{"id":2186,"date":"2018-11-25T10:49:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T10:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2018-11-25T10:49:58","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T10:49:58","slug":"st-cloud-city-council-changes-may-reopen-refugee-resettlement-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2018\/11\/25\/st-cloud-city-council-changes-may-reopen-refugee-resettlement-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Cloud City Council changes may reopen refugee resettlement debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI (SOHA) –<\/strong> The divisive debate over a federal refugee program will likely resurface next year in St. Cloud as two new members elected Nov. 6 join the City Council.<\/p>\n

Paul Brandmire and Mike Conway will be sworn in Jan. 7 for four-year terms, and both say they will push city leaders for more information about city costs of refugee resettlement.<\/p>\n

Their election comes a year after Council Member Jeff Johnson proposed a moratorium on refugee resettlement that the City Council rejected 6-1. Instead, the council voted 5-1 for a resolution that stated St. Cloud is a welcoming community.<\/p>\n

Brandmire, a semi driver, unseated Council Member John Libert, who was critical of Johnson\u2019s proposed moratorium. Brandmire wants to know who is paying the public share of refugee resettlement. Even if it\u2019s not a city cost, Brandmire said, taxpayers still bear county costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be a hot topic,\u201d added Conway, a salesman. \u201cAny time you bring a large percentage of any population \u2026 there\u2019s going to be a change. The previous council really didn\u2019t think that would be an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The push to \u201cpause\u201d refugee resettlement in Minnesota also emerged in the statewide election this year. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson (no relation to the council member) and Senate candidate Jim Newberger each raised the issue in their failed campaigns.<\/p>\n

Brandmire and Conway said that while they don\u2019t plan to propose a moratorium again, they will keep pushing for details on city costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to gain an understanding of where the city\u2019s resources are being spent,\u201d said Conway. He\u2019s replacing Johnson, who didn\u2019t run for re-election.<\/p>\n

Since 2008, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, the only organization that oversees refugee resettlement in St. Cloud, has helped move about 1,500 refugees to the city of 66,000 residents. Most refugees are East African \u2014 mostly from Somalia. The changing demographics in the Mississippi River city about 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis have divided the community, spurring some anti-Muslim events and incidents, but also unity rallies and signs welcoming refugees and people of different faiths.<\/p>\n

City Council incumbents Dave Masters and Steve Laraway narrowly defeated two challengers who supported a moratorium on refugee resettlement: John Palmer, who started a group called C-Cubed, or Concerned Community Citizens, and Liz Baklaich, another member. They distributed red \u201cMake St. Cloud Great Again\u201d hats modeled after President Donald Trump\u2019s Make America Great hats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one group [C-Cubed] doesn\u2019t speak for all residents,\u201d said Masters, a teacher. \u201cI think we need to come together to work together to make St. Cloud a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council members who weren\u2019t up for election \u2014 Jeff Goerger, George Hontos and Carol Lewis \u2014 also voted against the moratorium and for the welcoming resolution.<\/p>\n

Refugee resettlement is a state and federal issue, not a city issue, Masters and Laraway said. Laraway, who runs a financial advising company, added that the top issue he heard from voters was fixing potholes in city streets.<\/p>\n

Aside from refugee issues, Conway and Brandmire said they will also oppose raising the tobacco sales age to 21 if that comes up again. The Council voted for an ordinance to do so in 2017, but Mayor Dave Kleis vetoed it.<\/p>\n

Brandmire and Conway agree with Masters and Laraway on one thing: Refugee resettlement won\u2019t be the top issue for the City Council in 2019. They cited more pressing issues, such as redevelopment of the old Tech High School and Herberger\u2019s department store.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my hope that the \u2018C-Cubed\u2019 [in 2019] is collaboration, communication and compromise,\u201d Laraway said. \u201cIf we all work together, we can do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: StarTribune<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI (SOHA) – The divisive debate over a federal refugee program will likely resurface next year in St. Cloud as two new members elected Nov. 6 join the City Council. Paul Brandmire and Mike Conway will be sworn in Jan. 7 for four-year terms, and both say they will push city leaders for more information …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-displacement-and-asylum","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2188,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186\/revisions\/2188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}