CLEMSON — Clemson is looking for a new city engineer and applications are presently being accepted through July 1.

City Administrator Rick Cotton said the position was vacated when Ben Rankin, who served in that capacity for more than eight years, departed earlier this month to accept a job in Washington State. Cotton called Rankin “a very competent engineer” who would be missed.

“The city engineer is a critical part of the management team and, obviously, he was here long enough to assist in a number of public and private projects that contributed to what you see in Clemson today,” Cotton said.

Mayor Larry Abernathy described Rankin as “an excellent city engineer who served us well.”

“He was a hard worker but, most importantly, a friend who endeared himself to everyone in the city of Clemson,” Abernathy said. “But he got this new job that closely resembles that of a city administrator, and while Washington State is about as far away from Clemson as you can get, it’s a beautiful, beautiful part of the country.

“This will give him the opportunity to expand professionally, but we’ll miss him.”

Cotton said he hopes to have a new city engineer on board in early September.