Item issues w/ OpenHAB2 set for Simple Mode

Running OpenHABian OpenHAB2 snapshot #1188 on Raspberry Pi3. With OpenHAB configured to Simple Mode under Item Linking, the category attribute for each item, that is auto provisioned once accepted from inbox, disappears with reboot of the raspbery PI. A workaround is to unlink and relink the channels on the things, category attribute is added back. Has anyone else observed this behavior?

It appears that with Inbox set to Auto Approve and Linking set to Simple Mode, that item category disappears after OpenHAB restart for items auto created. One work around that has been found is a /Services/org.eclipse.smarthome.storage.json/config change that reinitializes the service, then the item category shows up for these items. Problem returns after OpenHAB restart. Is anyone else aware of this issue, what’s the root cause, and is there a resolution?

This is happening with both my OpenHAB and Eclipse Smart Home implementations.
Any guidance @Kai or @chris ?

Appears to be the same issue as https://github.com/eclipse/smarthome/issues/2098

I don’t quite get the fix.