Albert Lea, Minnesota

City Manager, Jerry Gabrielatos; and Noelle Hagen, Assistant Executive Director for Albert Lea Economic Development Agency (ALEDA) about those initiatives. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVM: Can you give us an overview of the city’s goals? Rasmussen: “The City of Albert Lea is working hard to continue to grow and take care of our infrastructure needs. We’ve implemented a well- planned, 10-year CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) and we dedicate ourselves to following it. We want to be the community where you can be successful at whatever you want to do, whether it’s to live, to work, or to play here. So, we’re trying to find ways we can be competitive in each one of those realms. “We recently delivered a very successful Minnesota State Fishing Opener, where we hosted the Governor and his staff and several legislators, and put on a big party to celebrate what is a great industry for us – and that’s tourism. Fishing tourism in Minnesota is a $2.3 billion industry, so this acknowledges that and sets it off for the whole state. It’s a big media event; we hosted many of the major players in town who were covering the opener. We also used that time to capitalize on some of our other amenities, like our historic downtown. It gives the journalists an opportunity to experience that.” BVM: What type of infrastructure projects are in the works to promote tourism? Rasmussen: “One of the main projects we’re doing right now is dredging – reclaiming Albert Lea Lake Fountain and cleaning it up; taking care of some ALBERT LEA , MINNESOTA pictured Boating on Fountain Lake – photo taken at Edgewater Park. Photo by Teresa Kauffmann pictured Governor Fishing Opener