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Loots named interim engineer in Humboldt County

Assistant engineer replaces Jacobson, who resigned

DAKOTA CITY — The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors appointed Ben Loots as the interim county engineer at Monday’s meeting.

Loots had been the assistant county engineer.

Earlier this month the board voted not to renew the contract of County Engineer Paul Jacobson, which expires Dec. 31.

Jacobson has since submitted his letter of resignation.

Jacobson had served as county engineer for nearly 17 years and was making a salary of $100,000.

Some board members felt he needed to improve his public relations skills.

Following a closed session meeting requested by Loots, the board offered him a contract to serve as interim engineer until June 30 with an increase in salary of $1,000 per month. His annual salary will be just under $90,000.

Loots accepted the contract.

Reimers asked Loots if the department was prepared for winter.

“I want to make sure we don’t get 14 inches of snow and we didn’t have the sand ready, the trucks weren’t ready,” he said.

“The sand is all ready,” Loots replied. “Snow fences are going up this week. A lot of it is already up.”

The majority of the phone calls the department received in the past should be easier to handle now that the county has a mailbox replacement policy. The county will now replace mailboxes if they are damaged by the county snowplows, Loots said.

“Paul was a good mentor,” he said. “I wish I had another seven years with him. Public relations are apparently the key.”

Loots has been assistant engineer with the county for nearly 16 years.

“The transition from the engineer side to the administrative side, that will be a challenge,” he said.

While attending Iowa State University in Ames, Loots served two years with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and upon graduation in 2002 he was hired by Humboldt County. He has a degree in civil engineering.

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