Long-time Koochiching County Highway Engineer Doug Grindall plans to retire from the position at the end of March.
Grindall, the longest serving county engineer in the state, has the most years of any county engineer serving a single county. Grindall has held the position in Koochiching for 36 years. He began work for the county in September 1976.
“It’s been a good 36 years and it’s time for a change,” he said this week.
Grindall said he has nearly six more years of service as a county engineer among those who are still working. He notes that one engineer elsewhere in the state had 44 years of service and another had 43 before they retired. He said he was unsure whether those two engineers served their entire career in one county.
Grindall said he is the last county engineer on indefinite leave of absence from the former Minnesota Highway Department. He said he and another engineer are the last of more than 13 who received the status when he left the Minnesota Highway Department in 1972. “The purpose was to let state employees go work for a city or county to gain experience and return if they wanted when there was an opening,” he explained.
Grindall told the Koochiching County Board this week that he will work as a consulting engineer after his retirement from county service.
Commissioners noted that the county Highway Department has another staff member, Donna Hodel, who is also known for her career longevity. Hodel began work with the county Highway Department in July 1947.
