In St. Cloud, expect many new faces to city government

ST. CLOUD – Voters today will decide which St. Cloud City Council member will be promoted to mayor.

Candidates Jake Anderson and Mike Conway are vying to take the place of Mayor Dave Kleis, who is retiring after two decades at the city’s helm.

The August primary winnowed a packed six-candidate mayoral field to Anderson, a 45-year-old IT manager for Stearns County, and Conway, a 58-year-old consultant at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. Conway is in his second term on the St. Cloud City Council; Anderson in his first, after serving several years on the city’s Planning Commission.

Kleis is the city’s longest-serving mayor. In April, he announced he wouldn’t seek re-election after serving five terms.

St. Cloud voters will also cast ballots for six candidates vying for three at-large seats on the City Council. Candidates include incumbent George Hontos, as well as Scott Brodeen, Tami Calhoun, Hudda Ibrahim, Mark Johnson and Omar Abdullahi Podi.

If elected, Ibrahim and Podi would be the first Somali Americans to serve on the council. The six candidates were the top vote-getters in the August primary, which narrowed down a field of 16 candidates — the most in 50 years to enter the City Council primary.

Residents in the St. Cloud school district are also voting on seven candidates aiming to fill three seats on the school board. All four incumbents who are up for re-election — Scott Andreasen, Al Dahlgren, Shannon Haws and Monica Segura-Schwartz — are in the mix, along with former school board member Bruce Hentges. Other candidates are Yoanna Ayala-Zaldana and Diana Fenton.