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Nose for News 
Group: Members
Posts: 431
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,10:20 am |
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The same arguement that we can't wait any longer was used to not look at a regional jail with Mower County.
What's the Albert Lea Area Improvement Company ?
Who's on the board of directors?
What is their mission?
Are they non profit?
Is this way to use a loophole in state law to receive city funds?
What attorney drew this up City taxpayer paid or private?
Chamber may gain visibility
By Benjamin Dipman, Tribune staff writer
In a decision that would make the Chamber of Commerce more visible but sever the possibility of integrating it with city offices, the city council approved a $50,000 loan to Chamber officials from the city's revolving loan fund.
The loan would help the Chamber relocate to the building that formerly housed the organization, which is located at 202 N. Broadway, directly across from the theater.
Two predominant reasons for the move are higher visibility and downtown beautification, according to Chamber Director Marge Hamersly.
"Since I have been the executive director, we have heard nothing from the community except that we need higher visibility," she said. "We feel that it will enhance the downtown as a cornerstone to the redevelopment."
High levels of mold and fungus in the air forced the move from the Broadway building to the basement of Home Federal Savings Bank. Efforts to solve the problem have been taken, according to Hamersly.
"There have been a great many repairs done on that building that dealt with those issues," she said.
The owner of the building, Adrian Hestness, outlined the repairs that were done.
"We took out all the carpeting in the (former) Chamber office area, cleaned the floor, patched all the walls, repainted the walls, vacuumed ceiling tile, had the air ducts cleaned."
Work on other areas in the building, such as insulating the walls and sheet-rock the ceiling on upper floors, has also been completed.
When asked if the air-quality problem was resolved, Hestness said, "As far as I'm concerned it is."
Before they buy the building, however, Hamersly said the Chamber would conduct an environmental study to ensure cleanliness.
But at the council meeting, Councilor Jeff Fjelstad raised the possibility of consolidating city offices.
"If situations work out and the right people move to the right places, and (the Chamber was) able to incorporate with city offices, why would (they) want to go to a different place?" he asked.
Chamber officials offered three reasons for a quicker move to the Broadway building: timing, ease, and handicap accessibility.
Hamersly emphasized the need to move soon, especially since they thought the bank location would be temporary and city office consolidation may be years away.
"We've been there three years and people find us quite invisible."
Board President Tim Thompson added that because they used the Broadway building before, it would be easy for the Chamber to move back in.
"We could move back in there quite easily. There wouldn't be a lot of involvement to modify it."
Chamber representative Randy Kehr said the Chamber's current lack of handicap accessibility is a problem that needs to be solved.
But Chamber officials and Hestness were reluctant to discuss plan details because they have yet to close the deal.
It might take as long as three months before a deal is made and the environmental study is complete, Hamersly said.
Since the Chamber is an advocacy group, which lobbies for businesses, it had to form a neutral organization which could accept the money and use it only for building payments, said Hamersly. The city's revolving fund cannot be used for lobbying groups.
The organization the Chamber created is called the Albert Lea Area Improvement Company.
Money for the revolving fund comes from the state but it is limited and because of a previously reserved loan, Albert Lea's fund has only enough to cover the Chamber's loan, City Manager Paul Sparks said.
The interest rate is about 3 percent.
Officials expect the loan to be short term, as they will soon start fund raising programs to earn money, Hamersly said.
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DISCLAIMER
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Nose for News Is Pleased To Announce That We Have Absolutely No Affiliation Whatsoever With The Albert Lea Tribune Or Its Parent, Boone Publishing.
Like Other Minnesota/Iowa Residents, We Simply Endure Them.
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jimhanson
Group: Moderator
Posts: 8491
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,11:05 am |
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| Quote | The same arguement that we can't wait any longer was used to not look at a regional jail with Mower County.
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Why invent new excuses, when you've had the best spinmeisters in the world writing the originals? Can you improve upon Shakespeare? 
With this bunch, maybe "Blazing Saddles" is more appropriate! "Harumph!--We've got to save our phoney-baloney jobs! Harumph!"
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"If you want to anger a Conservative, tell him a lie. If you want to anger a LIBERAL, tell him the TRUTH!"
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Montyman
Group: Members
Posts: 421
Joined: Dec. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,11:12 am |
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jimhanson:
I recall that the County officials from both Freeborn and Mower County met to discuss the jail and courts quite some time ago.
They decided at that time that a joint facility was not practical.
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Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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jimhanson
Group: Moderator
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Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,11:19 am |
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I think what Nose For News was referring to in this thread, and another, was that now there is renewed interest in regional jails, and even financial incentives to do so. As Nose For News pointed out, there IS a huge economy of scale in operating a larger facility, when the majority of costs are labor to staff the facility.
Without speaking for Nose For News, he only pointed out the obvious--that Mower County is making exactly the same claim as Freeborn County--that "we can't wait any longer".
Nose For News, would you like to elaborate?
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"If you want to anger a Conservative, tell him a lie. If you want to anger a LIBERAL, tell him the TRUTH!"
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Nose for News
Group: Members
Posts: 431
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,12:42 pm |
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Montyman
Here's what really happened as reported in the Tribune
Only Freeborn County officials blocked joint jail study . No study was ever done (no matter what you may have heard).
The "impossible" Craig Nelson Freeborn County attorney speaks of ( is now possible in other areas of the state see post on regional jails).
"We have been discussing the courthouse issue for years, and do not have a luxury of time like Mower County," Behrends said.( Jail discussion only in just began in Jan 2001 this statement was made Dec 2001)
County ends talk of joint court, jail
By Masaaki Harada
The idea of a Freeborn-Mower joint judicial center plan was scrapped Thursday.
Friday, December 14, 2001
The idea of a Freeborn-Mower joint judicial center plan was scrapped Thursday.The Freeborn County Commissioners agreed to terminate any further efforts to proceed with the cohabitation proposal Thursday at an intra-county meeting with Mower County representatives.
A motion by Commissioner Mark Behrends to discontinue the plan was carried with votes from Dave Mullenbach and Dan Springborg.
The Mower County board did not take a vote because of a statute requiring a board decision to be made in the county seat. "The plan is dead. We are not going to take a vote on this issue in our next board meeting," Mower County Board Chair David Hillier said.
The different degrees of passion for the joint facility between the two counties characterized the second-round meeting.
A majority of the Freeborn commissioners, Administrator Ron Gabrielsen and County Attorney Craig Nelson were explicit for aborting the scheme, while Mower County Administrator Craig Oscarson tried to push for a detailed study.
Besides already-known disadvantages such as transportation, emergency dispatch and negative economic impact,Freeborn County representatives emphasized their concern about a timeline"We have been discussing the courthouse issue for years, and do not have a luxury of time like Mower County," Behrends said.
Nelson predicted a necessary statue amendment to establish a joint-powers agreement is never going to be realized, and urged the board members not to waste their time on something that is impossible.
The Mower County commissioners said that there were not distinct opposing voices in their county. And a lesser construction cost and a greater efficiency the joint facility would provide was still an attractive option.
Oscarson proposed hiring a consultant to conduct professional research. "Without a professional assessment on pros and cons, our boards cannot make a correct decision," he said.
Among the audience, Albert Lea Mayor Bob Haukoos expressed his concern about the potential negative impact on the city's downtown economy. Three residents from Hayward, a possible site for the joint center, stated their willingness to have the facility in their town.
Freeborn County Commissioner Dan Belshan said it was premature to dismiss the joint facility option, and raised a motion to postpone the voting until the next board meeting on Tuesday. Though Commissioner Glen Mathiason supported it, the motion was denied by a 3-2 vote.
"When Mower County shows interest in sharing the costs of building, staffing and operating a joint facility to be built in Freeborn County, I think it is irresponsible not to further investigate all aspects of this idea," Belshan said after the meeting.
Published: Dec 14, 2001 - 12:00:00 am CST
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DISCLAIMER
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Nose for News Is Pleased To Announce That We Have Absolutely No Affiliation Whatsoever With The Albert Lea Tribune Or Its Parent, Boone Publishing.
Like Other Minnesota/Iowa Residents, We Simply Endure Them.
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| Post Number: 6
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jimhanson
Group: Moderator
Posts: 8491
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,1:55 pm |
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| Quote | | Freeborn County representatives emphasized their concern about a timeline "We have been discussing the courthouse issue for years, and do not have a luxury of time like Mower County," Behrends said. |
Sounds a lot like "We've got to DO something (even if it's wrong). The same line of thinking that produced the Patriot Act! What about it, RRG--Comments?
| Quote | | Nelson predicted a necessary statue amendment to establish a joint-powers agreement is never going to be realized, and urged the board members not to waste their time on something that is impossible. |
In the political speech of today--"Nelson Lied"--or maybe "he just had bad intelligence". In warning the Commissioners not to become involved, perhaps he thought they would become involved in a "quagmire"--ALL OF WHICH TURNED OUT NOT TO BE TRUE! (sarcasm)
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"If you want to anger a Conservative, tell him a lie. If you want to anger a LIBERAL, tell him the TRUTH!"
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Montyman
Group: Members
Posts: 421
Joined: Dec. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,2:15 pm |
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Sounds like Oscarson has his 'stuff' together.
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Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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MrTarzan
Group: Members
Posts: 564
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2004,6:57 pm |
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Do the feds know about this overt attempt to circumvent the law? 
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Be not simply good, be good for something-Henry David Thoreau
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Liberal
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 15 2004,11:19 pm |
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It's amazing that they would explain at a council meeting in the minutes how they were going to funnel money through a bogus company because state law doesn't allow them to do what they want to do.
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City Manager Sparks explained that because the money to be loaned is federal money the City cannot loan it to any lobbyist based group, such as the Chamber. Ms. Hamersly then explained that the Chamber will be filing articles of incorporation for a non-profit corporation named Albert Lea Area Improvement Company, Inc. that will exist for the purpose of receiving loans and donations for the purpose of purchasing the building.
Council Minutes March 8, 2004
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When did taxpayers start funding private lobbying groups like the Chamber? Is local business really in that bad of shape that they need to borrow $50K from the citizens of Albert Lea for a more noticeable clubhouse?
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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| Post Number: 10
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GEOKARJO
Google This!!!
Group: Members
Posts: 7799
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 16 2004,11:16 am |
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Albert Lea Chamber Is a Group of have and have nots, That why I am not renewing so quit sending me a bill you haven't in 3 years get my critria right, bunch of bozos.
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