The city of St. Cloud is growing.
This is not news if you live in the area.
The news would be how it is managing the growth.
The leaders of two of St. Cloud’s most important public service units, Fire Chief Jason Miller and Police Chief Doug Goerke, who was just officially sworn in this month, are working toward it, and not in spite of it, and spoke about that at a coffee-and-breakfast gathering in downtown last week brought together by St. Cloud Main Street.
And, to the benefit of the city’s residents, their boss “speaks their language.” City Manager Bill Sturgeon is a former city fire chief himself, and understands their needs and thinks the same way when it comes to responding to emergencies.
“Having Bill is incredible, for me and the city,” Goerke said. “It’s amazing to have someone who understands strategic growth.”
Sturgeon said he, Goerke and Miller are alike in their crisis management, strategic thinking and emergency preparedness.
“We’re a cohesive team, and we’re all ‘Type A’ personalities,” the manager said.
Goerke, who took over in February for the retired Pete Gauntlett, said he didn’t even take the job until he was sure he was the right fit for a growing city and had the skill set to be a part of that responsible growth.
“Services will have to grow with the city,” he said. “That growth is in our strategic plan, and the city’s, to compensate for that.”
Both chiefs said service calls were up last year. The police department, which numbers 182 employees and 102 sworn officers, served 95,000 calls in 2021, and Miller said there were 8,612 fire/rescue calls, an 18 percent increase.
“We’re just busier,” Miller said, noting the city has 75 combat personnel among five rescue units and three engines. “I’m excited for the growth. I was born and raised here. Growth is not bad, how it’s managed is the key.”
Despite a mutual-aid agreement with Osceola County, where it will respond to a St. Cloud call if closer, and vice versa, average response time was 7 minutes last year, a minute more than Miller’s goal. He chalked it up to traffic and overlapping calls.
“’Rush hour’ for us is from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” he said. “The past couple of years were a struggle, and now the challenge is that the cost of apparatus is up about 20 percent.”
To help manage growth, Miller said a temporary fire station will be built in Tohoqua, the new planned neighborhood across Neptune Road from Neptune Middle School, and if a federal SAFER Act grant comes in, it will be used to get a fourth engine. Goerke said he’s looking at reducing police response times on the east side, in the Nova Road area, is exploring acquiring body cameras, and hopes to bring back the Citizen’s Police Academy. He’s also trained as a paramedic and EMT, and said residents will see him on the streets patrolling.
“I see myself as just another officer, I don’t like to sit behind my desk,” he said. “You have an amazing police department that will help people, and I want to be a part of that. I encourage our officers to have interaction with people that isn’t, ‘License and registration, please.’”
