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In a search that has been on-going since January, the Escambia County Commission voted to hire someone to fill the county engineer position during Monday’s regular meeting.
Parker Ross of Flomaton was unanimously approved for the position Monday as commissioners moved to fill the vacancy.
Commission Chairman Raymond Wiggins said the recommendation to hire Ross for the position came through a series of interviews and meetings regarding the process.
“We formed a committee for interviews of those applicants interested in being our county engineer,” Wiggins said. “The commission then narrowed the field to three candidates. A committee made up of myself, Commissioner (Karean) Reynolds and County Administrator (Ron) Cink, made the decision to recommend Ross for the position today.”
Reynolds made a motion to approve the hiring of Ross for the position followed by a second from Commissioner Brandon Smith. A roll-call vote was held. Wiggins took the opportunity to thank Brad Solomon from stepping in as the interim engineer for the county following the dismissal of Bill Bridges from the position last year.
“I want to commend you on the job you’ve done and made sure that we didn’t miss a beat,” Wiggins told Solomon. “We appreciate your work and having us in good shape.”
Wiggins said that Solomon would return to his position as assistant county engineer, but would also be taking on the role as the county’s chief bridge inspector.
Ross said he looked forward to working with Solomon and other county leaders.
“I look forward to working with you,” Ross said Monday. “We moved back home a couple of years ago and back to our roots. I went to school and played sports at Flomaton and moved to Auburn. I worked with the Army Corp of Engineers there and did some consulting and designing for private companies, municipalities and government. I look forward to working with the county.”
In other business Monday, the commission:
• approved the adoption of a resolution authorizing a storm water capacity improvement project. The project would include work on Manning Road, Longhaul Road, Tumbling Lane, Wallace Road, Bethel Road and Alaflora Road in the county. Cink said the work would be instrumental in preventing road blow-outs during rain events. Solomon worked on the paperwork to move funding those projects forward;
• approved an interagency cooperative agreement with ADEM for collection of regulated solid waste  and remediation of scrap tires along county rights-of-way;
• approved the awarding of a big to Jim Peach Motors for the purchase of a Ford transit van; and
• authorized the disposal/sale of nine ECATS buses no longer in use by the county.
The next meeting of the commission will be held Thursday, July 27 at 9 a.m. at the Escambia County Courthouse in the Commission chambers.