Elkhart County council approves highway engineering reclassification; splits driver hires

Elkhart County Council on an afternoon vote approved a reclassification in the highway department to create an engineering service manager and approved new driver positions to increase field coverage.

Kyle Wagner, highway department, told the council the reclassification would create an engineering service manager who would supervise roughly five direct reports and continue to perform project engineer duties, relieving the county engineer who now manages about 14 direct reports and oversees more than 40 capital projects estimated at $150,000,000 in total project value. "The engineering service manager will continue to complete projects as a project engineer. That wouldn't change. It would just be supervision of current techs," Wagner said.

Council members said the change is meant to speed project delivery, reduce consultant costs and make use of recently hired county survey staff. Wagner said in‑house surveying and right‑of‑way work has saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars and reduced contractor lead times.

On staffing for operations, the council approved two new multipurpose positions requiring commercial driver's licenses (CDL). Wagner described the county's current staffing as 18 drivers with two vacancies, split into four township areas with foremen assigned. He said the two CDL hires would help cover peak workloads such as the county's August chip‑seal program and improve winter response. Council roll call on the two CDL positions returned six yes votes and one no (motion by Steve, second by Adam; roll‑call names recorded in the meeting transcript). Wagner also said the county has sufficient trucks for the additional hires.

A separate request for two non‑CDL positions initially failed on a roll call vote, then the chair vacated the chair and the council later approved one of the two non‑CDL positions by a 4–3 vote. Proponents said a non‑CDL role can free CDL drivers for heavier equipment and provide more coverage for tasks such as mowing, small pickup winter response and dirt‑patch operations. Opponents cited headcount concerns and budget pressure during this budget cycle.

Council members and staff discussed operational impacts: chip seal operations are very fast and can close roads for an hour to 90 minutes; that program concentrates staff in August and limits other work. Wagner said operations average about 16‑hour winter shifts and that additional staff would reduce those hours. He also noted historical staffing levels ranged from the mid‑20s to low‑30s drivers in prior years.

The reclassification motion (to create the engineering service manager classification and associated pay reorganization among project engineers) passed on voice vote. The council also approved a group of title changes later in the meeting that reflected the reclassification and other personnel title updates.

The highway items will be implemented through the county's payroll and budget processes; staff did not identify any additional regulatory approvals required. The highway department handed out an organizational chart and a proposed pay schedule to the council during the presentation.

The council moved on to other budget items after the highway discussion.