Wednesday, November 1, 2000
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Wednesday, November 1, 2000 |
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New county
engineer has his hands full By DAVE
HAMRICK
Ron Salmons had little time for orientation after he started work a few weeks ago as Fayette's county engineer. The department had been at about half its authorized strength for most of a year, and there was work to be done. David Borkowski has functioned as acting county engineer while the search was on to fill the post, and has had to get the job done with three people out of a normal staff of six. "Hopefully I can give them a little relief," said Salmons. "They've been working awfully hard. Dave has sort of been swamped." A new environmental specialist also recently joined the department, leaving a clerical position as the only one now unfilled. Making sure that buildings, roads and other man-made facilities in Fayette County follow the county's quality and safety standards is the job of the Engineering Department. Among the first tasks that Salmon has had to wade into is the closing of the county's landfill on First Manassas Mile Road in Fayetteville. Seepage of some toxic chemicals was found when the closure began several years ago, and the department has been working ever since to make sure that the seepage is halted and to monitor it. "We're trying to meet some [state-imposed] deadlines" in dealing with the problem, Salmons said. "The first few weeks I've been heavily involved in just reviewing documents and getting up to speed in that area." Timing is good. Hiring of a consultant to oversee remediation of the problem is on the County Commission's work session agenda today at 3:30 p.m. Another area of concern that will occupy the department in the near future is a set of new federal and state requirements for monitoring and cleaning up rainwater runoff. Borkowski "has been very active in it," said Salmons, adding that the regulations are "still in a state of flux." The new rules may require that local governments and developers share the costs of removing spilled gasoline, lawn chemicals and other pollution from rainwater before releasing it into the environment. Salmons, a native of Jefferson City, Mo., was educated at the University of Missouri at Columbia and Georgia Tech. He worked as a civil engineer with the Federal Highway Administration for 33 years the last eight years in management before retiring and moving to Georgia recently. "I threw away my snow blower and moved south," smiled the Henry County resident. But he wasn't content to stop working altogether. "You've got to love your work or you wouldn't be going there everyday," he said. He worked part time with the Federal Emergency Management Agency until learning of the Fayette County opening and applying for it. "I've enjoyed it so far," he said. "Everything's still sort of new, but everyone has been great to work with."
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