County OKs job description for highway department post
Taylor County is moving forward with hiring for the operation manager post in the highway department.
According to highway commissioner Ben Stanfley, when the job was posted internally in the department, he received four applications so far with the application deadline June 18. He said they would then move to scheduling interviews the following Friday with the hope to get someone hired soon.
The update came as part of the review of the position’s job description. It is common for the county to review and update job descriptions during times of transition as longterm employees leave and before new people are hired to fill the position. Job descriptions are typically reviewed at the oversight committee level and then by the county personnel committee. However, Stanfley noted this had already been approved by the personnel committee as it was presented. He said this did not prevent the highway committee from making any changes on their own.
Committee member Ray Soper questioned one area of the description regarding working conditions that may be “unsafe” or “unknown.” He questioned if the county should be putting any employee in jobs knowing they weren’t safe.
Stanfley explained that there are aspects of the job such as working near traffic or even plowing snow during a storm which inherently have safety risks involved.
Committee member Rod Adams said he saw it as a protection to the county, noting that as long as the county provided the employee with the protective gear and training needed it would release some of the pressure of liability.
Committee chairman Scott Mildbrand suggested they could eliminate that line without changing the intent of the section. However, after discussion committee members voted unanimously to approve the job description as presented.
Stanfley said overall the job description was very close to what had been in place. “Whoever did it in the past did a good job,” he said. Changes included making having a commercial drivers license (CDL) mandatory and asking for management experience.
In other business, committee members approved a bridge aid request from the town of Browning for Erl Lane. Under the county bridge aid program, participating municipalities split the cost of bridge and qualified culvert replacement with the county.
Stanfley said there are currently three 5-foot wide and 33-foot long culverts at the crossing and they need to be replaced. He noted that at a crossing upstream, there are two 102-inch culverts, which he said he thought was oversized. He recommended going with two 90-inch by 56 foot aluminized arched culverts for the Erl Lane crossing. He said this would increase capacity of water flowing through the culverts by about 40% and should prevent future flooding of the intersection. He said they are about 90% of the size of what is upstream but felt it was sufficient for the needs. The length is needed because the crossing is at an angle to the road.
The total cost of the culvert replacement is $34,128 with the town and county each responsible for $17,064.
Commission members also asked about roadside mowing with Stanfley reporting that as the crew finishes up the road reconstruction work near Lublin they would move onto other projects including the mowing. He said he expects the mowing to be done by early July with work starting on the state highways and then moving to the county roads.
