Vicki Simon, staff assistant at the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) Auburn office, said that the office will lose two full-time state jobs. The change would be effective in about two weeks, or Monday, May 17, Simon said.
Lincoln NDOR district officials want to move the positions of Simon and Dennis Blount, superintendent at the Auburn office, to fill positions in Lincoln, she said. Simon wanted to let the public know about the planned change. State officials called the change a cost-cutting move. She said it seems hard to believe that the change would save money.
At the Auburn office, currently the public can contact the staff about any highway concerns or to pick up supplies for Adopt-a-Highway pickup. With the planned change, the public would have to contact officials in Lincoln, Simon said.
She said that the Auburn office would be a locked working yard during the day after the change. There will still be a supervisor at the Auburn office, but the supervisor needs to be out on the job helping crews, Simon said.
Simon said that there are staff assistants trained on programs which would keep area supervisors from driving to Lincoln.
Currently, NDOR staff at Tecumseh, Pawnee City and Falls City report to staff at the Auburn NDOR office, she said. Plans are for a new person in charge of the Auburn area and other parts of southeast Nebraska, who will live in Lincoln. If any of the area staff want to meet with NDOR officials, they would have to drive to Lincoln, which will cost time, fuel, and wear and tear on state vehicles to do what they now do in Auburn, Simon said.