Engineer lets logic be her guide

By Peter H. Milliken

She became Ohio’s first female chief deputy engineer in 1989.

YOUNGSTOWN — A combination of technical knowledge, logical thinking, excellent communication and the ability to learn quickly on the job is the secret of Marilyn Kenner’s success in managing the day-to-day operation of the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office.

“She has the good communication skills to deal with the public, but, yet, the technical know-how to deal with us,” said Mike Stipetich, a construction and design engineer, referring to himself and other engineers who report to Kenner.

“Being an engineer, you have a logical way of thinking and a common-sense approach to everything, and I believe that she applies logic and common sense to all aspects” of her job, Stipetich said.

This is Kenner’s 20th year as chief deputy county engineer, a role in which she supervises a staff of 89 and an annual budget of about $12 million.

When she assumed her current post in 1989, she became Ohio’s first female chief deputy county engineer.

Kenner manages major road- construction projects; promotes water-pollution control and flood-control efforts; oversees purchasing, contracting and budgeting; and serves as her department’s human-resource officer and chief labor negotiator.

The engineer’s office is responsible for maintenance and snow and ice removal on almost 500 miles of county roads.

“I just worked my way up through the ranks,” said Kenner, who joined the department in the summer of 1980, when then-county Engineer Michael Fitas hired her as a student draftsman.

Since then, she has worked for two other county engineers, William Fergus, who promoted her to her current position, and Richard A. Marsico, the current county engineer.

When asked how her role differs from that of Marsico’s, Kenner said: “Mr. Marsico has to run for re-election, which means he has to be politicking all the time. And I think that I’m able to say ‘no’ a little bit easier. ... He does make a lot of the really tough decisions, though, such as salary adjustments for people based on merit.”

Marsico also was the ultimate authority when the department laid off nine employees a year ago in a cost-cutting move brought on by declining gasoline tax and license-plate revenues and doubling road-salt and asphalt prices, Kenner said.

“She’s very dedicated to the county. She has a great ability to handle multiple tasks. She’s a very good employee — very loyal,” Marsico said of Kenner.

“She’s very fair and looks at everything from a business standpoint as far as management of personnel and the office,” said Marsico, describing her as “a very good executive.”

Having grown up in Campbell and graduated from Ursuline High School, Kenner received her bachelor’s in civil engineering from YSU in 1982 and became a design and construction engineer in the county engineer’s office the following year.

“I liked math a lot, and I was good at it,” said Kenner, who won a Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. scholarship for her engineering studies.

Kenner said she had no formal training in personnel administration, labor negotiations or budget management. “I learned them on the job,” she said.

“Having good people and a good staff is what keeps me able to manage the things that I need to manage on my own here,” Kenner said. “I just touch base with everybody every day and let everybody do their work.”

“But I am a bit of a control freak, so there’s a lot of things that I will only do myself,” she observed.

For example, she said she likes to handle all of her own contracts, write all of her own letters and manage the budget herself “because I want to make sure that they’re done correctly and the way that I need to have them done.”

Kenner said she decided to stay with the county engineer’s office rather than move on to other career opportunities because she enjoys her job; her family resides in the Mahoning Valley; and she enjoys living here.

If the state Legislature removes the surveyor’s license requirement for elected county engineers, Kenner said she’d likely eventually run for county engineer.

Kenner meets the professional engineer’s license requirement for the elected post but lacks a surveyor’s license, which requires obtaining surveying experience and passing exams.

Kenner said she believes the county’s sanitary engineer’s office, which has 99 employees and an annual budget of about $23 million, is too large to be placed under the control of the county engineer.

A former vice president of the American Society of Highway Engineers, Kenner is listed in Who’s Who Among American Women and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.

Outside of her job, Kenner is a choir member and cantor at St. Charles Church in Boardman. She resides in Boardman with her husband, Walter; daughter, Maria, 14; and son, Eric, 12.

Kenner said she hasn’t confronted any significant obstacles as a woman in the male-dominated engineering field.

However, she said some callers to the county engineer’s office still insist that they want to speak to a man.

“I always tell them: ‘You can talk to one, but they work for me. So, if you want to talk to somebody in charge, you need to talk to me,’” Kenner concluded.