Grant County Watermaster Eric Julsrud in his office in June at the Grant County Courthouse.

As historic drought conditions persist and stream levels get lower, the Grant County Watermaster’s Office is moving into its busy season a month earlier this year with regulations beginning early — and the vacant assistant position not being refilled.

In two months, Grant County Watermaster Eric Julsrud, who works for the state of Oregon, will be the only one to handle the regulations and allotments across the county.

Hailey Hughes, assistant watermaster, resigned last month but agreed to work part-time for 12 weeks, working two days a week until September to get through the busy irrigation season.

During the June 23 session of Grant County Court, Julsrud told the court two of his supervisors told him getting the state to fund the county assistant position to replace Hughes was not going to happen.

Julsrud asked the court members if they were going to find a permanent replacement for Hughes.

“Where do we go from here?” he said. “It seems like a waste of everybody’s time and energy if everything’s up in the air.”

County Judge Scott Myers said the county was not able to fund the position beyond 12 weeks without state assistance. Myers said that includes part-time and seasonal.

Both Myers and County Commissioner Sam Palmer asked Julsrud if they could help him get funding for the position at the state level.

During a regular water regulation season, Julsrud said he is out all day taking care of regulation issues while his assistant works in the field and in the office renewing transfers and leases, which, if not done promptly, holds up the process in Salem.

Myers said he could help Julsrud with paperwork and phone calls should he need it.

Julsrud said those people needing replies to phone calls and emails are going to have to wait if he does not have an assistant.

He said providing a resource to somebody with senior water rights for their economic benefit would be the priority.

Assistant watermaster’s departure

Hughes, who had been with the county for nearly two decades, said she saw the “writing on the wall” after budget sessions this year where the committee mulled eliminating positions while the county looked to fill holes in its budget.

Budget members questioned why Hughes, a county employee working in the state Watermaster’s Office, was not paid by the state. The committee members also questioned why other county departments had certain positions.

Julsrud told the Budget Committee that an effort within the Oregon Water Resources Department has been going on to fund county assistants for several years, and they have successfully brought them on as state employees in Umatilla and Malheur counties. However, he said it has been challenging to get funding in the Oregon State Legislature over the years.

The state cannot backfill the assistant position until the 2023 legislative session at the earliest, he said.

Hughes said she had to make a “career decision.”

“It appears there is not a single department that would be exempt,” she said. “I have to plan for the future.”

Hughes, now a lead dispatcher at the Oregon Department of Forestry, said she would have worked with the county for the rest of her career and has no hard feelings.

However, she said that county leadership has a responsibility to be fiscally responsible.