Shared county engineer gets 2.5 percent salary bump

By Mira Schmitt-Cash, New Hampton Tribune

Given the option to enter closed session for his annual salary and performance review, County Engineer Dusten Rolando chose to keep it in the open for a joint Floyd County and Chickasaw County supervisors teleconference Monday morning.

Rolando compared his pay with other county engineers who cover two counties, noting that his pay in the current fiscal year that ends June 30 is $124,391, while the average of the eight shared engineers in the state is $130,000.

Of the eight dual-county engineers, Chickasaw and Floyd combined ranks third from the top on structures, with 432 bridges. Chickasaw County has 264 bridges over 20 feet long and Floyd County has 168.

The two-county pair ranks fourth of the eight on county road length with 1,742 miles between them. On combined population, Floyd and Chickasaw rank third of the eight pairs. Rolando is the most experienced of the shared engineers also, with 18 years on the job.

Still, Rolando said, “I’m indifferent, really, this year. You’ve been generous in the past. If you give me zero, I’m not leaving and I don’t want to volunteer that, because I do like my job here.”

“I just want to point out, Dusty, you’re a hard negotiator,” Floyd County Supervisor Roy Schwickerath kidded, and Rolando laughed.

Rolando, who splits his time between the two counties, said two years ago the boards gave him a 2 percent increase, and last year 3 percent was approved.

“Would I like to be one of the high ones? Sure, anybody would,” Rolando said. “Logically would I like to be around average, sure. Fiscally can we do that? I know that’s not real.

Chickasaw County Supervisors Steve Geerts and Tim Zoll initially favored a 2 percent increase for Rolando, but Chickasaw Chairman Jacob Hackman suggested a 2½ percent raise, which eventually drew consensus.

“We’re not going to bring Dusty up to the average or median with 2½ (percent) and I think that’s important,” Schwickerath said. “We need to try to strive toward getting to that level, at least.”

“I think we can live with that with this budget,” Hackman said. “Are you guys OK with 2½?”

“I think it’s good,” Geerts said. “I think it’s plenty when we told everyone else 2 (percent),” give or take.

After the vote, Rolando mentioned his contract “basically” calls for three weeks of vacation, but based on both counties’ personnel policies a person with his 18 years experience should be getting four weeks.

“I’m still on call 24/7. You guys can call me anytime you want,” Rolando said.

“We’re OK with (Floyd County) making that change to the contract,” Hackman said.

Floyd County holds Rolando’s contract, and his costs are split between the two counties.