Submitted Photo Ward County Engineer Dana Larsen, left, receives the Presidents Award from Lee Brandvold, North Dakota Township Officers president, on Dec. 2.

Ward County Engineer Dana Larsen received the Presidents Award from the North Dakota Township Officers Association during its annual convention in Bismarck Dec. 2-3.

The award is presented to an individual who is not a township officer but has provided outstanding service to townships.

Larsen, who grew up on a farm and ranch south of Grenora, started work with the Ward County Highway Department as an assistant county engineer in 1999. In 2008, he was promoted to his current position as head county engineer.

According to his nomination, Larsen always has been willing over the years to work with or give advice to township officers needing help with building or maintaining roads.

Even though he has a full schedule of county work, this year he found time to submit the grant applications to the North Dakota Department of Transportation for the Ward County townships that needed road repair and culverts. Of the three Ward County township applications Larsen helped submit, all three projects were funded. The total of the township grant projects was more than $370,000.