Letter to the Editor: More about the proposed Decorah School District Bus Barn

"Our School Superintendent took it upon himself to hire an architectural firm to design this bus garage.  The firm's representative, a very nice young man, has driven up from Cedar Falls several times with his suggestions.

One of the estimates is that the architectural firm's fee could be up to $100,000.  That's right--$100,000 to draw up plans for a simple bus garage!

So I went on-line and found several buildings built by Lester Buildings and Morton Buildings and even called a local company.  All of these buildings could be built without getting charged by an architect, even though the buildings have been designed by architects.

The architect's fees would have paid for almost half of the 60 foot by 80 foot building at the Fox and Coon Club site.

When I tried to show pictures of the buildings and the designs, the committee members did not want to look at them--they totally ignored the information.

I was then called in to meet with the Superintendent and was told very strongly to stand down.  All the work I did for the committee was totally dismissed.

Some of the reasons members of the Bus Barn Committee have used against the Fox and Coon Club site was that the school district could "get by" with three acres in the Business Park instead of buying six acres at the Fox & Coon Club and that buses should be out of sight and out of mind and that people coming into Decorah do not want to see a couple of rows of buses. If you'll notice, there are several rows of cars, several rows of farm machinery and several rows of rock-crushing equipment at the same intersection.

So why am I doing this, why am I risking my job and ruffling feathers?  I think the taxpayers of the Decorah School District need to know what is going on.  You have not heard the full story."