It seems that many people will be talking about differences in the views of political parties for the next few months. I’d like to make a list of problems that seem invariant to what political party is in power; and also ideas that different parties agree on.
The Hotshot Wakeup recently reported on some new fire hires at Bly Ranger District on the Fremont-Winema not getting paid, and not being able to get that fixed. It just reminds me of when Dan Dallas transferred to become Supervisor on the Rio Grande (15-20 year ago?) and wasn’t getting paid. There was so much of this going on that we established a strike team in the RO to focus on getting people paid. I don’t know exactly what they did to help, but we did have HR people still in the Regional Office.
I remember discussing it at a Regional Leadership Team meeting, and our Regional Forester wondering whether maybe our Region could transfer its HR to the BLM office in Denver..if it didn’t improve by some date.
I’ve told this story before, and it might be more relevant now that nurseries are coming back into vogue. When I worked (at a genetics lab) located at the Placerville Nursery, a person named Gina was in charge of getting people paid. She was very clear that paying people was her #1 priority, and that the wage grade “lift and pack” people were particularly important. I’m sure there are people today who feel the same way about people getting paid. It is a mystery why this continues to be a problem, since many good people have come and gone working on precisely this for at least 20ish years. Does anyone out there understand this? Have ideas for fixing that haven’t been tried? What reports and lessons learned are out there?
So, moving everything to ABQ didn’t fix this issue?? 😉
Apparently that was in 2006. From this article:
“As a result, many human resources employees scattered around the country will either lose their jobs or transfer to Albuquerque. About a quarter of the jobs added to the state by the new center will be filled by New Mexico residents and the rest will be filled by Forest Service transfers, said Hank Kashdan, Forest Service deputy chief for business operations. Not all of the positions held now will be refilled because of what the agency calls redundancy.
The consolidation is calculated to save $22 million a year, according to Forest Service budget documents. When combined with other streamlining efforts, including in information technology and financial management, savings are expected to reach $241 million over five years.
Agriculture Department Secretary Mike Johanns said the “change enables the Forest Service to redirect crucial funds from administrative functions back to mission-critical programs.”
The Forest Service opened the Albuquerque center in February 2005 for budget and finance operations.
Agency officials called the centralized office “the most significant change to [the Forest Service’s] business practices since its founding in 1905.” To commemorate the addition of the human resources functions, Johanns toured the three-story Albuquerque facility with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M, and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M, on Wednesday.”
I don’t think we need to guess which gender was involved in losing jobs, and what grade levels, in what kinds of communities. I don’t think that sort of analysis was done in those days.
I know Gina very well! She was always the biggest over-achiever I have ever seen in the Forest Service. She was a GS-4 Step 10 for so long, running the payrolls for hundreds of people at a time. She knew personnel stuff inside and out, and could get anything fixed that needed it. PLUS, she was the most cheerful and funny person you’re ever going to meet. She did finally go to the Supervisor’s Office to get good promotions before retiring.
She’ll be very happy to know that she is remembered. She now is married (again) and living in western Canada.