When Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen first drove into Albert Lea six years ago, she said she remembers driving down Broadway Avenue.

“I pulled over twice in our few short blocks of downtown,” Simonsen said. “I looked up at the beauty of the buildings and the downtown. I was really excited at the opportunity.”

She said she also remembers driving through some of the neighborhoods and seeing a few small hills and the snow.

“I thought, ‘If it’s this beautiful in the middle of February, it’s going to be amazing when the snow melts,’” she added.

Shortly after, Simonsen — who had been the city superintendent of Fort Morgan, Colo. — found out she was chosen from five finalists as Albert Lea’s new city manager, replacing former City Manager Paul Sparks.

The city then became home for her and her two daughters, Emma and Grace, who at the time were 3 and 5 years old respectively.

Now, almost exactly six years later, Simonsen will work her final day as Albert Lea city manager on Friday. Next week she will move to Lyons, Colo., where she will pursue a career as town administrator.

“I’m really thankful that I have had the opportunity to call Albert Lea home,” Simonsen said. “I have always been very proud of calling it home. There are many, many people I will miss and that I hope stay in touch.”

What: Open house for Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen

When: 2 to 4 p.m. Friday

Where: In the council chambers of City Hall

The beginning

Simonsen said when the Albert Lea City Council hired her in 2004, there were several things they wanted her to do.

“One of those was to put a friendly face on Albert Lea and try to get back in touch with the people,” she said.

They also wanted her to promote job growth with the Albert Lea Port Authority and to evaluate the internal organization of the city.

She said within her first year, she set up meetings with the department heads.

Five top-level positions retired, and she eliminated the assistant position in every department. No longer was there an assistant fire chief, police chief, city manager or finance director.

“I think the message probably to the staff was that we are going to have to learn to do more with less,” she said. “That has sort of been the trend in the last six years. I started my first year like that, and I’m ending it like this.”

She noted there have been 14 full-time positions that have been reduced during her tenure.

During her time as city manager, Simonsen said she’s worked with five mayors — Jean Eaton, Al Brooks, Aaron Summers, Randy Erdman and now Mike Murtaugh.

She said each had different styles of leadership, and she learned a lot from all of them.

She was only in Albert Lea a few months when there was a major flood and FEMA came to assist. In the midst of that cleanup project, the mayor at the time was arrested on theft charges.

“Those, of course, are things that divert your attention and your energy from things you want to be working on,” Simonsen said. “Nonetheless, I think there was a lot of growth during that time. People pulled together.”

She said when she first arrived in the city she got the feeling from the community that they were ready for a change.

“People were ready for some renewal and some new energy,” Simonsen said.

She noted she felt as if there was an overhang above many people in the community from the Farmland fire in 2001.

During her first year, the Minnesota Design Team came down and looked at the community with a fresh pair of eyes and researched how the community could be improved aesthetically and be positioned for the future.

During that same year the Jobs Opportunity Building Zones program came.

“We were definitely pioneers for the state in JOBZ,” Simonsen said. “For quite a while we held the highest number of jobs created.”

The program also helped Albert Lea begin to be a face at the state level. City leaders started developing better relationships with state officials.

“I think people in other parts of our state are more aware of Albert Lea than they’ve ever been,” she said. “We’re looked to as one of the leaders of the Greater Minnesota cities — between the Vitality Project, the local-option sales tax before others, the development of a watershed district before others, adopting the social host ordinance before others.”

Simonsen said she calls herself a change agent.

“I like change,” she said. “I know a lot of people resist change. I find it energizing.”

She noted she thinks Albert Lea has changed from being a meatpacking town to being a progressive, family-friendly, business-oriented community.

The highlights over the last six years

During her first year as city manager, under the goal to revitalize the downtown, the city demolished the Hanson Apartments building to allow for more parking spaces downtown and began the renovation of the Lea Center.

That building went from being a vacant building to having 37 occupied units, which is what Simonsen called “a huge boost” to the downtown.

That year, the council also formed the Heritage Preservation Commission, which was another big step toward revitalizing the downtown.

In 2005, she started working on the goal of getting information out to the public and formulated the position of public information officer, put together the government channel where council meetings could be aired, and started the newsletter and radio show.

Prior to that, Thursday work sessions had been in an office; those were taken out to the Council Chambers.

Also in 2005, was the passing of the local option sales tax.

“That was a huge very strong message to me that people do care about the water and they were starting to see the value of our waters,” she said.

That started a strong relationship with the Shell Rock River Watershed District, and there have been many projects and educational programs over the years.

Around that same time, there were also three new residential subdivisions created.

Simonsen said at that point there hadn’t been a lot of growth for many years, so it felt good to be a part of a community that felt it was growing.

In 2006, the city began its focus toward reorganizing the police department from being a traditional reactive department to one that is proactive, practicing the community policing model.

That year there was also the exterior renovations of the Freeborn National Bank and Jacobson buildings and a stronger enforcement on junk vehicles.

The city implemented Hometown Pride Cleanup Day and changed the landfill hours so people had more time to bring in their items.

“We made a lot of little steps to try to change the appearance of our community,” she said.

Shortly after that, the library expansion began. Simonsen said she has a lot of pride for that project and what was able to be done with limited funds.

Several businesses expanded or announced they would build in Albert Lea, including Larson Manufacturing, Wedgewood Cove, Trail’s Travel Center and others.

In 2007, the city began its Main Street flood mitigation project, which changed the landscape of the community in that area, Simonsen said.

That was also the year of the East Main Street lighting project, which she knows had its share of criticism, she said.

The new Katherine Island bridge was put in, and the shoreline there was stabilized.

In 2008, highlights were the expansion of the South Industrial Park, the start of the Edgewater Park landfill cleanup, and the year the rental housing ordinance, the crime-free rental housing ordinance and the social host ordinances were passed.

It was also the year of the Artspace Projects Inc. visit and the year the Albert Lea Thunder announced it was coming here, she said.

Simonsen said the city has been aggressive during recent years to try to make as many improvements to the city’s infrastructure as it could. They’ve been able to do so with grant monies.

She described 2009 as “a mixed bag.”

“Fiscally, it was definitely the most difficult year I’ve encountered with the LGA unallotment,” she said.

But it was also the year of much excitement with the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project.

“Being selected for that was a true blessing for our community,” Simonsen said. “I think we have gained so much publicity from it, at a regional, state and national level. That never would have come had we not been selected.”

She said what she learned from the Vitality Project affected her decision to go to Lyons.

“There’s more to life than working and working,” Simonsen said. “It’s time to put my family first and put myself first again.”

Going through the project made her reevaluate those things that are important to her, she said, and made her realize how much she’s given of herself to her career in recent years.

Looking forward

As she looks forward to the future, Simonsen said she is pleased with the direction the council has decided to go with finding a replacement.

“I think the city is positioned well to get some great candidates,” she said. “I think the scope of applicants is going to be much broader than it was six years ago. When people Google Albert Lea, they’re going to find some great information.”

She and her girls, who are now 9 and 11, will move to Colorado next week.

Her house in Albert Lea is on the market, and when she and her family get to Lyons, they will be renting a house there for six months.

Simonsen said one of her goals during the move is to simplify.

“I’m looking forward to minimizing the material things and focusing on the more important things in life,” she aid.

Any regrets?

Simonsen said she wishes she could have spent more time from the beginning on team-building and building a strong foundation with the city department heads, instead of that coming gradually over the years.

She said she would have also enjoyed spending more time at the state level, but between meetings, planning and prepping, that never happened.

Over the last year and a half she noted she also feels like the relationships with the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency, Freeborn County and the Watershed District have fragmented a little.

She said she hopes those can be strengthened again.

Simonsen said she leaves with a clear conscience about her contributions during the last six years.

“I know in my heart that I gave myself everyday … I really was always trying to do what I felt was best positioning our community for today and for the future,” she said.

She noted she thinks the community is a much healthier and positive place than it used to be.

“I would say people in general have much more hope and respect for our community than they did,” she said. “That was always my motto. If I can leave the community better than I found it, than I’ve done my job.”