Supervisors approve sharing agreement for engineer

Six months after the resignation of Clarke County Engineer David Carroll, the Clarke County Board of Supervisors approved a 28E agreement with Decatur County to share their engineer, Justin Savage, at their March 3 meeting.

Carroll was hired in July of 2023 to replace Christian Boehmer, who accepted a full-time position as the Union County Engineer; Boehmer had been based in Clarke County and shared with Union County. Carroll tendered his resignation roughly a year after his hire date, with his last day effective Aug. 26, 2024.

As the supervisors searched for an engineer to fill the vacant position, they formed an agreement with Union County in early September to share Boehmer for the purposes of current DOT projects - the county could not take on any new DOT projects until they had their own engineer. In the interim, the county could still pursue in-house projects. To help with some of the day-to-day operations of the secondary roads department, the supervisors approved hiring Corey Eckels as assistant to the county engineer in November.

Savage was hired by the Decatur County Supervisors March 4, 2024 on a three-year contract, and talks between Clarke County and Savage had taken place about possible interest in sharing engineering duties. Savage, along with Decatur County Auditor Stephanie Daughton, Decatur County Supervisors Ward Graham, Doug Tharp and Steve Fulkerson attended the March 3 meeting in Clarke County to discuss possible sharing and terms of employment. Prior to his role as Decatur County Engineer, Savage served as the interim county engineer in Taylor County.

After discussion, Robins moved to approve a 28E agreement with Decatur County, which will have Clarke County pay 52.5% of Savage’s total salary and provide a vehicle for him. In Decatur County, Savage was hired with a salary starting at $122,000 for the first year, a 5% increase in the second year and 2.5% in the third. The 28E agreement’s effective date was March 10.

Clarke County’s agreement with Boehmer was dissolved on March 7. Savage will split his time between the two counties, sometimes more in one than the other depending on projects.

With an engineer, the county can resume looking at projects that need DOT or federal funding, some of which were included in the Five Year Plan created by Carroll in 2024. Eckels will continue to be the assistant to the county engineer helping with the day-to-day activities.

The search for a county engineer is not unique to Clarke County. County engineers must have a P.E., Professional Engineer license and so much experience under an engineer. According to a guide published by the DOT in 2023, the yearly turnover rate for county engineers in Iowa is five to 10 per year.

In November, Clarke was one of four counties without an engineer. As of Monday, Taylor County is without an engineer. Some requirements for county engineers set by state code are currently looking at legislative changes. House File 650, introduced Feb. 28, would allow county supervisors to employ professional engineering firms as their county engineer.