first on decorahnews.com: Will the Decorah Fire Department's full-time paid staff be cut?

Decorah City Council members have been asked to consider whether the Decorah Fire Department needs to have three full-time employees or could operate with two.

One of the current Decorah Fire Department employees will be retiring in July.  City council members met Friday morning, January 13th, as a personnel committee to discuss whether the future vacancy should be left unfilled.

Notification of the meeting was not given to decorahnews.com nor to other local news media.  Instead, the meeting notice was posted only on the bulletin board in the entry of Decorah City Hall.  Despite the impact of the proposal on the Decorah Fire Department, fire department officials were not notified of the meeting, either.

At this point, money has been included in the 2017-2018 to pay for a third full-time Fire Department employee.  However, the Personnel Committee has not yet made a decision on whether to advertise the upcoming opening on the department.  Even though the money is included in next year's budget, it will be a separate decision on whether to spend that money.