St. Cloud City Council to Tackle Property Assessment Concerns, CentraCare Bond Refinancing and More Monday

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud City Council will hold a work session and regular meeting Monday, starting with a 4:30 p.m. study session focused on how the city evaluates properties and handles assessment appeals.

It’s a topic that drew heated public comment just weeks ago. The city assessor will walk the council through how property evaluations work and how owners can appeal them. The discussion comes after a contentious debate over road project assessments that hit Lincoln Avenue business owners especially hard.

Nineteen of the 79 Lincoln Avenue property owners filed objections. Among them was David Koop, owner of Car Smart and Smart Signs, who initially faced a $49,900 assessment. Staff cut that by more than $17,000 after determining only two of his four buildings were served by the water main replaced on Lincoln Avenue. Koop is still contesting the revised $32,700 bill, arguing the work added no value to his properties.

The council ultimately approved the assessments unanimously but acknowledged property owners can appeal through the courts.

Monday’s work session will also cover building permit fees, with presentations from Community Development Director Matt Glaesman, Chief Building Official Katie Vollbrecht and Finance Director DeAnna Fah.

During the regular 6:00 p.m. meeting, the council will consider authorizing up to $180 million in health care revenue bonds on behalf of CentraCare Health System. The bonds would refinance CentraCare’s 2016 debt, which currently has an outstanding balance of about $174.7 million, at lower interest rates. The city is not on the hook for repayment. Instead, CentraCare benefits from the city’s tax-exempt status under state law. CentraCare paid a $5,000 application fee for the conduit financing.

Two grants from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are on the consent agenda. The first, $178,690, would fund a comprehensive urban forest management plan, including a full inventory of public trees and cloud-based management software. The second, $119,253, would pay for planting 100 new trees and removing 100 dead or dying trees and stumps at Whitney Regional Park. Both grants target the growing threat from Emerald Ash Borer, which is expected to cause widespread tree loss citywide. Neither grant requires a local match.

The council will vote on awarding a $1.3 million contract to Ferguson Water Works of Blaine for water main materials needed for the 22nd Street South and Pan Park Phase 5 improvement projects. The winning bid came in about 18.5% below the engineer’s estimate. Staff say the materials were bid out separately because of 12-week lead times.
Two public hearings are scheduled Monday.

St. Cloud Area School District 742 is asking the city to consolidate several parcels on the Apollo High School campus into a single lot, vacate old easements along 44th Avenue North and 12th Street North, and formalize the school district’s ownership of roadway previously vacated in 1969. The Planning Commission recommended approval 6-0.

The council will consider whether an Environmental Impact Statement is needed for the proposed 508,600-square-foot justice center complex at 7600 County Road 134. The facility would house courtrooms, the jail and law enforcement center on a 75.87-acre site. After a 30-day public comment period, only two agencies responded, the DNR and MPCA. Staff are recommending no full EIS is needed. The project would still require a conditional use permit, variance, land disturbance permit and other approvals before construction could begin.

City Clerk Seth Kauffman is bringing two election-related items to the council. The first would add a new voting precinct to fix a mapping issue created by a 2023 land swap between St. Cloud and Sartell. The boundary change left a Le Sauk Township parcel enclosed within St. Cloud but assigned to the wrong legislative district. The new precinct has no registered voters and exists only to resolve the contiguity issue required by state law.

The second would require write-in candidates to file a notice of intent with the city clerk at least seven days before an election in order to have their votes individually counted. Currently, election judges must tally every write-in, including joke entries. Staff say the change would save time and reduce election-night staffing costs.

The consent agenda also includes ordinances being set for public hearing on April 20th. An update to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s enabling ordinance needs revised statutory references and would add a requirement for the HRA to report periodically to the council on housing programs and bond activity.

A change to the Citizens’ Review Board ordinance would extend term limits for appointed members from two consecutive terms to three. Police Chief Jeff Oxton says experienced board members have wanted to continue serving beyond the current limit.

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