St. Cloud Ward 4 Council Seat Draws Baratta, Heurung To General Election Showdown
ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- With an open seat in St. Cloud's Ward 4, two newcomers are running for the city council position.
Joe Baratta says he moved to St. Cloud to attend college, fell in love with the community, and never left. He's a full-time labor representative.
He says he decided to run for city council after a 22nd Street South Road Construction project.
Sitting through those council meetings when they would take a vote on different steps throughout the project, and hearing what actually brings people to come to a boring Monday night meeting, it was almost refreshing to get out of the hyper-partisanship that politics has had. This is what matters to most people, and this is where I can do some good.
Baratta says, as he's been out door-knocking, residents want to talk to him about things like affordability, e-bike regulations, roundabouts, and staffing the new fire station being built in Ward 4.
Baratta says he'd like to start by making some small impactful changes.
There are huge developments all across the 4th ward that don't have a park for a kid of any age. If they are small projects like that, that might be within budget; that's where I want to start advocating for that.
Baratta says the city has a lot going for it, including the parks department, the River's Edge Convention Center, the Whitney Senior Center, the Municipal Athletic Complex, and the Munsinger Clemens Gardens.
You don't think about that when you think of St. Cloud, especially the rest of the state; we tend to be jokes. We're a tree city, we're carbon neutral, we have over 100 parks, we have a nationally recognized garden, in addition to a great four- and two-year college system here.
Baratta is one of two men who advanced to the general election from the primary election in August.
Baratta's opponent is Craig Heurung. You'll hear from him in other newscasts throughout the day. The Ward 4 seat is currently held by Mike Conway, who is running for a different office.
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