Park-Rec Director opening will be advertised soon

The Decorah City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to begin advertising for a new Parks & Recreation Director.

City council member Randy Schissel, who thinks the Park-Rec Department is too top-heavy on personnel, cast the lone dissenting vote.

But most of Monday night's discussion came not from people who thought the staffing could be lighter, but those who wanted to make sure the new Park-Rec Director paid attention to several areas.  Decorah resident Mary Lewis wanted to make sure the Director was assigned the task of volunteer recruitment, saying volunteers were important for duties like the eradication of garlic mustard plants.  City council member Carolyn Cordin wanted to make sure the job description included areas such as sustainability and healthy community initiatives.

But Park-Rec Board member Kathy Bakken urged the city council to "move forward" with the job posting and straighten out the job desciption in the near future.  That's exactly what the city council agreed to, so the position will be advertised soon.