Engineer’s Office

About the Office

The Cass County Engineer’s Office has 29 employees, with 24 assigned to the Maintenance Department and 5 assigned to the Engineering Department. The Code of Iowa requires that the Board of Supervisors appoint a Registered Professional Engineer as Department Head. The Engineer, along with the Assistant to the Engineer, Office Manager and Foreman, directs both the construction and maintenance activities in the County.

Districts

• District I, the Anita Maintenance Shed, is located at 55780 710th Street and the phone number is 712-762-3800. Dave Christensen is the foreman for District I. District I does the maintenance on roads and signs in the following townships: Grant Township, Benton Township, Franklin Township and Lincoln Township.
• District II, the Atlantic Maintenance Shed, is located at 12 Commerce Street and the phone number is 712-340-1999. Richard Juhl is the foreman for District II. District II does the maintenance on roads and signs in the following townships: Pymosa Township, Brighton Township, Washington Township and Grove Township.
• District IV, the Griswold Maintenance Shed, is located at 68968 600th Street and the phone number is 712-778-4301.  Andy Steffen is the foreman for District IV. District IV does the maintenance on roads and signs in the following townships: Bear Grove Township, Cass Township, Pleasant Township and Noble Township.
• District V, the Massena Maintenance Shed, is located at 67011 720th Street and the phone number is 712-779-2275. Scott Holaday is the foreman for District V. District V does the maintenance on roads and signs in the following townships: Massena Township, Union Township, Edna Township and Victoria Township.
• The Main Shop for Cass County is located at and the phone number is 712-340-1999. Curtis Holste is the Shop Foreman and is in charge of all maintenance, repairs and updates on all Cass County Equipment.

Roadway Maintenance

Cass County maintains three types road. The types are paved or dust free, granular surfaced, and non-surfaced (dirt) roads. Cass County has 107 miles of paved roads. The paved roads are primarily maintained by hiring contractors to perform resurfacing, crack filling, pavement repair, and pavement markings. Shoulder maintenance along with patching along these roads is usually done with county personnel.

Granular surfaced roads are maintained by the application of rock along with periodic blading of the roadway surface by county personnel. The application of granular surfacing is applied by county personnel. County personnel operating out of four maintenance facilities located around the county perform the blading. The County normally has eight motor grader districts engaged in the blading operation for the 653 miles of granular surfaced and 140 miles of dirt roads. The number of miles that any one motor grader is responsible for varies with surfacing type, location, and traffic volumes, but on average they cover approximately 100 miles. While granular surfaced roads are bladed on a regular basis, dirt roads are bladed on an “as needed” basis. Under certain weather conditions, a dirt road may only be bladed two or three times in a year.

Right of Way

The County maintains many items within the right of way. Most, but not all, county roads have a right of way of 66 feet or 33 feet each side of centerline. The county has specific duties to ensure that hazards be removed from the clear zone within the right of way. We also mow, cut brush and trees, and spray weeds. These are all part of our maintenance duties within the right of way.

Snow Removal

Cass County’s snow removal equipment is utilized for the purpose of clearing all snow or ice (when possible), sanding, salting, and other maintenance. These services are accomplished by using the money budgeted following the guidelines of the “Snow Removal Ordinance” adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The county has available for snow removal 9 motor graders, 1 single axle trucks, 12 tandem axle trucks, 4 end loaders, and 2 Osh Kosh snow trucks. All of the trucks are capable of spreading sand and salt in addition to plowing snow. As a general rule, motor graders remove snow from the granular roads and the trucks work on the paved system; however, on occasion, they can be intermixed on the various road surfaces.

Bridge and Culvert Repairs

Any damage to a bridge or culvert should be reported to the Cass County Engineer’s Office. The County, through its own forces and with the help of contractors, maintains the 241 bridges and the thousands of culverts in the county.

Ditch Cleaning

Cass County cleans ditches to maintain or improve roadway drainage. Ditches are also used for snow storage during the winter months. Requests for ditch cleaning far exceed our ability to clean ditches and are prioritized on need, request date, location, and other circumstances. We must seek approval from the “Iowa One Call System” prior to cleaning any ditch. The “Iowa One Call” approval can take up to three working days to acquire; therefore, when our equipment is in the area it does not mean that we will be able to clean the ditch. The dirt that is in the ditch belongs to the county to dispose of as they see fit. If you feel that a road ditch needs to be cleaned, you should contact the County Engineer’s Office.

Dust Control

Cass County does not apply dust control, except in some cases when your road is established as a detour or haul road for another construction project. Cass County allows dust control on county roads starting in the spring of the year. Cass County required notification from the company applying the dust control so the county can shape and blade the area to prepare for the dust control. The County does not blade the areas unless they get pot holes or rutting. The County will start blading through the dust control areas in mid October to get the road prepared for winter.

Driveways

When a land owner requests a new driveway, Cass County will check to make sure the driveway location has adequate site distance and determine what size culvert is needed to handle the drainage if a culvert is required. The land owner will have to pay for a new culvert and Cass County will install the new driveway with a minimum of 24’ and maximum of 40’ top width. On widening existing driveways, the land owner will pay for the new length of the culvert to widen the driveway. Driveways not requiring a culvert can be installed or widened at no cost to the land owner.