diff --git a/service/src/config.ts b/service/src/config.ts
index eba1781..9c1a6f2 100644
--- a/service/src/config.ts
+++ b/service/src/config.ts
@@ -82,6 +82,13 @@ export const { config } = await libConfig({
       },
     },
     syncTicket: {
+      enable: {
+        doc: 'Enable the syncTicket service to find new work within Zendesk',
+        format: Boolean,
+        default: true,
+        env: 'SERVICE_SYNC_TICKET_ENABLE',
+        arg: 'service-sync-ticket-enable',
+      },
       timeout: {
         doc: 'Time limit for processing a ticket archive',
         format: Number,
diff --git a/service/src/index.ts b/service/src/index.ts
index e9799d9..f5e11e8 100644
--- a/service/src/index.ts
+++ b/service/src/index.ts
@@ -59,12 +59,16 @@ async function run() {
       concurrency: config.get('zendesk.concurrency'),
     });
 
-    log.info('Initialize `archiveTicket` service');
-    service.on(
-      'syncTicket',
-      config.get('service.syncTicket.timeout'),
-      syncTicketService,
-    );
+    if (config.get('service.syncTicket.enable')) {
+      log.info('Initialize `syncTicket` service');
+      service.on(
+        'syncTicket',
+        config.get('service.syncTicket.timeout'),
+        syncTicketService,
+      );
+    } else {
+      log.info('syncTicket service disabled.');
+    }
 
     log.info('Start @oada/jobs based services');
     await service.start();
diff --git a/service/src/services/poller.ts b/service/src/services/poller.ts
index ddaed06..2ec778b 100644
--- a/service/src/services/poller.ts
+++ b/service/src/services/poller.ts
@@ -85,8 +85,10 @@ export function pollerService(logOrig: Logger, oada: OADAClient): CronJob {
 
           // Update Zendesk with the new state, but only if changed. Otherwise, Zendesk tickets are flodded with "useless" updates
           if (
-            currentState !== nextState.state ||
-            currentStatus !== nextState.status
+            (nextState.state !== undefined &&
+              currentState !== nextState.state) ||
+            (nextState.status !== undefined &&
+              currentStatus !== nextState.status)
           ) {
             await setTrellisState(log, ticket, nextState);
           }
@@ -119,13 +121,15 @@ async function computeNextState(
   const currentState =
     getTicketFieldValue(ticket, config.get('zendesk.fields.state')) ?? '';
 
+  log.trace({ currentState }, 'Lookup ticket currentState');
+
   if (currentState !== '' && currentState !== STATE_PENDING) {
     log.trace(
       { currentState },
       `Poller found a ticket already post ${STATE_PENDING}. Keeping current state.`,
     );
 
-    return { state: currentState, status: undefined };
+    return { state: undefined, status: undefined };
   }
 
   // **Should** always have a customer ID if ZenDesk is configured correctly (i.e., a trigger that requires it to "solve")
diff --git a/service/src/zd/utils.ts b/service/src/zd/utils.ts
index 71f9416..f319ea8 100644
--- a/service/src/zd/utils.ts
+++ b/service/src/zd/utils.ts
@@ -39,8 +39,6 @@ export async function callTypedApi<T>(
   key: string,
   cnf?: AxiosRequestConfig,
 ): Promise<T> {
-  log.trace(`Making credentialed API request: ${url}`);
-
   const data = await makeCredentialedGetRequest<Record<string, T>>(
     log,
     url,
@@ -110,9 +108,9 @@ export async function makeCredentialedGetRequest<T>(
     return {
       buffer: r.data,
     } as T;
-  } else {
-    return r.data as T;
   }
+
+  return r.data as T;
 }
 
 export async function makeCredentialedPutRequest(
@@ -152,7 +150,7 @@ export function indexById<T extends { id: number | string }>(
 
 // TYPES
 export interface TrellisState {
-  state: string;
+  state: string | undefined;
   status: string | undefined;
 }
 
diff --git a/service/src/zd/zendesk.ts b/service/src/zd/zendesk.ts
index 61544ca..a18564d 100644
--- a/service/src/zd/zendesk.ts
+++ b/service/src/zd/zendesk.ts
@@ -368,12 +368,14 @@ export async function setTrellisState(
     return;
   }
 
-  const updates = [
-    {
+  const updates: Array<{ id: string | number; value: string | number }> = [];
+
+  if (state.state) {
+    updates.push({
       id: config.get('zendesk.fields.state'),
       value: state.state,
-    },
-  ];
+    });
+  }
 
   if (state.status) {
     updates.push({
@@ -382,7 +384,11 @@ export async function setTrellisState(
     });
   }
 
-  await setCustomField(log, ticket, updates);
+  if (updates.length) {
+    await setCustomField(log, ticket, updates);
+  } else {
+    log.debug('No state change to update');
+  }
 }
 
 export async function setTicketStatus(