The Albert Lea Public Library Board urged the city council Tuesday to rethink their decision on a $25,000 library feasibility study.

The council, in May, voted not to pay for a feasibility study for the specifications of building a library on the empty lot on North Broadway Avenue between Water Street and Fountain Street.

Councilor George Marin said he made his decision, at the time, because he thought the location had been predetermined without consideration for other sites.

But library board members argued that much thought had been put into site selection, and that, after much research, the North Broadway site seemed the best fit.

&uot;We feel the library should be in the downtown area,&uot; said Harlan Bang, a former principal in school district 241 and a member of the board. &uot;A library is a hub for the community. That’s why we thought this site was best.&uot;

The board members said they had considered other options, such as the Freeborn Bank building and the soon-to-be-vacant Wal-Mart building, but had concluded neither were as feasible.

Most councilors agreed that they’d like to see all other options explored in a study, if one is done.

But one argument also raised was that the study would be worthless because the city wouldn’t have the money to build a new library before the study was outdated.

City Manager Paul Sparks gave a &uot;very rough&uot; ballpark figure for the cost of a new library building at the Broadway space of $4 million for building construction.

While Councilman Jeff Fjelstad pointed out that the current budget crunch would make funding a capital project very difficult, Sparks said there are other funding options.

He said an excess police and fire pension fund, which is more than $11 million, could be used. He also said that the city could dip into their capital projects fund, which has been used during the past year to make more than $4 million in road improvements.

The council is expected to re-address the library feasibility study at its next meeting.