St. Cloud Police Chief, Civic Facilities Director to Retire

ST. CLOUD -- St. Cloud is losing two of its department heads in the next two months.

Police Chief Dennis Ballantine has announced he is retiring. Ballantine was a 33-year veteran of the Ames, Iowa Police Department and served as its Chief of Police for 17 years. He was hired as the Police Chief in St. Cloud in December 2001.

Mayor Dave Kleis says Ballantine has been an asset to the city of St. Cloud.  He says the chief has worked with the community to implement safety initiatives.  He also oversaw the construction of the new police station and kept the project under budget and on time.

Civic Facilities Director Lyle Mathiasen is also retiring. Mathiasen runs the Municipal Athletic Complex, Whitney Senior Center, Paramount Theatre and Civic Center. He is retiring at the end of December.  Kleis says Mathiasen has saved St. Cloud taxpayers  a lot of money over the years by keeping the Civic Center and MAC in the black.

Kleis says they will do some re-structuring of the Civic Facilities Division as they move forward and public discussions will take place on filling the Police Chief position.