The conclusion of a discussion on leaf burning could come Monday night, when the city council takes up the matter.

A public hearing held on the issue last fall did not resolve the problem. At that meeting councilman Al Brooks asked that the issue be held over until after the first meeting of the year.

City manager Paul Sparks is expecting to receive a petition from the Albert Lea Medical Center’s respiratory therapy department asking for a ban on leaf burning today. Residents have complained that the smoke from burning leaves can cause breathing problems.

Options discussed at Thursday night’s city council pre-agenda meeting were expanding the leaf burning days of the week from the current three-day-a-week policy to an open, any-day policy for the three week period that leaf burning is allowed in the fall. That would presumably make the smoke less concentrated.

The other option was a full ban on burning. Instead of burning, residents could drop off leaves at the city landfill. Councilors Thursday discussed extending the hours to accomodate more residents dropping off leaves.

Sparks told the council that there is not enough money available to buy any new equipment for picking up leaves, one option that had been discussed at the previous council meeting.

The council Monday will also vote on having the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency do a study on pollution at Edgewater Park, the location of a former city garbage dump.

Sparks said there is likely pollution on the site, which was used as a dump more than 50 years ago. Laws and regulations at that time allowed much more than they would today, but the pollution has now to the attention of the city and the MPCA.

The MPCA’s study will cost around $75,445. The city can opt to not have the study done, but Sparks says that would mean the city would be forced to do the study themselves.

The study is expected to last a few years, but Sparks said the end result could be very expensive, depending on what is found. If the city is forced to remove everything from the dump, he estimated it could cost $12 million or more. If the MPCA asks the city to cap the area, and do some clean it up, it would still cost in the low millions.

Sparks recommended looking into the history of the dump to see if there is a company at fault for the pollution and also said looking for grant money should be an option to explore.