Counties find their own design without an engineer

Mar. 16—For the last couple of years there have been plenty of stories about not having enough things from toilet paper to computer chips to manufacture vehicles.

Put Iowa county engineers on the list, too.

Union County has been without an engineer since November but is using Clarke County's engineer when needed until one can be found.

Adair County recently approved a 90-day sharing agreement with Adams County for Nick Kauffman to perform certain duties there. Adams County is without an engineer. Kauffman said a consultant has also been hired by Adams County to help them with certain duties as to limit the help Kauffman will need to provide. The county engineer is responsible for the administration, planning, directing, coordinating and supervising of the county's roads.

There are other counties still searching for an engineer.

Iowa County Engineers Association Vice President Paul Geilenfeldt of Marshall County speculated on one reason for the shortage is how some people may not want their job heavily influenced by politics. Iowa county engineers are appointed by the board of supervisors. It is not an elected position.

"You are never four years away from a voting majority of your board," he said, explaining how supervisor seats are on ballots every two years. "Your boss changes more often than you do."

Geilendfeldt said there are numerous instances across the state when someone ran for a supervisor seat only for the reason of the engineer position.

"I worked in a county where people were running for the board of supervisors and want to fire the engineer," he said. He said being a supervisor is much more of a position than just focusing one on department of county government.

"If I was a voter, I would ask 'What do you do after that,'" he said implying when an elected person eventually replaces the engineer. "Will you quit?"

Geilenfeldt started as an assistant in Marshall County, a position he had for five years. He then went to Jasper County as an assistant for nine years and returned to Marshall in 2010.

Gelienfeldt said there probably are some similarities with the engineer job in all of Iowa's counties, but it's the fine details that make the difference.

"You have different soils and different levels of finances," he said. "Some counties have three supervisors. Some have five. Those are different levels of politics."

Road conditions are a common challenge for county engineers across the state. He said there are significant times when a section of road needs work, but hopes the residents of the county and officials are still putting that specific part of the job in perspective.

He said Marshall County has about 700 miles of rock road and 200 miles of paved. "Put that all end to end and you are in Washington D.C.," he said about the approximate distance from the two locations.

Plus there are 275 bridge structures in the county.

Jasper County hired its engineer last August, and it was not quick or easy to find one according to Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma.

"It took us about six moths to find one and that is lucky finding one that quick," he said.

Knowing the department had daily duties to still complete without an engineer, Talsma said the county created an office manager position so payroll could be completed and vendors paid. During that time, Jasper agreed to use Marshall County's engineer which took about three weeks to finalize.

"The state says you have to have an engineer for the responsibilities. Without one you don't get things done," he said.

Talsma explained how the county's secondary road crew was finishing work on a bridge during the vacancy and another bridge was already designed and approved. "But after that, it was just maintenance and upkeep," he said.

Not having an engineer can have a domino effect on the department's budget, staff and schedule of work.

"It's a problem and becoming more of a problem," he said about counties looking for an engineer and the impact on the needed work.

Jasper County advertised for an engineer in multiple ways.

"We knew the pool of applicants was small to begin with," Talsma said. During the search, he said eight counties responded to Jasper providing them with information how they found their engineer.

Talsma said the engineer hired was also a candidate in other counties.

"Six or seven other counties were looking for one. It's a small pool to pull from. The private sector pays more. It's not easy," Talsma said.