Spillville Mayor tells county supervisors of his concerns about a possible tourism, development and chamber merger

Spillville Mayor Michael Klimesh met with Winneshiek County supervisors Monday to air his concerns about discussion of a merger involving Winneshiek County Development, Winneshiek County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce.

Klimesh said he had met with other mayors in the county and told supervisors "we don't feel it's necessary to merge."  He said it would be wrong to have a municipal-based organization such as the Decorah Chamber be involved with the two county-supported organizations.

County Board Chair John Logsdon took issue with using the word "merger" to describe the subject of talks among the three organizations.  "Merger is an unfortunate term...this is not a merger."

But county supervisor Mark Kuhn backed Klimesh's opinion, stating, "I do not want to turn over the financial side of this to the city (of Decorah)."

Decorah Mayor Lorraine Borowski said while she respected Klimesh's passion, she disagreed with his conclusion, saying the three organizations are just looking at ways to work together to lower costs.