Call to order the regular meeting of the Albert Lea City Council for Monday, November 24th, 2025. Clerk, please call the role. Councilor Christensen, here. Councilor Baker, here. Councilor Howland, here. Councilor Olson, here. Councilor Van Beek, here. Councilor Anderson here. Mayor Murray here. Would you please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Welcome to everyone tonight. Whether you're here or online, we're glad to have you here. Uh, first order of business tonight is ceremonial items, and I'd call on Chief Hanson. We have an oath of office uh for police officer Andrew Thorson. Welcome. Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor and members of the council, thank you for letting us come and uh present our newest staff member, our newest staff member to complete FTO. Um tonight, I'm proud to introduce Officer Andrew Thorson. He is sworn in with the city of Albert Lea. Andrew
started with our department in July and is has already shown that he is a solid fit for our team. He graduated St. Mary's University and brings experience from the Blue Earth Police Department. He lives in Albert Lea with his wife and children. He's committed and dedicated to serving our community and the community in which his family lives. We're glad to have him on board and I look forward to the continued work that he is going to do for us. So, step on up.
All right. Raise your right hand. I state your name. I, Andrew Thorson, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota and that I will faithfully and impartially and I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of police officer discharge the duties of the police officer for the city of Albert Lea Police Department for the city of Albert Lea Police Department in accordance with the laws of Minnesota in accordance with the laws
of Minnesota and of the charter of the city of Albert Lea and the charter of the city of Albert Lea in the county of Freeborn and the county of Freeborn in the state of Minnesota in the state of Minnesota to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Would you like to step up?
ed. Hey, daddy. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome.
Congratulations. Glad you're here. All right. Uh public forum item four. Oh, look at that. He's pretty excited. Yeah. All right. Um James, I'm going to have you speak
during a public uh hearing on uh the issue you're here for tonight. Okay. So, I won't do it right now. Um, so we have no one else on the uh public forum. Uh, so we'll move along to item five, consent and approval of agenda. A is the approval of the minutes of the November 10th, 2025 regular council meeting. B is the approval of minutes of the November 10th, 2025 work session. Item C is license and permits and item D is a resolution authorizing downtown wayfinding signage in the city right of way. Council move to approve the consent and approval of the agenda,
your honor. Motion by councilor Baker. Is there a second? Oh, second, your honor. Second by councilor Anderson. Any further discussion, your honor? Councilor Howland. Um, a question about the wayfinding proposal. So, uh, I went through uh the wayfinding project proposal and for sure there's an error on the uh, sign design. One of the words is misspelled. So, I just want to make sure that that that's in the record. The word restrooms is misspelled. It's spelled reset rooms. Well,
so we when we go forward with the signs, make sure that it's spelled right. Um and then also on the map that it's on there for the proposed locations. I don't think the the dots are correct. Um, based on the photos, yeah, the the dots have it at the corner of East William and Broadway, but it should be at Clark and Broadway and then down at Fountain Lake Park rather than at Marion Ross and Broadway. So, all right. Thank you, city manager. Any comment on that or um Well, certainly the spelling
error we'll make sure that we we correct. I mean, maybe they could be seen as a reset room, but I think our intent is is to label them restrooms. Uh, but really for the the council action, it's the ones that are going to be specifically in the right of way require council action. And so that would be as long as these locations are correct. It would be uh Fountain Lake Park uh Clark and Broadway corners. Uh basically, there'd be two corners there and then the new boat landing on Bridge Avenue. Those would be in the uh on public property in the rightway and that's where we would
need to make sure that we have uh the council's approval in in that particular resolution. All right. Hearing nothing further. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item six is petitions, requests, and communications. We have none tonight. Item seven is unfinished business. Uh we have none of that tonight either. So, we'll move on along to item eight, which is new business. Thank you, honor. We have a uh I have a quick slideshow to
uh to go through. Uh I um our city clerk is uh is uh currently on um uh medical leave, so I have to do my best to uh uh channel Daphney and go through this uh presentation here. So, Oh, better turn this on. That helps. Okay. So, uh we have a public hearing and so we'll do a staff report and then after that we'll be able to have people uh able to comment but we are not we do not have anything for
council to take action on. Just simply receive you know go through the public hearing open it close it take in the public input and then the decision would be made at the time of the fee schedule adoption uh later this year. So our liquor license uh fee adjustments um it has uh last adjusted on sale was over 21 years ago and the last adjusted offsale uh license fees was in 2018.
Basically the importance of adjusting fee it reflects economic regulatory changes. So, as an example, in 2000 when it was set at or 2004 when it was set at 2,000, that would be the equivalent of uh uh $3,430 today. Um, also with our adjustment of fees, uh we do something that other communities don't. We support a best practices program and we do not have a charge for the training by our police department. And this program does reduce the liquor liability insurance
cost of uh of the uh providers uh who go through the program currently. Uh in comparison to where we're at to I'm going to have to put my glasses on because the font's a little small. Pardon me. Uh Albert Lea where for offsale we're currently at 450 and if you look at it Hastings is at is a little is lower at 200. New Brighton is lower at 200. Stillwater's lower at 200. Hopkins is lower at 200. Uh, and Winona is lower at 366. And New Ulm is lower at 300. However, when you look at
our on sale, we're at 2,000 while Austin is at uh 225, excuse me, 2,250. Uh, Farbault is just under 3,900. Hasting is 4,200. New Brighton ranges between 5,000 and 9,000. Stillwater is at 3,200. Hopkins is at 7,500. Winona is at 3555 and New Ulm is at 3,000. Uh while we're proposing
2,800. Now on wine/strong beer, wine license is important because if you want to sell something stronger than 3.2, but you do not serve alcohol and do not want to pay for an alcohol license. Uh you have to get your 3.2 license plus a wine license. So, ours is set at 400, while other uh communities make up uh you know, charge quite a bit other than I would say Hastings charge significantly more than us with Austin charging 1,125, Faribault charging $1,671, uh New Brighton,
New Brighton's charging 650, Stillwater 478, Hopkins uh $800, Winona $745. So when we look at the totality of what's what's being charged here, we are well below uh the average and again from what I had shown what $2,000 was in 2004 when it was set to what it is now. Um it's uh many of the other communities are are far closer to what that uh equal dollar amount is if they and
we would be actually closer to that rate if we had continued to increase the rates per uh inflation. So our proposed the staff's proposed increase to the fees is from $450 to $560 which is currently eight licenses which is currently eight licensed business for off sale for on sale increase from 2,000 to 2800 which is currently 17 licenses and businesses. Notice was sent directly to the license holders. Uh to date, staff had only received uh uh one response uh and it was more out
of curiosity uh nothing negative. They were just wondering why the increase and and wanted to know a little bit the history behind it and that was provided and they seemed satisfied with it. Uh so uh the next steps for the council uh on this and in deciding what to do, excuse me, hold on. I I want to make sure also there was a couple other points here and I I sadly did not make a uh slide for it. Part of also what this goes towards is this also goes towards paying for
the added cost that goes to our public safety in particular our police department. It costs them money and typically it is overtime. It is normally almost purely overtime. Other than the planning, the actual compliance checks are almost always 100% overtime because to schedule them at such a time uh in which you would um be working with the individuals going in to check for compliance, people under the age of 21, uh means that you really probably can't pull in the amount of time
it takes, you can't pull an officer off the street in their normal schedule. So, typically we're always paying overtime whenever we do a compliance check and costs have gone up. There's also just the standard paperwork that has to go that you have to go through, making sure that uh we have uh their proper insurance, everything is is up to date, talking to the state, you know, if there's any issues that come up. Uh, and I feel that we actually do provide uh a lot more uh communication
and care than many other communities uh do or have or would when it comes to uh uh what we do provide for uh trying to make sure to help these businesses get through the licensing process. So there are costs that are directly associated with this and these are meant to reflect and incre you know your actual cost is what you should be charging or at least a significant portion. Otherwise we're asking the taxpayers to pay for um this business to um basically subsidize the
the the license or or the fees of the permits. And while $800 from 2,000 to 800 is, you know, in itself is quite steep, it's also steep because it's 21 years. It hasn't been touched. And um this $800 increase, again, it it it seems like a lot, but in such a business, one bad bartender with the habit of overpouring will cost more than $800 in one night, maybe even one hour. So I I want
to put this in perspective in the totality of of its impact to the community because we we do have the compliance checks. We have a a very uh time consuming uh licensing process. We also have the impacts that these type of businesses have on the community. Uh you are dealing with intoxicating substances and that does have an impact on the community as well with public safety. So looking at what other communities are charging, increasing at $800 after not increasing it in 21
years is not it it feels steep. It looks steep, but it is not steep in in the grand comparison of of everything. That's where staff has come in at the 2,800 because we know it's still dollar fordoll less than what it was in 2004 when it was set at 2,000. And we know that it is justifiable in the amount of expenses and what we have to do at a staff level to justify the $2,800. And we also know the service that we're providing out of that $2,800. So, that is why staff
is recommending the $2,800 is because of its um looking at at its total impact, what we provided in the 21-year drought of of never increasing it. Um has actually put us quite frankly behind a lot of other communities and where we should have been for the taxpayers. All right, with that, I'm gonna first of all, let's open the public hearing. Well, I have one last slide. Okay, go ahead. So next steps would be to we conclude the hearing tonight. There is no action tonight.
This is just to have the hearing so that way those who have the licenses that wish to speak to the council can do so. They were notified um if the council chooses to adjust the fee. The fees schedule along with other all other fees uh would be adjusted in December but it will not come due again until August of 2026. If not, if the council does not uh uh follow through with the increases, we'll have to make the adjustments, but then we'll have to find approximately $15,000 more in added levy or cuts as needed in order to make up uh the difference cuz that has been uh that
has been calculated. I believe it's 14,400 some dollars. So, round it up as 15. So with that, um, any questions, comments, or I'm gonna first open up the public hearing and then are there any questions from the council? I just have one. You councilor Baker, you stated that the on sale was hasn't been changed for 21 years. I thought that was the off sale. No, when you begin. Okay. I manager. Oh, sorry. Okay. No, it's the on sale, the the actual onale service. um which has
17 licenses that has not been raised in 21 years. Okay. Additional questions from the council. I had one unit. Councilor Howland. So there's uh there's no proposal to raise the wine beer license. City at this time. No, there's only two that do it and it's basically because of the state's 32 law. uh they have to use they have to get the wine uh license in addition to the the 32 license in order to sell any beer that is above 3.2. And it's it's two restaurants that do it to serve
particular types of of beer to their to their customers. But if we're increasing the other two, why are we not increasing that? We did increase the wine uh a few years ago. Okay. Thanks. Sorry, I should have I should have put that in the slide and I I I did not. Any additional questions? Hearing none, then for the first time, would somebody like to speak to this resolution? James, go ahead. Come on up, state your name. And
hello. Uh, mayor, council people, I'm not a public speaker. I'm a bar owner. So, bear with me. When I got this uh letter about the proposed uh raising of the fee, it was kind of bad timing. I had a freezer go out. Ended up costing $2,500. Today I was working on writing down trying to keep things straight. And I'll read this, but uh my machine went down.
There went uh another 1750 bucks. So, this this is real money and uh I'm not doubting the need for it or that it should have been raised or whatever, but what I have is uh uh hi, my name is James Hagen. I'm proud co co-owner of Bleachers Sports Bar and Grill here in Albert Lea. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight on behalf of my business, my staff, and many small business owners who are in the lifeblood of our city. I'm here to express my
strong opposition to the proposal of 40% increase in the liquor license fee, raising it from 2,00 to 2,800. As a small business owner, I'm deeply invested in the success of the community and the financial health of our city. This year alone, our establishment has paid $21,97345 in liquor tax and 31,829 in food tax. These are not just numbers on a page. They represent
real contributions that directly support city services, infrastructure, community initiatives. The taxes we pay help Elbertly be a better place to live and work and visit. In addition to our financial contributions, our bar and grill employs 25 staff members. There are local residents who rely on their jobs to to support their families. They too pay taxes and contribute
to the city's economy. Our team is passionate about what they do and together we strive to create a welcoming environment for both locals and visitors. Running a small business today is more challenging than ever. We face constant increases in operating costs from utilities, supplies to insurance and wages. Proposed hike in the liquor license fee adds yet another burden at a time where margins are already razor thin. The steep increase not only just a line item on a
budget, it's a a threat to our ability ability to survive. If this increase goes through, we'll be forced to make very difficult decisions. Cutting hours of operation, possibly cutting staff, reducing jobs, or even closing our door our doors are all real possibilities. These are not threats. They they are the harsh realities that many small businesses owners face. Every dollar
matters and when fees and taxes rise faster than our revenue, our options become painfully limited. Bleachers is more than just a place to have a drink and eat. We are a gathering spot for friends and neighbors. A venue for local musicians, comedians, DJs, trivia, bingo, and a destination for visitors to help boost Albert Le's image and economy. Small businesses like ours are the heartbeat of the city, creating vibrant spaces and supporting
county's countless community projects. We are forced to cut back or close. The city loses far more than just the tax revenue. It loses a piece of its character. Instead of increasing the fees, I urge the council to consider lowering the fees uh by 800, bring it down to 1,200. This adjustment would provide meaningful relief to small businesses like ours, helping us remain viable contributors to our community while still upholding our responsibility to public safely,
safety, and regulation. Such a move would send a strong signal that the city values the support of its local entrepreneurs. I respectfully urge the council to re to reconsider the proposed increase. Please recognize the strain it places on small businesses, the jobs at risk, and the impact on our community. Albert Lea thrives when local businesses thrive. I appeal to you for support,
understanding, and a commitment to keep our city small businesses strong. Thank you for your time and and uh thoughtful considerations. Thank you for speaking with us tonight. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else that would like to speak regarding this public hearing? Anyone else like to speak? We'll close the public hearing. Any other council questions or councilor Baker? I would just like to on behalf of another gentleman that approached me that owns a business um that
he he couldn't be here tonight. So, I told him I would uh bring up his objection to this. Um, one of the things he was wondering is when you do this is could you do it instead of doing the whole 800, could you do it in increments, maybe every now and then the next year? Um he's he he he he talked about the taxes that they paid last year, how the taxes went up, the tax levy in the city, and then how uh the county's tax levy's going up and and so I just told him that I would bring this forth and
and let let the council know that there's another gentleman that is is uh kind of concerned about this and and again, he couldn't be here tonight. Um I'm assuming they can come and speak at the next meeting toward this city manager. They can speak during the uh public forum. Of course, anyone can speak on any matter uh at the public forum. Uh and uh but the next actions would be in the uh passage of the uh fee schedule which does not at this point after this is concluded does
not require any other further uh public hearing. Uh so they would have to speak during the public forum portion but they still can come forward and speak. Absolutely. Anyone can. Okay. And then um I will I will mention that to him and encourage him to come forward. Thank you, your honor. Thank you. Any other discussion from the council? Just a point of clarification, Mr. Olsson. Will be will we be will we be voting on the fee schedule in the first or second meeting in December? City manager,
I want to say that it should be in the uh first meeting um if we're able to get um everything else all wrapped up with it and and out the door here pretty soon. I'm hoping that it will be on the 8th the same time as we do the budget. We tried to do it the same time as the budget. Christensen. Thank you, your honor. U I want to um acknowledge Mr. Hagen's comments. Uh I've been a small business person myself and I know that uh so much of what he says is true about being the lifeblood of our
community. and and as a small business owner, people don't realize the sacrifices that are made and and it can be really tough. I um I understand the city's need to increase these but and I do fault us for not changing it in such a long period of time. I think that is our uh not good uh planning on our part that these things should not go that many years without an adjustment.
Uh and so in that regard, I would lean toward favoring not as big of an increase in 26 even if we need to find other ways to make up the difference in the levy. So, right. Additional discussion, your honor. Councilor Howland. Yeah, I would agree with councilor Christensen. Um, uh, especially these, uh, restaurants, bars, uh, really, uh, had it rough there, um, during CO as well. So, um, you know, a lot of them had to shut their doors permanently. So,
uh, we're thankful that, uh, businesses like Bleachers, which has the best burgers in town, uh, uh, we're thankful that, uh, that they were able to stay open, but, u uh, like councilor Christensen said, uh, it's it's an adjustment that probably should have been, uh, done a period of time before, but, u, we don't want to slam it all on them all at once. So, I'd be in favor of uh, of an increase, but just uh, not quite as significant. Councilor Anderson. Your honor, Mr. Holland basically said what I wanted to say. The need
for an increase has been well documented by staff and the city manager, but having it all at once, a 40% jolt to somebody's bottom line when they already might be facing other increases is is a lot. So, I would be in in also in favor of a more gradual increase. And I don't want to get into the business of negotiating at a public hearing, but that can be discussed before the next meeting, I'm sure. Okay. Anything else? City manager. point of clarification. Every time we go through and do an adjustment, we have to do a separate public hearing, pay for the notice, send out the mailers,
everything else. That's in part and parcel why it has not been passed uh or increased as as well is that um it's not as easy as all the other uh fees that have been gradually increased. I think that's probably led to part of the uh sharp uh difference between it not being done in the last 21 years. Um and uh so yeah, I uh I just want to make sure that um the the council is is aware that
um I do not believe we could do it gradually without treating every single time it's increased as its own separate event. We I do not believe we could set a schedule and I would have to ask the city attorney to look into this. We'd have we'd be able to set a schedule where there would be some sort of steady um uh increase approved at one meeting after concluding the hearing as opposed to um um treating every single time we increase it as as a separate hearing. Right. Councilor Hog, one
other question. Um is is it because it's a liquor license so solely that it requires the public hearing because um we adjust a lot of these fees and licenses without any public hearing. So is is it strictly liquor licenses only that require the public hearing? Correct. Manager. No, no other licenses. No other licenses require public hearing at this time. This this is state law. Okay. Any last comments, your honor, councilor Anderson? So, if we were to tweak this amount from 800 to a
different number, say, um, we would have to do another public disclosure to all bar owners, have another public hearing, and then is that is that what the city manager is saying? City manager, I believe that is correct. I would I would h I would by next meeting I will make sure that we we have that answer very clear but I sus I strongly suspect that we would have to hold a public hearing uh every single time we were to make an adjustment to it.
Any last comments? I I do have a question Baker. Um, so say this this goes forward um and it's approved at $2,800. How long before you decide that you want to raise it again? You're going to go another, you know, I guess that's something you would would be nice to know if you have any idea um in the near future if you plan on doing it again. city manager any there there are
no plans to to make the any further adjustments as I as you clearly saw we were looking at what $2,000 in 2024 or not 2024 20 2004 what $2,000 was and again that should be about $3,400 now uh and I don't think that just with where we're at and and what we're doing that I I could see a justification going that high even though other comparable able communities are. Uh and
uh so I I really this this amount that uh the city clerk and I worked on and also talking with uh our police department too about their time allocation to uh compliance checks and basically overall impact. I would not be looking at doing this anytime uh again in the future if the full amount and that was basically the intention of the steep increase was something that would be done and not done again for a while because you know there is the added effort as opposed to the
other fees that we can just incrementally do you know couple percents or you know $5 here $10 there. This one that does not it does not work that easily. So, all right. If that's the end of our discussion, I'd just like to close it with thank you to the bleachers owners, uh, Jason Hoyth and James Hiken for coming and meeting with us tonight, sharing your concerns. You can't talk anymore. I'm sorry. But, um, but thank you for doing that. U, you're an important business in this community. You're an important small business. We like having
you here. Albert Lea is very appreciative of you doing business here and and, uh, taking care of people within our community. So, thank you for doing that and uh we love all our small businesses. So, thank you for being a part of that uh the fabric of our community. With that, we're going to move along to um item B, which is a resolution authorizing construction uh manager at CM services for the wastewater treatment plant improvements job 2518. City manager. All right. Thank you, honor. Let me find my place here. Okay. Okay. The
city of Albert Lea's public works division sought proposals from qualified parties to provide construction management at risk or CMR CM uh services for the wastewater treatment plant uh improvements. The CMR will be utilized for the purposes of facilitating the cost valuation, constructability, scheduling and sequencing of work for the efficient use and proper allocation of available funds for the wastewater treatment improvements. Uh five firms submitted proposals. Three firms were shortlisted and interviewed. The selection committee
is recommending to accept a proposal from Rice Lake Construction Group located at uh 223 County Road 12 Deerwood, Minnesota based upon the scoring, evaluation, interview, and experience at a total cost of $19,300. This resolution authorizes staff to proceed with working with the city's consult consulting engineer to prepare and execute contracts with Rice Lake Construction Group and authorized city manager to sign agreement with Rice Lake Construction. Staff recommends approval. Councel move to approve your motion by councilor
Baker. Is there a second? Second. Second by councilor Anderson. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Nay. Motion carries. Item C is a resolution approving state grants for the solar on public buildings project job 2523 to 2525. City manager. Thank you, your honor. The city received uh four successful responses on grant requests for four solar arrays on four city-owned properties.
Uh the grant funding for the four projects total $377,485 or 70% of the total cost to construct the four solar arrays at the facilities listed below. An additional federal tax credit will be utilized to cover the remaining 30% of the cost of construction, leaving the city with an anticipated uh net cost of zero for the construction of these projects. A financial summary uh is uh below. Albert Lea City Hall. Uh total project cost is $129,921
with again the 7030 split between state and the federal government. The Albert Lea Fire Station is uh $135,321. The Albert Lea main lift station is $146,800 and the city of Albert Lea city garage, excuse me, is $127,221. I would like to add also that the reason why we're also seeking council approval is because while this may in the end have a net zero cost, uh there is the risk that if the if we
do not meet the deadlines or some requirements of the federal tax incentives, we would be looking at that 30% being paid for by the city. However, um from what we can tell, it has a very strong return on investment. uh without the 30% I believe it was between 5 and 10 years on every single project uh there should be uh we should get fully paid back within that over what is a supposed to be a 25 to 30year life cycle. So, um, with that, your honor, staff recommends approval. Councel moved.
Motion by councilor Howland. Is there a second? Second, your honor. Second by councilor Anderson. Any further discussion? Your honor. councilor Howland. I'll just say that this is a no-brainer. Um, if it turns out that it's a net cost of zero for the city um to be able to use this u uh clean energy and also efficient energy uh is ultimately going to help reduce costs. um for all of these city buildings. So um to me it's a no-brainer and looking forward to the project moving along. Additional discussion councilor Baker I just have a question and maybe
city engineer could answer that but I thought at one time here a few years back we looked at this solar for for this building and at that time if I remember right it was determined that it wasn't it wasn't structurally sound enough to do that. Um, was was there a mistake made or did that am I not remembering right? City engineer Mr. Jahnke I I can't I don't I'd have to look more I can't answer the question about the building roof but we did we did have two firms look at it you know as we
were going through this process and both believed that this these would work on it. Okay. Thank you. Any additional discussion city manager? Um, your honor, um, this may I'm I'm just this may be mixed up with what was a green roof as opposed to a solar where there would be looking at the ability to find a way to absorb storm water on the roof before it it it drained out. I know that was um
the the former mayor had talked to me about that and said that that was looked at and the roof was not sustainable for that particular um project. So whether or not we're talking the same thing, I'm I'm not saying for certain, but I do recall a conversation about the the roof and related to uh green practices. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other discussion, councilor Christensen? Thank you. Just one comment. I appreciate that we're putting these on a building rather than on farm fields. Amen. All right. Anything else? Hearing none. All in favor of the motion signify
by saying I. I oppose nay. Motion carries. Item D is a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a redevelopment agreement on tax forefeiture properties with Freeborn County. City manager. Thank you, your honor. This agreement sets the terms between the city and the county and the following. County will sell uh the lots at 721 St. Thomas, 816 Newton South, and 705 Madison to the city for 4,000 each. The sale price of each lot is waived if the house is developed on each lot. The city endemnifies the county and on any Tyler v. Hennipin repercussions.
City managers looked into constructing two houses on lot 721 St. Thomas and 816 Newton South using existing ground conditions and utilities post demolition to save approximately $25,000 each on uh on the construction costs. Funding for the construction will come from the housing fund which we have about approximately half a million dollars. Postred redevelopment incentives on all identified eligible lots. Lot 705 Madison uh is intended to be added to an existing developer
agreement on targeting the same block uh and will align with our deadline with the county. Staff recommends approval. Councel move to approve your honor. Motion by councilor Baker. Is there a second? Second, John. Second by councilor Anderson. Any further discussion? I have a question for the city manager. When it comes to saving of the $25,000 you're talking per lot, city manager and I'm assuming you're talking about are they using the old foundation?
The cost savings generally come from uh basically what you have to deal with the excavation, but the largest cost saving is not having to rerun uh the utilities. Okay. So, there's a certain level of of uh having to do site redevelopment and and digging back out and hauling in, but also there's um uh but mainly it's the it's the utilities uh staying uh run to the property where then the existing house can can line up to it. And um I would um and these came from
I just want to make sure it's clear. These came from an estimates from a uh interested developer uh that were let me rephrase that. contractor that would be willing to work with the city on building those those houses. Okay. Thank you. Any additional discussion? Your honor, councilor Anderson. Uh city manager was just wondering what the uh what how we are identifying the county against Tyler v. Hannah and um repercussions. What's that? City manager. I would have to turn to the uh city attorney because he would be able to explain it far better than
uh myself. Um, city attorney, could you help us? Short a short short time ago, uh, a party by the name of Tyler brought an action against the city of Minneapolis. Minneapolis had forclosed on her condominium for tax forfeite, sold it, and made a significant profit. Uh, Mrs. Tyler brought an action to uh argue essentially that the constituted excess fees and violation of constitutional limits on fees being requirement fees being proportionate
to the liability. Minnesota was one of the few states that allowed excess profit to be retained by the state rather than return to the property owner. So now under the guidance of Tyler, Minnesota tax forfeite laws are rewritten such that any value that is subsequently received by the by the government entity that forcloses on tax property needs to be returned to the property owner. Reasonable cost for forclosure can be attributed in addition to tax forfeiture. So that's called the titler difference. It's a been a major litigation. Certain counties in Minnesota,
not Freeborn, but certain counties actually use tax forfeiture as a revenue source. and there are many millions of dollars are being refund to taxpayers. Our indemnity uh is addressing a concern that most counties have right now where they're afraid to sell tax forfeiture property because they're afraid of being sued. So the Tyler liability would be the difference between what the property is worth in a public market as opposed to what the government had to take as a loss for taxes not collected. We protect ourselves against title liability by
making sure that we don't sell the property for a profit. And if we did sell the, you know, if there if there was a profit, it would be the obligation of the of the county to return that money to the property owner. In our case, the tax the tax loss amount is almost always significantly higher than the actual market value of the property, which is why people let property go in for closure anyway, as opposed to jurisdictions like St. county where people often lost their property because they were out of state owners of lakes shore property that didn't realize uh tax forfeiture laws. Okay, I
can talk about it forever, but I think that's a I think I think that's good. Thank you. Any further discussion from the council? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I nay. Motion carries. Item E is a resolution accepting donation of property at 809 Clerk Street West. City Manager. Thank you, honor. Uh May 24th, uh 2025, city of uh city Albert Lea Council ordered the uh abatement of uh hazardous structure at 809 Clark Street West. The property is now in
an estate process and the executive wishes to gift the property to the city. The estate has no financial means to abate the structure. Several potential reuses of the property are possible and will be explored. Uh, one other uh, question I would ask of the city attorney. Um, given that this is a resolution accepting donations and essentially allowing staff to go forward and accept the property, would it be possible for this uh, resolution or in a motion to include
um, an additional property uh, that had just come up today. It's uh, a property that needs to be um, demolished. the person is willing to just simply deed it to the city or quote unquote sell it for a buck um and then um it's it's one that we will be starting a process on otherwise if if we don't have ownership of it. So um I have no problem with that, but I ask that it still be a contingent to authorizing the staff to the city manager to complete the gift,
but not to formally accept the gift specifically. Uh, I've asked that we conduct a title search first to make sure that our acceptance of the gift doesn't accept the property subject to liabilities that the estate or the other owners may have. We want to make sure that we're buying that we're accepting a gift of clean title and not accepting somebody else's liabilities. So, if if it were to be someone were to make a res motion, they would say, "I make a motion to uh accept the donations presented to the Albert Lea to the city of Albert Lea for 809 Clark Street West
and 825 First Street, that would be South uh upon um further review for clean and clear title." Yes. Okay. All right. You ready? I'm I'm I'm ready. Does Does someone have that Does someone have that down? I'll make the motion to accept the don or the donation of property 809 Clark Street along
with 825 1st Avenue First Street First Street South providing that there are no clean and clear title. Clean. Okay. Providing that there's a clear title. I will second that motion as long as I don't have to say it all. Second by councilor Anderson. Any further discussion? Your honor. Councilor Howland. Uh I'm just doing a a search for that address and it's there's nothing coming up. Are you sure it's not First Avenue? It's First Street. Okay. First street because there's not an
825 First Street South in Albert Lea that I can find. city manager. Maybe it Excuse me. Maybe it is clarification. It may be Avenue. It's the one that uh runs past the I believe the uh I believe it's in your ward. Yes, that's First Avenue. My My apologies. It's First Avenue. It runs near Belmont. Yes. First street. It's on the corner of Belmont. Yeah, that's 825 South First Avenue.
Okay. Well, we'll we'll make a correction in the minutes as long as that's okay with the first and second. It's okay with me. Is that okay with councilor Anderson? Councilor Baker. Okay, we'll make that. Thank you for the clarification. Yep. Any further discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Nay. Motion carries. Item F is a resolution accepting donation and authorizing purchase of street banners. City manager. Thank you, honor. Our blue and green uh
downtown pole light banners are beginning to fall apart and need replacement. At this time, the city would uh accept CVB donations to replace these banners and buy matching banners to go along Bridge Avenue. Additionally, holiday banners for Bridge Avenue will be purchased. The total cost for all these banners is is $20,480 with $10,240 coming from the CVB. The fund source is going to be from the parks operations and it may create just so the council is aware it
may create a small over budget um expense for the department council move to approve your motion by councilor Baker second. No second chair second by councilor Anderson. Further discussion your honor councilor Anderson. What do the banner say? city manager. Um, there was pictures, wasn't there? There's the the downtown ones would be like explore and I think historic downtown
and the other ones say uh welcome and uh maybe it's also welcome or explore andor explore. Um, and then for the holiday ones, it's they're red with snowflakes and I'm I don't even know if there's any sayings on them. I didn't see those. All right. Does that take care of it? Okay. All right. Any other discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item nine is a mayor and council reports. And tonight we'll start with councilor
Olson. Word four. All right. Don't have a whole lot tonight. I would just like to wish everybody some happy holidays. And when you're out driving, we got weather about to change. Uh maybe some snowfall in the next few days here. So, if you out there driving and give the snow plow some room and and patience and time to let us get the all the streets clear. That's it, your honor. All right. Ward five, Councilor Van Beek. Thank you, your honor. Um, I don't have much either. I do have one ward item that was handed off. Um, last week I did attend the quarterly library meeting. Their merger
is complete and it looks like they are trending up a little bit with usage. Uh we discussed their strategic plan in great length and that was about it. This week we have H meeting tomorrow night which would be should be very productive by the way it sounds. So with that I'll pass. All right. W six. Councilor Anderson. Your honor. Uh hopefully the next time I sit before you I'll be gone with my little shoulder pillow here. That would be nice. Um, the HA meeting I'm also looking
forward to tomorrow and I attended the chamber after hours which is always a really cool event. Riverland was the sponsor this time and they got a had a lot of cool swag there and some interesting things to say. So that's about it. Happy Thanksgiving. All right, word one, Councilor Christensen. Thank you, your honor. Uh, last week the senior center advisory board met. They continue to look at uh options for uh possibly a new location as well as their ongoing programming. Uh the blue zones vitality group met, budget committee met. Next week the planning commission
meets and uh like the others, I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Councilor Baker, word two. Thank you, your honor. Um this morning I had a meeting at the at the Alita offices with uh Philip Johnson. the mayor was there. Um, Commissioner Edwin and myself and the uh two people that are representative of the GFI Custom Homes LCC about um putting up a a duplex
on a couple properties that the HA um owns. Um it was a very productive and very good conversation. um the H director was there and she sounded pretty positive about the whole thing. So that's uh that's what we'll be discussing tomorrow at the HA board meeting um as to um moving forward and and how we want to the house to look and what we want to put in it and and uh there's a bunch of stuff to discuss. So we will we will bring it back next meeting. We we should have a report on
it. And with that, your honor, that should be it. All right. W three. Councilor Howland. Thank you, your honor. Um, uh, like the mayor and, uh, I think most of the council was there as well. I attended the, uh, Aldi grand opening, um, since our last meeting. And, wow, what a big deal in Albert Le. The line out was out to the to the, uh, the street there, out to the highway. And so, um, people are excited that Aldi is in town. So, uh, it was great to be there and, uh, and celebrate
with, uh, with everyone. I attended the, uh, park and recck board meeting last week and they, it was held at the Marian Ross Performing Arts Center and, uh, got to, uh, uh, highlight some of the, um, u changes that have been made there to the building because of the facilities referendum. So, uh, the new windows and doors and and some other, uh, remodeling that, uh, is done in there. So, it all looks great. And then, uh, the big order of business at that meeting was,
uh, the board decided to hold off on, uh, coming up with a recommendation to council for the Merrick property. uh uh the board felt like they didn't quite have enough information. So, they're looking for uh some more information for their next meeting where uh they will have a recommendation for council on on what to do with that property uh once uh it's torn down. So, that's it, your honor. All right. Thank you. So, uh 1111 Veterans Day, I attended the Veterans Day
events. Also attended the lunchon at the American Legion. got to meet a lot of our wonderful veterans here in the community. So, it was fun thanking them and uh congratulating them for everything uh that they do for our community and and for our country. Uh also got to go out and participate in the Albertly Tribune Progress Edition discussion on the 12th of November. Uh enjoyed that. Had never part participated in that before. That was an interesting discussion. So, uh we'll be curious to see what comes out here uh next February. Uh also, um I'm on the Elbertly
High School facilities uh board and we are having discussions uh regarding the facilities within the community and uh that is I believe five meetings that we'll be having uh discussing that. Um also attended the Aldi's grand opening last Thursday as councilor Howland mentioned and uh it was pretty exciting. There were a lot of people there. I think the first person was there at 4:30 in the morning and uh I helped pass out carts as people were coming in and I think we passed out over 100 carts. So it was uh it was a pretty good day for Albert Lea. So good to see that happening and
welcome to Albertly Aldi's. Um and then after that I attended a Freeborn Mau electric meeting talking about uh the future of electricity and just what do we plan on doing in this community and across the Midwest. And so some very good discussions uh just talking about solar and wind and nuclear and gas and all the different uh parts to it. So a lot of thought going into that. Uh also that day I attended the youth for Christ banquet and that was well attended. Uh they do a lot of great things for the youth in our community. So good to see a good turnout there. And then on Friday we had the
WDS Vortex solar ribbon cutting. So they put a big solar uh facility on top of their building. So, we were down there for the ribbon cutting and uh it was nice to see the group down there. Uh Vortex has become a a real great partner in this community. So, thank you Vortex and thank you uh WDS. Uh and then we had a Revosity meeting on the 300 block um last Monday uh just talking about the future of that and uh what we can put together there. That is moving along slowly as that is a big project and um it's not going to be an easy one to do. Um on the 20th I attended the help care
meeting which is a new clinic that will be out at the Skyline Mall and so a new uh set of options that will be coming to Albert Lea and uh it was a great meeting well attended and uh so it'll be something new for people to check out here uh within a couple months now and then uh attended the meeting this morning also with uh councilor Baker regarding uh at Alita regarding the HR and and uh building something here in the future. And just a reminder to people that the city hall and
uh other places with the city will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. Just wanted to make people aware of that. And then I also wanted to remind people Saturday is shop uh small business. So get out, support our local businesses here in this community. Um you know, they support us all year long. So let's get out there and do some business with them. And then also another reminder, winter sports activities and other school activities are starting to take off. boys and girls hockey, wrestling, basketball, cheerleading, dance, music, all sorts of things. So, if you have nothing to
do, which I see people say that from time to time, um there are a lot of things to do in Albert Lea. And you can usually find two or three things uh every week to go uh partake in. And uh so get out and enjoy our youth. And then the last thing I'd like to do is I'd like to just say um I'm thankful for the people in this community. And uh I run into a lot of people, talk to a lot of people, and uh we've got a great group of people that live here in Albertly, that work here in Albertly, and uh I'm just excited uh to be your mayor. So, thank you for that. Um I I am thankful for our beautiful
lakes. I'm thankful for the running and walking paths that we have around that lake. I'm thankful for the bike trails. Um and I'm thankful for the businesses in our community. We had a small business come and talk tonight. Uh we're going to see I hope all of you are going to get out and see some small businesses on Saturday, but those businesses are the lifeblood of this community. So get out, support them, and uh support them all year long. So everyone in the community, have a happy Thanksgiving. With that, we'll move along to the city manager report. All right. Uh thank you, your honor. So I'd also like to clarify that the following Friday uh after Thanksgiving that uh
city offices and certain services will also be uh closed as well. So, um just so in case anyone uh tries to show up at city hall or to the library on Friday, uh staff is meeting with our consultants to go over certain aspects of the strategic plan. uh first week in December. Uh as council has clearly seen and the public, we have been working on the budget to try to um uh figure out a way to um reduce some costs but and then also set funds aside for the future, try to create that
reasonable balance. And um I would also ask that if the council members have any specific questions about anything that they might see in the budget after they get all the handouts uh forwarded to them that uh please communicate that that with me so that way I can try to get those answers before the actual uh public hearing and then be able to have a response for that uh for everyone. Uh it just it it it would really help because I know that there will be some staff members that will not be able to attend the the the public hearing on the 8th. Um, so I'd really like to make sure
that uh I'm not calling people in or having them make drastic changes to their schedule in order to uh not know if they would be needed or not. Um, I have uh talked to the director of the Shell Rock River Wershed District and we're looking at trying to set up a meeting between uh myself, him, and uh a couple other board members and the mayor uh to basically uh continue to discuss how we would look at the share of the uh sales tax revenue moving forward with the new referendum
uh at the uh in the fall of 2020. 26. And uh with that, your honor, go Panthers. And uh that's it. Who are the Panthers? A lot of people ask that question. All right. With that, we'll move along to item 11, approval of claims. A is a resolution approving claims. One is a presentation of claims over 25,000. City manager. Thank you, honor. Uh $30,738.96 goes to Home Serve USA Corp.
This is the water sewer protection plan services for October. $30,784 goes to Albert Lake Electric. Updated uh uh update to LED lights on East Main Street. We have $33,3518 to H&M Underground Solutions. This is payment estimate number two for lead service line replacement project. $35,650 to MPCA for a sweeper loan uh uh payment on a 0% uh interest loan. $40,261.50 to Bolton Mink uh for uh
wastewater treatment plant uh P files reduction project. We have $58,57.96 to Freeborn Mau Electric Cooperative. This is electric services at the wastewater treatment plant. $146,64929. This is payment estimate number one for Freeborn Bank parking lot job 25004. And then we have $23,8018 cents to Wapshot Construction Company. This is payment estimate 17 for the sewer plant
preliminary facility design and construction. Council move to approve your motion by councilor Baker. Is a second? Second. Second by councilor Howland. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Oppose nay. Motion carries. Item 12 is adjournment. Move to adjurnn. Your honor. Motion by councilor Howland. Is there a second? Second. Second by councilor Anderson. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Meeting adjourned.