Author photo

By Michele Smith
The Times 

Inside Columbia County's Public Works Department

 

October 22, 2020

Beka Compton

Charles Eaton is the Columbia County Public Works Director and County Engineer.

DAYTON-Since he was hired in Dec. 2018 as the Columbia County Engineer and Public Works Director, Charles Eaton finds himself wearing more hats than ever.

His responsibilities include multiple departments within the Public Works Department. Operations is responsible for county road maintenance. Engineering is responsible for designing or improving projects, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services responsible for mapping, and Equipment Replacement and Rental (ER&R) responsible for maintenance of the County's vehicle fleet.

At the Public Works Department, Greg Fullerton and Joe Anderson lead on the road crews, and Kelly Underwood is the lead worker and head of the shop. Wayne Tate is the operations supervisor.

Amber Phinney is the Business Manager, and Kelly Steinhoff is the Assistant Business Manager, Jeff McCowen is an Engineer Tech. III, Jonathan Haller is the Senior GIS Specialist, Jonathan Craig is a GIS Specialist, and Lisha Tomas is an Engineer Tech II.


Eaton is also responsible for the Solid Waste Transfer facility on South Cottonwood Street, which is staffed by John Lewison.

This year, responsibility for the Parks and Recreation Department has been added to Eaton's list of duties.

Dakota Baker is the supervisor, and there are usually two full-time employees in the Parks and Recreation Department. One of the employees had to be furloughed in the spring because of the COVID-19 situation.

It has been a challenging year for Eaton and his staff, beginning with the February flood followed by the COVID-19 shut-down.

He said it has been difficult to ascertain what level of activities are permitted at the fairgrounds, after building rentals and events were cancelled in the spring. Eaton said it is hard to say how soon receptions will be allowed. Both the fairgrounds facilities and the Touchet Valley Golf Course have been impacted by state restrictions on use.


The Public Works Department has seen major impact from the February flooding event, which caused 7.2 million dollars in damages to county infrastructure.

All damage assessments from the flood are complete, and applications have been submitted to FEMA, the Federal Highway Program, and the Army Corps of Engineers. Eaton said he continues to explore other funding opportunities, as well.

The County is on the hook for 1.3 million dollars and will need to pay its share by reducing some services and not filling jobs.


Eaton said routine road maintenance this year has been "piecemeal."

"We've been running out to repair issues as they pop up," he said.

"There will be some of that through 2021. I am hoping by 2022 we will be back to normal."

Repairs to bridges, and repairs on Tucannon Road, Wolf Fork Road, Robinson Fork Road, and major repairs on North Touchet Road, and South Patit Road will probably not happen until next year, at the earliest.

"We have not even been approved for some of them yet," he said.

The crew has been working all summer to remove woody debris from the Touchet River channel. Removal of granular debris will take place after permits are issued, he said.

FEMA has not reimbursed the County for any of the costs.

"That's one reason why we have been doing it all ourselves. We don't have the cash to just get contractors and bring a whole bunch of people in," he said. "We have been trying to do it as cash comes in every month."


Eaton said the process is working well, but he knows it is slower than people would like to see.

"I would like to thank everybody for the patience they have had throughout the summer," he said.

There are further challenges.

The County Road Administration Board (CRAB) has notified the state about a 50 million-dollar loss in motor vehicle gas tax over the next two years. This is because people haven't been driving as much during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eaton's budget depends on funds from the motor vehicle gas tax for county road operations. Over the next two years, he will need to average a 25% reduction in the budget to make up the reduced funding from traditional sources, including the motor vehicle gas tax.


"Some of that I can do by shifting people onto other projects that have a different funding source," he said.

That is the approach he took this year. By shifting the road crew to flood mitigation, he is applying for reimbursement from FEMA.

Eaton said if a funding mechanism for the FCZD had been approved by voters in August 2019, some of the cost of this year's transfer of personnel would have been offset and citizens would have been provided with a variety of supports after the flood event.

Eaton is also the manager of the Flood Control Zone District (FCZD), just one of the many hats he wears in his job with the County.


 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 02/17/2024 02:15