Upon receiving notice of Engineering Technician Bill Parish’s intent to retire on the first Friday in June, Cook County Highway Engineer David Betts began thinking about the best way to replace him. At the March 23 county board meeting, Betts asked the board to create a new position, an assistant county engineer/ project manager, to fill the void.
The person in such a position would provide leadership for the three engineering technicians and be able make some decisions and sign documents in Betts’ absence. Betts explained that he often has meetings that take him around the county and beyond.
A memo to the board from Betts states, “In the past, the county engineer has relied on Mr. Parish to provide leadership in the field and the design room, as well as fill in for the county engineer when he or she was not available.”
At the meeting he told the board, “The department has relied on Bill in the engineering room. …I think we really need to have day-to-day leadership in the design room. …I think it would be really helpful for the technicians to have someone to go to with questions.” The county has been lucky to have someone with Parish’s level of expertise, he said.
“I want to stress to the board that my recommendation to hire an assistant engineer is not in any way a reflection on the abilities or performance of the other technicians at the Highway Department,” Betts wrote in his memo, “as they are excellent staff and I am very happy with their work.”
Betts asked the board to replace Parish with a licensed engineer with six to 10 years of experience in the same pay range as Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad. State-aid road dollars would pay for about 75% of the position. If they hired someone in the middle of that pay range, they would be starting off the new employee at about $4,000 more than Parish has been making. Personnel Director Janet Simonen noted that unlike Parish, a person in the new position would receive comp time instead of overtime for extra hours worked.
Commissioner Sue Hakes wanted to recruit from as wide a field as possible, so she made a motion to approve the new position but with a minimum of four years of experience instead of six. Betts said four years of experience are needed simply in order to qualify for an engineering license.
The board passed the motion unanimously.
Parish has been with the Highway Department since October 1984. In a memo to the county board, Betts wrote, “He has been a valuable member of the staff and has helped stabilize the department in times of uncertainty. He will be a difficult person to replace.”
In other news:
The board authorized Betts to sign a Statewide Health Improvement Program grant application for $5,560 to put up a driver feedback sign on County Road 7/ Fifth Street just west of the Cook County Schools complex.
Such a sign, like the one people encounter as they enter the west end of Grand Marais on Highway 61, posts the speed limit and shows motorists how fast they are going. According to Betts, these signs propel a driver from a passive state to an active state in which they respond to what they see outside the vehicle.
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