Committee approves combining facilities and transit director roles; appoints transit manager to combined post

The Dunn County Committee on Administration approved a job classification change that combines the county’s facilities and parks director role with the transit commission manager into a single position and announced that Austin Witt, who is currently the transit commission manager, will perform the combined duties.

Jenna, human resources staff, told the committee the new title is intended to create operational efficiencies and reduce duplication. She said the county will split the combined role’s time 50–50 between transit and facilities responsibilities. Because transit is funded separately, Jenna said the transit fund would cover about half of Austin’s pay while the facilities side would cover the remainder, and that the county plans to backfill some operational duties with a newly elevated or restructured position rather than hiring on top of existing budgets.

Jenna said the county expects the overall change to be budget neutral or to generate savings: “We expect it to be a little bit probably of a savings in in doing that and that the other half of the operations manager will be less than the other half of Austin,” she said. Committee members asked whether the combined role would be too broad; Jenna and other supporters said direct supervision counts would fall and the new role would be focused on higher‑level operational planning.

The committee approved the job classification change and the appointment of Austin Witt to the combined role; the motion passed with no recorded opposition.

Ending: Staff will proceed with the classification update and the internal reorganization steps described, and will bring any subsequent job‑classification or budget amendments to the committee as required.