diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskDeleteRunner.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskDeleteRunner.java
index 2fbf7a3a7..c4473e209 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskDeleteRunner.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskDeleteRunner.java
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public void run() {
                 task.setDeleted(true);
                 minion.tasks.remove(task.getJobKey().toString());
                 log.warn("[task.delete] {} terminated={}", task.getJobKey(), terminated);
-                minion.writeState();
+                minion.writeState(true);
             }
             File taskDirFile = new File(minion.rootDir + "/" + delete.getJobUuid() + (delete.getNodeID() != null ? "/" + delete.getNodeID() : ""));
             if (taskDirFile.exists() && taskDirFile.isDirectory()) {
@@ -52,6 +52,5 @@ public void run() {
         } finally {
             minion.minionStateLock.unlock();
         }
-
     }
 }
diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskRevertRunner.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskRevertRunner.java
index 566440015..a5bff10e1 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskRevertRunner.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskRevertRunner.java
@@ -63,6 +63,6 @@ public void run() {
                 log.warn("[task.revert] " + task.getJobKey() + " completed in " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - time) + "ms.");
             }
         }
-        minion.writeState();
+        minion.writeState(true);
     }
 }
diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskStopRunner.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskStopRunner.java
index 6f61d19e1..5aec1ff4a 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskStopRunner.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/CommandTaskStopRunner.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public void run() {
                 task.sendEndStatus(task.findLastJobStatus());
             }
         }
-        minion.writeState();
+        minion.writeState(true);
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/JobTask.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/JobTask.java
index 9072c1668..eb9f61d16 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/JobTask.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/JobTask.java
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
-import java.util.function.Function;
 
 import com.addthis.basis.util.LessBytes;
 import com.addthis.basis.util.LessFiles;
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@
 import com.addthis.codec.annotations.FieldConfig;
 import com.addthis.codec.codables.Codable;
 import com.addthis.codec.json.CodecJSON;
-import com.addthis.hydra.job.*;
+import com.addthis.hydra.job.BackupWorkItem;
+import com.addthis.hydra.job.JobTaskErrorCode;
+import com.addthis.hydra.job.JobTaskState;
+import com.addthis.hydra.job.ReplicateWorkItem;
+import com.addthis.hydra.job.RunTaskWorkItem;
 import com.addthis.hydra.job.backup.DailyBackup;
 import com.addthis.hydra.job.backup.GoldBackup;
 import com.addthis.hydra.job.backup.HourlyBackup;
@@ -446,7 +450,7 @@ private List<String> assembleBackupCommandsForHost(boolean local, ReplicaTarget
                 }
             }
         }
-        minion.writeState();
+        minion.writeState(true);
         return copyCommands;
     }
 
@@ -1255,7 +1259,7 @@ public boolean stopWait(File[] pidFiles, boolean kill) {
         return result;
     }
 
-    private void resetStartTime() {
+    protected void resetStartTime() {
         if (isRunning()) {
             startTime = 0;
         } else if (isReplicating()) {
@@ -1263,7 +1267,7 @@ private void resetStartTime() {
         } else if (isBackingUp()) {
             backupStartTime = 0;
         }
-        minion.writeState();
+        minion.writeState(true);
     }
 
     public File getLiveDir() {
diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/Minion.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/Minion.java
index dedb6353f..83dedb0f8 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/Minion.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/Minion.java
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ private Minion(@JsonProperty("dataDir") File rootDir,
             if (liveEverywhereMarkerFile.createNewFile()) {
                 log.info("cutover to live-everywhere tasks");
             }
-            writeState();
+            writeState(false);
             if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(queueType)) {
                 runner = new TaskRunner(this);
                 runner.start();
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ public void insertJobKickMessage(CommandTaskKick kick) {
         } finally {
             minionStateLock.unlock();
         }
-        writeState();
+        writeState(true);
     }
 
     void kickNextJob() throws Exception {
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ void kickNextJob() throws Exception {
                             log.warn("[kick] exception while trying to kick {}", task.getName(), ex);
                             task.sendEndStatus(JobTaskErrorCode.EXIT_SCRIPT_EXEC_ERROR);
                         }
-                        writeState();
+                        writeState(true);
                         return;
                     }
                 } finally {
@@ -581,10 +581,10 @@ private boolean updateTaskMeta(String jobID, File taskRoot) throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
-    void writeState() {
+    void writeState(boolean append) {
         minionStateLock.lock();
         try {
-            LessFiles.write(stateFile, LessBytes.toBytes(CodecJSON.encodeString(this)), false);
+            LessFiles.write(stateFile, LessBytes.toBytes(CodecJSON.encodeString(this)), append);
         } catch (IOException io) {
             log.warn("Error writing minion state to disk: ", io);
             /* assume disk failure: set diskReadOnly=true and exit */
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ JobTask createNewTask(String jobID, int node) throws ExecException {
         log.info("[task.new] restore {}/{} root={}", task.id, task.node, task.taskRoot);
         tasks.put(task.getJobKey().toString(), task);
         task.initializeFileVariables();
-        writeState();
+        writeState(true);
         return task;
     }
 
@@ -842,7 +842,7 @@ public boolean getShutdown() {
                 minionGroupMembership.removeFromGroup("/minion/up", getUUID());
                 zkClient.close();
             }
-            writeState();
+            writeState(true);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/TaskRunner.java b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/TaskRunner.java
index 209c25dce..6be0120f9 100644
--- a/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/TaskRunner.java
+++ b/hydra-main/src/main/java/com/addthis/hydra/minion/TaskRunner.java
@@ -60,7 +60,13 @@ public void stopTaskRunner() {
                 minion.channel.basicAck(delivery.getEnvelope().getDeliveryTag(), false);
             } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
                 log.warn("Interrupted while processing task messages");
-                minion.shutdown();
+                try {
+                    minion.close();
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                    log.error("Minion close throws an exception", e);
+                } finally {
+                    minion.shutdown();
+                }
             } catch (ShutdownSignalException shutdownException) {
                 log.warn("Received unexpected shutdown exception from rabbitMQ", shutdownException);
                 try {
@@ -80,7 +86,13 @@ public void stopTaskRunner() {
                 if (!(ex instanceof ExecException)) {
                     log.error("Error nacking message", ex);
                 }
-                minion.shutdown();
+                try {
+                    minion.close();
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                    log.error("Minion close throws an exception", e);
+                } finally {
+                    minion.shutdown();
+                }
             }
         }
     }