The interim

Published 9:40 am Thursday, February 18, 2010

Albert Lea Interim City Manager Lee Bjorndal has a goal to fulfill his job with a perception of fairness.

Bjorndal, 52, who started his position Monday, said he wants to make sure the public understands what’s taking place in the city.

“I really want to make sure that the financial decisions the council are making are sound,” he said. “And that they’re made with the largest group of the community in mind.”

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Working as city attorney since November 2008, Bjorndal was appointed interim city manager in January to replace former City Manager Victoria Simonsen, who accepted a job as city administrator in Lyons, Colo. Her last day was Friday.

Bjorndal said since the council appointed him in January, he has been busy getting acquainted with the community.

“I’ve gone to more meetings — with the Vitality Project, ALEDA, meeting with numerous department heads,” he said. “I’m trying to wrap my brain around what pending things are happening. I’ve been meeting a lot of people and finding out what everybody’s issues are.”

He said he sees his role as acting city manager during the interim period as three-fold.

First, he hopes to continue with the council decisions that have been made and work to implement those decisions. Then the departments will run themselves.

Second, he wants to learn what everyone is working on in the community and then communicate the background of those issues with the council.

Third, he said he wants to get a good handle on the issues facing the city so when the new city manager comes in, he can give that person background on the issues.

He will be in the position at least until the beginning of May, maybe later, depending on when the new city manager will begin. Applications are coming in for the position now.

To be able to fulfill the duties of city manager during the interim period, his duties as city attorney are being contracted out on an hourly basis to attorney Tracy Baines — at least from Feb. 1 and May 7.

While he’s hoping his tenure will be a calm one without any major issues, he said he knows there are budgetary issues looming that he may have to help the council address.

“There’s numerous issues that are coming up, but the biggest thing will be how does the council respond to any kind of changes to LGA,” he said.

He noted it is positive that the city conducted community listening sessions last year to find out what services are important to the public.

“I think the council and staff are prepared for that,” he said. “Any decreases will be lessened by what they did last year.”

Before joining city staff as Albert Lea city attorney, Bjorndal worked as a private practice lawyer, working as a criminal prosecutor in Austin and as the city attorney for Spring Valley, Mantorville, LeRoy and Ostrander.

“I represented a lot of small cities and townships over the years,” he said. “I learned a lot about land use, and I ended up representing a lot of local government bodies.”

He began as a partner in the Baudler Baudler Maus & Blahnik LLP firm in Austin in 1997. The city of Austin works with the firm for criminal prosecution of its cases.

Bjorndal said out of curiosity, he applied for the city attorney position in Albert Lea after former City Attorney Steve Schwab was chosen as the newest Freeborn County District Court judge. Bjorndal was chosen for the position and began Nov. 6, 2008.

He and his wife, Judith, and their two kids still live in Austin.

Bjorndal said he’s enjoyed his time as city attorney, and he looks forward to the interim city manager position.

“It’s interesting to see how it works because I’ve been through a lot of these issues in other communities,” he said. “It’s helpful to have been through some of these issues.”