The city charter might not be changing, but Think Tank group members say they will keep pursuing the issues that their proposed charter changes would have addressed.

&uot;What we are still looking for is increased accountability,&uot; said Don Black, a representative for the loosely defined group. His group describes themselves as having a fluid membership connected by a yearning for change in Albert Lea.

Monday, the final leg of the city’s rejection of the charter changes was complete, when the city council accepted the recommendations of the city charter commission.

Dr. Niles Shoff, a former Albert Lea mayor, heads the charter commission. He addressed the council Monday night. &uot;At least I can see a light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been in for the last four months,&uot; he said.

The charter commission, which is the local body capable of making changes to the city charter, usually meets once a year, and, because of a lack of public attendance, their meetings usually last five minutes.

This year, the commission had to have three meetings, each of which lasted almost an hour. They brought in the man who helped to re-write the city’s charter, David Kennedy, a metro-based lawyer who has made a career out of municipal charter work.

In the end, with input from Kennedy as well as City Attorney Steve Schwab, the commission voted against the changes unanimously, saying all but one if the ideas were things that should be addressed by council policy.

&uot;The charter is supposed to be a broad document,&uot; Shoff said. He argued that the changes proposed would be better made with legislation.

Mayor Jean Eaton said the proposed changes, which included having four-year terms for the mayor instead of two-year terms, having twice-annual reviews of the city manager and department heads, and a demand for ever-present strategic plans, among other things, are things the council is already working toward.

She said the council will be holding annual reviews of the city manager and department heads, something no other council has done before. She also said that a strategic plan is in the works.

Black said depending on the council’s aggressiveness in pursuing these changes, the Think Tank will make a decision to pursue their other options for changing the city charter, one of which would be a public referendum.

He said he agreed that the council is working toward the same goals as the Think Tank is.

Don Sorenson, who spoke to the council on behalf of the Think Tank, said that the council’s actions would determine their actions.

&uot;The ball is in your court now,&uot; he said.

Other council notes:

-The city will be an emergency back up for EXOL to discharge their industrial wastewater, the city council decided Monday.

EXOL has and will continue to dump the water in a ditch that the county owns. It is

clean water used for cooling their machines, according to City Manager Paul Sparks. But the county said that when water levels get too high, EXOL cannot dump its excess water into the ditch.

When this happens, EXOL will be able to use the city’s wastewater system for disposal. But Sparks said that if the city’s wastewater capacity is near limit, EXOL will have to look elsewhere to dump their water.

-The city council will have a workshop within the next 90 days on the strengths and weaknesses of the town’s future plans for economic development and courting new businesses.

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)