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CP hires Pierce as pub works director By Buffy Pollock CENTRAL POINT � After a four-month search across several states, city administrator Jim Bennett finally hired a new public works director last month � and he didn�t have to look far to find one. City technician Bob Pierce was offered the job after the City Council approved changing the job�s pay plan classification when Bennett recommended doing away with the job�s engineering responsibilities and reducing the salary. Bennett said the search to fill the position had "not yielded as many applicants with engineering degrees as hoped" and eliminating that aspect of the position would allow the city to consider more of the eight applicants, only two of whom were registered civil engineers. The position, which originally paid between $4,517 and $6,491 per month, now pays between $3,636 and $4,419 monthly. Bennett said the cost of contracting private engineers on occasion would be cheaper than the difference in salary. Pierce, a Talent resident, was hired with a starting salary of $3,636. Pierce applied when the job became available and had been appointed interim public works director in December while a hiring decision was made. Bennett said the city�s rate for a public works director without engineering skills was higher the state�s average for a similar size city, as was the case with most of the city�s paid positions. "We pay well to keep our people and that results in having a higher caliber of employees that stay with us a long time," he said. Pierce, who has been with the city 4� years and has a degree in land surveying, said he was pleased to keep the position. "I�m as happy as a clam," said Pierce, who said the responsibilities of the public works director were "basically still the same, minus the engineering." Responsibilities of the public works director are primarily to manage and direct activities of the public works department. Bennett said the city likely would continue contracting large engineering projects with Thornton Engineering in Medford as it had done since August, when former public works director Lee Brennan resigned after being placed on administrative leave. "Actual engineering work in the city is limited to minor projects and big ones have always been contracted out," said Bennett. "The director has to manage a department and could only do so much engineering work. We have very capable people in our department and they�ve been doing a lot of design work for the city for years." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.