St. Cloud could open wallet, ban pill mills and gaming

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St. Cloud could open wallet, ban pill mills and gaming

County News

Tuesday, 08 March 2011 16:05

By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer
The St. Cloud City Council has a lot on its plate for Thursday night's meeting, including opening its wallet to six projects that will cost more than $350,000 total and instituting a temporary moratorium on pain management clinics and gaming establishments.
Some of the projects are housekeeping items, such as $43,000 for the purchase, lease or rental of city uniforms or $90,000 to purchase or replace equipment and supplies for St. Cloud Fire Rescue.
St. Cloud Fire Rescue Chief Bill Johnston said this year's purchase will be to replace bunker gear, the protection clothing firefighters wear, for all 45 St. Cloud firefighters. The current bunker gear is five years old, Johnston said, and is “starting to show wear and tear.
“We hope to get five to 10 years out of a set,” he said.
Johnston said he hoped to enact a system of putting funds aside during the year for larger purchases so it “does not hit so hard each budget year.”
The council also will make a decision Thursday regarding the city's water system and a redirection of reclaimed water services.
The first item aims to loop the water system and direct reclaimed water to Stephanie Rothstein Memorial Park, 2701 Missouri Ave., as part of the Canoe Creak Road-Fertic Road-Missouri Avenue Reclaim Main and Water Main Extension project. The $92,000 project will be constructed by Kissimmee-based contractor Rayken.
A second phase of the project, for an additional $84,000 with St. Cloud-based W.J. Newman Jr., will lay pipe along those roads.
Todd Swingle, public service administrator, said the purpose is to connect the water mains on Canoe Creek Road and Missouri Avenue to improve pressure and overall water quality.
“The better the system is looped, the better the system performs,” Swingle said.
The reclaimed water to be redirected to Rothstein Park will be used for irrigation to replace the use of potable water, Swingle said.
“We want to use reclaimed water wherever we can,” he said.
Also on the agenda is St. Cloud's portion of a joint financial contribution for a decontamination study for Kissimmee Police Department's gun training facility off Hoagland Boulevard in Kissimmee. St. Cloud police use this facility and would pay for a third of the $40,000 study, which would determine how training should continue with road construction planned behind the facility. KPD and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office also would be contributing to the cost.
Additionally, the council is looking to implement two ordinances that would impose 270-day moratoriums on new pain management clinics and related businesses as well as new gaming establishments, including arcades and facilities that offer sweepstakes redemption and slot machines.
The proposed ordinances, which would become effective immediately and extend through Dec. 19 upon passing the second reading at the March 24 meeting, cite several reasons each industry's development may be halted in St. Cloud.
For pain management clinics, city officials are concerned about the potential “threat of increased crime associated” with these types of businesses that “could undermine the economic health” of St. Cloud's development and redevelopment efforts, the proposed ordinance reads.
The proposed ordinance also cites the crackdown on these clinics by other municipalities around the state and a report that prescription drug deaths in Florida increased 102 percent in 2009, an average of seven deaths per day. Currently, St. Cloud does not have any authority to regulate the clinics.
As for the gaming establishments, city officials are concerned with possible adverse affects on public health, safety, morals and welfare “since said activities may include forms of gaming or gambling which could lead to illegal activities,” the proposed ordinance states.
The City Council meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on the third floor of City Hall, 1300 9th St.