City staff presented Santa Paula's first annual vacancies report under Assembly Bill 2561 on June 30, detailing recruitment and retention efforts and reporting a citywide vacancy rate of 4.8% for the 2024 reporting period.

The presentation, delivered by the Human Resources Administrator, explained the new reporting requirement created by AB 2561 and the amendment to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Staff said the city will hold an annual public hearing on vacancies prior to adoption of the final budget and that employee bargaining units have the right to request additional position-level information if vacancies meet or exceed 20% of authorized positions.

Staff reported the city authorized 124 positions for fiscal year 2024 25 and that frozen budgeted positions were excluded from vacancy calculations because they were not actively being recruited. "You can't have a vacancy if you're not filling a position," the Human Resources Administrator said, explaining why frozen positions were not counted.

As of Dec. 31, 2024, staff said no bargaining unit met or exceeded the 20% threshold in any month during the reporting period, so the extra disclosures to bargaining units were not triggered. Staff also summarized retention work: background and reference checks, expanded onboarding and manager-led orientation, newly authorized deferred-comp match and wellness reimbursements, retention bonuses for hard-to-fill roles, and completion of a compensation and classification study.

Council members asked clarifying questions about the frozen-position treatment and the goals of the new state reporting requirement. Staff said the requirement is intended to ensure agencies are actively pursuing recruitment and not balancing budgets through vacancies, and that next year the report will be presented earlier in the calendar (January or February) to align with prior-year reporting.

Staff noted recognized labor groups had been notified and would be allowed to make presentations if they chose; no labor presentations were made at the hearing. Council received and filed the report with no further action required.