EDITORIAL: Join in opposing any staffing cuts to the Decorah Fire Department

(Editorial by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott):

I'd like to ask you for your help in ending any talk of reducing the full-time paid staff of the Decorah Fire Department.

The possibility of a staff reduction for the Decorah Fire Department surfaced on Friday, January 13th, when the Decorah City Council, meeting as a Personnel Committee, held an early morning meeting that neither the local news media nor the Decorah Fire Department were notified of.

I have been a news reporter for more than 40 years--almost 30 of them in Decorah--and if there's one statement I can make with 100 percent certainty, it's that a governmental body doesn't try to hush up about a meeting it's holding because it thinks people are going to like that idea!

So you would think public opposition to staff cuts for the Decorah Fire Department would put the issue to rest, but that's not 100 percent the case.  The money for the third full-time fire department will remain in the 2017-2018 city budget--but it won't be spent unless the decision is made to begin to advertise for a replacement for someone who's retiring in July.

(Our e-mail campaign to members of city government has ended.  See the more recent story for comments)