Floyd County, Cerro Gordo County agree to discuss shared engineer possibility

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Supervisors from Floyd and Cerro Gordo counties held a joint meeting Friday morning, Dec. 20, to talk about the possibility of sharing a county engineer, but there was some initial confusion over whether this was a short-term or long-term proposition.

The supervisors from Floyd County – which has a long history of previously sharing a county engineer with Chickasaw County – were interested in discussing a similar arrangement with Cerro Gordo County, to fill a position that will become vacant next month.

But at least two of the Cerro Gordo County supervisors had thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss temporarily sharing Cerro Gordo County Engineer Brandon Billings for only six months or so, to help out while Floyd County worked to find a replacement engineer.

And at least one Floyd County supervisor, Boyd Campbell, who took office in November, also had reservations about whether both counties might lose out on some effectiveness if an engineer was being shared, and whether any cost savings would be worth it.

The two boards eventually decided to work on a contract for a six-month trial period, with the agreement that if everything worked out and both sides were happy it could turn into a long-term arrangement.

The boards tentatively agreed to appoint one supervisor from each board to meet with Billings to craft an initial contract that could be brought back to the boards.

On Monday morning, at the Floyd County board’s regular meeting, the board appointed current Auditor Gloria Carr, who will become a supervisor on Jan. 2, to be the Floyd County representative.

Floyd County Engineer Jacob Page announced recently that he would be resigning his position effective Jan. 10, prompting the Floyd County supervisors to begin thinking about options to replace him.

Page has worked exclusively for Floyd County since being hired March 1, 2022, but before him the county engineer position had been shared with Chickasaw County for decades.

County Auditor Gloria Carr and county Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn – whose did not seek reelection and whose seat Carr will take on Jan. 2 – had both talked to Cerro Gordo County Supervisor Chris Watts about a sharing arrangement, prompting the meeting Friday morning at the Cerro Gordo County courthouse in Mason City.

Billings said he had been contacted by Floyd County officials a couple of weeks ago to see if he was interested in pursuing a sharing agreement.

“I came over and I visited a couple of your guys’ buildings and talked with your current engineer, and I talked with a couple of your foremen and met the road crew and the engineering staff just to get an idea of what the setup is over there,” Billings told the Floyd County officials at the meeting.

“It’s very similar to the setup I had in my previous county before I came to Cerro Gordo,” he said, referring to his previous position as county engineer for Cherokee County.

“I was pretty happy with the capacity of the staff over there” in Floyd County, he said. “I mean, they’ve done it before. I think they have the ability to operate with an engineer that’s only there half of the time. Especially the engineering staff, they have enough experience and they have enough projects under their belt, that’s not something I think I’m worried about.”

But Billings also said, “I really like doing a good job. I want to make sure that if we do this, that I keep Cerro Gordo County very happy and that I make Floyd County very happy. … My biggest concern is my ability to respond to the public. I like calling people back. I like meeting with people. I like actually being on site and solving problems. So I want to make sure I have enough time to do that.”

Cerro Gordo County Supervisor Casey Callanan said he had thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a temporary six-month sharing agreement while Floyd County sought another full-time engineer.

“I’m not comfortable in you doing it indefinitely,” Callanan said to Billings initially. “From my perspective, I would not feel comfortable and don’t want them to be led astray that I think this is going to be a long-term solution.”

Supervisor Lori Meacham Ginapp, whose term will end at the end of this year, said Billings has been doing a wonderful job for Cerro Gordo County.

“I’ve seen him out there working with our constituents and stuff. He’s very, very good at what he does. He’s very knowledgeable,” she said, and she was concerned over what the division of time and duties would be under a sharing agreement and whether that would impact the job he does for Cerro Gordo County.”

Kuhn said one of the benefits in a sharing agreement is that Floyd County would get an experienced engineer with a proven record.

“It’s been a cost-effective solution for us,” Kuhn said about previous sharing agreements. “We see this as an opportunity to have an experienced engineer like Brandon serve our county while also reducing costs.”

Typically a county the size of Floyd would be interviewing relatively new engineers for the job, Kuhn said.

Billings said he would devote time to keeping in contact with people and handling other needed duties so he could serve both counties.

“I plan to use my time after office hours to stay caught up with tasks for the county I’m not physically in that day,” he said. “I want to make sure neither county feels neglected.”

Billings also said if he was going to be giving more time he expected to be compensated for that.

The two boards briefly discussed some other counties that have shared engineer agreements. The salary paid to that person is generally greater that an engineer working for just one of the counties would get, but less than the total of two separate engineers.

Ginapp said there were lots of other logistical details that would need to be worked out, including something as simple as which county’s truck Billings would use, and when.

“We need clarity on wages, benefits and responsibilities,” she said. “Those are things we haven’t even begun to fully address.”

With the tentative agreement to work on a trial basis contract, members of both boards expressed a desire to get things moving quickly, with an agreement possibly before Page’s last day on Jan. 10.

“We’ll bring the details back to our boards independently, then meet again to see if this makes sense,” Callanan said.

“I’ll tell you, that’s about all Floyd County could ask,” Kuhn said.