WYDOT struggles to recruit, retain employees

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Department of Transportation continues to struggle to recruit and retain employees, a problem reported by many other state agencies in recent budgetary hearings. 
Lawmakers were made aware of the issue Monday at the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee meeting dedicated to agency budget requests. 
WYDOT Director Luke Reiner was joined by the department’s budget manager and chief financial officer to present the agency’s anticipated revenue and appropriations for fiscal year 2023, and they started with workforce concerns. 
Although Reiner said WYDOT’s employee numbers have stabilized in the past six months, after the Legislature approved a raise, there are still gaps. 
He said this specifically applies to maintainers, such as snowplow drivers, state troopers, dispatchers, fuel tax examiners and engineers. 
“Our primary focus, for me on down throughout the organization, is manning,” he said. “We’re certainly working to retain who we have and to recruit to fill the holes.” 
Gov. Mark Gordon has recommended another state employee compensation increase in his 2023-24 supplemental budget, which would bring additional money to the department for employees. 
This is also with the hope of recruiting and retaining personnel throughout state agencies such as WYDOT. He said he knows the public is aware of the vacancies for snowplow drivers and maintenance crews, but the same is true for “essential workers where the vacancy rate is approaching 50%.”
“State agencies have expanded the other programs they use to attract employees with more flexible hours and teleworking, and still, our wages have not kept up. We see this in the fact that many agencies are dealing with worrying amounts of vacancies,” Gordon wrote in his budget message. “For example, in public safety, we are down 140 correctional officers and 44 Highway Patrol troopers.” 
Reiner gave an updated number for state troopers Monday, and said there are currently 50 open positions. 

He said there has been a pay equity adjustment that will be partnered with an employee compensation increase recommended by the governor. 
“In terms of the morale of the force, I sense that it’s improving. I see greater improvements coming down the horizon,” he said. “I will tell you the current men and women who are working for us are serious about service to the state.” 
Taylor Rossetti, who is responsible for WYDOT support services, also emphasized the high number of vacancies throughout the department in the agency’s presentation. 
He said WYDOT is averaging close to 300 vacant positions for fiscal year 2022, and the vacancy percentage is up to nearly 14.65%. 
He said five years ago they were at close to 9%, and a decade ago, it was only 5%. 
The department is still trying to recruit as many employees as possible. According to Budget Manager Rodney Frier, WYDOT currently has 155 job postings online. 
“There are 235 positions attached to those 155 postings,” he said. “So, we are still continuing to aggressively recruit the vast majority of those positions that are vacant.” 
He said he hopes if there is another round of pay increases, it will make it easier to fill these positions, because there was a softening of the workforce exodus in July. 
Fier said they anticipate any additional adjustments would assist with recruitment. 
This would be the largest assistance from the state general fund if it were approved, because the budget for WYDOT is not similar to other agencies in Wyoming. 
No general fund appropriations were requested for biennial fiscal year 2023 because the revenues streams come from other sources. 
Around 55% is derived from federal aid, 13.9% from fuel taxes, 10.3% from vehicle registrations and 11.4% from other areas. 
Smaller percentages of anticipated revenue also comes from vehicle fees, drivers licenses, royalties and severance taxes. 
Decisions will be made regarding additional state employee raises and the 2023-24 supplemental budget during the Legislature’s general session, which begins Jan. 10.
 
This story was published on Dec. 14, 2022.