Minnesota Highways, September 1956

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VOL.  5,  No.   11
1246  University Ave.,  St. J'aul^ 4, Minn.
September,   1956
Schultz in
Liaison Post
Hermanson Promoted
Contact between top officials of the Highway department and interested representatives of the public has
lor>g been recognized in the
.ntment as important to
evelop greatest possible mutual understanding and agreement in the solution of highway problems.
To maintain such contact at
greatest possible efficiency
without adding unduly to the
other duties of the department's principal officers, Walter Schultz, assistant engineer
of plans and surveys, has been
given a new assignment.
He has been relieved of his duties in Plans and Surveys, headed
by G. G. Gladman, and reassigned to the office of Chief Engineer
L. P. Zimmerman. There, he will
serve as staff assistant to Commissioner Hoffmann, Assistant Commissioner A. O. Torgerson, Zimmerman and Assistant Chief En-
:er J. C. Robbers.
Will  Do   Liaison  Work
In that capacity, he will devote his full time to liaison work
with local governmental bodies,
civic organizations and committees, and other delegations relating
to the location or relocation of
trunk highways.
As a part of his new duties,
Schultz will, during the next
month work on the exact location
of the projected interstate highway network. A later project will
be the determination of locations
for connections between the interstate network and other highways.
Succeeding Schultz as assistant
engineer of plans and surveys is
Marvin E. Hermanson of Minneapolis, hydraulics engineer and a
member of the Plans division since
(Continued on page 4)
Walter  Schultz
Marvin   E.  Hermanson
Retirement of 2 Veterans
Recalls Department Growth
A revealing glimpse of the Highioay department's experiences and growth in two widely different fields over three decades is given in stories from two veteran employees who retired
August -31, R. F. Potvin of the Highway patrol, and Anton Revsbech of Construction Plans:
Potvin—Charter Patrolman
The last remaining original
member of the Minnesota Highway patrol—R. F. Potvin—has turned in his badge.
Potvin, assistant chief since
1952 and one of the  first  seven
(Continued on page 6)
R.  F.   Potvin
Revsbech—'Out of the Mud'
The life of a Minnesota highway
engineer was somewhat simpler in
the 1920's than now, according to
Anton Revsbech, squad leader in
Construction Plans.
Revsbech should know. He retired August 31 after 33 years'
service in the division, most of it
in designing plans. After work as
a computer, draftsman, instrument
man, and engineer, he's been a
squad leader since 1930.
In those early days of the Highway department, the days of the
"Get Minnesota Out of the Mud"
campaign, said Revsbech, Minne-
sotans were so anxious to have improved highways they weren't
greatly concerned about types of
design, construction, or exact
routing.
"One set of plans was drawn
for a given project, the road was
built and everybody was happy,"
(Continued on page 7)
Reassignments
Are Proposed
Provide More Pay
Substantial upward salary
reassignments for most job
classes in the Highway department, ranging from $7 to approximately $75 monthly, are
provided in a proposed general reassignment of job classifications to higher ranges in
the state Civil Service pay
schedule.
The table of recommended reassignments, covering all departments in the state government,
was submitted August 20 to the
Department of Administration by
the Civil Service board, following
a hearing by the board August 15.
The reassignments represent about
$3 million more in pay for state
Civil Service employees.
The Department of Administration will consider the Civil Service
board's recommended reassignments in preparing departmental
budgets for the next biennium and
in recommending increased appropriations, as needed, to the 1957
State Legislature.
Implementation of the revised
schedule cannot take place until
all units of the state government
have adequate funds to pay the
higher salaries, a point to be determined by the Department of
Administration.
Seek   Balance  with   Industry
A principal objective of the Civil
Service department in recommending the reassignments is to elevate
state pay to levels more nearly
comparable with wages received in
similar employment in private industry. John W. Jackson, Civil
Service director, told the board at
the hearing. Not only is this warranted in justice to state employees but as a means of reducing the
number of employees who are leaving state employment for jobs in
private industry, he said.
(Continued on page 2)