With Cook County’s former highway engineer Dave Betts departing for greener pastures, the county entered into a short-term contract with Lake County Highway Engineer Krysten Foster to provide engineering oversight until the county can find a replacement for Mr. Betts.
On Tuesday, July 18, commissioners voted 5-0 to accept the contract with Foster pending review and approval of Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken.
Foster will be paid $145 per hour. She will work one and one-half days per week for the county, from Thursday afternoon through Friday.
“To keep momentum going and to ensure public works projects meet regulated engineering requirements as Cook County finds its new highway engineer, we’ve reached out to our neighbors in Lake County and identified a solution to carry us through during this transition,” said Jeff Cadwell, county administrator. “With this contract in place through October, we don’t anticipate any disruption to planned infrastructure work.”
Cadwell promised commissioners that he would meet with Foster on Fridays and prepare a weekly summary of how county highway work was progressing until a new engineer has been hired.
A search committee made up of Commissioner Bobby Deschampe, Commissioner Myron Bursheim, Cadwell and John McDonald, MnDOT District 1 State Aid engineer, will meet Thursday, July 20 to discuss plans and set timelines for the search process.
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