Kendall County commissioners voted 4–1 Tuesday to convert a budgeted Engineer IV position into a Project Manager position inside the county engineer’s office, a move county human resources and engineering staff said will reduce payroll cost and address a surge in development and permitting workload.

Human Resources Director Juanita Espino presented the proposal, describing it as a cost‑reducing reclassification: the budgeted Engineer IV was grade 24 while the requested Project Manager is grade 17. County engineering staff said the new role would handle technical follow‑ups, web updates and administrative work that currently ties up licensed engineers.

County Engineer Mary Ellen summarized recent workload increases to the court: “From October to now, we had an 85% increase in commercial development and a comparable increase in commercial lighting,” she said, adding the department also saw an 80% increase in subdivision plat requests compared with the prior year. Engineering staff said many plats and permit applications are now concentrated in Precincts 2 and 4; the project manager would reduce review bottlenecks and help the office meet statutory review deadlines.

Supporters argued the change is an efficiency move that shifts a higher‑paid, narrowly needed job to a lower‑paid role that matches daily needs. Commissioner Reginald (Regent) and others on the compensation committee recommended the step, and proponents said the conversion will free licensed engineers to focus on technical design, ETJ coordination and regional projects.

Opponents cautioned that hiring changes should be considered in the forthcoming budget audit of all departments. Commissioner Carpenter asked for concrete counts rather than percentage increases and expressed concern about adding headcount before a wider staffing review; he voted against the measure. The court’s vote was 4–1: the judge and commissioners from precincts 1, 2 and 3 voted in favor; Commissioner Carpenter (Precinct 4) voted no.

The court directed HR to advertise the new Project Manager job and to eliminate the previously budgeted Engineer IV line; staff said the move would lower the department’s payroll cost and allow the project manager to address recurring administrative and permitting tasks. Engineering staff also said they will monitor a backlog of violation enforcement and permit reviews and return to court if additional staffing or budget amendments are required.

What’s next: HR and the engineering office will post the position, hire a project manager, and redistribute duties so licensed engineers can focus on design review, ETJ projects and complex technical work; commissioners said they will review staffing needs again during the next budget cycle.