Five downtown Albert Lea businesses benefited from funding awarded to the city through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Small Cities Development Program.

Assistant City Manager Jerry Gabrielatos on Tuesday presented how the funds have been utilized during a presentation given in front of the Albert Lea City Council.

Gabrielatos said of the about $527,000 awarded, about $174,000 was used for work at The Meraki Studios, Stoa Engineering, Adams Originals, Ron Holton Realty and the Albert Lea American Legion.

The deadline has passed for the use of the remaining two-thirds of the funds.

The assistant city manager said the money was awarded at the end of 2016, and, shortly after, he and former Albert Lea Housing and Redevelopment Authority Director Jon Ford canvassed the downtown to create interest in the project and see how many people would be interested in utilizing the funding.

The program provided downtown businesses grants and low-interest loans over a five- to 10-year period. Exterior projects, such as roof, facade, electrical, plumbing, structural foundation issues and interior work, were eligible for funding.

Gabrielatos said with the transition of staff — both Ford and the former city planner — the city was only able to get the five projects completed before the spending deadline.

He said though he does not think the city will be able to apply for another round of funding in 2020, he hopes the city and the HRA can apply for funding in 2021 for lower-income homeowners. They will also explore applying for funding for future downtown projects.

In the meantime, the organizations will continue to explore other funding mechanisms to create and develop more housing.

He said the part of the money that has to be repaid through the Small Cities program will stay in the city and be loaned out again.

In other action, the council:

• Changed the Ward 2 polling place to First Lutheran Church at 301 W. Clark St. for the March presidential nomination primary election.

• Passed a resolution adopting the creation of the 2020 Albert Lea Complete Count Committee. The committee will be used to reach out to all people in the community for the upcoming U.S. Census in 2020.

• Heard a third-quarter budget update from Albert Lea City Finance Director Kristi Brutlag.

Among Brutlag’s comments, she said the inspection department has only spent about 56% of its budget because it had budgeted to do more removals of hazardous properties than have taken place.

Eighty-nine percent of the money budgeted for snow and ice removal for the year has already been spent because of the bad winter earlier this year.

Only 34% of the money budgeted for community development has been spent because the city planner was hired later in the year, and less was spent on consultant work with the hiring of the new planner.

• Approved giving residents who sign up for the Shell Rock River Watershed District’s Adopt-a-Storm-Drain program a free compost permit. The program encourages people to reduce stormwater pollution and keep lakes clean by cleaning off leaves, dirt, grass clippings and other garbage off of storm drains.

• Approved dividing property at 505 Pilot St.

• Accepted a $160 donation to the Senior Center