From staff reports

With the legislative session officially getting underway today, Albert Lea will be watching St.

Tuesday, January 29, 2002

With the legislative session officially getting underway today, Albert Lea will be watching St. Paul closely to see if help is on the way.

Freeborn County’s legislators, Rep. Dan Dorman (R-Albert Lea) and Sen. Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea) will be introducing several bills to help Albert Lea deal with the devastating fire at Farmland Foods last year. Although this is going to be a busy year for the legislature, with a large deficit and the biannual bonding bill to deal with, it would be a mistake for lawmakers to overlook the extraordinary short-term needs of this community.

Bills being planned include an extension of unemployment benefits for Farmland workers; help for our schools, which will be hurt by the loss of enrollment; and even a sales-tax exemption for Farmland – another incentive for it to rebuild here.

All of these proposals have merit, and all have been enacted for other communities when they have faced similar disasters.

The closure of LTV mining operations on the Iron Range prompted the legislature to pass similar proposals, most notably an extension of unemployment benefits. That community was admittedly more reliant on LTV than Albert Lea is on Farmland, but the need is great here – just ask the Salvation Army or other social-service organizations, which have seen a large spike in demand.

The recent announcement of Fingerhut’s impending closure in St. Cloud has also brought out proposals for state and federal aid.

Albert Lea does not need to be placed on state life support for the long term, but a few one-time measures can help the city make it through the difficult period before Farmland makes its decision.