Albert Lea City Hall will soon get a new roof.

The Albert Lea City Council awarded the contract on Monday for the roofing project to Interstate Roofing of Onalaska, Wis., for about $282,000.

The bid includes re-roofing and clearing up a drainage problem currently in place.

The council also approved an alternate bid for an additional $7,730 to increase the roofing insulation, along with a separate bid for asbestos abatement on the roof to VIC Environmental Inc. for about $9,400.

All three bids combined equal just under $300,000.

In other action, the council:

• Authorized the city to enter into a preliminary development agreement with Freeborn Partners LLC. for the redevelopment of the Freeborn National Bank and Jacobson Apartment buildings.

• Adopted assessments for the downtown alley resurfacing project, which covered alleys between Washington and Broadway avenues from College Street to Water Street.

The final cost for the project came in lower than originally estimated at about $84,000, with about $19,000 of that being a city cost and about $65,000 assessable to property owners.

Assessments will be paid back over five years at a 4.75 percent interest rate.

• Adopted assessments for the reconstruction of Lincoln Avenue from Front Street to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad.

The project included removing and replacing the sanitary sewer, watermain, curb and gutter, sidewalk and installing new blacktop.

Final costs came in higher than originally estimated.

According to city officials, the final cost was about $146,000, with the city’s cost being about $87,000 and the assessable portion about $59,000. Assessments would be paid back at 4.75 percent interest over 10 years.

Rasmussen said two people, Paul Field and Dave Klatt, had submitted written objections to the assessments.

• Approved an addendum to the lease agreement with Prairie Wind Coffee for the business to lease an additional 520 square feet of the Jacobson Apartments building as shared space for their customers and people visiting the National Vitality Center.

The company previously had access to 880 square feet.

• Approved the shared use agreement for a new rescue boat by the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office and city Fire Department.