St. Cloud Council to Discuss Resolution on County Jail, Courts

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The St. Cloud City Council will discuss the future on the Stearns County Justice Center during its meeting on Monday night.

Council member George Hontos has asked for a discussion on a resolution stating the city council's support for keeping the jail and court services downtown.

He says there is a belief among some county commissioners that the city council is indifferent on the issue.

I thought it was important that the first thing we do is establish that this is a very important issue to the city and that we on the council should have a more formal statement about our position to the public and to the county.

Hontos says moving the county services would have a very negative effect on downtown St. Cloud.

I think it would have a devastating impact on the economic viability of the downtown.  I think it would take us a very long time to recover from having that much activity that the county provides through their services relocate outside downtown.

He doesn't believe the county's decision to build a new justice center outside the downtown is 100 percent yet, and he thinks there is still time for the commissioners to change their minds.

Back in June, the Stearns County Commissioners voted to move the courts and jail to a new location in St. Cloud outside of the downtown.

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Hontos says he does not know yet how his fellow council members will vote on the resolution.

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