The immediate concern after the Farmland fire in Albert Lea is short-term help for workers left out of a job.

Friday, July 13, 2001

The immediate concern after the Farmland fire in Albert Lea is short-term help for workers left out of a job. Unemployment benefits should help fill that void.

But as we wait to find out how badly the plant is damaged and what Farmland’s plans will be in the long term, the focus shifts to ensuring that any lost jobs can be replaced and that the hole in that city’s economy, if there is one, is filled.

For it to happen, Albert Lea will need strong leadership from its city government, Port Authority, Chamber of Commerce and Greater Jobs Inc. These are the organizations that deal in economic development and who have the people with the know-how to get a city through a crisis like this.

Without knowing whether Farmland will rebuild or renovate in Albert Lea, it’s hard to say just what kind of leadership will be needed. But it’s probably safe to say that even if Farmland will remain a presence in Albert Lea, it will not be operating at its prefire capacity for a while. At the very least, there will be a temporary problem; at worst, there will be a need to either replace several hundred jobs or the city will find itself without hundreds of families who help support the city and schools, and of whom many have been important parts of the community for years.

Everyone’s eyes are keenly focused on what will happen at Farmland. Once we find out, the gaze will become fixed on the leaders who are charged with seeing the city through bad times.