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The Engineering Department's mission is to vigorously defend the best interests of the citizens of the City of Newnan in all aspects of civil engineering and infrastructure design, construction, and maintenance.

Michael Klahr

The Engineering Department was formed in mid 2000 when the City Engineer was first employed. This was done in response to multiple problems the City had begun to face after decades of development without the benefit of a professional engineering staff. In the late 1980’s, the City contracted with an outside consulting engineering firm to provide technical review of development plans and hydrology studies. With the formation of the engineering department, these contract services were no longer needed, as they could be accomplished in-house. Since that time, the department has naturally evolved into much more than simply a plan reviewing entity. The benefits of staff civil engineering services are widespread and can be broken down into the following six categories of responsibility:

1) The response to calls from the general public has been placed as the department’s highest priority. While this task is usually one of the least time consuming, it is the underlying purpose of everything city government does. Calls mostly consist of drainage and/or erosion inquiries and complaints, and can usually be resolved immediately.

2) The review of development plans and hydrology is generally considered to be the purpose of the department. All development within the City limits is designed by registered professional engineers and is reviewed by the engineering department for compliance with City standards and good engineering practice. The City ordinance requires that hydrology studies be done to design facilities that discharge storm water from new sites at the same peak flow-rates as pre-development.

3) The inspection of new development has become another extremely important responsibility of the department. Site construction work is checked for compliance with the approved plans and for quality workmanship.  This duty is assigned to the Engineering Assistant.

4) Erosion and sedimentation control is another duty of the department. This is the sole responsibility of a full-time Soil Erosion Inspector. Prior to issuance of any Land Disturbing Activity permit, a site must be inspected to ensure all erosion control measures have been properly installed. During construction, sites are visited periodically to ensure all erosion control measures are being maintained and are working as they were intended.

5) Design and management of civil construction projects within the City is another duty of the department. In-house design of culvert replacements, intersection improvements, and street improvements is common, while larger projects are generally designed by consulting engineers.  Some amount of project management is required from the City on all projects, and the engineering department is often charged with this responsibility.

6) The implementation and enforcement of good, reasonable, standards is another responsibility of the department. Many of the City’s current standards are old and need revision, and it is important that the standards be updated and revised.