City council, school board members gather to discuss facility needs

Think of Monday night's meeting between Decorah School Board and Decorah City Council members as more of a first date than a wedding planning get together.

The two sides spent a little over one hour discussing whether it makes sense to jointly tackle their respective facility needs.  The Decorah School Board is mulling whether to ask voters for permission to borrow money to build a new elementary school, while the Decorah City Council is trying to decide whether to ask voters for money for a community center.

Decorah School Board member Brian Petersburg said there would be economy of scale if the two governments worked together.  But both sides also found plenty of issues of concern with a partnership involving two organizations with different needs.  School Superintendent Mike Haluska also discussed state law that requires school bond referendums to be held on different dates than city bond referendums--raising the possibility that Decorah voters could approve one issue but not the other.

So both sides were not able to reach any agreement Monday night, other than to meet again in the future.  School board member Cindy Schissel and Park-Rec Board member Shirley Vermace raised the same issue--just what are community members willing to support through their property taxes?  A community survey being planned by the City of Decorah might give some general ideas, but there will be a lot of particulars to be worked out if the two governments are to join together in building new facilities.