Letter to the Editor: Mayor and City Council's Lack of Foresight and Clarity Cause Confusion

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Doug Bryce of Decorah):
 
I want to recognize the good job the Decorah City Council generally does, but they're doing a terrible job of establishing why they're instituting the mask ordinance.  They appeared clueless, lacking foresight and clarity in so many areas.  Several times they were unable to answer legitimate questions, concerns or facts that people brought up...dead silence...or was it a deaf silence because their minds were already made up?
 
The City Council has no specific criteria for this mask ordinance.  They have not laid out any specific criteria to determine when we have successfully accomplished the general purpose of this ordinance, or how it is better than what we are accomplishing now.  They don't know why or when they would end it.  The protocols of enforcement are also fuzzy and lacking clarity.
 
None of you who voted in favor of the ordinance had the courage to address these lines of reasoning, let alone be able to overcome this reasoning with objective arguments and facts, so here is another chance publically to do so.  Give the people of Decorah clarity because right now you're like a duck hunter closing his eyes trying to shoot a duck out of the air with no idea if he's ever going to be successful.
 
The Council said the mask mandate would help people in Decorah. But we're already doing outstanding in this town, and the health of our town is amazing!  This is a slap in the face to all the people of Decorah and our efforts this past 6 and 1/2 months.  We already have been pro-active, but you refuse to recognize this.
 
Mayor and Council your work is far from done on this, so get it together, apply yourselves and give us clarity, criteria, data and an exit strategy.  For as long as you have been angling to pass this...you should have had this stuff all figured out."