Well I found a clunky workaround. I ended up having to get a second router and then use my Deco units in Access Point mode. It sucks that I needed to get another piece of hardware to get things to work properly, but hopefully this also mitigates losing network access in times when the internet goes out and the auto sensing of the Decos just shuts the entire network down.

I really like the hardware performance, but there are so many things that dampen the experience.