By Denise Lana,
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Decorah City Council member Christopher Miculinich, one of the two council members requesting the Concentric study be made available through the city’s website, said he felt the council would be doing a disservice by not making the information available to the public, adding he felt it was the council’s responsibility to provide balanced information regarding the proposed MEU to their constituency. (Photo by Denise Lana)
A request to add a recently released feasibility study to the voter education information available through the city of Decorah’s website was voted down by the Decorah City Council 4-2 on Monday.
Decorah voters are less than two weeks away from deciding whether the city of Decorah should be authorized to establish a municipal electric utility. The city had previously posted informational materials on its website for the benefit of voters ahead of the March 4 referendum. A study, conducted by Concentric Energy Advisors on behalf of Alliant Energy — which currently supplies electricity to most of Decorah — released a study on Feb. 5, estimating the cost of the proposed transition to be $85.6 million.
Decorah City Council member Christopher Miculinich, one of the two council members requesting the Concentric study be made available through the city’s website, said he felt the council would be doing a disservice by not making the information available to the public, adding he felt it was the council’s responsibility to provide balanced information regarding the proposed MEU to their constituency.
“Public perception, in conversations I’ve had, has the city in a pro stance rather than an unbiased stance,” Miculinich said. “My goal is to ensure we are providing diverse and balanced information.”
Fellow Councilman Kirsten Olsen said he believes the information distributed on behalf of the city is not biased.
“I’m not sure where this misconception came from that the information on the website is pro-MEU. It is just there to answer questions that people might have,” said Olson. “Decorah is not pro-MEU, and the information on Decorah’s website is not pro-MEU.”
Full article available in the February 20 Decorah Leader.
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