The Albert Lea City Arena was recently awarded a $71,000 James Metzen Mighty Ducks grant to improve indoor air quality in the City Arena. Grant funds will be used to install a new air conditioning system and air exchanger. The system will include a carbon monoxide detector which lets in fresh air automatically.

“Receiving this grant gives us the opportunity to expand the scope of our air conditioning project to include indoor air quality to make it a safer, cleaner atmosphere for our patrons,” Bob Furland, Parks and Recreation Interim Director said. “We are grateful to the Mighty Ducks program for their support.”

The Mighty Ducks Grant Program originally began in 1995 to support the building of ice facilities throughout Minnesota. It was revived in 2014 to help small cities pay to replace refrigeration systems due to the discontinuation of R-22 coolant and improve indoor air quality.