The City of Denison wants to fill three public works department positions as soon as possible.

Positions to fill are the public works director, full-time maintenance worker and a seasonal laborer for winter.

The need to hire resulted from the resignation of Eric Martens as the public works director around November 14 (his last official day, using vacation time, was November 29) and Mike Vogt as the street commissioner around November 6.

The street commissioner position will not be filled. Instead, the city will hire a full-time maintenance worker to join the other two maintenance workers already on staff with the department.

Two other public works employees had earlier left the department, leading to the opening for a seasonal laborer.

All four left for other employment.

At the November 21 city council meeting, City Manager Jessica Garcia said that Fire Chief Cory Snowgren had stepped up to assist in supervising the public works department until a new director starts.

Applications for the three positions closed on Monday, November 27.

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On Tuesday the applications for director were reviewed to determine which applicants will be interviewed by a hiring committee. That committee will be composed of Mayor Pam Soseman, Garcia, Councilwoman Jennifer Zupp-Smith and Councilman Corey Curnyn, who will make a hiring recommendation for the full council to consider.

Garcia said the applications for the maintenance worker position would be decided by herself and an individual from the public works department.

Garcia would likely determine the person who will be hired as the seasonal worker.

She said the city wants to fill the positions as soon as possible but understands that the successful applicants will have to give notice.

“One thing that I ask as a professional courtesy is that if somebody is going to leave us, we receive at least a two-week notice or in a management type position – director or department head – we usually like to have a 30-day notice. I assume whoever will be filling the positions will give a two-week or 30-day notice (to their employer),” Garcia said.

“We are hoping to have the interviews done next week with the jobs also offered next week,” she added. “Then it will depend on how much notice they give their employers.”

Garcia pointed out it is a busy time of the year for the public works department with snow removal.

“We ran with a skeleton crew right now, and the guys did a phenomenal job,” she added. “They covered the entire city with help from Tyler Weller from flood control and Colby Ellis from code enforcement, and Chief Snowgren was out pushing snow as well. But we can’t ask those guys to do that with a short crew all winter.

“One thing is we have a great community that is willing to help out, and with private contractors, if we are in a bind, I’m sure they would step up and help out,” Garcia continued. “But we need to get our department full again and move forward with our work.”

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