The Wadena County Board on Feb. 26, voted unanimously to offer their vacant county highway engineer position to Ryan Odden.

Odden will start in his official capacity as full-time county engineer on April 1.

Odden is familiar with the Wadena Highway Department; he has been working on loan from Todd County as the temporary engineer since December. He will continue his one-dayper week schedule for the Wadena department until his full-time start date.

Odden said he hopes to keep the department running as smoothly as it is now, and added that Assistant Engineer Jeff Adolphson has done an excellent job as interim department head.

One of the first things Odden wants to work on is to update the department’s five-year plan. That plan is used by the department to visualize what the department is currently working on as well as allow them to plan for the future and ensure the pieces are in place for future projects. This future planning is required due to the long-term nature of the highway funding process. Federally funded projects are typically awarded five years ahead, so all the engineering and planning needs to be completed before applications can be submitted for those funds.

Odden is also looking forward to the implementation of GPS surveying technology in Wadena County during the fall of 2010. He also said plans are in the works for several gravel resurfacing projects throughout the county this summer.

Odden, who will start at a pay Grade 59, Step 7, which is $76,690 annually, will serve a oneyear probation; after that he will be considered a candidate for a four-year appointment.

Ryan Odden was raised in Wadena County and is a 1997 graduate of Staples Motley High School. He received his degree in engineering at North Dakota State University in Fargo. He received his professional license in 2006. Odden has been the assistant engineer in Todd County since 2001. He started there in the engineering department, and worked up to be an engineering supervisor and rose to assistant engineer.

Odden was chosen over nine other applicants for the engineer position. Five finalists were chosen for interviews, with Odden the only candidate asked back for a second interview.

The Wadena County Commissioners awarded a contract to Tri-City Paving, Inc. of Little Falls for the milling and paving project on County Road 21 this summer at their March 2 meeting. Their low bid on the project, which will extend from the northeast Menahga city limits to the intersection of CSAH 23 at the Hubbard County line, came in at $715,189, which was 8.33 percent below the engineer’s estimate.

In other matters, the Wadena County board :

o APPROVED scheduling the 2010 Board of Equalization hearing for Monday, June 14 from noon to 7 p.m.

o APPROVED a Conditional Use Permit for George and Susan Oberfell of Huntersville Township to operate a custom butchering and meat processing operation.

o APPROVED renewal of the liquor license for The Vintage golf club in Staples. The commissioners agreed that the halfprice fee for liquor licenses implemented in 2009 will remain in effect this year.

o APPROVED amending the 2010 sheriff’s department budget to carry over unspent 2009 Capital Improvement funds of $2,500 to the same account for 2010.

o APPROVED a request from the Wadena County Crisis and Referral Program for the first half of their allocated funds for 2010. The program will receive $1,660 from the County.

o APPROVED renewal of the 3.2 liquor license for Wahoo Valley Bar and Grill.