Saturday, December 22, 2012
The City of Albertville is in flux after Mayor Mark Meehan asked for Larry Kruse's resignation earlier this week.
St. Michael Patch recaps highlights it has shared with the community over the past year. In our year in review, this article, published April 11, 2012, was the eighth most popular story of the year. ------- In what city staff and a council member are calling a "shocking" development this week, the mayor of Albertville has asked for that city's top staff person to step down from his position. According to members of the council and staff members from the City of Albertville, Mayor Mark Meehan visited Albertville City Hall Monday and asked City Administrator Larry Kruse to resign as Albertville's top staff person. Kruse told Meehan he would not resign from his post. Neither party involved in that meeting returned St. Michael Patch's …
Monday, December 17, 2012
The last meeting of the year will be held tonight at Albertville City Hall at 7 p.m.
The Albertville City Council will be meeting for their last scheduled meeting of 2012 tonight at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at Albertville City Hall and is open to the public. Mike Potter, Wright County Commisioner-Elect is expected to take his oath. Current Albertville Mayor Mark Meehan is set to be recognized for his service and term as mayor. The following meeting is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2013, when Mayor-Elect Jillian Hendrickson will be sworn in. Current council members John Vetsch and Larry Sorenson will be also be sworn in for a second term.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
After weeks of deliberation, the Albertville City Council Monday approved a contract between the city and Bob Thistle.
The Albertville City Council unanimously approved a contract between the city and Bob Thistle, doing business as Thistle Advisory and Consulting Services [TACA], allowing him to become the interim city administrator on Monday night. His tentative start date is July 2. City Attorney Mike Couri put together a contract and highlighted concerns, costs and specifics for the council at Monday night's meeting. Thistle is expected to work 20-40 hours a week, and when he is not in the office he is expected to be "reasonably available" via phone or email. TACA will be paid $55 an hour on a monthly basis. Couri did point out in memo that the city will be paying TACA at an annual rate of $110,000 which is slightly higher than former city administrator…
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City of Albertville
5975 Main Ave NE, Albertville, MN
/articles/albertville-council-approves-contract-with-interim-city-administrator-thistle
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The community's "unofficial" kick-off to summer was a resounding success.
City staff and Albertville City Council members welcomed hundreds of residents, families and friends to local parks recently, as the city celebrated "Explore Your Parks" night with an unseasonably warm Friday night. "Just a great turnout," said Larry Sorensen, city council member. "Everyone was so excited to see the fire department and the other agencies that get involved." From Four Seasons Park to Winter Park and in between, the city had stations set up for residents. There was face painting and plenty of games to be played. Also, the Albertville Lions set up at Four Seasons Park and served juice, cookies and hot dogs. "We had a great turnout despite the weather. The clouds rolled near with some lightning, but it didn't even seem to …
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The city of Albertville is ready to offer the city clerk position and moving forward to fill the city administrator role.
Just a month after terminating city administrator Larry Kruse, the City of Albertville is ready to hire a city clerk. The ad-hoc committee interviewed four candidates, one of which especially stood out. "With 14 years municipal experience, in addition to her communication skills and some of her expertise with elections and website management, she really stood out to us," said City Engineer Adam Nafstad in his report to the Albetville City Council Monday night. The council approved the job offer. If the candidate, who will remain unnamed until she is hired, were to accept the offer, the goal would be that she would start the beginning of June. The council also has continued to look into options for the city administrator position. Finance …
45.237725
-93.653845
City of Albertville
5975 Main Ave NE, Albertville, MN
/articles/albertville-closes-in-on-clerk-as-it-builds-staff-team
1815373
/locations/7080702
Friday, May 11, 2012
Albertville continues to look forward as the city council looks at filling the city clerk and city administrator positions.
As the Albertville City Council continues the difficult task of filling the city clerk and city administrator positions, Mayor Mark Meehan came to the group with the idea to send out a public notice regarding the transitional time within city hall. The cost for this to be sent out would be $563 unless it was included with utility bills that go out around May 23 or in the next newsletter which would be July. Council member Larry Sorenson asked for clarification on who the notice would be from and what it would say. "My fear is it will be more political than informational," he said Monday night. "My hope is to move forward instead of backward," Meehan said. John Vetsch agreed that an introduction to the new city clerk, new front desk person …
Monday, April 30, 2012
After another heated meeting last week, the Albertville City Council begins the difficult task of moving forward after the recent termination of the city administrator.
With the recent termination of Larry Kruse as city administrator and city clerk, the Albertville City Council must move quickly and make swift decisions to hire replacement personnel to keep things running smoothly in city hall. Former Albertville Mayor Don Peterson asked to speak during open forum and expressed his "embarrassment and disgust with the three that voted to terminate" Kruse. "I hired him as City Administrator during my term and you aren't going to find anyone like Larry," he said. "I apologize if you are embarrassed but I am not," Jillian Hendrickson said. "I did my due diligence and we need to move forward as a united council and take this very seriously now," she added. City Clerk Former city clerk Bridget Miller moved into…
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City of Albertville
5975 Main Ave NE, Albertville, MN
/articles/albertville-council-begins-moving-forward
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/locations/6907272
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Mayor Mark Meehan said in Monday's meeting the issue with Albertville City Administrator Larry Kruse had been "festering" for months, and he took action when confronted by another council member.
It didn't take long to delve into the issues at Monday's Albertville City Council meeting, as the public comment period became the only segment of the night where the dozens in attendance could weigh in on the city's latest controversy. Mayor Mark Meehan opened up the floor for public comment minutes after 7 p.m., and the first speaker-former mayor Ron Klecker-asked that Meehan wait. "I'd like to speak on Item 10A [City Administrator Performance Review], but I would like to save my comments until then," Klecker requested. However, Meehan didn't allow residents to wait, and referred to the rules of order for the meeting. He said all public comment would be taken at the outset. Council member Larry Sorenson asked for a motion to allow public…
45.237725
-93.653845
City of Albertville
5975 Main Ave NE, Albertville, MN
/articles/termination-meeting
1815373
/locations/6817926
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Albertville City Council, by a 3-2 vote, ended its contract with city administrator Larry Kruse, who had served the community since 2003.
A divided Albertville City Council voted 3-2 to end its relationship with Albertville City Administrator Larry Kruse, effective May 1, at its regular meeting held Monday night at Albertville City Hall. Despite comments in support of Kruse during the public comment portion of the meeting, Mayor Mark Meehan discussed openly a "closed door" Monday meeting he had with Kruse, where he said he raised several issues expressed to him by city staff members, local businesses and in particular council member Jillian Hendrickson. "Larry serves at the will of the council," Meehan said. "There was a consensus, among a number of people" that Kruse was not able to do the job as the council desired. In dissenting, members Dan Wagner and Larry Sorensen each…
45.237725
-93.653845
City of Albertville
5975 Main Ave NE, Albertville, MN
/articles/albertville-council-terminates-administrator-s-contract
1815373
/locations/6818113
While last week’s surprise resignation request is good for headlines, the Albertville City Council must be decisive when approaching its city administrator issue.
There’s a reason gossip, in its most simple nature, is popular. It’s fun. It gets you noticed by lots of people. After all, we’ve been playing that “I know something you don’t know” game since we were in second grade, right? But this isn’t a game. This is a decision that could have direct consequences on the future of a once-growing community. And one that's poised to grow again. Albertville’s decline into turmoil at the top last week came as a surprise to almost everybody. That alone made the issue worth talking about on St. Michael Patch, at the water cooler during work on Friday, and of course at Saturday morning’s government open house at Albertville City Hall (where, literally, no one was talking about it). But what happens next is …
Larry Sorensen
11:43 am on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thanks to all the businesses and organizations who took part and to those residents that attended. It was a fun night. And a special thanks to LeRoy Berning who came up with this idea a few years ago during a Parks Board meeting! more ›