Elevated from the comments, observations from former Reclamation manager Doug Blatchford:
WHEN I joined the Reclamation team in 2005 as the River Operation Manager on the Colorado River, part of my duties was to prepare a business plan to direct future business decisions based on the operations budget and services required (like delivering water to 20 million people). Part of the business plan was succession planning; I estimated it took at least 5 years to hire a replacement for say, the oracle data base manager, and that hire would shadow the retiree to affect a smooth transition. Just letting experienced (20, 30, 40 yr employees…) retire without planning was difficult enough inside the Federal system, let alone just taking a wrecking ball and eliminating 40 percent of the work force.
So what could happen? What kept me up at night was mostly public safety, meaning what could go wrong that would threaten life and limb because of faulty operations, much like managing an air traffic control system, except less dynamic. Imagine :
–an overworked field crew in 120 degree heat installs the a gage shaft encoder that reads the lake going up, instead of going down as it should
–screwing up the distribution of flows at Imperial Dam to Arizona, California, and/or excess flow to Mexico
–not having the modeling staff to provide the 5-yr probabilistic forecast
–reduced skill level in the forecast from CBRFC
–foregoing special requests to raise or lower Havasu water surface elevations, such as the parade of lights
–not being able to respond quickly enough to dynamic operations during a monsoon or hurricane event, and accidentally releasing more water /and or not retaining the water behind the dams, or worse, an atomospheric river that hits a higher water surface elevation at Havasu that pulses the lake over the top of the dam
and on and on and on …not to mention staff moral, which is a from a dedication based on service, less on monetary incentive
I wholeheartedly agree with Doug’s comments as my own experiences was detailed in his summary. I came on board in 1992 and was hired by Hoover Dam as their ‘outside man’ in supporting communications, computers, control systems and ‘other duties as assigned’ as we say in the government. One of those duties was supporting the Water Operations Group. That was a side line that actually devoured me and eventually became my main tasking. It was a unique position that was technically and physically challenging. The position took me everywhere on the Lower Colorado River interfacing with different stakeholders.
This is the type of job that you learn hands-on in dealing with other agencies on their own turf and you are measuring the water they get from the river. You don’t learn these skills in school. The term for this is ‘institutional knowledge’. This is what Doug was talking about. It takes time to pass on these skills to your successor. For mine, it took half a dozen years before he felt comfortable.
One thing that Doug didn’t touch on was the ‘ownership’ that staff took in their positions. It was a pleasure being part of that. How do you maintain that level of expertise during a Reduction in Force RIF or early buyout. One month they are there – the next month they are gone. The knowledge and skillset walking out the door with with them. I hear the same story with my old cohorts at Hoover Dam.
This is not unique to Reclamation. You will hear the same with our counterparts in the Corps of Engineers or the USGS. I’m sure that other Federal Agencies are wondering how they can continue to support their core missions.
Cutting costs has always been something we’ve contended within the Federal Government. The term most often used is ‘right sizing’. The actions used being the RIF and/or Buyout. It will be an interesting time ahead.