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Stevens County staff describe road maintenance duties, staffing and hiring needs
Summary
Speakers outlined Stevens County's road maintenance responsibilities (including winter plowing for 15 townships), listed staff counts and equipment, and described qualities sought in new hires; a resident/applicant praised local residency and interdepartmental cooperation.
Speaker 1, identified in the transcript as an employee of the county maintenance operation, described the scope of Stevens County's roadwork and the staffing that supports it. "We take care and maintain all of our roads in the county," Speaker 1 said, listing summer gravel blading, re-graveling and winter snow plowing, and noting the department plows snow for the county and for "15 of the townships within the county."
The speaker emphasized the safety stakes of that work, saying the impact on the community would be "huge" if routine maintenance did not get done and that keeping roads plowed and in good condition is essential for safe public travel.
Speaker 1 provided staffing figures: "We have, maintenance staff here of 11 people. We also have 2 mechanics that maintain our equipment." They said most work is handled in-house and that a sign technician maintains "some 3,000 signs or better around the county."
On equipment, Speaker 1 listed trucks, trucks pulling pumps, motor graders, an excavator, loaders and skid loaders, and described the quality of the equipment as "wonderful around here."
Describing hiring preferences, Speaker 1 said the department prefers candidates with experience running heavy equipment and mechanical aptitude, but emphasized interpersonal fit: "most of all, we like to find somebody that wants to come in and be willing to learn and, is also willing to be and wanting to be a good teammate with the rest of the crew."
Speaker 2, who identified having skills that could help Stevens County and living in town, said staying local was a benefit: "travel was a big thing to me that I'm home every night." They also praised how department heads "all work together in emergencies, such as a medical issue or a weather hazard."
Wrapping up, Speaker 1 noted predictable schedules and a cooperative workplace: "We have a good group of people here to work with and we just enjoy, helping the public." The transcript records description and recruitment messaging; there were no motions or formal votes recorded in this excerpt.
