Libby Craven, director of Human Resources, briefed the City Council on July 7 on HR operations, recruitment efforts, compensation work and targeted budget requests intended to reduce hard‑to‑fill vacancies.

Craven said the HR department has 15 positions and is proposing one reclassification as part of the budget. She described accomplishments including an online onboarding program, a return‑to‑duty CDL program, implementation support for the employee engagement platform You Matter Mesquite, administering multiple public‑safety exams and implementing compensation adjustments for roughly 140 employees based on a previous compensation study.

On budget priorities, Craven requested funding for a modern risk management information system, an employee engagement adviser (a reclass of an existing position), program funding for the You Matter Mesquite platform and a market adjustment pool of $500,000 to raise pay for identified hard‑to‑fill positions in a phased approach. She said the $500,000 would be phased so the city can address the most pressing positions without absorbing the full cost immediately.

Councilmembers asked for more detail on the total cost to bring all below‑market positions to market; Craven said staff would provide a fuller estimate at the July 19 budget retreat. She identified historically hard‑to‑fill categories as public works/field crews, engineering positions and parks and recreation roles, and noted that increases earlier in the multi‑year compensation plan had improved retention in some areas.

Craven reported 69 full‑time vacancies (part‑time excluded), which she said was the lowest in three years and equates to a vacancy rate just under 5%. She described aggressive recruitment work—local job fairs, wider posting outlets—and employee‑development programs to reduce turnover.

Council members asked about police and fire vacancies; Craven said those numbers fluctuate and some positions are in the process of being filled, and she committed to providing a retirement eligibility slide and updated vacancy numbers at the budget retreat. Council discussion also touched on service models such as whether some maintenance functions should be restored in‑house versus contracted services; staff said market conditions made some trades difficult to keep in‑house at present.