Commissioners approve six-month term contract for traffic engineer after prolonged vacancy; one commissioner opposes

The Board of Carroll County Commissioners authorized the Bureau of Engineering to use a term contract with Wallace Montgomery for an on-site traffic engineer for up to two days a week for a maximum total not to exceed $68,640, and required monthly updates on recruitment and workload.

Public works and engineering staff said the county's traffic-engineer position has been vacant since March 2020 and that an on-site consultant has filled the gap since November 2021. Staff told commissioners the contract helps meet critical needs including sight-distance reviews, traffic-impact analysis for development, traffic-counts, sign and marking requests, special-event traffic plans and guardrail/road-hazard reviews. Officials said typical turnaround times have lengthened (from about two weeks to four) because of the reduced capacity.

Commissioner discussion focused on recruitment difficulties, compensation, and the operational impacts of the vacancy. Several commissioners said the county should accelerate efforts to hire a permanent, full-time traffic engineer; others noted recent reclassification work and said human resources is continuing active recruitment. Commissioners asked for monthly progress updates and emphasized the need to restore capacity so routine requests and safety analyses are completed more quickly.

Public comment at the meeting urged swifter action: a resident quantified the problem of outdated traffic-count data and linked it to recent fatal crashes in her district. Another speaker urged the county to prioritize day-to-day traffic-safety work, not only special-event planning.

Vote: The motion to authorize the Wallace Montgomery term contract passed 4'to—2 (one commissioner recorded opposition in the meeting transcript). Staff said the contract can be terminated if the county hires a full-time engineer; the board asked staff to return with monthly hiring and workload updates.