St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis Reflects on 20 Years of Leadership in Final State of the City Address

(KNSI)—St. Cloud’s longest-serving mayor said the state of the city is rock solid in his final address on Tuesday afternoon.

Dave Kleis delivered his farewell to a standing-room-only crowd and told them he would always be from St. Cloud. “I cannot express the gratitude and the honor of being able to be entrusted with the home of this community, and it’s my home, and so I am grateful to the people I have met and worked with and celebrated and cried with. It’s been an opportunity and an honor. The most important thing for me to say is thank you.”

One of the mayor’s final acts was to donate a $20,000 grant he received from the U.S. Conference of Mayors for his work on sustainability and green energy projects in the city. “I am donating it to the Chamber Leadership Program as a scholarship, a $1,000 per year scholarship over the next 20 years. And that is for the tuition and the cost of participating. It’s a great leadership program.” He says the courses help young entrepreneurs get started and give them tools and resources to succeed in business.

Before the mayor finished talking to the crowd, he had one more big idea to float. He would like to see a baseball complex come downtown. “Stadiums tend to really drive the traffic. And then, with drive traffic, people start wanting to live there. The VA is looking at expansion. We have a lease with the VA. One of our baseball stadiums is on federal land, and that lease would have to be extended. The likelihood of that lease being extended is minimal.”

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs owns the land where Joe Faber Field stands. Kleis says the lease expires in 2036, and the mayor feels that rather than building something out in the middle of nowhere, St. Cloud should look to build it in the heart of downtown as part of the city’s redevelopment.

Kleis led the city for 20 years and will officially step down on Monday, January 13th, when he swears in the new council and mayor.

Read more about his greatest challenges and achievements by clicking here.

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