While the most obvious parts of Engineering and Public Works are the road improvements, new lights and general county maintenance, we also have a strategic planning team that is a little more behind the scenes.
We are so proud of one of our strategic planning team members, Vi Tran, for being chosen as January’s employee of the month by Mayor Glenn Jacobs.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs recognizes Vi Tran as employee of the month.
Vi joined our department in 2017 and quickly took on the task of modernizing the county’s Master Road List into a Geographic Information System; this list was kept on index cards until she arrived. She took the information on those cards and produced a comprehensive list of the county’s public roads in GIS. From this GIS data,
Vi imported these roads into the new Pavement Management System and digested the complicated technical nuances of that system, so that we can plan for pavement restoration and repairs. In addition to this massive task, Vi has also been the Project Manager on the implementation of a new work order system for Engineering and Public Works, oftentimes working late into the night and on weekends to meet difficult deadlines.
This is what her supervisor, Cathy Olsen, has to say about her: “Vi is a great teammate, remembering significant dates in people’s lives, like birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations. Vi always has a smile and a kind word for those who work with her. We at Engineering and Public Works are blessed to have such a dedicated, talented and kind co-worker.”
We had another snowy weekend. This snow was a little different from the others as it arrived much later than predicted and was very spotty. The sections of roads that needed salt were hard to identify, so crews were out salting the roads Saturday morning on the random icy patches that were called in.
This year we have used so much salt, that we have already put in a 1,000-ton order to replace what we have used. Knox County is not immune to the supply chain delays that America is facing currently, so putting in this order at the right time was critical to be sure we have enough salt to last for the rest of the winter season.
Rylie McClurg is the communications and outreach coordinator for Knox County Engineering and Public Works.