Engineer for city of Jefferson is leaving
By Steve Sharp of the Daily Times staff
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 1:01 PM CDT
JEFFERSON - Calling it a great opportunity yet bittersweet, Jefferson's longtime city engineer Dan Ludwig is leaving his position for a similar one in Germantown.
“I look forward to meeting the people in Germantown and pitching in there as much as I can,” Ludwig told the Daily Times.
He begins work with Germantown as its public works director on Sept. 29. Germantown has a population of 20,000 people. Ludwig has been Jefferson's city engineer for the past 12 years.
“This is a better opportunity for me and a new challenge,” he said.
Ludwig said he is particularly proud of several of his accomplishments as city engineer in Jefferson.
“We put in three bridges while I was here, rebuilt Highway 26 and now U.S. Highway 18 and those were some fairly nice projects,” he said. “We got the bypass started and that was a real dim vision when I got here. I worked through two comprehensive master plans.”
Ludwig said leaving Jefferson is not easy for him. He plans to continue to reside in Watertown and will commute to Germantown.
“I'm sort of reluctant to leave,” he said. “But some opportunities open up in life and if you don't pursue them they may not come around again and this was just calling me at the right time.”
In the interim period between Ludwig's departure and the time the city can hire his replacement, Jefferson officials plan to employ a part-time engineer about 20 hours per week.
“We have inquired with three engineering firms for proposals for someone to come in to cover us while we evaluate the position description and decide how to ultimately fill the job,” Mayor Gary Myers said. “The discussion will take place in the personnel and streets committees this evening. We have three engineering firms from this region that have submitted proposals to us so we will have someone in the chair, so we won't be uncovered.”
Myers said that will give the city a chance to think about the scope of the job and he said he hopes that the Jefferson Common Council can form an ad-hoc committee to review the interim engineering proposals and make a selection or recommendation by the end of September.
“As for finding a full-time replacement for Dan, we haven't got a timetable - or for that matter a process that is for certain - but we will,” he said. “The important thing is, we are starting the budget season and have to get things ready for the spring and even fall, and it's important to have someone in the position part-time at least.”
Myers recognized Ludwig's tenure with the city.
“When you look back at his history, Dan has been involved in the rebuilding of highways 18 and 26 and he's been involved in the building and rebuilding of every significant bridge in the city,” Myers said. “He has been involved in the creation of our stormwater utility. So he's taken part in big projects on down to smaller things that have simply benefited the community and environment - things like the fish ladder at the dam. He has a lot of history and experience here and a lot of institutional knowledge that we are going to miss. He goes back farther than many of us here at city hall and we are going to miss him.”
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