The waiting game is never fun. Just ask Albert Lea Mayor Jean Eaton.

The city finished its preliminary proposal for Premium Pork, LLC in early April and expected the next stages to move quickly. But things have steadily slowed down, and the city still waits to hear if their agreement will make it to negotiations or if they will not make the cut.

&uot;It’s pretty quiet right now,&uot; Eaton said. &uot;I’m anxious to find out if we are in the running. I’d just like to find out so we can either move forward in this project and regroup, or we can focus on finding other companies that might be interested in coming to Albert Lea.&uot;

Premium Pork, LLC officials have said they would like to begin building their corporate headquarters and slaughtering and processing operation as soon as possible, but complications in engineering have slowed the process down, according to City Manager Paul Sparks.

Sparks seemed doubtful that a decision would come before the end of May.

&uot;They have an engineering firm doing a study on some things,&uot; he explained.

The firm is looking at the costs of different aspects of the project, including land, construction costs and other expenditures.

&uot;They have gotten into some questions about engineering that are pretty big,&uot; Sparks said. He said the delays are to be expected.

&uot;It doesn’t surprise me at all,&uot; Sparks said. &uot;I think they have a lot to go through. This is a big project; it’s not going to go that fast.&uot;

Waiting in these situations can leave people wondering if they did everything they could to entice the company, but Eaton said she isn’t doubting the city’s proposal.

&uot;I think the city manager, city engineers, Pam Bishop and Greater Jobs Inc. have been working really hard and giving it their best effort. I’m still very hopeful that we’ll get this.&uot;

The company is considering Albert Lea and St. Joseph, Mo. as possible sites for its headquarters and plant, which estimates have said could employ 1,000 to 2,000. Originally, the city was told three cities were in the running, but the name of a third competitor, purported to be a Midwestern city, has not surfaced.

Eaton said that although the state’s environmental laws make pretreatment of waste more expensive in Minnesota than in Missouri, she thinks other factors will play into Albert Lea’s favor.

&uot;We still think we have the best location,&uot; Eaton said.

Premium Pork’s Articles of Organization, filed in Wyoming and obtained by the Tribune, indicate that four of the ten board members/hog producers live in Minnesota. The combined distance of all the board members from Albert Lea and St. Joseph, respectively, is 2,931.6 and 3,725.2 miles. The difference between the two is almost 1,000, which could play a role, depending on the weight of proximity in the decision. But if there is a third city, that could change.