Leaf burning is no longer allowed within the Albert Lea city limits. Monday night the city council passed a resolution to ban leaf burning 4-3.

Councilor Mary Kron broke what had been a 3-3 tie in the last leaf-burning-ban vote at the Jan. 13 meeting.

&uot;It just wasn’t healthy for a lot of people,&uot; Kron said after the meeting. &uot;There are people who suffer from asthma and other ailments who have too hard a time with the smoke.&uot;

Fourth ward councilor Jeff Fjelstad brought up the vote near the end of the meeting.

&uot;I wanted to vote to get it done,&uot; Fjelstad said.

He voted against the ban.

&uot;I voted so that my constituents would be able to burn and now they can’t,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s too bad. If we were to expand the number of days in that three-or-four week period we wouldn’t get so much congestion.&uot;

In the second ward it was a different story. Councilor Randy Erdman voted for the ban. He said that Albert Lea was the last city of its size to have leaf burning.

&uot;It’s a health issue, period,&uot; he said. &uot;Every call from constituents I had, with the exception of one, said they were tired of (burning).&uot;

Erdman said he expects the council to address the issues of extending the hours at the city landfill before next fall, but wasn’t sure of a date.