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POLICE DEPT. RICHARD ALSTAD CHIEF During the past ten years the Police Department has grown from 24 full tme positions to 33 positions. This includes the addition of six officers and three office staff positions. Although there has been a definite trend of increasing crime in various categories both locally nationally, much of the increase in Albert Lea crime statistics are merely changes in record keeping im proved reporting procedures. During this time the number of complaints handled has nearly tripled with the current number of complaints handled in 1971 number ing 9,525. Other categories, including major crime, total cases investi gated, and number of cases cleared, have also roughly tripled within the past ten years. During this same span of time the city has grown by about 20% in population. On November 13, 1971 Chief Bailey entered retirement and As sistant Chief Chiz was designated acting chief until the hiring of the new police chief, Richard Alstad, February 1, 1972. Theil 1971 marked the final year of a three-year program to develop the new 40-acre park adjacent to the existing Edgewater Park. This was done at a total cost of $56,189, of which 50% was financed through federal funds, 25% through state funds, and the remaining by local funds. Also completed during the year was a much needed con struction of a new bath house at the beach done at a cost of $12,739. A third project was the completion of the service building at the J.M. Snyder Softball Complex at a cost of $19,463. Mosquito spraying was not conducted in Albert Lea in 1971 for the first time in 19 years. The combination of temperature and moisture conditions was such that the mosquito population never grew to a point where spraying became necessary. This was fortunate not only from a cost saving standpoint but also because of growing public concern over the use of mosquito control chemical. Dredging was begun in the inlet channel to Albert Lea Lake. In all, about 75,000 cubic yards of material were removed during the year which was deposited on the adjacent sides of the channel. Dutch Elm disease continues to increase in the city with 81 cases being identified in the past year. There has been 209 total positive cases identified since the disease first infested the city. The year 1971 also marks the concluding year of a three-year de velopment grant for the Senior Citizens Center. This has been one of the most rewarding and successful programs developed over the past few years. Our original projection of use was a moderate 500 partici ants per month — now the attendance is close to 1,500 per month. The reception of the program and the willingness of the Senior Citizens to work for themselves has been a most gratifying experience. The Youth Center program was taken over by the city in July of 1971 and operated for a time at Morin Park. Later in the year the operation was moved to the Masonic Lodge building. The attendance has steadily increased during the year and we expect 1972 will bring im proved programs and facilities. NOT ALL TAX IS eire School Levy 56.40% City Levy 26.08% General Government Public Safety (Police Fire) eee ene Health Public Works... ce ceee ceee eeeeeee Cultural (Parks, Recreation, Library) .. Capital Projects ..........+ County Levy 17.52% s 06 MOY 3.96 10.33 39 le 26.08% The average per capita fire loss for the last five years is about $4.40 which is roughly 1/3 of the 1970 national per capita loss of $12.81. While year-to-year comparisons for a community our size are meaningless, consistently low fire losses are indicative of the quality of personnel, training, equipment, and the fire prevention program. Within the Fire Department is the division of inspection which handles minimum housing, fire prevention, and building and mechanical inspection. Albert Lea's code enforcement system is generally acknow ledged to be one of the best systems in operation in this part of the state. It is the duty of the division of inspection to not only check new buildings to insure conformance with existing building standards, but to periodically inspect existing structures to determine that they also are within the housing standards, and to see that areas of the city do not degenerate to the point where they may become a blighting or de teriorating influence. During the past ten years approximately 700 dwellings of the one and two-family category have been constructed in Albert Lea. In 1971 alone there have been 75 such buildings constructed at a value of $1,333,000. The total value of all building construction of all types done during the year is reported at $4,644,000. On August 31, 1971 the Southeastern Library Cooperative, or SELCO as it is generally known, came into being as a non-profit or ganization to improve library services in this part of the state. The or ganization was conceived and chartered for a number of reasons, one of which was to act as a recipient for state funds which were not avail able to individual libraries. SELCO is also expected to improve library services through a number of new innovations such as centralizing book buying, cataloging, reference service, and other specialized services. In addition, it would mean that any resident of Albert Lea holding a card to the public library could avail himself to the facilities of other participating libraries including Austin, Rochester, Winona, Red Wing, Northfield, Stewart ville, Pine Island, Zumbrota and St. Charles. In 1971 123,378 books were circulated to the 9,873 card holders. Library service is extended to all residents of Freeborn County. The county borrowers outside the city now make up 22% of the number of total borrowers. For this service the county contributes $10,000 to the operation of the library, or about 12% of the current operating budget. The official opening of the new waste treatment plant expansion was held October 24, 1971. Between three and four Reawieed people attended the open house and toured the new facility. This open house culminated three years of planning and construction activity represent ing a cost of $975,000. Federal funds paid for 33% of the expansion and the remainder was paid through bonds issued in 1970. Since June of 1970 we have been accepting flows from Wilson-Sinclair. We are expecting that the flow from Willson will account for about 25% of the total plant flow. In 1971 the plant handled 1.38 billion gallons of waste water. This is approximately three times the flow which was handled ten years ago. We are having very good experience with re duction of pollutants in the new plant with about a 90% reduction in B.O.D. The amount of water pumped during 1971 was 1,064,800,000 gal lons. In order to visualize this quantity of water, this is roughly equiva lent to filling the downtown water tower three times a day for a period of one year. This is roughly triple the quantity of water supplied ten years ago. The year 1971 marked the time when the water meter re lacement program was completed and all the meters installed in Albert oy are now in good shape. A major street construction project done during the year was Lakeview Boulevard. This .63 miles of concrete paving was done at a cost of $135,500. Two core area parking lots were completed which provided an additional 124 off-street parking spaces in the downtown area, PARK AND RECREATIONAL DEPT. AMOS CHRISTIANSEN SUPERINTENDENT OF PARKS FAY MILNER, RECREATION DIRECTOR YOUR 1971 TAX DOLLAR WAS DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS: The 26.08% Which Was Recieved By The City Was Used As Follows: FIRE DEPT. EVERETT GRINOLDS, CHIEF LIBRARY MRS. GERALD HARTY, LIBRARIAN DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS RICHARD JOHNSON, DIRECTOR
Newspaper Details
Albert Lea Evening Tribune
Albert Lea, Minnesota, US
Fri, Mar 24, 1972
Page 77
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason T.
USA 22 Jun 2026
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