Replaces Crawford at road and bridge, but no interim tag attached to title
Staff writer
County commissioners announced Monday that road supervisor Jesse Hamm is now the top authority within the road and bridge department.
While Jesse Hamm is not an official interim for recently resigned superintendent Randy Crawford’s old position, commissioners announced the decision after a 20-minute executive session.
“He’ll be the temporary road and bridge superintendent,” chairman Dan Holub said Tuesday. “He’ll still have his duties that he had when Crawford was here, but he’s the go-to guy.”
According to Holub, Hamm was chosen due to his years spent on the road and bridge crew.
“He had seniority because he was at the job for eight years,” Holub said. “He’s the final decision-maker for road and bridge until we get a new Crawford.”
Commissioners also held a special meeting with 11 road and bridge workers Monday to help discuss ways to make their jobs more efficient.
“This meeting is past due, and I’m sorry,” commissioner Randy Dallke said. “Like I said at the last meeting, we don’t want to lose anybody.”
Holub explained that the commissioners were there to listen to the worker’s concerns.
“We need to know what you’re thinking,” Holub told the workers. “We can’t guess 12 or 13 opinions.”
One issue was when road workers are approached with concerns by the public while either on or off the clock, and how they handle the situation.
Some workers said they try to fix it if possible, but with more demanding requests, such as placing rock on specific areas, they tell them to contact their boss.
Some workers even discussed receiving phone calls at home. Most workers didn’t seem bothered by it, but said it depended on what the person needed fixing.
An idea for how to handle these situations was having printed cards with the main office number on them so people knew whom to call. Another idea was changing when to fix certain things, such as trimming trees in December and January rather than March when rain is a bigger possibility.
One worker suggested not taking employees off their specific jobs for more than a couple of weeks at a time, for example, tree trimming for three months.
“It worked fine until it rained,” Holub said. “We set you guys up by doing that.”
In other business:
- Commissioners approved five paid vacation days for new road and bridge worker James Bronson after the trailer he and his family were living in caught fire over the weekend. Bronson, his wife, and their 18-month-old child were living in the trailer while waiting for their home to be built.