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Incumbent Bachman challenged by Brubaker, who has run unsuccessfully three times before
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 01, 2008
Unlike four years ago, Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman will have competition on Election Day.
B. Alan Brubaker, who ran unsuccessfully three times before, is again seeking the engineer's post.
The winner will oversee a $17 million annual budget and about 130 workers tasked with taking care of county roads and bridges. The engineer earned $109,442 this year.
Bachman, 53, a Republican, said the job is all about making sure roads and bridges are safe.
''We've certainly made strides that way,'' he said. ''There's no level of safety that [is] high enough.''
He cited the latest rankings of dangerous intersections and roadways by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study. No intersection overseen by Summit County is listed in the top 80.
And the county has plans to retool its most dangerous roadway — the stretch of Canton Road between U.S. Route 224 and Sanitarium Road in Springfield Township.
Bachman said he will keep looking for areas to install roundabouts, which have been shown to improve safety at intersections. Two years ago, he put the first modern roundabout in the county at South Hametown and Ridgewood roads in Copley Township.
He also said he will continue to focus on storm water retention basins to lessen flooding after big storms and to reach out to communities to partner on projects.
Bachman said the engineer's office has saved $5 million by using ''soil nails'' to reduce erosion and has reduced staff by 10 percent to save additional money.
Brubaker, 60, a Democrat, is focused on traffic congestion.
The county needs to retool its traffic signal system and create a countywide traffic management manual for growing areas, he said. Brubaker cited the Montrose area as an example, noting that there are too many driveways along state Route 18 adding to the congestion there.
''We haven't managed our development well,'' he said.
Brubaker said he wants to boost the profile of the engineer's office and follow a similar path taken by the sheriff, which handles police protection in many communities. There's no reason the engineer couldn't serve as the contract engineer for communities in Summit, he said.
He agreed with Bachman that the county should focus on regional storm water projects. Bachman has done small ones, but hasn't thought regionally enough, Brubaker said.
He added that the county should hire a storm water engineer and a traffic engineer.
Brubaker said one of his main selling points to voters is his lengthy career in public service. For 23 years, he served as city engineer in Kent, and did stints as interim service director and chief building officer.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
GREG BACHMAN
Party: Republican
Age: 53.
Residence: Akron.
Family: Wife, Maureen.
Occupation: Summit County engineer for five years; previously was city engineer in Kent and Hilliard.
Political history: Appointed county engineer in 2003; ran unopposed in 2004.
More details: http://www.bachmanforengineer.com.
B. ALAN BRUBAKER
Party: Democrat.
Age: 60.
Residence: Springfield Township.
Family: Wife, Patty; three grown children.
Occupation: Senior project manager with KCI Technologies/McCoy Associates Inc. for six years; former city engineer and service director in Kent and former engineer and assistant manager at the Akron-Canton Airport.
Political history: Ran for county engineer in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
More details: http://brubakerforengineer.com
Unlike four years ago, Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman will have competition on Election Day.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 12:23 PM, 10/01/2008
Sounds like Bachman is way ahead of brubaker in actual accomplishment. Summit county is cash poor and he's cutting the budget down to size. Brubaker wants to hire more people and that's not gonna be possible.
Posted 01:37 PM, 10/01/2008
Well Jim, they did not write about what Brubaker accomplished in 23 years as Kent's City Engineer --but my guess is he has a much longer resume than Bachman!
Posted 10:21 PM, 10/01/2008
well he is running on employing more people and if that's his platform he can't accomplish that. Bachman has done an excellent job both with his work and qwith his fiscal responsibility and budgetory performance. It's a no brainer.
Posted 08:33 AM, 10/02/2008
Bud, why do you think Bachman was hired to replace Brubaker in Kent?
Posted 11:43 AM, 10/02/2008
Mr. Brubaker better check his engineer's manual. S.R. 18 may have too many driveways, but it is controlled by ODOT, not the county. Greg has done an excellent job as engineer and he is very responsive to environmental concerns. He has earned another 4 years.
