County public works seeks to reclassify engineering positions amid tight budget talk

Washington County public works staff asked the Public Works Committee on Aug. 26 to reclassify two engineering positions and move the request to the personnel and finance process. The request would upgrade an existing engineering technician (grade 13) to senior engineering technician (grade 16) at an additional annual cost the department estimated at about $7,467, and backfill an existing senior engineer (grade 22) with a principal engineering technician (grade 19), producing an estimated offsetting savings of about $7,005.50. Public-works staff said the change is intended to align the staffing pattern with the department’s current workload and planned responsibilities. The director described the package as “a cost-neutral adjustment, and it better aligns the staffing pattern with what the department needs.” Several supervisors pressed for caution because of broader budget uncertainty. One supervisor said he would not support even budget-neutral personnel moves before the county’s budget process, arguing the county faces a large tax increase and that personnel decisions should wait for budget season. Public-works staff responded that declining to fill positions would shift work to outside contractors and increase the outside-contracts budget. After discussion, a motion to move the staffing reclassifications to the personnel committee (with subsequent referral to finance/FirstNet as appropriate) was seconded and carried. The committee recorded no final hiring decisions; the action was procedural, sending the proposal to personnel and then to finance for formal review and any required adjustments.