ODOT clarifies Region 5 hiring push amidst budget restrictions

By Garrett Christensen on Thursday, October 26th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

LA GRANDE – Following ODOT’s previous announcement of service and maintenance cutbacks (which can be found here) there has been some confusion on the current state of staffing in Region 5, and ODOT continuing to advertise vacant positions. According to Region 5 Manager Ken Patterson, many ODOT positions were previously made vacant due to retirements, promotions, and other voluntary staff transfers/departures. Even prior to the recent service reductions and budget constraints, many of these positions were unable to be filled due to a lack of qualified applicants along with competition from other similar jobs. Despite the cutbacks, however, ODOT still plans to fill some of the vacancies, hence the continued advertisement for positions. That said, many vacant positions will, as originally mentioned, be kept vacant to help conserve funds, with ODOT Region 5 planning to operate at less than its full staff complement this season.

Oddly enough though, the limited hiring that is still taking place might mean that Region 5 could actually end up with more staff than last winter. As mentioned by Patterson:

“Truth is, if we were able to refill this year’s open positions, utilizing this year’s budget management restrictions, we would be better staffed than last year.”To summarize, despite ODOT planning to leave a large number of positions vacant this year due to budget constraints, a limited amount of hiring is still taking place to fill positions that became vacant last year due to staff being moved around or retiring. Because Region 5 was somewhat understaffed last winter, this limited amount of hiring might mean they still end up with more staff compared to last year but will not be allowed to hire to full capacity due to the cutbacks.

Going forward, Patterson reiterated that the Region 5 team will still do what they can despite budget and staff restrictions, stating:

“We don’t like going into winter with less than a full complement of staff, but we have been there before and will continue to do the best we can with the resources we have.”