Secondary roads duties given to maintenance superintendent in engineer’s absence

Unable to disclose why the county engineer is absent or provide any details to the situation, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors needed to appoint someone else from the office to maintain the day-to-day operations of the secondary roads department.

Supervisors voted in favor of appointing county maintenance superintendent Randy Freese to take charge until further notice or when the engineer returns.

“It’s kind of become abundantly apparent we need somebody in place out there as an alternate for when the engineer or other authorities are gone to be able to sign off on things such as claims, payroll, utility permits, stuff like that,” Brandon Talsma, chair of the county board of supervisors, said.

Pam Olson, the assistant county engineer who retired in March, raised concerns during the Tuesday, Oct. 6, supervisors meeting. She argued the individual elected officials had chosen “has not dealt with anything in the office.” She wanted to know how that would be handled. Talsma wasn’t sure.

“My hands are kind of tied,” Talsma said. “I didn’t really have much of a choice. Now, I can go into a whole lot of detail here, but I would really prefer not to. But right now the chair of the board of supervisors is having to sign off on payroll, is having to sign off on claims, is having to sign off utility permits…”

Along with everything else. Olson said she understood that. Talsma clarified the resolution brought for approval before supervisors does not give Freese any budgetary discretions. Simply, it is allowing another individual in the engineer’s office to maintain business, he said.

Olson was also concerned with the way the resolution was written and whether Freese was qualified to handle certain parts of the job. Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott said what the board is trying to do is find somebody to make sure all the duties get done and is delegating authority when needed.

Parrott suggested Freese would also be the point of contact for the board. Talsma was confident if there was work outside the scope of Freese’s expertise he would delegate that to another employee at the engineer’s office who is capable. He also said this is not a longterm change.

Olson asked if the Iowa Department of Transportation is OK with the board’s decision. Parrott said the IDOT “doesn’t have to be OK with this.” If the board needs someone with an engineering license, Parrott said the county will hire someone from out of county or another engineer.

Talsma reiterated the appointment is temporary. Olson said she wanted the board to understand “this individual does not understand budget.” Freese told Olson she made it “very clear” and said it’s not his realm of expertise. Talsma said the engineer’s office is too compartmentalized.

“(One) that is so compartmentalized where if one person leaving grinds everything to a grinding, screeching halt,” Talsma said. “I’m simply trying to deal with that right now.”

Jasper County Supervisor Doug Cupples said Freese is smart enough to know when things are too much and believes he will ask for help when needed. Talsma joked that if Olson hadn’t retired in March the supervisors wouldn’t be having this problem.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com