Ted's Regional Visits

By Rebekah Padgett

In an unprecedented effort by an agency director, Ted Sturdevant is heading to all of Ecology’s offices to spend time getting to know the regions and the work that we do.  May 10-13 was NWRO’s turn.  Ted kicked off the visit by meeting with the Regional Management Team and then held an All Staff Meeting.  There was a lot of emotion in the room as applause broke out in support of staff concerns about furloughs.  Ted met with many of the program sections and went on a few tours. 

While most of the visit was heavily programmed with program section meetings and tours, and there was little opportunity for one-on-one contact with staff, our RD made sure that I got in to chat with Ted (thank you Jeannie!).  I had a good meeting with Ted in which we discussed several issues from workload to furloughs to the need for action on geographic pay.  Throughout our meeting I pointed out that the dollar doesn’t stretch as far here as it does elsewhere, so each of these cuts deeper for staff at NWRO.  I also told him that the furlough is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many.  He indicated that being in our office, talking with us this week, did build his understanding of the challenges we face in this region. 

Ted committed to talking with Jay Manning (former ECY Director and current Chief of Staff for Gov. Gregoire) about the furlough issue.  He later told me that there was a “vigorous discussion” at the cabinet retreat last week that included the Governor, but you see where that got us.

I followed up by sending Ted the geographic pay report that we provided to Jeannie, Jay, and Gov. Gregoire.  By the way, if anyone is willing to spend some time updating the report with more current data/research, let me know.

Ted has already made it to NWRO and CRO, but as he makes his rounds to other regions, be sure to get in to talk with him about regional issues, the salary survey, and how the cuts are hurting you (increased health care costs, furloughs, pay inequity with peers outside of the agency, etc.). 

We asked that he make more time in his schedule for one-on-one meetings with staff.  Here’s the current schedule for upcoming visits:

SWRO: split over 6/9-6/10 and 9/13-9/14
BFO: tentatively 7/14-7/15
ERO: week of 7/19

Note: A request to provide time for individual appointments has been made to the SWRO Regional Director.   ■