St. Cloud Councilor Wants Refugee Moratorium on November Ballot

ST. CLOUD -- St. Cloud City Council member Jeff Johnson looks to be ready to once again take on the issue of a moratorium on refugee resettlement in the city.

During the open discussion portion of Monday night's council meeting, Johnson says he'd like to put a referendum on the ballot in November to let the voters decide the issue.

Essentially what this is, this would be a proposed moratorium on the refugee resettlement similar to the one I did but what it does it allows the city residents to vote on this issue.  Couple things like before, this is not binding, it's not a mandate.

Johnson also tried to have John Palmer talk more about the process of getting the referendum on the ballot, but fellow council member John Libert objected to it, which - due to the council rules - prevented Palmer from speaking.  To which Johnson responded...

This is unbelievable.  This is an election year and you don't want a citizen of this community who has lived here for almost 40 years to talk to the council about something that people want to talk about?  This is amazing.

Palmer did speak during the open forum portion of the city council meeting and indicated that it will take at least 1,500 signatures from St. Cloud residents to get the referendum on the ballot.

Palmer is leading a group of residents who have been studying the city's Home Rule Charter.

Johnson first attempted to have a temporary moratorium on refugee resettlement back in October, but that was rejected by the full city council.