ROGERS -- Employees applauded as Earl Rausch accepted the position of Rogers Water Utilities superintendent during a Rogers Waterworks and Sewer Commission meeting Friday afternoon.

"Earl has done an outstanding job as interim (superintendent)," said Don Kendall, commission chairman. "He anticipates problems and doesn't let things fester."

City employees, both at the utility and at city hall, lauded Rausch's people skills, Kendall said.

Rausch has been with Rogers Water Utilities since 1999. Before joining the Rogers staff, he was with Cooper Communities in Bella Vista as senior design engineer and surveyor. Rausch holds licenses as an engineer in Arkansas and Colorado and as a surveyor in Arkansas. He has bachelor's degrees in civil engineering and agricultural engineering from the University of Arkansas.

Rausch, who supervised engineering at the utility, was appointed interim superintendent in June. Craig Noble, the former superintendent, resigned after questions were raised about charges on a utility credit card. Noble was with the utility less than a year.

His qualifications as a licensed engineer played into the decision to hire Rausch, said Travis Greene, commissioner.

Board members met in closed session for 30 minutes before announcing their decision to hire Rausch. The job will pay $50 per hour or $104,000 a year.

"We've got some challenges in front of us that we'll be working on," Rausch said after the meeting.

He wants a paperless work order system for field operations worked into the budget.

William Evans, water field manager, said Rausch has good rapport with employees and other city departments. The two have talked about the idea of ending paper work orders. An electronic system would both notify the office where trucks are and send out work orders. Service calls that come in during the day, such as an emergency shutoff, would be easier with an electronic dispatching system, Evans said.

"Right now they pick them up in the morning and they're gone," Evans said of staff members.

Rausch was one of four applicants for the position. Other applicants were: Bill Eoff, wastewater manager at Huntsville Water Utilities; Columbus "Buddy" Smith, Louisiana state engineer of Wetland Restoration and Reserve Program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Monroe, La.; and William "Will" Winn, of Springdale, assistant water, sewer and meter operations manager for Fayetteville.

NW News on 03/15/2014