Town of Bluff council members and staff spent a council workshop session on staffing and succession planning, agreeing to document critical tasks, pursue internships and training partnerships, and set deadlines for handover materials.

The discussion centered on three practical problems: difficulty recruiting for appointed boards and administrative roles; limited town budget to pay for expanded staff; and an overreliance on a small number of people for many recurring tasks. Workshop participants agreed to produce role‑based documentation and to test recruitment options such as internships, interlocal agreements and stipends.

At the meeting facilitator Erin (workshop facilitator) asked council and staff to fill out worksheets listing role‑specific duties, key contacts, and systems people rely on. Participants were assigned two near‑term deliverables: a completed worksheet due by 4 p.m. before the council meeting on the 14th, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for critical tasks due by 5 p.m. on Oct. 31. Erin described the Oct. 31 package as a “drop‑dead” handoff that would allow the town to continue business if a key staff member left suddenly.

Council and staff debated the size and staffing of appointed boards. One participant raised whether the five‑member planning and zoning board is required by state law and whether that number could be reduced now that the town has a building department. No definitive legal citation was produced in the workshop; participants treated any change as contingent on state requirements. A separate proposal from staff revisions suggested an “ideal” of five members for planning and zoning, with a minimum of three members for other committees to ensure continuity while reducing overlap across volunteer roles.

On pay and incentives, Michael (participant) suggested stipends: “I was gonna suggest to pay a stipend,” he said. Staff and council discussed using internships or apprenticeships with Utah State University and the state Department of Workforce to train candidates for bookkeeping and other specialized tasks; one speaker reported the department of workforce could reimburse roughly 50 percent of a training program. Participants also discussed recruiting employees or contractors from neighboring municipalities such as Blanding and Monticello, and using remote contractors for bookkeeping where practical.

Budget constraints featured prominently. Several participants noted the town’s limited capacity to pay market wages for specialized positions. One participant said smaller towns rely heavily on in‑kind volunteer contributions and that asking the same people to perform multiple roles risks burnout. Workshop discussion emphasized prioritizing sustainable, long‑term approaches rather than expanding paid staff without a funding plan.

Operational proposals included consolidating some duties into a front‑desk role that could combine bookkeeping, note‑taking and customer service; setting clearer public office hours rather than a constantly open schedule; and improving the town website and public educational materials to reduce phone inquiries. Participants recommended documenting which tasks are legal requirements and which are locally developed practices, and capturing logins and critical contacts in a secure handoff system rather than publishing passwords.

Participants also noted practical barriers to interlocal hiring: staff reported attempts to recruit bookkeeping support from Blanding, Monticello and San Juan County had limited success because neighboring governments were already at capacity. Several staff members volunteered to help cross‑train successors and to turn recurring tasks into quarterly or monthly checklists to ease transitions.

The meeting closed with a plan for follow up: council and staff will return completed worksheets and draft SOPs by the assigned deadlines, and staff will compile the items into an actionable list aligned with the town’s strategic plan for future meetings. No motions or formal votes were taken during the workshop session.

The discussion addressed immediate administrative continuity and recruitment challenges and laid out concrete next steps—documenting responsibilities, piloting apprenticeships or internships, and evaluating modest incentives—while flagging budget limits and the need to confirm any legal constraints on board composition.