Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
DEQ credits pay increases for lower turnover, warns reduced monitoring risks public-health responsiveness
Summary
The Department of Environmental Quality told JFAC targeted pay raises have cut turnover from about 23% to 11% and vacancy to roughly 5%, but staff reductions have also reduced water-quality monitoring and harmful-algal-bloom surveillance, raising concerns about responsiveness and primacy.
Jess Byrne, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, briefed the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on DEQ’s staffing, grants and program capacity.
Byrne credited last year’s targeted pay increases with cutting turnover from as high as 23% to about 11% and reducing vacant permanent classified positions to roughly 5%: "We've reduced our turnover rate down to 11%. And we've cut our vacancy rate in more than half. So, our current vacancy…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
