Powell appointed as new Harrison County engineer to oversee roads

Published 11:00 pm Sunday, August 3, 2025

The Harrison County Commissioners Court has approved the appointment of Eric Powell as county engineer.

Powell previously spent six years as director of public works and city engineer for the city of Marshall.

“We are excited about the new addition of County Engineer Eric Powell at our road and bridge department,” said Harrison County Judge Chad Sims. “Road and bridge is one of our largest departments and serves many residents in our county. It’s our hope that, with an engineer, we can improve the safety, quality and longevity of our roads across the county.”

Powell was appointed at the court’s July 15 meeting. He made his first budget workshop presentation to the court this past week on behalf of the department in time for the new upcoming fiscal year.

“Mr. Powell comes to the county with several years of local experience with the city of Marshall,” Sims said. “He is well known and respected throughout the community. We look forward to his input, direction and leadership of our road and bridge team.”

This will be the first time the county has had an engineer since the September 2019 retirement of longtime engineer John Paul Jones, who had 20 years of service.

Sims thanked Luke Davis, a longtime road and bridge supervisor, for serving as road administrator and leading the department in the absence of an engineer.

Powell said he’s looking forward to his new journey.

“I am looking forward to this new role and excited to bring my background and experience to the county and all its residents and visitors,” he said. “I have expressed to many people that this brings me back to my original roots in local government and public works as I started my professional career in New Jersey as a staff engineer with a public works department in a town in northwest New Jersey (Sparta Township) in October of 1989.”

Powell said throughout his nearly 36 years of public service, he has had many roles starting with his first position as a staff engineer up to and including township engineer, director of community development in Sparta, New Jersey, and then in Marshall where he served dual roles as city engineer as well as director of public works and utilities.

“Throughout that entire period, I always strived to improve on the things that I had inherited and to leave each location in a better place then I found it,” Powell said. “The same will hold true with Harrison County.”

Powell said his first task is to get acquainted with the daily operations of the department and take a closer look at the department’s overall function.

“Beyond that, I plan on looking at alternative methods when it comes to road maintenance, not just for paved roadways but also those dirt and gravel roads that exist within the county’s road inventory as well as evaluating the equipment and processes we use and whether there exist any new technologies that we may be able to capture and use to our advantage,” he said.

He’s excited to work with the staff members as he’s already impressed with their work ethic.

“In my first two weeks here, it is clear to me that we have a great number of crew members within road and bridge who perform exceptional work whether it is road reconstruction, installation of drainage culvert, grading of gravel roads or maintaining the ROW (right-of-way) vegetation,” Powell said. “With that being said, I am excited about this new opportunity and look forward to serving the residents and visitors of Harrison County.”