Positively Osceola connected with influential community leaders, inviting them to reflect on the achievements and challenges of 2024 while sharing their aspirations and goals for 2025. Among those offering valuable insights and a forward-looking vision was City of St. Cloud Mayor Chris Robertson. Recently elected by the citizens of St. Cloud in November, Mayor Robertson is set to lead the city with a four-year term, bringing fresh perspectives and a commitment to progress.
It’s been a busy year here in the City of St. Cloud. The city started 2024 celebrating the opening of our brand new skate park at Ted Broda Park on Michigan Avenue. This $1 million investment stays busy with kids of all ages and has been a great addition to the many parks and recreational opportunities we provide.
In 2024, we completed the new Fire Training Facility at our Cord Avenue training complex, where our firefighters train year-round. The new training building provides seating for classes up to 100 people, making St. Cloud a central location for firefighters from around the state to hone their skills.
We also opened our new Fire Station 34 on Nora Tyson Road. This is the 4th fire station serving our residents and has reduced our emergency response times.
We’ve faced some adversity this year. In March, the city was targeted by cybercriminals. Our city leadership and our IT team immediately went to work to make sure city services could continue uninterrupted. The experts we worked with warned us on day one that it could take several months before we were able to be back to normal operations. Our IT team wasn’t willing to accept that. The IT team worked around the clock seven days a week and restored all our systems in less than two weeks. That was an astounding success.
That’s not the only test we faced. After dodging Hurricane Helene, St. Cloud found itself in the path of Hurricane Milton in October. Our city leadership team activated our Emergency Operations Center. We partnered with Osceola County and the City of Kissimmee on a joint sandbag distribution site for residents in flood-prone areas. We worked to put out accurate information to our residents on how to prepare. When the storm hit, although we did not experience catastrophic damage that so many parts of our state endured, we did see downed trees and fences. While neighboring jurisdictions waited for debris management contractors, our city proactively went to work with our own staff and equipment. We established a schedule of debris collection zones and let our residents know what days their zone would be collected. Within three weeks, we had completed all storm debris cleanup, while neighboring jurisdictions worked for months to clear storm debris. Our residents should be proud of our city employees who worked long hours with no days off to get that accomplished to help restore the beauty of our city.
Speaking of our beautiful city, we completed another project this year that adds to the beauty of our lakefront and downtown. The Florida Avenue Multi-Purpose Trail opened in June and provides a beautiful connector between our lakefront and the downtown area. The trail meanders through the wide median of Florida Avenue, and offers a shady, beautifully landscaped trail, complete with benches and decorative lighting. It’s the perfect place for a morning stroll or a leisurely bike ride. This project is one we can truly be proud of and helps add to the charm and character of St. Cloud.
As busy as 2024 was, we are not done yet. In 2025, we’ll see our Fire Administration move to the new complex the city purchased on Progress Lane. This former charter school site near Budinger and Nolte, will house our Fire Administration and Logistics operations, freeing up more space at Station 31 and Station 32 for our fire rescue crews and equipment. We’re also beginning design for Phase 1 of the new Public Safety Complex on our property on Canoe Creek Road. Phase One will house the 9-1-1 dispatch center and our Emergency Operations Center.
We’ll also be opening a new fire station at Tohoqua in 2025, with another planned for 2026. It’s all part of ensuring we can continue to provide excellent care and fast emergency response for our community when they need it.
We also have plenty of exciting things planned in parks and recreation. Design is nearly complete for Phase One of the Hopkins Park improvements, which will be construction of a new community center, basketball court, community garden, playground, and parking. The Hopkins Park community center serves as a hub of activity for the surrounding community, and we’re excited to bring significant improvements to this. Ultimately, the Master Plan for Hopkins Park also includes improvements to 17th Street, a baseball field, soccer field, and sports recreation field. Hopkins Park will be an asset to the neighboring community and to the whole city.
This year, we also will be continuing construction on the improvements to the 17th Street ballfields. Construction on this $13.5 million improvement project started in 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2026. We will be improving the existing fields, adding new fields, and adding enhancements such as new dugouts, better drainage and irrigation, and lighting that will make it a world class facility for our youth.
As you can see, it’s going to be a busy year, and we are excited to work with our community to continue making St. Cloud a great place for all of us to live, work and play.
