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I believe as a community we need to step up and do our part in supporting the Shell Rock River Watershed’s District efforts in its request for $7.5 million to finish the dredging project on Fountain Lake. By not receiving the funding this year, it will cause a stoppage of the project sometime this summer. It will end up increasing the cost to finish the project each year we have to wait for bonding dollars to be appropriated in the future. Finishing this project is a big step in cleaning up the watershed and in moving to the next phase of starting the process to dredging a part of Albert Lea Lake.

One thing we can do in support is to contact Rep. Peggy Bennett at 651-296-8216 or rep.peggy.bennett@house.mn and Sen. Gene Dornink at 651-296-5240 or sen.gene.donink@senate.mn, expressing your support for this project. The bill numbers in the Minnesota House of Representatives is  HF 384, in the Minnesota Senate is SF 447 and find out what committee the bill is in at this time. You can then email, call or write letters to those committees members expressing your support for these bills and finishing this project now and on time, instead of later to help keep the cost of this project down.

Contact the Shell Rock River Watershed District Office at 507-377-8758 and its board of managers to express your support for this project and ask them what you can do to help.

Also, contact your city council person and your county commissioner, asking them to pass a resolution in support of these bills at the Legislature and send these resolutions to Rep. Bennett and Sen. Dornink to use at committee meetings on these bills. 

The time is now to finish dredging Fountain Lake. Let’s show everyone we support our community and we support cleaning up our lakes.

Mike Lee

Albert Lea