No Public Works Director has negative effect in Fort Pierre

FORT PIERRE, S.D.(KCCR)- The lack of an on-staff city engineer in Fort Pierre is starting to add up to back logging projects and stressed city staff.  The Council last month voted to not reappoint Public Works Director Rick Hahn, essentially firing Hahn for publicly undisclosed reasons.  Mayor Gloria Hanson says it’s having a negative impact on the city.

Hanson pleaded with the Council for help moving forward, even on a temporary basis with engineering and code enforcement assistance.  The Council did approve a motion to contract with Brosz Engineering for services when needed.  They also delayed moving forward with advertising for a new Public Works Director.  Councilman Larry Cronin.

To address the code enforcement issues the city brought back a proposal for those services from Burke-based Code Enforcement Specialists.  The Council rejected bringing the company in last year and did so again Monday night.  Councilman Rick Cronin was concerned about the costs.

The Council also had former Assistant Public Works Director and current Hughes County Manager Lori Jacobson at the meeting to discuss code enforcement activities.