diff --git a/.github/workflows/issue-ops-triage.yml b/.github/workflows/issue-ops-triage.yml
index ba265cd..eb84e58 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/issue-ops-triage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/issue-ops-triage.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: true
 jobs:
   triage:
-    if: vars.IO_ENABLED == 'true'
+    # Skip bot-authored issues (e.g. Renovate's Dependency Dashboard): their `edited` events
+    # fire this trigger but carry no author_association to trust-tier, and errored at 0s (#17).
+    if: vars.IO_ENABLED == 'true' && github.event.issue.user.type != 'Bot'
     uses: wave-av/wave-foundation/.github/workflows/io-triage.yml@5d0b9e1a35efdb6d4e2ba55c483af670b69a8470
     permissions:
       contents: read
@@ -20,6 +22,7 @@ jobs:
       scripts_ref: "5d0b9e1a35efdb6d4e2ba55c483af670b69a8470"
       owner: ${{ vars.IO_OWNER }}
     secrets:
-      gh_pat: ${{ secrets.ISSUE_OPS_PAT }}
+      # gh_pat dropped (#17): ISSUE_OPS_PAT is absent org/repo-wide; IO_USE_APP=true uses the App
+      # token, and the reusable io-triage.yml cascades apptoken || gh_pat || github.token anyway.
       bot_app_id: ${{ secrets.BOT_ISSUE_OPS_APP_ID }}
       bot_private_key: ${{ secrets.BOT_ISSUE_OPS_PRIVATE_KEY }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ticket-hygiene.yml b/.github/workflows/ticket-hygiene.yml
index a6916e6..a79693d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ticket-hygiene.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ticket-hygiene.yml
@@ -126,15 +126,17 @@ jobs:
                     id
                     fieldValues(first:30){ nodes{ ... on ProjectV2ItemFieldSingleSelectValue {
                       name field{ ... on ProjectV2SingleSelectField { name } } } } }
-                    content{ ... on Issue { number state repository{ nameWithOwner } url author{ login } } }
+                    content{ ... on Issue { number state repository{ nameWithOwner } url author{ login }
+                      labels(first:20){ nodes{ name } } } }
                   } } } } }' -F p="$PROJECT_ID" ${after:+-F after="$after"})"
             echo "$resp" | jq -c '.data.node.items.nodes[]
               | select(.content!=null and .content.state=="OPEN")
               | { itemId:.id, repo:.content.repository.nameWithOwner, num:.content.number, url:.content.url,
                   author:(.content.author.login // ""),
+                  hasTriage:([.content.labels.nodes[].name]|any(.=="needs-triage")),
                   area:([.fieldValues.nodes[]|select(.field.name=="Area")|.name]|first),
                   prio:([.fieldValues.nodes[]|select(.field.name=="Priority")|.name]|first) }
-              | select(.area==null or .prio==null)' > flagged.jsonl || true
+              | select(.area==null or .prio==null or .hasTriage)' > flagged.jsonl || true
 
             # Fixed allow-list, case-sensitive exact match only — the author login is NEVER
             # interpolated into a query or shell command, only compared in a bash case.
@@ -152,12 +154,21 @@ jobs:
                 -F p="$PROJECT_ID" -F i="$1" -F f="$2" -F o="$3" >/dev/null
             }
 
-            classified=0
+            classified=0; unlabeled=0
             while IFS= read -r row; do
               [ -n "$row" ] || continue
               repo="$(jq -r .repo <<<"$row")"; num="$(jq -r .num <<<"$row")"
               itemId="$(jq -r .itemId <<<"$row")"; login="$(jq -r .author <<<"$row")"
               area="$(jq -r .area <<<"$row")"; prio="$(jq -r .prio <<<"$row")"
+
+              # Fully fielded but still carrying a stale needs-triage label (from before it was
+              # completed) — strip the label so the Triage-health chart stops overcounting.
+              if [ "$area" != "null" ] && [ "$prio" != "null" ]; then
+                gh issue edit "$num" -R "$repo" --remove-label needs-triage >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+                unlabeled=$((unlabeled+1))
+                continue
+              fi
+
               bot_vals="$(bot_area_priority "$login")"
               if [ -n "$bot_vals" ]; then
                 for pair in $bot_vals; do
@@ -179,7 +190,7 @@ jobs:
             [ "$hasNext" = "true" ] || break
           done
           echo "### Triage-health sweep" >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
-          echo "Flagged **$missing** open board item(s) missing Area or Priority as \`needs-triage\`; auto-classified **$classified** known-bot item(s)." >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
+          echo "Flagged **$missing** open board item(s) missing Area or Priority as \`needs-triage\`; auto-classified **$classified** known-bot item(s); cleared the stale label from **$unlabeled** now-fully-fielded item(s)." >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
 
       - name: Auto-add non-WSC issues to the board
         env: