Defiance Seeking Engineer

Wanted… one good engi­neer. Pay rate… to be deter­mined. In Defi­ance, the city is look­ing to fill the vacant engineer’s posi­tion, but at what cost… that is still up in the air. Some city offi­cials say in order to get the right per­son for the job, they may have to increase the pay. Lee Rausch’s last day as city engi­neer was last Fri­day. Assis­tant engi­neer Melinda Warner left back in Jan­u­ary. Both took jobs in the pri­vate sec­tor. While there are no imme­di­ate plans in place to fill the assis­tant engineer’s job, find­ing a new head engi­neer is now a pri­or­ity. Rausch’s salary was $80,410 annu­ally. City offi­cials say that in order to attract a pro­fes­sional engi­neer with expe­ri­ence, the pay level will have to be increased. The city’s civil ser­vice com­mis­sion will now deter­mine the hir­ing process. Some say the start­ing salary must be close to $90,000 to get the right per­son for the job.