By Barbara Augsdorfer, editor for the Effingham Herald
The City of Rincon is moving from having public works in house to contracting with Richmond Hill-based EOM (Engineering, Operations, and Management) beginning in February.
EOM already handles public works for Guyton, Springfield, Effingham County, and Port Wentworth; and has also been contracted with Rincon since 2020 for engineering and plan reviews.
“We’re just expanding their role,” said Rincon City Manager Robert Byrd.
He was quick to add that all the employees will retain their jobs in the public works department. “If you're an existing employee, and you've worked here for 20 years, you've got your retirement. You're vested. You're not losing that. But you will be working for EOM as a company instead of the City of Rincon.
He added that Tim Bowles, Rincon’s public works and water utilities director and lift station superintendent, is going to retire. Bowles has been with the city for more than 20 years.
“Everybody (currently with Rincon Public Works) will be offered a job,” Byrd continued. “They'll meet with the EOM human resources. (HR) people will meet as a group and individually with the employees.”
According to the Rincon’s 2025 budget, the public works budget saw an increase of just under 12% from $565,978 in 2024 to $633,230 in 2025.
The switch from in house to EOM is seen as a cost-saving measure mostly through preventative maintenance, Byrd explained.
“We ran the numbers on what public works is costing us by what their (EOM’s) proposal was -- and that's the money savings,” Byrd said. “I'll give you an example. When they start in February, they're going to go to every lift station. We have 27 lift stations in Rincon. They will pull the motors, the pumps, everything out of it (and) do an inventory on those lift stations. Instead of us reacting to a to a maintenance issue, we're going to do preventive maintenance. We're going to know where the issues are coming from. We're going to keep logs. It's more organized.”
Byrd added that the lift stations are old and may not have been maintained as they should. “But now it’s going to happen,” Byrd added.
But if the agreement with EOM doesn’t work out, the city has an “out” clause.
“I told Mayor and Council, I said, ‘Guys, if we get involved in this and y'all say, ‘hey, oh, we don't like EOM,’ we could go back in house’.”
In addition to handling public works for Effingham County and two municipalities, Byrd said he worked with EOM when he was the city manager in Pooler.
“They came in and ran our wastewater treatment plant,” Byrd said. “And that was solely a personnel issue because we couldn’t find people to work.”
Rincon’s wastewater treatment plant will remain within the city of Rincon. “I have great guys there and we’re going to have to build a new plant.”
Byrd said that flooding issues at the golf course will also be addressed once EOM is on board. “There are two portions where residents are complaining about water flooding their yards, and we’ve got a contractor working on that now.”
Byrd said that EOM will handle water, sewer, stormwater, streets, and roadside grass cutting.
“They’re going to handle roadside cutting and trash pick up along (Hwy.) 21 and Fort Howard Road,” Byrd said. “That was a big want from Council, because they were going to contract that out to another company, but (EOM) could do it.
“Our goal is we're trying to give a product to the citizens of Rincon that they can be proud of, something that that when they call, they get a service,” Byrd said. “That's our goal, and to save money. And we're going to grow more in the future. With the resources that EOM brings to the table, we think they'll be a good partner when we grow.”
