A full-time Albert Lea city finance director may soon be in place.

Officials planned to post a job opening for the position as early as this week.

“We’ve been working under a contract relationship for a while that continues to work very well, but every two or three years I kind of like to get a pulse where the market is at and possibly trying to fill a full-time position,” said City Manager Chad Adams.

The city is operating under a contract with independent Finance Director Kristi Brutlag. The city’s last full-time director, Terry Berg, terminated her employment in June 2014 after an allegation was received about her from another employee. At that time, Adams said the allegation did not deal with financial management or criminal activity.

“It’s always been our goal to have a full-time finance director, and we’ve been looking at different opportunities to get there, so we’re going to test the market at this time,” Adams said.

He said though Brutlag is doing a good job in her position, a full-time finance director would give the city more of an ideal approach.

“It’s just a better desirable outcome or service that we can provide to both staff here and the community and still get the high-quality financial administration that we’ve been seeing,” Adams said.

Depending on applications received, the city could move to a full-time finance director or remain with Brutlag.

Applications are planned to be placed at City Hall, and advertising for the position is planned through the Tribune and the League of Minnesota Cities.