Gonzalez: County expects more employees to leave

PASCO — County Administrator Mike Gonzalez expects county government to lose nearly a third of its employees in the coming months.

During a Franklin County Commission meeting Tuesday, July 25, Gonzalez said 32.5% of county employees are expected to leave.

“Despite rising morale at the courthouse, we are still set to lose a percentage of employees,” he told county commissioners.

Retention and hiring of employees has been an issue across a large swath of industries and government agencies since Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 shutdown mandates in 2020.

As a result, the county has worked to increase pay and improve the overall environment to attract a new generation of people to operate the courthouse.

But the efforts have fallen short of their goal, Gonzalez said noting the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has multiple openings in a field that generally pays well.

Gonzalez spoke of a salary study currently being conducted by Consor, a consulting service contracted by the county, to assist in planning future recruitment strategies.

The hope of the study is to find ways to promote monetary incentives for potential hires for the county, he said.

Gonzalez has vowed to update commissioners on the employee shortage issue at every meeting.