OWRD asks Board to consider hiring assistant water master amid staffing shortages

Tom Skiles told the Board that the Watermaster's Office is operating with two fewer positions than authorized and that current staff are covering administrative tasks such as phone answering and water-rights investigations for roughly 10 hours per week, reducing service availability.

Skiles made a soft request that the Board consider hiring an assistant water master and offered to provide further data or formalize the request; Commissioner Minty said she would bring the matter to a finance meeting for follow-up. No formal hiring action was taken at this meeting.