Property owners whose adjacent streets will be resurfaced this summer spoke to the Albert Lea City Council on Monday, questioning the need for street work and whether the assessments were fair.

The City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve mill and overlay of several streets and the replacement of gutter, curb and sidewalk. The price tag is $744,320.

“My sidewalk is fine and there’s nothing wrong with it, and there aren’t a lot of potholes in my street,” said Mel Chandler, who lives at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Belmont Street.

She said the assessments are unfair because she lives at a corner house and gets assessed for two streets.

Resident Rona Gstalder told the City Council the residents deserve greater notice.

“This would have been easier for us to assimilate if we had six-to-nine-months notice,” she said.

She said she spoke with contractor friends and said the price tag is 20 percent higher than the market for a simple bituminous overlay.

Albert Lea Public Works Director Steve Jahnke answered, saying the average age the streets affected is 46 years old and have only been chip-sealed. An overlay preserves the life of the pavement.

“They have lasted longer than most roads,” he said.

Jahnke said an overlay costs $15 to $22 a foot. Doing nothing and the streets fall apart, which results in a complete rebuild that would cost $75 to $125 a foot.

He said the price tag circulated is merely an estimate and noted estimates are typically overstated for “worst-case scenarios.” Being in a recession is good for construction prices, he said, because it results in greater competition for projects, which drives the bids lower.

Streets affected are:

 Second Avenue from Main Street to College Street.

Janson Street from the west end to First Avenue.

Third Avenue from Front Street to Plainview Lane.

 Lincoln Avenue from Front Street to Plainview Lane.

 Alcove Street from Lincoln Avenue to Spark Avenue.

 Belmont Avenue from Belmont Street to Plainview Lane.

Commercial Street from Madison Avenue to gravel

Seventh Street from Madison Avenue to Broadway Avenue.

 College Street from Second Avenue to First Avenue.

Fourth Avenue from Janson Street to Front Street.

First Avenue from Front Street to Plainview Lane.

 Spark Avenue from Front Street to Belmont Street.

 Belmont Street from Belmont Avenue to Spark Avenue.

 Plainview Lane from Fourth Avenue to Lincoln Avenue.

 Madison Avenue from Commercial Street to Seventh Street.

The total linear feet to get an overlay is 13,790. The city did 12,996 in 2009, 17,154 in 2008, 10,583 in 2007 and 9,348 in 2006.

The engineers also plan to install new sidewalks on all three sides of Bellview Park and in front of 930 and 926 Lincoln Avenue.

Part of the project also will reconstruct part of the South Shore Drive frontage road just south of the Interstate 35 overpass at a cost of $28,417.

In other business, the City Council:

 Welcomed new city manager Jim Norman. He attended his first council meeting as the city manager. Though he is working part-time in Albert Lea and has business to finish in Afton, he will start full time in Albert Lea next week.

Approved the use of Merriam’s Midway Show to use the North Broadway Avenue parking lot during the Independence Day weekend. The carnival will be there July 2, 3 and 4 — a Friday through Sunday — and has agreed to pay the city’s $550 fee for exhibitions and shows in the city limits. The city also gets 12 1/2 percent of the gross receipts. The Albert Lea Farmers Market, which usually utilizes that lot on Saturday mornings in the summer, already has made arrangements to use the Albert Lea Medical Center lot to the west, said Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Susie Petersen.

 Approved the reservation of space for a downtown cleanup by Destination Albert Lea on May 22. Thompson Sanitation donates a Dumpster for the cleanup. Volunteers come to clean and to help with the planting of the city flower, the red geranium, in hanging baskets. The cleanup starts with a feed at 9 a.m. and the work wraps before noon.

 Authorized the use of a rolling sign on the northeast corner of the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center. The request came from Albert Lea Community Theatre board members Tony Segura and Karen Szymanowski. Segura said the sign will not flash and said it would be lit starting this week for the show “The Taffetas” and on July 15 to 24 for ACT’s production of “The Music Man.”

Approved the closing of Garfield Avenue from Hawthorne Street to Levison Street for the purposes of a car show held by Thorne Crest Retirement Community.

Approved the free showing of a movie by resident Mike Lee at dusk Saturday at Valley Park. The show will be “Avatar.”

 Authorized the purchase of $48,448 for a new radio system. A memo from Norman states that a rebate of $100 per radio is in effect only until May 1. The purchase had been planed for 2011, but it was moved up once the discount was discovered. The purchase will be made through Com-Tec Land Mobile Radio in Glenville.