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St. Clair County reclassifies road positions, approves emergency grading payments and auctions equipment
Summary
County engineer reported wet-weather delays on paving projects, commissioners rescinded one staffing change and approved another reclassification, authorized crews for drainage work and approved payment of a $20,000 grading invoice and placement of surplus equipment in a June auction with a guaranteed minimum.
The St. Clair County Commission on Wednesday approved several changes to the county road department’s staffing and operations after an update from County Engineer Dan Dahlke.
Dahlke told commissioners the county’s paving and base crews had completed milling and hot-mix work in Cook Springs, were preparing to start on Blackjack and were delaying work on Trail’s End until dry weather. He said the department had received several drainage work orders after heavy May rains and asked to run additional crews to catch up.
The commission rescinded a prior personnel action approved at an earlier meeting that moved a Road Worker I position to an Intermediate Road Worker position after Dahlke said the position had already been filled. Commissioners then voted to reclassify a Road Worker II position to an Intermediate Road Worker I to reflect recruitment and workforce needs. The motion to reclassify passed on a voice vote.
Commissioners also approved running extra crews on Fridays to address an uptick in drainage complaints caused by recent heavy rains. "We got this is just really wet," Dahlke said when discussing the volume of calls; the commission voted to authorize crews to work Fridays to catch up.
Separately, the commission voted to pay a $20,000 invoice for grading services that was incurred under last year’s budget but for which a purchase order was not carried forward. Dahlke said the vendor began grading municipal roads last budget year and the county’s PO had closed. The commission approved payment without a PO as requested.
Dahlke reported three pieces of replacement equipment had arrived and recommended the county place two CAT 140 motor graders, one 938 wheel loader and one 5525 John Deere farm tractor in a JM Wood auction June 10–12. The auction company provided a guaranteed minimum of $234,500 for the lot; commissioners approved placing the equipment in the sale and directed proceeds to the road department’s 110 fund.
The engineer asked commissioners to rescind or delay other staffing changes previously proposed, noting internal HR records differed from his own. Commissioners handled the staffing motions on the floor, with roll-call and voice votes recorded as part of the meeting minutes.
The engineer and commissioners emphasized that weather continued to affect surface projects, and that some work—such as Trail’s End—remained on hold until drier conditions arrived. The commission did not set new timelines for those projects in public remarks.
The county’s actions combined immediate operational steps—paying a vendor and deploying additional crews—with personnel reclassifications and equipment asset decisions intended to preserve road maintenance capability going into the summer months.
