Decorah City Manager Chad Bird wraps up nine and a half years at City Hall

Decorah City Manager Chad Bird says he doesn't remember anything about the very first Decorah City Council meeting he attended—on Monday, October 3rd, 2011, at the end of his very first day on the job. But Bird has a lot of memories of the days since then—the nine and a half years of being the manager of the City of Decorah. He says he took the job, leaving a similar job in Adel, because he grew up in Waverly and knew the area and was impressed by Decorah's downtown when he visited. When Bird started working as City Manager, the city was in the middle of the construction of the Trout Run Trail Bridge over Highway 9 and would eventually start work on the reconstruction of Short Street. There would be other projects during his time as City Manager, including the recent Locust Road project, which he describes as "a capstone" to his time as manager. But it's the people, not the projects, that he is remembering as he approaches his final day on the job Wednesday. He's especially proud of the "solid team" of City of Decorah employees which has been built over the years, including hiring new City Engineer Jeremy Bril and new City Building Code Compliance Officer Greg Swanson to go with City Clerk/Treasurer Wanda Hemesath and a "very strong" Decorah Park-Rec staff. Bird tells decorahnews.com he has learned to keep the bigger picture in mind while working as City Manager. "I've learned…there are always people who have a different idea," he says. However, he's learned to appreciate their passion for Decorah and how they "have Decorah's best interests at heart." If he has any regrets, they don't come from people being too passionate about city government, but not being involved enough. That's especially true of the city budgeting process, which he notes rarely attracts comment, even though it largely sets the course for the next 18 months of city government operations. Although Bird will begin working April 5th as City Manager in Burlington, Iowa, he's eager to see what will become of two areas named as priorities by Decorah City Council members—improving parking and adding wayfinding in Decorah, especially downtown. "We've planned ourselves to death," he says, so he's promising to keep in touch with events in Decorah to see if projects which have been set in motion get completed. As for his nine and a half years as Decorah City Manager, Bird tells decorahnews.com, "I thoroughly enjoyed them," and says he will always cherish the memories of his time in Decorah. Decorah Mayor Lorraine Borowski says Bird "set a bar quite high," while Park-Rec Director Andy Nimrod says Bird has done so much for the city. Hemesath agrees with Nimrod, saying Bird "has given so much of himself." (Two open houses are planned for Chad Bird this week. For details, click on our separate story.)