Alan Brubaker will begin his term as Summit County Engineer this month.

Photo: Ken Crisafi

Brubaker, a Springfield Township resident and Democrat, defeated current Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman, a Republican, in the Nov. 4 General Election.

Bachman said he called Brubaker the day after the election, congratulated him and invited him into the office to discuss the transition.

“He came in [in early December] and we spoke for about 2-1/2 hours,” said Bachman, who added his last day will be Jan. 4. “I told him everything I could about the office here and told him I will have the office in order when he starts Jan. 5.”

Brubaker said he and Bachman have had “several nice discussions” about the office. In the meantime, Brubaker has continued to work as senior project manager at McCoy Associates, an Akron engineering and surveying firm.

“I am well-qualified,” Brubaker said. “There is nothing I need to do to prepare.”

Brubaker announced Dec. 20 his choices to fill three of his office’s top positions. Ghassan Kabbara will be maintenance supervisor, Lawrence Fulton will be chief deputy engineer, and Steven Brunot will be director of administration. Brubaker said other appointments would be forthcoming.

The new engineer said projects that are under way will continue. But those that are not yet begun will undergo scrutiny before the office moves forward, he said.

“What we’ll do is take a look at the entire capital program for the county and re-evaluate it,” he said. “One of the things we want to do is make sure we put economic development in the county first. My priorities will be projects that involve jobs for the county and improving situations where traffic can be a problem for businesses.”

Brubaker said he expects this process to take at least a month, but he doesn’t want to put a deadline on the work.

One of the projects that Bachman’s office proposed is a realigning of the intersection at South Cleveland-Massillon and Ridgewood roads, on the border of Copley and Fairlawn. A modern roundabout also is a possibility for the intersection, Bachman’s office has proposed.

In recent weeks, legislation before Summit County Council that would allow the engineer’s office to move forward on the project has been placed on time. Bachman’s office has proposed awarding a contract to an engineering firm to conduct a study as to the best way to improve the intersection.

Brubaker said he doesn’t have an opinion yet as to how that project in particular will proceed.

He added he wants his administration to place more of a focus on the county’s infrastructure.

“I want to put a stronger emphasis on maintenance,” he said. “A lot of roads are in poor condition.”

He also wants to focus on alleviating congestion in high-traffic areas in the county, such as the Montrose area.

“The Montrose area is indicative of many areas of the county,” he said. “We simply need to work to establish a guideline for managing traffic, and traffic access management is a tool. If we can, I’d like to get each of the communities (Bath, Copley and Fairlawn) to buy into the same access management plan. That’s a long-term goal.”

Brubaker earned a degree in civil engineering from The University of Akron. He worked as an assistant Portage County engineer from 1971 to 1976 and as engineer and assistant manager for the Akron-Canton Airport from 1976 to 1980. He was the city engineer in Kent from 1980 to 2002. He ran for Summit County engineer previously in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

Brubaker, 60, said he is looking forward to taking office.

“It definitely will be very exciting and a challenge and, hopefully, we see some new policies and direction,” he said. “I’m confident that I’ve got some key people who are very experienced to help me. It should be very good for Summit County.”