Yakima County keeps two Water Resources jobs open, grants holiday-pay exception for road supervisors

Yakima County commissioners on June 9 agreed to make exceptions to the county's position-control elimination policy for two long-vacant Water Resources positions and approved a temporary holiday-pay valuation exception for specific County Road supervisors working four-day (10-hour) schedules.

The decisions came during a Human Resources update at the Board of Yakima County Commissioners work session, where Human Resources staff outlined a series of personnel actions including an out-of-class extension for a district court employee, eliminations of some temporary positions and plans to reclassify others.

Judy, Human Resources staff, told commissioners the county would extend an out-of-class assignment for Stacy E. Lee in district court while a position description questionnaire is updated and a reorganization is finalized; the extension would be for up to six months. Judy also said a temporary juvenile correction officer position created to cover an employee on long-term workers' compensation leave was no longer needed because the underlying employee had separated from the county.

Judy described two long-vacant Water Resources posts that had reached the county's 12-month vacancy threshold under the position-control policy: an Engineering Technician 3 (vacant since August 2023) and a Natural Resource Specialist 3 (vacant since February 2024). She said the county had advertised the Engineering Technician 3 post five times (October 2023; January, February and April 2024; and August 2024) and the Natural Resource Specialist position four times (April and August 2024; January and March 2025) without hiring; there had been no recruitment activity since March 2025. Troy, Water Resources staff, told the board two new hires are expected next week and that the department plans another recruitment round in July or August.

Commissioner Curtis argued the roles are specialized and hard to fill. "These are highly technically, advanced, positions that everyone, whether you're at your state, federal government, are having a very difficult time finding people, to fill these roles, and, I would speak in favor of it," Curtis said. Aaron Cohen, president of CTP Union, urged the board to keep the positions open, adding, "Those are very crucial positions to keeping our land use permits going, and our long term, long range projects, having people to consult on those."

Judy said the position-control policy allows the board to make exceptions. Commissioners agreed to grant exceptions and keep the two Water Resources positions open for additional recruitment rather than automatically eliminating them.

Other personnel items discussed included a planned reclassification in County Roads: a vacant position would move from Engineering Technician 2 (survey crew) to Engineering Technician 3 (inspector) following a retirement; and Building and Fire Safety staff are eliminating a vacant Inspector 2 post as the department develops three new hybrid roles to cover plan review and other duties.

On holiday-pay valuation, Judy described a change driven by Washington state pay rules: the county moved two County Road classifications from exempt to nonexempt earlier this year, requiring those supervisors to record hours. When supervisors moved to a four-10 schedule in the summer, holidays that fall during their scheduled workweeks were being paid at an eight-hour value, creating a shortfall for those working 10-hour days. Judy said 11 nonrepresented employees currently work alternate schedules. The department asked for an exception to value the holiday at 10 hours for the affected individuals; Judy recommended either a limited exception for the identified employees or a broader policy change for all nonrepresented workers on alternate schedules.

Commissioner McKinney and Commissioner Curtis supported a limited exception for the Road supervisors identified by staff, and asked to schedule a separate executive-session policy discussion. "If we're going to do a policy look, I think it's important for us to meet in a separate executive session at another time to discuss that matter a little more," Judy said; the board directed staff to set up that follow-up session.

The board later met in executive session to discuss legal risk of a proposed policy or current practice "as allowed by RCW 40 two-thirty-one 100 and ten-one-three," then reconvened and reported no action or decisions were made in executive session.

Next steps stated at the meeting: Water Resources plans another recruitment cycle in July or August, HR will process the agreed exceptions and staff will schedule a separate executive-session briefing on possible policy changes to holiday-pay valuation and broader implications for nonrepresented employees working alternate schedules.