The city will hire a consulting firm to try to expand the downtown historic district from its Broadway Avenue-focused two-and-a-half block area to include the Lea Center, the post office and buildings along Clark and William Streets.

The firm, Hess, Roise and Company, was recommended by the state for the consulting. The cost to the city will be $33,880. According to a letter sent by the company, the process research and application for the buildings to be put on the National Register of Historic Places could take up to seven months.

City manager Paul Sparks hopes it will be a quick process in order to get moving on the city’s Lea Center project. The designation of the buildings to be on the register will make them eligible for state and federal grants, as well as federal tax credits, Sparks said.

Other news from Monday’s city council meeting:

– The city accepted a low bidder to install instrumentation and flow-measurement upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant.

The upgrades, according to Sparks, will make it easier for the city to gather data and won’t require any new employees.

The contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Schammel Electric Inc. of Austin, at $267,000. Albert Lea Electric had the second-lowest bid at $274,376.

– The city accepted a low bidder for a digester cover replacement at the wastewater treatment plant.

The digesters store solid waste. There are four digesters at the plant, and this is the third digester cover to be replaced in the past few years. The fourth will be replaced in 2004.

The low bidder was Gridor Construction at $512,900.

Each of the digesters are 85 feet in diameter, as are the covers. The covers are made of metal and insulation.

The covers move up and down within the digesters to accommodate for gas-pressure buildup over the solid waste. Sparks said the life spans of these covers are usually more than 20 years, but because of the corrosive nature of the gases, they do wear out within that time.

– The council authorized the city to pursue a federal grant, along with the county, for improvements on Margaretha Avenue from the railroad tracks to 14th street.

The cost of the project is estimated at $1 million. That cost would be split up between the city and county at one fourth each, with the federal grant covering the remaining half.

The grant may not be allocated until 2007, because of the current list for applications for federal grant money, according to City Engineer Dave Olson.