Floyd County supervisors accept county engineer resignation, look at replacement options

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors officially accepted the county engineer’s resignation at the board meeting Tuesday afternoon, with all three members praising the job he had done for more than 20 years, but Supervisor Chair Linda Tjaden saying of their decision, “That’s our job, to do it.”

County Engineer Dusten “Dusty” Rolando sent letters to both the Floyd County and the Chickasaw County boards this week, resigning from the position he has shared between both counties since February 2001 — the result of him being charged with second-offense OWI two weeks ago.

Rolando said an emotional goodbye to the Chickasaw County supervisors on Monday, then reiterated much of what he had said on Tuesday in Floyd County, praising his staff and crews that had spent all those years “getting the work done,” and expressing his appreciation for all the supervisors he had worked for.

“I want to say thank you for working with me for the last 20-plus years, with the existing supervisors. I want to say thank you to the previous supervisors. We’ve not always seen eye-to-eye on everything, … but that’s part of the game. I’ve always respected everyone from both counties,” Rolando said.

“I know the circumstances why I’m here and I will own up to those circumstances,” he said Tuesday. “It’s hard for me to do this, and I put you guys in a bind, and that was never my intention.”

In Chickasaw County, the board almost immediately hired the assistant county engineer, Roman Lensing, for an interim position. That was possible because Lensing is also an engineer. But Lensing, who lives in Winneshiek County, east of Chickasaw County, has said he is not interested in a shared position with Floyd County.

No one beside Rolando in the Floyd County Secondary Roads Department is a licensed civil engineer, meaning the county will have to come up with some way to cover that state code requirement while it searches for a new full-time replacement.

Supervisor Doug Kamm said he had been investigating the options. He contacted Butler County to see if it was interested in an interim shared position, but had not heard back as of the meeting Tuesday.

Cerro Gordo County’s engineer is relatively new “and they felt like he had his hands full,” he said.

Worth and Mitchell counties are already sharing an engineer.

Kamm said he was contacted by Scott Sweet, a civil engineer and one of the principals at the engineering firm WHKS & Co. in Mason City. Sweet lives in Floyd County south of Charles City, and offered to act as interim county engineer on a contract basis — something that he also did for Cerro Gordo County while it was looking for a new county engineer.

Sweet’s work would be paid on an hourly basis, when needed, Kamm said.

Rolando offered another option, saying he would do a short-term contract do get the county through the process of finding his replacement.

“That’s an option that I proposed back when this whole thing came to light,” he said. “If it was a two-month contract until you can advertise and get someone in, or whatever, that’s up to you guys.”

Supervisor Roy Schwickerath asked Rolando what the immediate impact would be of not having a county engineer, recognizing it could take two or three months to have a permanent replacement on the job.

Rolando said an engineer needs to sign paperwork, such as change orders that are coming up on a bridge project on 180th Street, and closing out a Floyd County pavement marking project that is almost completed.

The bridge project could probably go a couple more weeks before actions need to be taken by someone acting in the role of county engineer, he said, but there’s also a danger that it might not be finished this season.

The other looming challenge is that county departments will be starting work on their annual budgets soon, so they can be presented to the Board of Supervisors to begin work on the county budget in early 2022.

Supervisor Tjaden said, “We need to stay focused. We need an interim plan to begin with while we’re trying to figure out the long-term solution. So we’ve got to really figure out that interim plan.”

The board tentatively set a special meeting for Monday’s usual workshop meeting, so it can take actions if it is ready to.

Commenting on Rolando’s service, Kamm said, “I want to be the first one to say thank you. You’ve been a big part of this for a long time.”

Schwickerath said, “I’ve served on this board for a little over 6½ years total, and Dusty, you’ve made my time serving easy when it comes to secondary roads and what your job is. … I’ve never questioned what you’ve done for us.”

Tjaden said, “Dusty, I’ll say, too, we really hate having to make these decisions, but I know that’s our job to do it. I’ve relied on you ever since I’ve been a supervisor. I never really questioned anything, because we always knew that you had our back and were taking care of things.”

She added, “This has been really tough for us, and I want to make sure that you know that.”

“I understand,” Rolando said.

“I want to also thank you for your years that you have put in and helping Floyd County,” Tjaden said.

Also at the meeting Tuesday, the board set a public hearing for 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, regarding an application from Tom and Lorraine Winterink to rezone lots 2 and 4 in the Red Cedar Subdivision from commercial to residential for the purpose of selling lots as residential properties.

The Winterinks had previously had another part of the subdivision rezoned to residential zoning.

The property had been previously operated as Red Cedar Lodge, offering rental cabins and other amenities for guests.

On the Red Cedar Lodge website, the Winterinks say that when they built the business in 2008-2009, they planned it so that eventually it could be divided into separate lots with the cabins selling as single-family homes.

“Three of our four cabins have now sold and new homeowners are now making our cabins their new homes,” the website says.