County engineer sharing agreement in the works
May 20—CLINTON — Faced with filling its county engineer position alongside other open positions in that office, Jackson County officials are again looking to set up a sharing agreement with Clinton County to fill the lead role on a temporary, but possibly permanent, basis.
Clinton County Engineer Todd Kinney told the Clinton County Board of Supervisors this week he has been contacted by Jackson County human resources officials with two questions: whether he would like to fill the role on a temporary basis as he did in 2020 after the termination of former Jackson County Engineer Clark Schloz, or work as Jackson County's engineer on a permanent basis while also maintaining his position as Clinton County engineer.
"Would Clinton County be willing to have permanent sharing," Kinney asked, saying he will create an agreement for interim sharing for the Supervisors to consider. "Do you want me to pursue creating a permanent sharing agreement?"
This is not the first time Kinney has served as Jackson County's interim county engineer, having done so for six months after Schloz was terminated in May 2020 after 26 years in that role. Kinney filled the Jackson County position for six months, up until David Dryer, a Wisconsin native who was living in Florida when he accepted the Jackson County engineer job in November 2020, started his Jackson County engineer duties the following month.
But Jackson County is searching again after Dryer submitted his letter of resignation to the Jackson County Supervisors about two weeks ago to become director of engineering with the city of Moline, Illinois. His last day will be June 1.
Clinton County's Supervisors are supportive of reinstating an interim sharing agreement pending a review of the new agreement's details. They are not as sure about the permanent agreement.
"I don't have any big problem if you want to interim for that again," said Clinton County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Determann, who said more discussion is needed about Kinney taking on the Jackson County position permanently.
Kinney explained that under the previous interim agreement he was an employee of Clinton County, which was reimbursed by Jackson County for his services. If Clinton County is OK with him taking on a permanent role in Jackson County, he would be an employee of each county. His contract with Jackson County would be written so the agreement with Jackson County could be terminated if the arrangement does not work for him or Clinton County, he said.
Clinton County Supervisor Dan Srp agreed with Determann, saying that while he can get on board with it, an expanded role has to be the right fit for Kinney.
"I want to hear a strong comfort level from Todd that he wants to pursue that," Srp said. "I want you to be solid in your mind about it because it's going to impact you the most."
Clinton County Supervisor Jim Irwin said he is willing to look at that arrangement and review it but is worried Kinney could be running ragged and have the stress of answering to six County Supervisors.
Clinton County Auditor Eric Van Lancker told the Supervisors that county engineer sharing is becoming more prevalent in Iowa and there are agreements out there the county can take a look at, such as Delaware and Dubuque counties' agreement.
Van Lancker pointed out that the Supervisors need to talk about the agreement between Jackson and Clinton counties "no matter who is doing that job."
Kinney will come back to the Supervisors on Monday with a six-month interim sharing agreement for them to review and will begin work to craft a permanent agreement for further discussion.
