Sibley, Iowa — Osceola County has been without a road engineer for nearly a year and a half. And now the engineer that was helping them out has asked for the agreement to be terminated.
O’Brien County Engineer Scott Rinehart has been helping Osceola County for a year — since December 6th, 2020. The first six months after previous Osceola County Engineer Aaron Holmbeck resigned on June 10th, 2020, the Dickinson County Engineer helped out in Osceola County. Now Rinehart says O’Brien County’s agreement with Osceola County has been going on long enough. He says, “I never have liked doing two counties, and this has drug on longer than I wanted to do two counties.”
The Osceola County Board Of Supervisors has been seeking a replacement engineer, but they don’t seem to be able to find one. One candidate told them he would take the job, but then had second thoughts and rescinded his offer. Then the candidate told them that he was reconsidering but still hasn’t told them he’d take the job.
In related news, Doug Julius, the longtime Sioux County Engineer has announced his retirement after working for Sioux County for 45 years. Julius’s last day will be December 31st. Fortunately, there is someone ready to take over for him. According to the Sioux County Engineer’s Office, Assistant Engineer Joel Sikkema has been training for a year and a half to take Julius’s place.
