Christopher J. Bolt has been named the interim manager for both the Cass County and St. Joseph County road commissions. The appointment was made this week in a joint meeting of the two road commission boards.

Bolt, who has been the director of engineering for the St. Joseph County Road Commission in Centreville, fills the vacancy created July 9 when Louis Csokasy, co-manager of both road commissions, was reassigned to a position as Cass County’s interim administrator.

Bolt grew up in rural northeast Iowa and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Iowa. He is completing a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University with a focus on local government finance and infrastructure policy issues.

Bolt is a registered, licensed professional engineer in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
He has more than 20 years experience in the public works profession, working with townships, cities, villages and government agencies. His background includes management, engineering and design experience in both the public and private sectors.

Bolt has been with the St. Joseph County Road Commission since January. Previously, he was director of public services, as well as the city engineer for the city of Dowagiac. Before that, he was a senior civil engineer and associate with JJR, LLC, in Madison, Wisc., where his responsibilities included project management and senior design engineering on several unique projects throughout the Great Lakes region.

Previous experience included several years with Ashland, Wisc., where he served as director of public works and city engineer. He began his career as an assistant county engineer in Iowa before serving the private sector for several years as a consulting engineer and project manager for local governments.

“I look forward to coordinating closely with both road commission boards and Mr. Csokasy in the coming weeks and months to ensure a smooth transition during this interim period,” Bolt said. “I plan to work hard to continue fostering outreach efforts and collaboration with our townships, villages and cities in an effort to improve and maintain our local transportation infrastructure.”

Leroy Krempec, Cass County Road Commission board chairman, said that both county road commission boards pledged their support for Bolt’s appointment. He said that Csokasy would continue working in an advisory capacity to the road commissions during the interim period.