Several downtown trees replaced

Crews from Total Tree Care on Friday replaced several downtown trees that had died or had other problems.

The cost of replacing these trees will be paid by the City of Decorah.  At a recent city council meeting, city council member Randy Schissel questioned why the cost wouldn't be paid by the Self-Supporting Municipal Improvement District, or "SSMID," the downtown and West Side Decorah taxing district that was set up to pay for amenity improvements in Decorah's main business district.

City officials replied that the agreement reached between SSMID and the city was that SSMID would pay for new improvements, while the city would pay the costs of maintaining existing improvements.  That means SSMID will pay the costs of replacing any trees that it had bought to add to the existing trees downtown, but the city will pay to replace trees that had been in place before the SSMID was created.

Trees replaced Friday were on Washington Street