ABOVE: The Martin County Board of Commissioners, back row, from left, Jaime Bleess, Kevin Kristenson, Joe Loughmiller, Richard Koons and Billeye Rabbe, with County Engineer Kevin Peyman who holds a plaque recognizing him as the Outstanding County Engineer of 2024.

AIRMONT– The Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday recognized County Engineer Kevin Peyman as Outstanding County Engineer of 2024. Peyman had received the award at the Minnesota County Engineers Association (MCEA) banquet on Jan. 23, 2025.

Lyndon Robjent, President of MCEA, said, “this is our highest award and recognizes extraordinary contributions made by Kevin to our association, the state of Minnesota and Martin County.”

Robjent said Peyman has been active on several MCEA committees, including a member of the board of directors and he’s also served as president of the association in the past.

“Kevin has and continues to mentor other county engineers and is very well respected in the entire engineering community,” Robjent said.

Addressing the board, Peyman shared that he’s spent over 24 years as the county engineer but has been with the county for 30 years.

He said that at the conference MnDOT said that 60 percent of county engineers in Minnesota have been in their roles for less than 10 years as there’s often a lot of turnover.

“I think what’s kept me around this long… having a great staff has made this job much easier. The other thing I think that’s helped keep me around this long, in 30 years there’s been a lot of board members that have come along and I can honestly say I’ve never had one bad board member. I’ve always felt on the same page as the commissioners and I’ve always felt supported and appreciated and that’s also gone a long way to make my job easier and keep me around,” Peyman said.

He had looked back to see the last time someone from District 7 (made up of 13 counties) received this award and shared that former Martin County Engineer, Bob Witty, received it in 1991 and Al Forsberg from Blue Earth County received it in 2012.

“To be the second person from our district since Bob won it… those who knew Bob knew he did a lot to keep me in this line of work and this job so it had some extra meaning to me,” Peyman said.

The board also thanked Kevin for his service to the county and presented him with a plaque during Tuesday’s meeting.