City council wants regulations for use of public property by private businesses

The Decorah City Council has asked its Properties Committee to come up with a set of guidelines for the private business use of city-owned property.

The issue came up Monday night when Ice Hut owner Stacie Chen asked for permission to set up her mobile vending unit at the city's swimming pool.  Chen told city council members she recently took the Ice Hut to West Union for a swim meet and paid West Union a commission for the one-day use of public property.

But City Council member Gary Rustad noted that the city council had turned down a previous request for a mobile vision lab to use a city parking lot.  He asked that the issue be referred to the Properties Committee so such requests wouldn't have to be handled on an individual basis but instead could be handled by a set of guidelines.

Chen thanked the city council for its time and said she would be in touch in the future.