Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Office of Levee Safety – Town Hall Meeting

When: Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at 3:00pm

Where: Decorah Municipal Building – 400 Claiborne Dr – City Council Chamber

The Office of Levee Safety invites you to attend a town hall meeting in your area! Join us to discuss issues related to levees in the state. We value your participation and input.

The primary objective for this meeting is to share information from the 2022 Levee District Study as well as the new Levee Improvement Program (LIP) and Office of Levee Safety (OLS) with levee stakeholders.  More importantly, we are asking levee stakeholders to share their challenges and concerns as they work to operate and maintain their levees.

Who should attend? Levee stakeholders (sponsors, engineers, and financial managers), city and county leaders, floodplain managers, emergency managers, and any member of the public interested in flood risk reduction.

Click Here to view the link to view the Levee Flyer

Click Here to view the Office of Levee Safety Website

• The City can declare a snow emergency at any time. With the assistance of local weather forecasts, snow emergencies are generally issued in advance of a snow/ice event, with a projected start and end time and date. Something to note, a snow emergency is automatically in effect if snow accumulation is 1″ or more, regardless of declaration.

• What is the significance of a snow emergency? Valid question. Snow emergencies are intended to raise awareness of poor driving conditions and alert residents that the city will likely be performing snow/ice removal operations. To effectively perform those operations, the City needs streets to be as clear of vehicles as possible. During a snow emergency, alternate side parking rules are in effect.

• During snow emergencies on odd calendar days, vehicles need to be parked on the side of the street where houses have odd numbers. On even numbered calendar days, the vehicles need to be parked on the side of the street with even house numbers. Usually, snow emergencies will exist for multiple days, so residents need time to transfer vehicles back and forth from each side of the street. The time between 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. is that given time. For example, if a vehicle is parked on the even side on December 12th during a snow emergency, and needs to be moved to the odd side for the next day (the 13th), the time to move the vehicle to the odd side would be between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. on December 12th.

• There are a number of streets in Decorah that have restricted parking on one side or the other. In these cases, follow the direction of the sign. If the sign reads “no parking”, do not park there. For example, if it’s December 13th, during a snow emergency, and the parking on the odd side of the street is restricted, no parking is allowed on that street on either side. If the signs read “no parking except during snow emergency”, then vehicles are allowed to park on that side of the street on the appropriate day during a snow emergency.

• Parking off the street is the best way to avoid parking confusion during a snow emergency, ensure the entirety of the road is cleared as soon as possible, and protect vehicles from collisions. Snow and Ice removal is more efficient and effective when the City’s operators don’t need to traverse around vehicles in the street. Our crews are out fighting snow/ice during the worst of driving conditions, and helping them eliminate obstacles and parking on the correct side of the street will make cleanup after snow events better for everyone.

If you are curious on which ward you are in, follow the instructions below:

1. Click Here to view the Ward Map.
2. You are able to zoom in and move the map to find your address. If you click on your address, it will tell you which ward you are in.
   1. OR – Another option to find your address is:
   2. Click on the “View Larger Map” Icon located in the top right corner of the map. (It looks like a little square, but it isn’t a completed square)
   3. On the left side of the map, click the “search” icon. (Looks like a magnifying glass)
   4. Type in the address.
      1. Click on the address in blue (Move Map To area) – it will take you right to it.
      2. Click on the building or house on the map. On the left of the screen, it will tell you what ward the address is in

To View on a Mobile Device –

For Apple Users:

1. Touch the bottom of the screen where it has “City of Decorah Ward Map – 2020” in white.
2. On the top right of the screen, click on the search icon (magnifying glass)
3. Type in your address.
   1. Click the back arrow twice so you can view the map. The address searched should be on the map. Touch the building or house. The bottom of the screen will tell you what ward the address is in.

For Android Users:

1. At the very top of the screen, you will be able to search. Type in the address you are looking for – touch enter/go.
2. This should bring you to the address. Once you touch the location, at the bottom of the screen, it will tell you what ward it is in.

Feel free to give us a call at 563-382-3651 if you have any questions.