diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9ae382b28b0..fb8273d8a49 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@ __pycache__
 *.[aox]
 *.mod
 *.sw[a-p]
+._*
 .DS_Store
 .idea/
+.vscode/
 
 # Ignore editor generated backup files
 #-------------------------------------
diff --git a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/fsutils.py b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/fsutils.py
index f0d41fb54fa..50d7d10bbff 100644
--- a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/fsutils.py
+++ b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/fsutils.py
@@ -47,10 +47,27 @@ def rm_p(path):
             raise OSError(f"unable to remove {path}")
 
 
-def cp(src, dest):
+def cp(source: str, target: str) -> None:
+    """
+    copy `source` file to `target` using `shutil.copyfile`
+    If `target` is a directory, then the filename from `source` is retained into the `target`
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+        source : str
+                 Source filename
+        target : str
+                 Destination filename or directory
+    Returns
+    -------
+        None
+    """
+
+    if os.path.isdir(target):
+        target = os.path.join(target, os.path.basename(source))
+
     try:
-        shutil.copyfile(src, dest)
-    except OSError as exc:
-        raise OSError(f"unable to copy {src} to {dest}")
-    except FileNotFoundError as exc:
-        raise FileNotFoundError(exc)
+        shutil.copyfile(source, target)
+    except OSError:
+        raise OSError(f"unable to copy {source} to {target}")
+    except Exception as exc:
+        raise Exception(exc)
diff --git a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/logger.py b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/logger.py
index 30d02106651..9fd781cce0c 100644
--- a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/logger.py
+++ b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/logger.py
@@ -227,17 +227,19 @@ def add_file_handler(cls, logfile_path: Union[str, Path],
 
 def logit(logger, name=None, message=None):
     """
-    Add logging to a function.
+    Logger decorator to add logging to a function.
+    Simply add:
+    @logit(logger) before any function
     Parameters
     ----------
-        logger  : Logger
-                  Logger object
-        name    : str
-                  Name of the module to be logged
-                  default: __module__
-        message : str
-                  Name of the function to be logged
-                  default: __name__
+    logger  : Logger
+              Logger object
+    name    : str
+              Name of the module to be logged
+              default: __module__
+    message : str
+              Name of the function to be logged
+              default: __name__
     """
 
     def decorate(func):
@@ -250,17 +252,18 @@ def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
 
             passed_args = [repr(aa) for aa in args]
             passed_kwargs = [f"{kk}={repr(vv)}" for kk, vv in list(kwargs.items())]
-            call_msg = 'BEGIN: ' + log_msg + f"( {', '.join(passed_args + passed_kwargs)} )"
 
-            # Begin the logging with printing input arguments
-            logger.debug(call_msg)
+            call_msg = 'BEGIN: ' + log_msg
+            logger.info(call_msg)
+            logger.debug(f"( {', '.join(passed_args + passed_kwargs)} )")
 
             # Call the function
             retval = func(*args, **kwargs)
 
             # Close the logging with printing the return val
-            ret_msg = '  END: ' + log_msg + f" returning {retval}"
-            logger.debug(ret_msg)
+            ret_msg = '  END: ' + log_msg
+            logger.info(ret_msg)
+            logger.debug(f" returning: {retval}")
 
             return retval
 
diff --git a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/task.py b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/task.py
index 14d365cbecc..71b427e4bfa 100644
--- a/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/task.py
+++ b/ush/python/pygw/src/pygw/task.py
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
+import logging
+from typing import Dict
+
+from pygw.attrdict import AttrDict
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__.split('.')[-1])
+
+
 class Task:
     """
     Base class for all tasks
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, config, *args, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, config: Dict, *args, **kwargs):
         """
         Every task needs a config.
         Additional arguments (or key-value arguments) can be provided.
@@ -21,7 +29,7 @@ def __init__(self, config, *args, **kwargs):
         """
 
         # Store the config and arguments as attributes of the object
-        self.config = config
+        self.config = AttrDict(config)
 
         for arg in args:
             setattr(self, str(arg), arg)
@@ -29,6 +37,15 @@ def __init__(self, config, *args, **kwargs):
         for key, value in kwargs.items():
             setattr(self, key, value)
 
+        # Pull out basic runtime keys values from config into its own runtime config
+        self.runtime_config = AttrDict()
+        runtime_keys = ['PDY', 'cyc', 'DATA', 'RUN', 'CDUMP']  # TODO: eliminate CDUMP and use RUN instead
+        for kk in runtime_keys:
+            try:
+                self.runtime_config[kk] = config[kk]
+            except KeyError:
+                raise KeyError(f"Encountered an unreferenced runtime_key {kk} in 'config'")
+
     def initialize(self):
         """
         Initialize methods for a task