The Albert Lea City Council on Thursday moved closer to securing all the needed parcels to develop the new Albert Lea Fire Department station east of the Freeborn County Government Center.

Councilors unanimously approved a $62,500 purchase agreement for the property at 220 E. College St. and $72,500 for the property at 415 S. Newton Ave. Those agreements also include $25,000 from the city for mortgages for those displaced by the transaction and $2,500 for moving expenses.

“They are looking at acquiring a new home,” said Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams. “To help them buy that new home as part of relocation expenses, we are offering them some financing for them to be able to do so.”

Councilors also approved a purchase agreement for “four or five” properties owned by Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services in the neighborhood, Adams said. The city still needs to secure purchase agreements for two properties.

“We’re getting all of those properties today for one dollar, in consideration of a future public hearing for Freeborn-Mower when they build their new campus facility or if they decide to do a significant remodel at their existing campus site,” he said. “They’re still deciding between which option.

“That they would be allowed to use some tax abatement, which we would likely be doing anyways, with the tax base creation and job creation that would be occurring, so it’s kind of a win-win for both parties.”

Council action came after it awarded a $7.96 million contract Dec. 11 for construction of the planned facility to Owatonna-based Mohs Contracting, lower than the engineer’s estimate of $8.1 million.

Councilors approved purchase agreements for 408 Elizabeth Ave., 411 S. Newton Ave. and 412 Elizabeth Ave. during the Dec. 11 meeting.

After the meeting, Albert Lea Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr. called the agreements “very fair contracts.”

“We work hard with these homeowners to make sure that they have the ability to move forward with new housing, and we tried to look at the opportunities that we could to really make it an easy move for them,” he said. 

Rasmussen said he hopes the remaining agreements are approved at the next council meeting Jan. 14.

After the meeting, 2nd Ward Councilor Larry Baker expressed approval of the contract amounts.

“We had a target that we were shooting at when we went to negotiate, and we pretty much hit the target or maybe came a little bit below the target, so I am happy with it,” he said. 

In other action, the council:

• Heard Albert Lea City Engineer Steven Jahnke announce the city would receive a $1.84 million grant for Stables area work after he and Finance Director Kristi Brutlag worked with the Public Facilities Authority. Approximately $1 million is expected to go to the sewer portion of the project, with $841,653 for water. Jahnke said the grant is expected to drop project assessments into the $20,000 to $25,000 range. A contract with the project contractor could be approved at the next council meeting.

“It’s moving forward,” he said. “Things are looking good.”

• Acknowledged termination of the Small Cities Development Program administrative services contract with the Albert Lea Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

The city was awarded a grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Business & Community Development Division for a rental and commercial rehabilitation program.

“An administrative services contract was executed by the city and the Albert Lea Housing and Redevelopment Authority for the HRA to act as the contractor in order to perform the activities and implement the programs authorized by the Small Cities Development Program Grant,” Adams said.

“The HRA is going through restructuring. City wishes to terminate the administrative services contract with HRA effective immediately. In lieu of this cancellation, the city of Albert Lea has contracted with another entity to complete the contract administration.”

• Witnessed the presentation of the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting to the city finance department.

• Accepted an auditing contract proposal from BerganKDV.

• Accepted $1,060 in individual donations and memorials to Albert Lea Senior Center.