San Juan County council adopts biannual EEO plan, cites underutilization in certain job categories

San Juan County council approved a resolution on May 12 to adopt the county’s biannual Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) plan covering July 1, 2023–June 30, 2028.

Matthew Bullock, the county’s human-resources and risk-management director, told the council the plan is primarily a strategic workforce document used for federal EEO-4 reporting and for federal-grant compliance. Bullock said recent federal guidance and an executive-order change prohibit quotas and require that local governments set aspirational goals rather than enforceable quotas.

Bullock highlighted the plan’s labor-market analysis: the county meets and slightly exceeds overall female parity (benchmark roughly 50.7%; county at about 53%), but it is underutilized in protective services and skilled-craft categories. He said the Hispanic/Latino availability figure was about 8% while utilization in county jobs was approximately 1.34%, leaving nearly a 7 percentage-point gap. Bullock described outreach goals to address those gaps and emphasized steps such as broader community outreach beyond standard job postings, training and onboarding improvements, and partnerships with local community groups.

Council members pressed for clarity about temporary positions (how separations were classified for reporting) and asked whether bilingual skills would be valued; Bullock and County Manager Jessica Hudson said language access and bilingual skills are priorities for the organization though federal reporting fields are constrained. A council member moved to approve a resolution executing the plan; the motion was seconded and approved on a voice vote.

The plan and the resolution will be used in federal grant applications and will guide outreach and hiring goals over the next two years of reporting.