Is Locust Road or East Main Street a higher priority for the City of Decorah to repair?

The City of Decorah has tackled two major projects recently--the Short Street reconstruction project and the Highway 9 utility project.

Now city council members are being asked whether the city should continue tackling new projects or should wait until paying off the projects it has tackled.

Engineering consultant Lindsay Erdman presented members of the city's Street Committee with four options on Monday night--three which proposed working on Locust Road first and a fourth which proposed tackling East Main Street first.

Committee members could not agree on which option was best for the city.  While many agreed Locust Road from College Drive to PineCrest needs work, the estimated cost of the project would be higher than the estimated revenues the city would have available in 2015-2016--meaning the city would have to find a source of additional funding.

On the other hand, redoing East Main Street in 2015-2016 would fit into the road construction budget--but would require an estimated $300,000 in utility work that the city's utility budget wouldn't have.

After discussing the issue for an hour Monday night, committee members asked Erdman for more options and promised to meet again within a month.  They will be asked to come up with an answer to city council member Randy Schissel's question: "Can we afford to take on another major project?"