Newly appointed City Engineer Michael Beltran says he needs help and took his case to the Ceres City Council on Monday evening. He received approval to eliminate two vacant assistant/associate engineer positions in order to add one senior civil engineer position.

Currently the city Engineering Department consists of Beltran, five assistant/associate Engineer positions of which two are vacant, two engineering technicians, and a secretary. 

Beltran said a senior civil engineer is “critically needed to provide direct supervision over assigned personnel, assume the most difficult and complex assignments, including in-house design of projects, streamlining project reviews, cost savings for projects in comparison to using consultants, efficient use of taxpayer dollars which will allow for more projects to be completed and mentorship of junior staff.”

The new position will allow the Engineering Department to provide in-house design of certain capital improvement projects. The city will still need to use consultants for design services but the Engineering Department will be able to produce designs in preparation for construction. The Engineering Department can produce a design set of plans and specifications for approximately a third of the cost that a consultant would charge for the same service. This position will also produce quicker review times for projects being designed by consultants.

In addition, this position will also allow for more mentorship of junior staff which in turn will lead to more projects being designed in-house.