City of Decorah is asked to study hiring a Sustainability Director

The City of Decorah will study a proposal to hire a Sustainability Director.  The proposal comes out of the recent Sustainable Decorah initiative, which studied ways to accelerate sustainability initiatives in the community.

Spokesperson Carolyn Corbin said the study has produced three main recommendations.  One would be to implement curbside recycling in Decorah.  Another would be to ban the use of plastic shopping bags.  The third would be to hire a Sustainability Coordinator.

Corbin says there might be grants to help pay for the salary of a full-time sustainability Coordinator.

City Council member Gary Rustad questioned whether the sustainability director position was "a want, instead of a need."  However, Mayor Don Arendt said he would contact the Sustainability Director for the City of Fairfield, who has volunteered to drive to Decorah to discuss with the city council how his position works.