|
|
Crawford County has employed Assman for about nine years and the contract, approved by a vote of 4-1, will extend his employment through June 30, 2012.
Assman initiated contract discussion in October at the board of supervisors meetings and subsequently met with Supervisors John Lawler and Mark Segebart to address specific contract issues before the approval motion was put on the supervisors' agenda.
ASSMAN . . . Page 8A
ASSMAN, from Page 1A
Supervisors Lawler, Segebart, Steve Ulmer, and Bob Lohrmann voted to approve the contract and Supervisor Dan Muhlbauer voted against the contract but commended Assman on his performance and services rendered to the county. Rather, his concerns centered on compensation. Specifically, when compared to other counties in Iowa, Assman's salary ranks relatively higher than other Crawford County employees and this disparity is enlarged by increases in salary written into the next term's contract.
The duties of the county engineer and engineering department are defined by Iowa Code and generally outlined in the contract and includes the supervision of construction and maintenance of the secondary road system, consisting of about 1,200 miles of roads and 280 bridges, in Crawford County.
Interestingly, this equates to about 14 people for each mile of road based on the 2006 estimate of population of approximately 17,000 residents.
The county engineer's employment contract also includes provisions for compensation, benefits, guidelines for continuing education, and management expectations.
Changes to the upcoming contract, which will become effective July 1, 2009, include deletion of the chapter concerning Project Impact as Assman's duties helping the City of Denison by managing the East Boyer River Levee Project are completed. Additionally, Assman's compensation will be adjusted $2,750.00 per year, about 3% annually, increasing his yearly salary to $103,425 from $97,925 over the term of the contract.
