spend bonding money on.

Senator Aric Putnam spoke with KNSI and said he wanted to hold the meeting after recently talking to 35 seniors in Waite Park. “They had some things they wanted to talk about. But one of the things that surprised me is they came out and said, ‘We’ve never had any input on the bonding process. I see that you’re spending $7 million on the children’s museum. Good idea. But we never had a chance to talk about it.’ And I thought, you know what, you’re 100% right. Let’s do that.”

The Great River Children’s Museum in downtown St. Cloud was one of several area projects that received funding from the state last session. Putnam says most decisions are made behind closed doors in St. Paul, and his goal is to bring the public into the discussion to help decide where the state’s needs are. “We’ve never had a chance for the public just to say, hey, you know what, this is what I think is important. Tell me more about this project. So that’s what this meeting is supposed to be. We’re going to have representatives from different areas who have bonding proposals; they’ll explain their projects. And the community can ask questions.”

He says Minnesota proposes borrowing a billion dollars to fund regional projects in 2024. “We spend a lot of money on these projects, and they’re important projects. But we always have more projects than we have funding for, and people seem to treat bonding like it’s magic money that just comes down from St. Paul, and it’s not. It’s stuff we have to advocate for. And we have to spend smartly. And you don’t do things smartly unless you do things together.”

He has invited leaders and the public from across the region to the Great River Regional Library on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to make their pitch.

Some of the proposals people will learn more about include a $13 million request from CentraCare for a medical school, a $10 million ask from St. Joseph for sewer improvements, a new water tower in St. Augusta, multiple submissions from St. Cloud State University, and the City of St. Cloud is asking for $100 million to help revitalize downtown and connect the city.

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