Engineer's office now centrally located

OAK HARBOR — Ottawa County engineer employees are settling into their new office along Ohio 163 near Oak Harbor. The county spent more than $2 million renovating the highway garage to accommodate office space and additional storage for vehicles. "This setup works very well for us," county engineer Ron Lajti said. "It makes sense to have our office centrally located in the county."The engineer's office was previously in the Ottawa County Courthouse in Port Clinton. That location, while convenient for officials, wasn't ideal for the majority of the county. That's because the majority of engineer office calls, road projects and other initiatives originate in the western portion of Ottawa County. The move is already having a positive impact. "We've heard good things from people living in the western part of the county," Lajti said. The project began a number of years ago when employees identified a trend: more of their calls had crews traveling the west. They simultaneously planned on renovating the highway garage, which wasn't ideal for some of the county's larger vehicles. Telamon Construction Inc. crews broke ground on the renovation last fall. The project has a few finishing touches — additional computers and landscaping — before it's finished.Lajti said his office is ready to push forward with their new location. "We're a very task-oriented group," Lajti said. "We have experts in different areas to better serve residents. We're always pushing for great customer satisfaction."Funding strategiesLajti said it's not possible to please everyone despite their best intentions. Budgetary constraints, more competition and higher wages become daily challenges.Consider this: The Ottawa County Engineer's Office had a roughly $5 million budget in 2000. That figure is about the same in 2016, Lajti said. How, then, could the office stay competitive and keep customers happy?"We turned to grants and low-interest loans to help on projects," Lajti said. "We also look to save money whenever possible, like with the highway garage renovation."Officials opted for a renovated highway garage over a completely new structure to save money. Lajti's funding strategies have been working since he became county engineer. He said the new office helps the office better serve residents while keeping costs down. "We knew we were going to need to renovate this building at some point anyway," Lajti said. "We decided if we were going to do this, now would be the best time."Reach reporter Patrick Pfanner at pfanner@sanduskyregister.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatPfanner and at Facebook.com/PatPfanner. The new faade of the Ottawa County Highway Maintenance Facility, now sharing the building with the engineer's office, faces Ohio 163 near Oak Harbor. After extensive renovations the engineer's office moved into the facility to be more centrally located in the county. Ottawa County Engineer Ron Lajti sits in his new office located in the renovated Highway Maintenance Facility off of Ohio 163 near Oak Harbor on Thursday afternoon. The Ottawa County Engineer's Office was moved out to the highway maintenance facility after it underwent 2.2 million dollars in renovations. Ottawa County trucks are stored in the new addition to the highway maintenance facility located on Ohio 163 near Oak Harbor on Thursday afternoon. The higher ceilings in the new addition allow for mechanics to fully lift the dump bed of the trucks.