A cascade of issues including inflation and growing distrust in government aren’t helping local governments hire for critical positions in public safety and utilities.
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
ZAVALLA — Earl Norrod thought he was finished working when he retired from the city of Lufkin water department 10 years ago.
But amid a nationwide labor shortage — and a particular dearth of qualified government workers in small towns — the 76-year-old has been in and out of employment.
Since 2018, Norrod has been tapped three times to help the nearby small town of Zavalla with its water system. The working-class community of fewer than 700 people struggles with aging water infrastructure and lacks the budget and skilled workforce to fix it. Last year, the problems intensified after water line breaks and system failures left residents without potable drinking water for nearly 10 days — and a boil-water notice during the Thanksgiving holiday. Adding to the disaster: Two well workers and the city’s public works director resigned during the debacle.
Norrod, content in retirement at the time, stepped up.
“I’m just trying to help them get back on their feet,” Norrod said. “I don’t want a full-time job. I don’t even want a full-time temporary job.”
Across the country, a labor shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic has left employers scrambling to fill vacant positions. Local governments...
Blow the whistle, get paid. A Justice Department bounty program that incentivizes employees to blow the whistle on their employers could lead to more whistleblowing as the Trump administration inte...