Supervisors likely to review draft 28E for engineer sharing

The exact terms of ongoing sharing of Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman with Adams County were likely to be brought to the board of supervisors this week in the form of a draft 28E agreement produced by County Attorney Melissa Larson.

The supervisors first talked about the matter at their Wednesday, Aug. 27 meeting, then more last week. Adair County is already sharing Kauffman’s services with Adams County on an interim basis. Despite trying for about 18 months, Adams County has been unsuccesful in filling a vacancy for a county engineer.

Last week, supervisors who were previously against the idea of sharing Kauffman more officially, but still temporarily, said they were warming up to the idea. Previously shared concerns were that in the past, sharing engineers has not gone well or benefited Adair County. That was before Kauffman was hired.

“If I can keep it in my mind that it’s temporary and [Adams County] is going to continue trying to hire, I don’t want to see [Adams County] lose out on any funding,” Supervisor Matt Wedemeyer said. One note Kauffman made at the previous week’s meeting is that some state and federal funds are only accessible if a county has their own engineer on staff.

“I’ve come around a little bit, and it just feels like the neighborly thing to do,” Wedemeyer added. “We can review it as often as we want. We just need to know June 30, or whatever, what direction we’re going so we know if it’s going to [continue].”

Figures presented to the board for discussion the previous week showed Kauffman receiving a 30% raise to account for the increase in workload. Supervisor Jodie Hoadley wondered if that portion should be Adams County’s responsibility to foot.

“Also, some of our equipment, we’re having trouble finding funds to replace or buy new because of House File 718 and other things coming down. Those are my issues,” Hoadley said. Kauffman said there are provisions being worked out regarding equipment and he’s not looking at this potentially being a “pooling of equipment.”