It's back to the drawing board for supporters of the proposed Dry Run Plaza Park

When bids were opened on construction of the proposed Dry Run Plaza Park on the east end of downtown Decorah, they were $70,000 higher than anticipated.  That led the Decorah City Council to reject the low bid.

The project has been led by a steering committee of the Downtown Decorah Betterment Association.  Committee member Mike Harman says while the bids were higher than expected, "we're not giving up."  Downtown Betterment members now will go back to the drawing board, with assistance from City Engineer Jeremy Bril, to figure out how the project can be changed to make it come within budget.

Harman says part of the solution might be to seek bids early next year, as opposed to the mid-summer bidding this year.  He believes this year's bids were not only affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, but by the lateness of the bid opening, coming when most contractors already had plenty of business.

He and the other committee members say they're willing to put in extra work in order to make sure the park becomes a reality.  In Harman's words, "we want to do this park!"