City will hire engineer to fill vacant street superintendent position

With a vacancy in the Street Superintendent position, the Decorah City Council has voted to replace that position with a City Engineer.

City Manager Chad Bird advocated for the change, indicating that city could easily recoup the approximately $35K in additional salary (range will be $80-90K) by not having to contract for many of the day to day engineering duties that he and the Street Department have to deal with. Bird said that position would relieve him in the areas of site planning, zoning work and sidewalk planning – that often require Bird to consult with engineers anyway.

The city would continue to do outside contracting for larger projects and waste water engineering issues. The annual engineering contract costs for the city can vary and have recently ranged from $200K-$300K.