New Franklin County Assistant Engineer Caleb Sherrill is a living example of how you act in your job today's influence on future job opportunities.
When Sherrill went to work for the Civil Group after his 2017 graduation from the University of Alabama, he met and worked with Jason Baggett, another Civil Group engineer who went on to become Franklin County Engineer after David Palmer's retirement earlier this year.
Baggett and Sherrill formed a good working relationship and that wasn't lost on Baggett when he interviewed Sherrill this spring for the vacant assistant engineer position.
Although Sherrill left Civil Group in January 2021, those ties with Baggett, and their mutual respect, opened up the opportunity for the Franklin County native to return home. Sherrill began his new position last Monday and was introduced at the Franklin County Commission work session last week.
“Jason and I worked together at my first job after college. We had a really good working relationship at Civil Group,” Sherrill said. “I was definitely drawn to this opportunity as all my family is here as well as all my wife's family. So it's good after traveling so much to get back home and close to them.”
The traveling Sherrill referenced came in the jobs he had after leaving the Civil Group. Since March 2021, Sherrill worked as a temporary engineer for Glynn County Public Works (Georgia) and the City of Cheyenne (Wyoming) and he served as a public works engineer for Madison County the past year.
While it might appear Caleb's career was the reason he and his wife Lexie moved so much, it was actually Lexie's career as a traveling registered nurse the last three years that dictated the locations the couple resided in.
“She decided to do travel nursing (after the onset of COVID-19), so I decided to do travel engineering,” Sherrill said.
As the couple settles in back home in Franklin County (Lexie is a Belgreen High School graduate), Sherrill said his job as assistant engineer will be to assist Baggett in any way necessary in the administration of his job.
“That's the main thing—as the title says, to assist in anything he needs assistance with as far as planning, review, phone calls, attending county commission meetings or any other job duties where I can step in and help him,” Sherrill said.
Baggett said he's thrilled to have Sherrill on board.
“I'm glad Caleb is here and looking forward to what we will be able to do together for our county,” Baggett said.
While he reports daily to Baggett, Sherrill realizes both of them ultimately report to the Franklin County Commission. He's been in both county and municipal government positions, so the political aspects of the job are not lost on him.
“In each district we do the best we can to take care of that district,” Sherrill said. “We try to help the citizens as much as we can while helping out with the resources we have available.
“You can't do everything but we try to keep our roads smooth and our citizens happy,” he added.
Sherrill, the son of Alan and Jan Sherrill of Spruce Pine, said it was an exciting day when he was able to tell his parents he and Lexie would be coming home to Franklin County.
“My mother was definitely thrilled. It's a little closer than Cheyenne, Wyoming,” Sherrill said.
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
