On Sept. 4, the Clarke County Board of Supervisors approved 2-0 the hire of Christian Boehmer as interim engineer; supervisor Austin Taylor was absent.
Clarke County Engineer David Carroll tendered his resignation in August, leaving the supervisors needing to find someone to fill the position for various projects while they searched for a new engineer. To fill the gap, the supervisors arranged with the Union County Supervisors to share Boehmer, Union County’s Engineer.
Boehmer is no stranger to Clarke County - he served as county engineer for three years, including working with Union County during that time until being hired by Union County in May 2023. He will assist Clarke County for any Iowa DOT projects in the county, including some upcoming bridge projects, such as the Kansas St. bridge, for which bids were approved Monday at the Clarke County Supervisor meeting.
The Clarke Supervisors had approached Boehmer about a sharing arrangement, and the Union Supervisors approved the agreement at their meeting on Sept. 4.
Clarke County will pay Boehmer $5,000 a month on a prorated daily scale. Boehmer is expecting most of the work for Clarke County to be handled over the phone.
Should additional time be needed for him in Clarke County, he will use his Union County vacation time and his own personal vehicle for transportation.
The Clarke Supervisors have interviewed one potential candidate for engineer, but no final decisions have been made yet.
Turbine meeting
The Clarke County Supervisors held a public hearing on Monday for proposed amendments to Section 23 of the county’s Wind Energy Conversion System ordinance. The amendment was approved 3-0, and a motion to waive the second and third readings was passed 3-0.
More information about the public hearing will appear in next week’s paper.
A temporary moratorium was placed on the construction of wind turbines on June 12, 2023, and is still in place.
Creston News Advertiser contributed to this article.