Bureau fills licensing and lab leadership roles, plans additional field hires

The Bureau of Household Goods and Services reported multiple internal promotions and recent hires as it fills vacancies and expands field capacity.

Rita Wall, the bureau representative presenting personnel updates, said Jacqueline Castro has been promoted to licensing manager and that the bureau created a new executive secretary position filled by Melissa Del Duca. The bureau also hired Scott Gilbert as an information officer and added Erin Bertone to the licensing unit as an analyst.

In the lab, Rosemarie Pagoda (reported elsewhere as Rosemarie Picota) returned to the bureau as lab supervisor after serving previously as a chemist; Jacob Edgar was promoted to an environmental scientist position and the bureau is close to filling an additional environmental scientist vacancy. The bureau plans recruitments to replace two textile technician positions and to fill two staff services analyst positions in the compliance unit. The field will add four special investigators to be located remotely across the state.

Why it matters: staff additions and promotions are intended to bolster licensing, lab capacity and enforcement across the state as the bureau transitions to expanded enforcement sweeps and new testing workloads.

Council members were introduced to the new hires during the meeting; no formal personnel votes were taken. The bureau said additional hiring announcements will be made as candidates are appointed and that several roles remain open.

Ending: The bureau emphasized that filling vacancies remains a priority to sustain enforcement, testing and licensing workloads.