(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says more than 26 hundred state employees have transitioned to a different state agency after her state government reorganization plan took effect July 1st. The number of state agencies has been cut from 37 down to 16. Over 500 open positions in state government have been eliminated. Reynolds says the workforce may shrink more as state employees resign or retire.

“We’re going to continue to look at ways that we can be lean and mean and just really provide a one-stop shop for Iowans,” Reynolds says. Reynolds hired a consulting firm to examine how other states operated, examine agencies within the executive branch of Iowa’s state government and come up with a realignment plan to present to the legislature. The governor says that was critical because her small staff didn’t have the capacity to do an enterprise wide assessment.