Mask wearing mandate will go into effect August 27th in the City of Decorah

Starting next Thursday, August 27th, visitors and residents of the City of Decorah will have to wear masks when they are inside stores and other buildings.

The Decorah City Council Friday morning approved a mask wearing ordinance at a special meeting, voting 6-1 in favor of a second and third reading of the ordinance, which will go into effect with the printing of the ordinance on August 27th.

The vote Friday morning followed comments from a number of Decorah residents.  Rich Reiser presented a petition in opposition to the ordinance which contained 493 signatures.  Reiser told city council members the people who signed "do not agree with your mask mandate."

Decorah resident Doug Bryce said the proposed ordinance was more about punishment than anything else, while Tim Borseth suggested the city council call out the better nature of people through a mask promotional campaign for mask wearing, instead of passing an ordinance.

After hearing public comment, city council members discussed the ordinance, with Kirk Johnson saying, "This is a really important thing to do" with COVID-19 numbers "blowing up" in Winneshiek County.  Ross Hadley agreed, saying, "We are in a health care crisis."

Decorah Mayor Lorraine Borowski suggested the city council delay a decision until September 8th, to give her time to put together a promotional campaign, but city council member Johanna Bergan endorsed the ordinance by saying, "I look to government to make the best decisions for all of us."

City council member Randy Schissel was the lone dissenting vote on both the second and third readings of the ordinance, saying there have been no issues with businesses which have already required masks or suggested wearing masks.