In the middle of his second term as 1st Ward Albert Lea city councilor, Vern Rasmussen, a local physical therapist, is seeking his first term as Albert Lea mayor.

Rasmussen, 46, moved to Albert Lea in 1976 and has lived here since then, other than a few years away in college.

He graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1982 and has been a physical therapist for more than 20 years.

He is married to his wife, Marilyn. They have one son, A.J., and one daughter, Katie.

He has been seated on the Albert Lea City Council for almost six years and said he’s running for mayor because he truly loves Albert Lea.

He will be on the November general election ballot with former Mayor Mike Murtaugh, though Murtaugh recently asked residents not to vote for him in the election after he resigned as mayor following the death of his wife, Geri.

Goals

Rasmussen said his biggest goal for the community if elected mayor is to help the city manage finances.

“I think that’s going to continue to be a point of contention for us,” he said. “The state has a lot of financial issues.”

He noted he thinks the city as a whole is financially healthy, but because the city is tied to the state through local government aid, finances are always going to be a challenge — especially because the state budget decisions come after the local budget is already set.

The city will most likely need to be prepared to respond to last-minute aid changes from the state, he said.

Secondly, Rasmussen said he wants to encourage building a strong service base in the city. City staff need to continue to improve their service to the community, which correlates with the city mission statement.

Third, Rasmussen talked about the importance of empowering city staff to be out-of-the-box thinkers and to be proactive in their ideas. He also mentioned having a reward for staff members whose ideas are used.

Lastly and maybe most importantly, he wants to promote open communication with all staff and city leaders.

“Communication is important for us to get through these financial times,” he said. “We can disagree, but when decisions are made, we need to support those decisions and move ahead.”

With the city manager position in flux right now, he said department heads are going to have to make sure the council is aware of things going on in the city.

He noted he hopes the city finance director is replaced by the end of the year, and over the next few weeks the council will have to decide where to go with selecting a new city manager.

“The mayor will need to bring in some leadership skills and communication skills to bring us to where we have a full staff,” Rasmussen said.

City/county relationships

Rasmussen said he thinks communication is key to a good relationship between city and county officials.

He said he thinks the lines of communication are open between the two entities, though both may have varying goals.

He noted both governments, specifically at the staff level, need to continue to look for opportunities for sharing resources.

He said the council and the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners plan to meet twice a year, if not more. There will also be special committees for specific projects.

Economic development

While it is the job of the Albert Lea Port Authority to recruit and build incentive packages to present to prospective business owners, it is the mayor’s job to make sure the council is fully aware of the opportunities, Rasmussen said.

He said he thinks the city needs to be more proactive in reaching out to businesses, and packages need to be put together ahead of time to offer companies, instead of waiting until after a company has started looking at the city to present an incentive package.

State/federal relationships

Rasmussen said he thinks it is important for the mayor to keep a good relationship with state and federal legislators and to utilize those relationships for special projects.

“The state continues to take away LGA money, so we need to try to recoup those through other special projects,” he noted.

Some recent examples of areas where there have been strong state relationships is when the funding was secured for the North Edgewater Park cleanup and the work by the Shell Rock River Watershed District leaders to secure funding for lake cleanup and restoration as well.

“As a community, we need to start stepping up our interaction with the federal leaders, too,” he said.

The recent grant application for the streetscape for downtown Albert Lea has allowed the city more interaction with Congressman Tim Walz.

He said he thinks it’s the responsibility of the mayor to not just call these leaders when the city needs something, but to keep them informed all the time of the happenings in the community.

Reaching out to the community

Rasmussen said he takes steps to be as open as he can.

“As a council we are open to input and encourage it,” he said.

He said he plans on being in the office at City Hall every day in the afternoon if he’s elected.

He’s looking at ways to make it easy for people to get their suggestions to the city, and he wants people to know that all ideas are appreciated.

At the last City Council meeting, the council approved a new social media ordinance, which allows the city to present itself on social media networks to reach out to people on a different level and tell people what’s going on.

There are constantly new ways to reach out to the city’s residents.

Faith in leadership

In light of some of the recent controversy with the city, Rasmussen said he thinks it’s vital to reach out to the community to let people know what is taking place.

He said as a whole he thinks the community is supportive of the city.

However, when concerns are raised by people, those concerns need to be addressed to the best of city leaders’ abilities.

“We learn from mistakes and we move ahead,” he said. “Hopefully from this point on we’ll continue to make decisions in the best interest of the city.

He said he thinks the city will come out of controversy stronger.

What’s next?

Though Murtaugh has asked people not to vote for him after the death of his wife, Rasmussen said he is still taking the campaign seriously and is hoping to share his message with as many people as possible.

“When November comes, we’ll see what the results of the election are,” he said.