first on decorahnews.com: Administrative changes have been made to the City of Decorah's flag policy

Last week the city's Street Department did not put up American flags along Water Street because it was preparing for Wednesday morning's snowstorm.

But decorahnews.com has learned there was another reason the flags did not go up along Water Street--Election Day has been removed from the list of days on which the City of Decorah will fly flags.

City Administrator Chad Bird, in an e-mail to decorahnews.com, stated, "There were changes to the policy as it is an administrative policy."  The changes were made following a Decorah City Council vote on April 1st which approved a flag display schedule which dropped Washington's Birthday the third Monday in February; Veteran's Day Vietnam March 29th; Victory in Europe Day May 8th; Nordic Fest the last full weekend in July; and Victory in Japan Day September 2nd.

The April 5th administratively-approved flag policy restored Veterans Day Vietnam, Victory in Europe Day and Victory in Japan Day, but did not restore Washington's Birthday or Nordic Fest.

The administratively-approved flag policy then dropped two holidays which had been on the flag policy--Norwegian Day (Syttende Mai) on May 17th and Election Day.

The flag policy has been revisited by the Decorah City Council since April 1st--but largely through a discussion of whether PRIDE Day should be added to the list.  The administratively-approved flag policy says "all dates are subject to City Council approval," but it has never discussed the additions and subtractions to the flag display days.

In his e-mail to decorahnews.com, Chad Bird explains, "Administrative Policies don't require Council action and I brought this one to council mostly on the heels of the community oriented and special interest flags section. Also, because of public comment on some of the US Flag display changes, some changes were reversed."