County engineer Ross Kelley retiring

Thu., Nov. 9, 2006

By Jonathan Brunt jonathanb@spokesman.com (509) 459-5442

County leaders are searching for a new person to lead the county’s Road Department following last month’s retirement of County Engineer Ross Kelley.

Kelley, 63, served as the engineer for six years and previously was the assistant engineer.

In more than 25 years working for Spokane County, Kelley was the project manager of some of the largest road projects the county has undertaken, including the creation of the Valley couplet, the construction of a railroad bridge over Argonne Road near Trent Avenue, the reconstruction of the Seven Mile and Harvard Road bridges that cross the Spokane River and building of the Interstate 90 interchanges at Sullivan, Harvard and Evergreen roads.

“I’ve been here for over 30 years, and I’ve never seen a manager that was thought of as highly as Ross was by his people,” said Gerry Gemmill, the county operations director.

Bob Brueggeman, who has worked for the county for more than 20 years, has been named the interim county engineer and is one of several who have applied for the job, Gemmill said.

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