Recordpub.com - Ravenna is melding jobs: City combines positions for engineer, building official

By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
Bob Finney is a guy who wears a lot of hats with the city of Ravenna.
The longtime assistant city engineer is taking on new responsibilities as engineer and interim chief building official.
In his new role he’ll be responsible for overseeing, bidding and designing $1.4 million in grant projects with a staff of two. He’s also in charge of every building project in Ravenna done on private property.
He’ll be assisted by Mark Bowen, former city engineer. Though retired, Bowen has agreed to stay on as senior project manager on a part-time basis.
“His institutional memory is invaluable,” Finney said.
Dan Dobrilovic, who served a year as interim chief building official after George Page retired last year, will work full time as the city’s property maintenance officer. All services will be operated out of the engineer’s office on the second floor of the R.A.C. building on North Freedom Street as a “one stop shop.”
“With the economic situation the way it is, it certainly is a way to save money, and an opportunity to serve the public a little bit better,” he said.
Finney said Mayor Joe Bica made the change because he wanted to put a greater emphasis on code enforcement.
“Property maintenance is a concern of the new mayor,” he said.
This year, the engineering office is overseeing projects funded by five grants. They include the repaving of Prospect and Chestnut streets with stimulus dollars, upgrading the city’s housing stock through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, extending water lines and building a road in the Chestnut Hills park, and replacing water lines on parts of Walnut, Pratt and Myrtle streets.
Finney, who earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Akron in 1994, has a background in traffic engineering, geotechnical, land development and utilities. Before joining the city six years ago, he served as a consultant.
He has 18 months to become certified as the city’s chief building official, but aims to achieve that goal within six months.
He and his wife, Cori, live in Nelson with their three children, Ryan, Cassie and Luke.
Bowen started working for the city in 1976, when his title was engineering construction supervisor. He became city engineer in 1978.
Over the years, he said, the city has constructed a new water plant, upgraded the wastewater plant twice, and made numerous improvements to the city’s water lines using grant money. As a result, he said, 40 percent of Ravenna’s water system is less than 34 years old.
He said every asphalt street has been paved, most concrete streets have been replaced, and the city’s only bridge on Prospect Street was replaced. Modern sidewalks replaced flagstone walks dating back to Ravenna’s stone quarry of the 1900s, and numerous storm water projects were completed.
The city’s Streetscape project also took place on Bowen’s watch, and Main Street was repaved in 2008. Two new parks were constructed at Havre’s Woods and Chestnut Hills. Seven housing developments, and numerous commercial and industrial projects were completed.
Though the city’s housing stock has increased, the population has gone down over the years, simply because families are smaller than they once were, Bowen said.
“I am thankful for the training of my parents to prepare me for this job,” Bowen said. “My father taught me to always do the best job I could and my mother taught me to have a sense of humor.”
“Both of these qualities are necessary for public employees. I have never believed that less than the best is good enough for government work. The taxpayers deserve just as good a quality product as the private sector. However, not all decisions in government make good sense. At those times you do the job as it is requested, knowing that you will have a good laugh about it later. It helps in preserving your sanity.”