Jefferson County supervisors hire county engineer

FAIRFIELD — The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors announced Monday it had hired a county engineer to replace Scott Cline when he retires on June 30.

The new engineer is DeWayne Heintz, who resides in Walford, Iowa. He will begin July 1.

After a period of negotiations, the supervisors and Heintz agreed to a starting salary of $120,000. If Heintz performs well, the supervisors agreed to raise his salary to $125,000 after six months. Cline is making $100,461.

The large increase in the county engineer’s salary was the subject of debate at recent supervisor meetings. Supervisor Dee Sandquist said the applicant asked for $130,000. Supervisor Susie Drish said she wanted to offer the applicant $115,000 to start, since she worried about the fairness to other county employees from giving one position such a large bump.

Sandquist said the supervisors got two applicants, and that they were fortunate to receive that many.

“Some counties in Southwest Iowa have open positions and have not had applications for several months,” Sandquist said. “That’s part of the reason we needed to up the salary, because I think that helped us get some qualified applicants.”

Sandquist said she understands the public may have “sticker shock” upon seeing the new salary, but she wants to remind residents that the county engineer’s position is vitally important, and the county cannot afford to go without one.

“If it goes unfilled, we can’t do any major projects, and we’ll lose funding,” Sandquist said. “It’s important to have someone who knows how to get state and federal funding because that saves the county money, and people like to have good roads to drive on.”

Sandquist said she contacted supervisors from Washington and Henry counties to ask if their county engineers could help Jefferson County. She said those engineers gave input on the type of questions to ask, and sat in during the interviews to serve as a resource to the Jefferson County supervisors.

Drish said that, though she hoped to save the county a little more money, she is glad the supervisors found a quality applicant.

“He’s a really qualified individual,” Drish said about Heintz. “To get a good one, we had to pay a little more.”

In other news, the supervisors passed a resolution specifying that county employees would get a 2 percent raise beginning July 1, and that employees of Jefferson County Public Health would receive a 5 percent raise. Sandquist said public health employees got a larger raise because of the extra responsibilities they have taken on during the pandemic.