By Cathy Hay

The Albert Lea City Council voted Monday night to delay a decision on restructuring city departments until its Nov. 24 meeting.

The proposal calls for splitting up the services and responsibilities of the Parks and Recreation Department under other departments, which would eliminate the parks and recreation director position, currently held by Jay Hutchison for 21 years.

The senior center, pool, arena, theater and library would move to a Recreation and Culture section under the Administration Department, led by the assistant city manager. Parks, trees and lake improvement would move to the Public Works Department, led by the public works director.

The directors of library, human resources and finance would become managers, and a new assistant public works director would be added under Public Works Director Steven Jahnke to allow added responsibilities for that department.

City Councilor Reid Olson moved to table a decision on the proposal, saying he wanted more time to process information about the controversial plan. Olson is the City Council liaison to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Councilor Larry Baker seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

In a presentation before the vote, City Manager Chad Adams explained that the proposal resulted from the council’s annual goal of examining city organization. The current structure has eight managers — not all department heads — reporting directly to the city manager. It also conflicts with the city’s code.

“The primary question is, ‘Will park and rec be cut and services reduced?’ and the answer is no,” Adams said.

The city would see no reduction in park maintenance, he said. Consolidating this maintenance with the street department would increase efficiency, according to Adams. Facility and land ownership would remain the same. The city would seek to merge recreation programs with the Albert Lea Family Y, Community Education and other groups to avoid duplication of services while providing a one-stop shop for registration.

As far as the library, the day-to-day operations would remain the same, except for bringing back Friday hours. Currently, the library is open 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday. While the main intent of the proposal is to improve services, Adams said the city would eventually save about $120,000 a year, with some of that funding going toward Friday hours for the library.

The savings would come after retirement of the human resources and library directors, among others. When they retire, their replacements would be hired at a management pay instead of a director pay. The city took similar action when a fire chief retired and it created the public safety director position.

Adams said his proposal is based on a compilation of recommendations from an objective consultant, interviews with staff and individual conversations with city councilors. He defended hiring an outside consultant, saying the city contracts for services when it needs a particular expertise. Like a patient seeing different medical specialists, the city uses different providers, he said.

Mayor Vern Rasmussen noted the four hours of discussion on the proposal at the council’s workshop session Oct. 23.

“This is a decision that weighs heavily on people’s minds,” he said.

Later in the meeting, Councilor John Schulte V urged residents to read the full report on the restructuring, available on the home page of www.cityofalbertlea.org, and visit with councilors instead of basing their viewpoints on emotions.

Also, Councilor George Marin requested a public hearing on the restructuring proposal.

In a related move, the council tabled voting until Nov. 24 on a severance package for city employees whose positions are eliminated.