A small business owner said he loves the Albert Lea community and many of its characteristics.

“I think we have a pretty good quality of life now, and it’s improving each year,” said Rich Murray, 59.

Murray, owner of ISC Financial Advisors, will face off against Craig Havener in next week’s election.

He said he recently traveled to the Twin Cities visiting clients and was reminded of why he’s so fond of Albert Lea. People there are envious when he tells them it only takes him five minutes to get to work.

He knows most of his neighbors and runs into people all over town that he can talk with.

He also enjoys the walking, running and biking paths around the lake, along with the arts, theater, parks and festivals.

“If we continue to add additional things to do and make sure the things we have are well taken care of, people will enjoy living here and moving here,” Murray said. “We don’t need to have everything the cities have to have a great community.”

Attracting business

Murray said he thinks one of the best things the city can do to attract business is to work with the existing businesses in town and help them grow.

This can be done through lowering the cost of doing business in Albert Lea — whether taxes or other regulatory burdens — to make it more competitive with cities to the south.

“Growth within current businesses stands a better chance of success here than finding some big company that will move to town,” he said. “These businesses have made this community, and we need to help them succeed even more in the future. If we could achieve growth of several jobs in each of a number of our current businesses, we would have a need for more housing, more children in our schools, thereby creating even more jobs.”

He said it is also important to make sure there are well-trained people to work in the jobs that are available.

“We need to be proactive with current business needs to make sure we are preparing people for the jobs of the future and meeting the future job growth needs of business and industry within the community,” Murray said, noting he thinks this is already happening with Riverland Community College and Albert Lea High School.

Lastly, it might be helpful to visit other cities and see what they are doing to attract businesses.

Downtown

Murray said the city has done a great job helping to make the downtown vital again.

“Success breeds success, and I think we are on the right path,” he said.

This started with the infrastructure improvements on Broadway, he said. Then came the building facade improvement partnership, and the Small Cities Development grant will improve this even more.

“Small businesses want their shops to look attractive and inviting, and these programs are helping,” he said.

Murray said people are proud of their downtown again, and that is attracting businesses downtown so that it is becoming a destination for shopping, business services and dining.

The biggest challenge, he said, is making something happen with the Freeborn National Bank building that is owned by the city. 

“If that can be figured out, we will have a very vibrant and exciting downtown,” Murray said. “And all the latest changes are making it pretty exciting already.”

Criticism

Murray said he is prepared to face people from the community while on the City Council who may not be pleased with something the city is doing.

He said he would hope to have a proactive approach to help the city get down to what problems or goals the person has.

Though some people will never be pleased with an answer, he would encourage people to be constructive in their criticism and in their solutions.

Declining population

The solution for Albert Lea’s declining population comes back to jobs, Murray said, including both growing more and providing ones that pay well.

“If we don’t have enough good-paying jobs for workers to support their families, we won’t grow,” he said.

He said he knows young families want to move back to the community they grew up in, but they have to be able to make a decent wage, and in many cases they need to find jobs for both spouses.

“By providing these jobs we will see some growth in the community and also in the population within our schools,” Murray said. “Growth in the number of children in our schools brings in more money to our education systems and could increase the need for more teachers and support people within the school. More people in town will cause more goods and services to be purchased from our local businesses and could help them grow.”

He noted while 10 jobs at a time may not seem like much, that could be another $300,000 or more being spent in Albert Lea and possibly another 10 to 15 children in the schools.

Other issues

Murray said he has enjoyed being a part of the community for more than 30 years and having his children educated here.

He said three of his four children have moved back to town to raise their families and work.

“They have good jobs and their children are now attending school here and enjoying some of the great quality of life they grew up with,” Murray said. “We have come a long ways in the past several years as a community, but we have much to do.”

He encouraged people not to complain about things that are happening or not happening in the community and instead try to get involved.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen if we don’t work together,” he said.