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Engineer proposes permanent assistant foreman position; board approves job description
Summary
Cerro Gordo County engineer Brandon proposed creating a permanent assistant foreman role in Secondary Roads to improve consistency and coordination; the board approved the job description and discussed estimated costs and workflow changes.
Brandon, identified in the transcript and referenced as the county engineer, proposed creating a permanent assistant foreman job description for the Secondary Roads department to replace the current ad hoc assignments.
He told the board the assistant would be an existing county employee who applies for the additional duties, would enter needed work orders into the county’s system, determine required equipment and materials, and coordinate with the full-time foreman to schedule and carry out repairs and road work. "The candidate would be an existing county employee that applies to have this job description added on top of their current one to assist the full-time foreman," Brandon said.
Brandon estimated the assistant position would carry a $2-per-hour premium above the employee’s current wage and projected the premium would amount to at most about $10,000 extra per year for an assistant. He contrasted that with the current foreman pay (which he said is about $75,000 per year) and suggested the change could yield a net county savings of roughly $50,000, based on his staffing proposal and overtime assumptions. He framed the change as a way to improve consistency and training: "Instead of wondering who’s going to be every time, we have the person assigned that we can train on our payroll procedures and our invoicing and various other internal things," he said.
Board members asked about chain of command, possible personality conflicts if a co-worker becomes a supervisor and whether the county would post the job externally. Brandon said the assistant would report to and coordinate with the foreman, that the county would advertise and select a candidate before starting the position, and that the premium could be removed if the arrangement did not work out. One board member urged flexibility and said the county should be prepared to pivot back to the prior structure if needed.
A motion to approve the job description as presented was made, seconded and approved by the board. The transcript records voice approval but does not provide a roll-call tally.
The approval creates a formal job description; additional steps noted in discussion include advertising the role, selecting a candidate, and monitoring performance to determine whether to retain or remove the premium.
