A cascade of issues including inflation and growing distrust in government aren’t helping local governments hire for critical positions in public safety and utilities. texas kprc2 click2houston
from the pandemic, municipalities continue to face staffing shortages. More than 6,000 local government jobs remain vacant, according to an estimate from the Texas Workforce Commission. A general distrust of the government and an inability to offer competitive wages to recruit top talent have made some positions especially difficult to fill, city and county leaders say.
Bailey, who resides in Zavalla, is the fourth public works director the town has seen in the past five years. His predecessor left the position in November after working 22-hour days following the disastrous water crisis last year. Those who were in the role before him also left for other jobs, according to multiple city employees.
Small towns typically hire workers at a base level and then educate them to the point where they can obtain their licenses. Zavalla is taking this strategy, hiring local resident Cody Day to work under Bailey and work toward a wastewater license. But obtaining a water license is not always easy. According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, only 17% of people who took the test in 2022 to obtain the highest-level water operator license passed it.
Former Mayor Carlos Guzman speaks about his leadership role during the boil-water notice in Zavalla on Feb. 1.“We can only pay so much,” said Carlos Guzman, the former town mayor. “We can’t pay top salaries, and that can hinder us.” “People in the public-sector jobs are seeing their real incomes erode because these entities are constrained by tax revenue,” Orrenius said. “They can’t raise their wages in real time like the private-sector companies are doing to prevent turnover.”
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