Star Tribune
With slow fire response times, St. Cloud will ask voters to fund new fire station
ST. CLOUD — Voters here could see a question on the ballot this fall asking them to approve a tax increase for a new fire station on the city’s south side.
St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis on Tuesday announced plans for a referendum during his 19th annual State of the City address.
“Our firefighters go to fires, natural disasters, medical calls, dangerous rescues,” he said to a crowd of a few hundred people gathered at City Hall. “They need a little help in that response — they need another fire station.”
The city has five fire stations, one of which is at the airport and is only used to support airport operations.
St. Cloud Fire Chief Matt Love said Tuesday the city is working with a firm to design a new station and training facility on the south side of the city near the intersection of Minnesota Highway 15 and 33rd Street S — an area that’s seen recent growth with the new Tech High School, charter schools and growing neighborhoods of houses and apartments.
Once costs are finalized, city leaders will ask the City Council to approve adding the question to the ballot this fall. It would likely be similar to a public safety referendum in 2006 that asked voters to allow the city to rebuild a fire station on the west side by the Municipal Athletic Complex and build a new fire station on the south side just north of I-94. The question passed with 57% voting yes to the tax increase.
The new station would not only improve response times to the south side of the city, it would improve response times across the entire city, Love said.
A 2020 study of the city’s fire department showed its response time exceeds nationally recommended standards for fires, emergency medical calls and other calls. The national benchmark is about six minutes, whereas St. Cloud’s average response time to a fire was 10 minutes, the study showed.
“Response time is important,” Kleis said. “It’s been more than 15 years since we’ve asked you, the voters, to build a couple fire stations. We’re going to ask you again this fall. It’s necessary not only to save your life — your friends’ and family’s lives — and property.”
Kleis also announced Tuesday the city is launching a residential cooking oil recycling program, where residents can drop of used food-grade cooking oil and grease at four sites in the city. Next year, the city will start accepting food scraps, as well. The city’s wastewater treatment facility will turn the oils and scraps into renewable biogas, which is then used to power the facility.
This summer, the city will launch a new round of the Healthy Neighborhood Partnership Program in partnership with the Initiative Foundation. The program helps residents determine their neighborhood’s unique assets, needs and goals.
The city first sponsored the program in 2007 with a focus on the city’s older core neighborhoods, which was the impetus behind the creation of the nonprofit St. Cloud Neighborhood Coalition. This summer’s program will focus on all neighborhoods, Kleis said.
Kleis also highlighted his engagement efforts since taking office in 2005, including 100 dinners with residents at his home, 980 town halls — including his recent 24-hour town hall — 1,000 video messages posted online and 2,000 appearances on local radio shows. He hasn’t yet said if he plans to run for re-election this fall.
Kleis also thanked the 121 people who volunteer to serve on the city’s 21 boards and commissions, as well as others who work in public service or volunteer to make the community a better place, many of whom were in attendance Tuesday.
“The state of the city,” he said, “is the sum of all of you.”
A 36-year-old Alexandria man was sentenced to about four months in jail after pleading guilty to secretly recording employees at a hospital where he previously worked as a custodian.
Corey R. Johns was arrested in May 2023 and charged with one gross misdemeanor count of interfering with privacy. He pleaded guilty in June, and on Monday Douglas County Judge Michelle Clark sentenced Johns to 364 days in jail.
Johns will serve 120 days in the Douglas County Jail and have the remaining 244 days stayed for two years of probation. Clark also ordered Johns to attend a sex offender treatment program. He was ordered not work in a location where women routinely change clothes, possess pornographic material or have unsupervised contact with vulnerable adults or anyone under the age of 18.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Johns, Alexandria police responded to a call at Alomere Health in May 2023 after three female employees found a phone propped up by a shoe and pointed toward the changing area in a locker room. Before police arrived, Johns asked the women to give his phone back to him, the complaint states.
Johns told police he started recording employees in February and had also recorded in a co-ed locker room. At the jail, staff found a pen on Johns that he said was another type of recording device he had used, according to the complaint.
After the arrest, a spokesperson from Alomere Health said Johns was no longer affiliated with the organization.
“The safety and security of our staff has always been of the utmost importance. We are devastated that this has occurred and even the thought of this behavior by anyone is reprehensible,” the spokesperson said in a written statement. “The Alomere Health Human Resources team is working directly with employees who may have been impacted.”
Star Tribune
Nearly 10-year term for man who posted pic of him driving 150 mph before causing fatal wreck
A man has received a nearly 10-year term for documenting himself driving 150 miles per hour and posting his feat on social media moments before he crashed into the rear of another car southeast of St. Cloud and killed a passenger in the other vehicle.
Hunter M. Buckentine, 24, of Avon, Minn., was sentenced Monday in Sherburne County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in connection with the collision about 1:10 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2023, along Hwy. 10 in Clear Lake Township.
With time in jail after his arrest, Buckentine is expected to serve the about 6¼ years of his 9⅔-year term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Buckentine was heading west on Hwy. 10 near SE. 97th Street in his Infiniti Q50 and struck a Chevy Cobalt from behind, according to the State Patrol. The impact sent the Cobalt into a ditch to the right, where it rolled several times, the patrol said. Buckentine’s car left the road, caught fire and hit a line of trees.
The Cobalt’s passenger who died was identified as Jordan D. Kramer, 34, of Clarissa, Minn. Kramer died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said. Another passenger, Candice C. Pooler, 39, also of Clarissa, sustained critical injuries, according to the patrol. The Cobalt’s driver, Lindsey K. Soiseth, 35, of Lake Lillian, Minn., also survived her injuries.
Also suffering noncritical injuries were Buckentine and his passenger, 21-year-old Trenton C. Michels, 22, of Becker, Minn., the patrol said.
Court records show that Buckentine’s driving history includes three convictions for speeding and another for careless driving in connection with him crashing his car in May 2022 east of St. Cloud in Santiago Township.
Star Tribune
Man accused of Lyndale Avenue gunfire, homicide near Willmar is ID’d by law enforcement
A murder charge could come as soon as Thursday against a 25-year-old man who’s accused of firing shots from an apartment balcony in the heart of Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighborhood before he fled and shot two people near Willmar as he attempted in vain to evade law enforcement in a high-speed chase.
The suspect, who is from Hopkins, remains held without bail in the Kandiyohi County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with a shooting Tuesday afternoon.
Kandiyohi County Attorney Shane Baker said he’s not expecting to file charges Wednesday. Charges are also pending in Hennepin County stemming from the early afternoon gunfire. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged. Minnesota court records show nothing in the man’s criminal background other than a minor drug paraphernalia conviction and numerous parking and driving violations.
Tuesday’s events unfolded shortly before 1 p.m., when police were called to an apartment complex at the 2900 block of Lyndale Avenue S., where the man fired off several rounds into the street from the building’s top floor.
Police shuttered the busy intersection and surrounding blocks from W. 28th to Lake streets in the densely populated commercial and residential corridor as they attempted to negotiate his surrender.
According to a Tuesday night release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, the man traveled west through several counties and then shot and injured a man at a rural Kandiyohi County residence. Police say the suspect then fatally shot a motorist that he attempted to carjack at the Hwy. 71 and Hwy. 23 bypass southeast of Willmar. Police were eventually able to take the man into custody. He was jailed in Kandiyohi County on charges that include murder.
A medical examiner will release the victim’s name after an autopsy and family is notified.
“Today, multiple lives were put in harm’s way, with one person sadly losing their life,” Kandiyohi County Sheriff Spokesperson Imran Ali said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. Please continue to hold the victims, their families and our first responders in your prayers today.”
