Should the Decorah School District hire a full-time bus mechanic?

Decorah School Board members are studying a proposal to have the school district hire a full-time bus mechanic to handle maintenance on the district's buses.  The district currently pays outside mechanics for the work.

School board member Brian Petersburg says, "We're paying a lot of money to get our buses fixed."  But fellow school board member Ron Fadness questions the wisdom of hiring a bus mechanic now--before the question is resolved of whether the school district ought to build a new bus barn facility.

Transportation Director Jim Samuelson told school board members Wednesday night that "there's always something" that needs to be worked on with school buses.  Samuelson says the full-time mechanic could also be used as a fill-in bus driver, if needed.

School board members agreed Wednesday night to vote next month on a job description and to begin advertising for the position, with hopes of having a mechanic hired in April.