REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Report on City Vacancies and Recruitment Efforts, Pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 2561
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Enhance Community Engagement and Transparency
BACKGROUND
Effective January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 2561 (“AB 2561”) added Government Code section 3502.3 to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”) - the body of law that governs collective bargaining and labor relations at the local government level. GC 3502.3 requires public agencies to address and report on staffing vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts before their governing board at least once per fiscal year and prior to adoption of the final budget. Public agencies are required to identify any challenges or recruitment obstacles in the hiring process.
Whenever the vacancy rate reached or exceeds 20% of the total number of authorized full-time positions within a single bargaining group, the new law requires local government agencies to provide additional information on the number of job vacancies within the bargaining unit; the total number of applicants for the vacant positions within the bargaining unit the average number of days to complete the hiring process from when a position is posted; and opportunities to improve compensation and other working conditions.
DISCUSSION
The City of Santa Clara has ten (10) bargaining units totaling approximately 1,166.25 Full Time Equivalents, or FTE’s. This excludes the 9.0 elected official FTE’s, 2.0 Council Appointee FTE’s, and approximately 720 as-needed (or temporary part-time) employees. As positions are added to the budget or become vacant, the City prioritizes recruitments to fill vacancies.
Classified Positions
The City of Santa Clara’s classified positions are governed by the Civil Service Rules and Regulations pursuant to the City Charter. Classified positions make up approximately 82% of the FTE’s within the workforce and are generally considered non-exempt hourly positions.
The Civil Service Rules and Regulations are applicable to the Classified Service and are interpreted uniformly and cover appointment, promotion, and discipline for the following bargaining units: the Santa Clara Firefighters IAFF Local 1171 (Unit 1), the Police Officers’ Association (Unit 2), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 (Unit 3), the Engineers of the City of Santa Clara (Unit 4), the City of Santa Clara Employees Association (Units 5/7/8), the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 101 (Unit 6), and the Public Safety Non-Sworn Employees Association (Unit 10).
The City’s Civil Service Commission is organized pursuant to City Charter Sections 1010 and 1011 and is charged with ensuring that qualified persons are appointed to the service of the City. The Civil Service Commission consists of 5 members and are scheduled to meet 1 time per month to review items brought before the Commission. The Civil Service Commission is the approving body for items that fall under the purview of the Commission, including but not limited to: approving classified class specifications, setting or modifying the weighting plan for classified positions, abolishing eligible lists, approving probation extension requests, hearing appeals to the classified recruitment process, and serving as the Board of Review in disciplinary hearings. In addition to the approval process by the Civil Service Commission, items such as the creation, revision, or deletion of classified class specifications must also be agendized for City Council review.
The classified recruitment process pursuant to the City’s Civil Service Rules and Regulations consists of multiple steps to ensure appointment is based on merit and fitness. The hiring process involves administering an announced examination and applicant ranking which is included on an eligible list for consideration by the hiring City Department. To ensure selection and consideration is based on merit and fitness, the Civil Service Rules and Regulations ensures a number of assessments, including but not limited to: any the following: confirming applicant(s) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification, consideration of whether applicants possess additional desirable qualifications, confirming applicant(s) possess required certificates or licenses, screening supplemental responses to the questions on the job announcement, written examination, performance examination, oral board interview(s), and City Department interview(s).
Once an eligible list is established, the eligible list is active for different durations, including 6 months for entry level Police Officers, 1 year for non-sworn positions, and 2 years for sworn-promotional positions in the Police Department. As positions become vacant for classified positions and if there is an active eligible list, Departments must refer to an existing eligible list for the classification, including conducting interviews. If candidates on the eligible list are determined as not viable for the position (including a candidate declining the interview or position with the department that has the vacancy), the City will need to wait until the eligible list expires or bring the request forward to the Civil Service Commission to abolish the list, unless it meets the threshold for an administrative abolishment (by requiring less than 5 names on the eligible list); accordingly, the department with the vacant position is precluded from hiring for such position outside of the eligible list. Only once the list has expired or is approved to be abolished (which the Civil Service Commission might not approve), a recruitment for the position may begin again; otherwise it remains vacant.
Given the steps in the classified recruitment process to ensure selection and hiring is done based on merit and fitness under the Civil Service Rules and Regulations, a recruitment may take on average anywhere from 3 to 6 months from posting the job to extending an offer to an applicant. In some instances, the recruitment process may take longer if it is a specialized position and the applicant pool is small or not competitive, or requires a more intensive background process (typically required for positions in the Police Department), or requires additional steps in the recruitment process (such as written examination or performance examination).
It is worth noting that any changes made to the City’s Civil Services Rules and Regulations, including revisions to the recruitment process, may be subject to meet and confer with the impacted bargaining units.
Unclassified Positions
Unclassified positions are not governed by the Civil Service Rules and Regulations. These positions are considered at-will and the recruitment and hiring process does not include all of the steps required in the recruitment process for classified positions. Depending on the unclassified position recruitment, the classification may not require all of the assessment points in the classified position examination process. For example, in unclassified recruitments, there may only be an oral board interview. Additionally, when conducting recruitments for unclassified positions, the appointing authority has the discretion to determine the steps or phases of assessment and or to make a direct appointment into these positions. Bargaining units that are NOT covered under the Civil Service Rules include the Unclassified Miscellaneous Management (Unit 9), Unclassified Police Management (Unit 9A), and Unclassified Fire Management (Unit 9B).
Recruitment Activity
Since the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1, 2024 - June 9, 2025), the City filled approximately 142.0 positions as outlined in Table 1. This number is comprised of new hires and re-hires. In addition, the City has also hired/rehired approximately 194 As-needed positions.
As shown in the chart below, of the 142 positions filled, 80, or 56% of the recruitment for full time positions, were new hires. The Table below shows, the City promoted approximately 62 employees in full-time positions since the beginning of the fiscal year, which is almost equivalent to the total number of new hires/rehires. The City places an emphasis on developing, retaining and promoting internal employees as demonstrated by the 7.6% turnover rate. The promotion of an employee into an existing vacant position thus creates a vacancy in their former position, requiring the City, under the Civil Service Rules and Regulations, to conduct a new recruitment for the vacated position. Although the City has demonstrated the ability to develop internal employees and retain them within the organization, it does not contribute to the reduction of the Citywide vacancy rate.
Table 1: Summary of Recruitment Activity from July 1, 2024 - June 9, 2025
|
Bargaining Unit |
New Hires/Rehires |
Promotions |
Total |
|
Santa Clara Firefighters (Unit 1) |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
Police Officers’ Association (Unit 2) |
7 |
16 |
23 |
|
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Unit 3) |
4 |
2 |
6 |
|
Engineers of the City of Santa Clara (Unit 4) |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
City of Santa Clara Employees Association (Unit 578) |
26 |
12 |
38 |
|
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (Unit 6) |
8 |
7 |
15 |
|
Unclassified Misc. Management (Unit 9) |
20 |
22 |
42 |
|
Unclassified Police Management (Unit 9A) |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
Unclassified Fire Management (Unit 9B) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Public Safety Non-Sworn Employees Association (Unit 10) |
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
Total |
80 |
62 |
142 |
Vacancy Rate
Table 2 below displays the current vacancy rate by bargaining unit. The Citywide vacancy rate is approximately 14.19%. At the start of FY 2024/25 the Citywide vacancy rate was approximately 12%.
During FY 2024/25, Council approved the addition of 18.25 FTE’s. For the FY 2025/26 budget, the City is proposing to add an additional 21.0 FTE’s, totaling approximately 39.25 new vacant positions that must be recruited for in addition to those vacancies which previously existed.
The City’s Human Resources Department (HR) is consistently working on recruitments in order to outpace attrition (separations by resignation, termination or retirements), keep up with the pace of the newly added positions in the workforce, and also fill as-needed positions which requires additional recruitment resources and staff time.
Table 2: Vacancy Rate by Bargaining Unit as of June 2025
|
Bargaining Unit |
Budgeted FTE |
Filled FTE |
Vacant FTE |
Approximate Vacancy Rate |
|
Santa Clara Firefighters (Unit 1) |
144 |
136 |
8 |
5.56% |
|
Police Officers’ Association (Unit 2) |
147 |
133 |
14 |
9.52% |
|
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Unit 3) |
89 |
73 |
16 |
17.97% |
|
Engineers of the City of Santa Clara (Unit 4) |
50 |
35 |
15 |
30.00% |
|
City of Santa Clara Employees Association (Unit 578) |
328.25 |
281.75 |
46.5 |
14.16% |
|
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (Unit 6) |
134 |
113 |
21 |
15.67% |
|
Unclassified Misc. Management (Unit 9) |
188 |
159 |
29 |
15.42% |
|
Unclassified Police Management (Unit 9A) |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0.00% |
|
Unclassified Fire Management (Unit 9B) |
11 |
9 |
2 |
18.18% |
|
Public Safety Non-Sworn Employees Association (Unit 10) |
70 |
56 |
14 |
20.00% |
|
Total |
1,166.25 |
1,000.75 |
165.5 |
14.19% |
Two Bargaining Units with Vacancy Rates of at Least 20%
Engineers of the City of Santa Clara (Unit 4):
As outlined in Table 2 above, the Engineers of the City of Santa Clara (Unit 4) have an approximate 30.00% vacancy rate.
Of the 18.25 FTE’s added during the current FY 2024/25 referenced previously, Council approved the addition of 6.0 FTE’s within Unit 4. The addition of these positions added to existing vacancies and created a significant spike in the vacancy rate for this bargaining unit. These positions are currently in recruitment but have not yet been filled.
There are currently 15 engineering positions vacant, and the City is conducting a recruitment for all vacant positions within the bargaining unit. Given the competitiveness of the market, particularly with private sector companies for engineering positions, there have been challenges filling these positions. The current recruitment timeline for Unit 4 positions typically range from 4 - 8 months to complete given the specialization that typically comes with these positions as well as the generally limited candidate pools. In some instances, such as for the Senior Engineer and Senior Electric Utility Engineer, these classifications have been regularly recruited for each year. As of May 31, 2025, the following classifications within Unit 4 are currently in recruitment: Associate Engineer (3.0 FTE’s), Senior Engineer (2.0 FTE’s), Electric Utility Engineer (6.0 FTE’s), and Senior Electric Utility Engineer (4.0 FTE’s).
The Associate Engineer recruitment yielded a total of 29 applications, of which 10 candidates were placed on the eligible list. One candidate is scheduled to start in June 2025. Offers were extended to 2 external candidates and those offers were declined. It should be noted that compensation was not the given reason for the declined offers, but one candidate declined due to a competing promotional opportunity in their current agency, and the second offer was declined due to the candidate looking for more work-life balance and schedule flexibility. The Department is currently evaluating other candidates on the eligible list.
The Senior Engineer recruitment was posted in May 2025 as a continuous recruitment. The City has received 37 applications. The oral board examination is scheduled for mid-June.
The Electric Utility Engineer recruitment was posted in February 2025 and the City has received 44 applications. There are currently 4 candidates on the eligible list. The Department will be promoting 1 employee (creating a vacancy in their former position). For the remaining positions, the Department is currently completing Department interviews and reference checks. The Department will continue to interview candidates as applications are received for the other vacancies.
The Senior Electric Utility Engineer recruitment was posted in October 2024 as a continuous recruitment and the City has received 23 applications. There are currently 5 candidates on the eligible list. The Department will be promoting 1 employee (and thus creating a vacancy in their former position) and extending a conditional offer to a second candidate. As this is a continuous recruitment, the Department will continue to interview candidates as applications are received.
Public Safety Non-Sworn Employees Association (Unit 10):
The Public Safety Non-Sworn Employees Association (Unit 10) has an approximate 20.00% vacancy rate, equating to 14.0 vacant FTE’s. As of May 31, 2025, the following classifications within Unit 10 are currently in recruitment: Jail Service Officer (1.0 FTE), Police Records Specialist (4.0 FTE’s), Public Safety Dispatcher II (7.0 FTE’s), and Senior Public Safety Dispatcher (2.0 FTE’s).
The Jail Service Officer recruitment was posted in September 2024 and yielded a total of 94 applications, of which 4 candidates were placed on the eligible list. 1 candidate accepted the conditional offer and is in the final stages of the backgrounding process.
The Police Records Specialist recruitment was posted in March 2025 as a continuous recruitment and received 123 applications. There are currently 7 candidates on the eligible list and 4 candidates are in the pre-background process.
The Public Safety Dispatcher II has been posted regularly as a continuous recruitment. This position was posted as a new continuous recruitment in January 2025 and the City has received 47 applications. There are currently 5 candidates on the eligible list and in the pre-background stage of the process. The Department is continuing to test and interview applicants as applications are received.
The Senior Public Safety Dispatcher was posted in May 2025 and the City has received 1 application. The next step in the process will be an oral board interview and qualifying written assessment.
AB 2561 requires the agency to include any opportunities to improve compensation or other working conditions, which are subject to meet and confer, for bargaining units with a vacancy rate above 20%. The City regularly considers employee and labor relations matters, and is currently in negotiations with both bargaining units on successor Memorandum of Agreements, or MOU’s.
At this time, given the status of negotiations concerning a successor MOU, Staff will not discuss opportunities to improve compensation and other working conditions in this forum as it would be more appropriate for such discussions to occur at the bargaining table between the City’s and bargaining unit’s designated representatives.
Recruitment Challenges and Efforts
As indicated above, classified positions make up approximately 82% of the FTE’s within the workforce and are generally considered non-exempt hourly positions. This means the vast majority of the City’s recruitments are for classified positions and the City must adhere to the Civil Service Rules and Regulations for these positions. The Civil Service Rules and Regulations created to ensure selection and hiring is based on merit and fitness, generally require the recruitment process timeline and assessment points could impact efforts to fill highly sought skills or experience, specialized positions, and positions which attract few or large amounts of applicants. There are a number of factors to consider when reviewing recruitment challenges, and every position or classification in each bargaining unit requires individualized considerations and strategies. Some recruitments face challenges in retaining applicants through the assessment steps. Other recruitments face challenges in the length of time it takes to complete required background checks or pre-employment reviews. Other recruitments face low applicant response to announcements of open positions. In a continuous effort to streamline the recruitment process, the City is consistently reviewing the Civil Service Rules and Regulations and making the determination if there are areas to improve or areas to expedite the process, while still adhering to the Civil Service Rules and Regulations.
As noted above, during the current fiscal year, the City promoted 62 employees. Although the City prides itself in the ability to promote and train employees, this does create a workload capacity issue by creating an additional vacancy in the promoted employee’s former position, which does not contribute to the reduction of the vacancy rate. The City is currently working to keep up with the demands of staffing through attrition and maintain staffing levels as new positions are added annually. All Departments are at full operating capacity and prioritizing or expediting the recruitment process due to competing priorities may be challenging and lead to further delays in the recruitment timeline. In particular, HR utilizes its management staff to conduct recruitments (in addition to their other designated duties) to assist the 3 full-time recruiters in order to fill vacant positions as quickly as possible, subject to the Civil Service Rules and Regulations, as well as using outside firms to also conduct recruitments on behalf of the City. Currently, there are approximately 54 classifications, impacting approximately 121 positions, that have so far been assigned for recruitment; for example, 1 Citywide classification may result in 1 recruitment for 5 vacant positions across multiple departments.
The City is working to address the workload capacity and several departments are undergoing an organizational assessment. Recommendations from the assessment will be reviewed to determine workload capacity and any recommendation to add more staffing to assist with capacity will be brought forward through the normal budget process.
There have also been challenges, not unique to the City, recruiting for specialized positions (such as Engineers or Dispatchers), where the competitiveness of the candidate pool is not strong or there have been a low number of applications received. In these instances, the City is exploring alternative advertising methods to reach a broader candidate pool. However, this problem is not unique to our agency, specifically for Dispatchers.
Many public sector agencies in California struggle to fill Dispatcher positions and have significantly high vacancy rates for Dispatchers. The City will continue the recruitment until a candidate who meets the desirable qualifications of the position is selected. Particularly for Dispatchers, the City has placed an emphasis to recruit at the lateral level in order to get qualified candidates who need minimal training.
Finally, there are additional delays and candidates may be screened out to more stringent backgrounding process, particularly in the Police Department backgrounding. Where possible, the Department does try to expedite the backgrounding process.
Although the City has challenges in recruiting, the City has expanded their recruitment and outreach efforts, including but not limited to:
§ The Human Resources Department has 3 full-time recruiters who are operating at full recruitment capacity (approximately 10 to 15 assigned recruitments at any given time), in addition to other responsibilities of the position; HR management staff also conduct recruitments to alleviate the workload.
§ The City is continuously evaluating how to streamline the recruitment process in alignment with the Civil Service Rules and Regulations, as applicable.
§ The City has reviewed and made revisions to class specifications by updating minimum qualifications that may be outdated or inadvertently narrow candidate pools. It should be noted that revisions to class specifications are subject to meet and confer with the appropriate bargaining unit, and subject to approval by the Civil Service Commission, and City Council, prior to becoming effective.
§ The City also reassess the weighting plan/testing process with the Departments before recruitments begin and bring revised recommendations to the Civil Service Commission for approval in order to further expedite the process.
The City has focused on additional advertising efforts to broaden its reach to a larger candidate pool; these efforts include but are not limited to:
§ During the current fiscal year, the City attended nine (9) career fairs at local colleges and universities.
§ In addition to the City sponsored career fairs, the Fire Department, Police Department, and Silicon Valley Power expanded their recruitment efforts and attended other career fairs for their hard to fill positions (specifically for Engineers and Dispatchers).
§ In the upcoming fiscal year, the City is proposing to add “Attract,” a NeoGov module to assist with targeted advertising and proactive outreach to candidates. NeoGov is an online tracking and recruitment system primarily used by multiple public agencies, including the City.
§ The City is also partnering with Mission College for the Summer Internship Program to engage and encourage students to apply for a career with the City of Santa Clara. The City of Santa Clara and Mission College partnered to hold a City-only career fair for students and to recruit students for the internship program. The City is hiring 13 Mission College students to work during the summer.
For Public Safety Dispatchers, the City has offered lateral hiring incentives, retention bonuses, and proposed updates to the minimum qualifications to aide in the recruitment for this classification.
Additionally, the City has previously contracted with 6 recruiting firms who are retained to assist in filling executive level or hard to fill positions.
The City will continue to work on filling positions in an effort to lower the Citywide vacancy rate and retain employees. In addition, the City will continue to assess challenges or barriers to the recruitment process and consider alternate ways to expedite recruitments. The City will also continue to update outdated class specifications to ensure they are current and eliminate outdated requirements in an effort to expand candidate pools.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
This report is for information purposes.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the Finance Department and City Attorney’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov, or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Note and File the Report on City Vacancies and Recruitment Efforts, Pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 2561
Staff
Reviewed by: Aracely Azevedo, Director of Human Resources
Approved by: Jovan D. Grogan, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Civil Service Rules and Regulations