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Camarillo HR director briefs council on AB 2561 workforce report: vacancies fell after year‑end hiring push
Summary
Wendy Levy, the city’s HR director, reported under AB 2561 on 2024 vacancies, recruitment strategies and retention challenges, saying the city ended the year with a reduced vacancy count after year‑end hiring activity and outlined ongoing steps to shorten recruitment cycles.
Wendy Levy, the city’s human resources director, told the Camarillo City Council during a public hearing that the city’s annual AB 2561 report on workforce vacancies and recruitment shows progress and remaining challenges in filling positions.
Levy said the report — covering calendar year 2024 and prepared to comply with AB 2561 (added to the Ralph M. Brown Act as Government Code section 3502.3) — is intended to increase transparency about vacancies, recruiting and retention. She said the city had 170 budgeted full‑time equivalent positions as of Dec. 31, 2024, and that 44 total vacancies were created during 2024. "Thirty‑nine were filled," Levy said, and the report showed an average vacancy rate for the year of 6.8 percent, with a high of about 10 percent in October and a low around 3.1 percent in January.
Levy described multiple causes of turnover and vacancy duration and gave a preliminary breakdown of separations and new position activity: "We had an 11% resign. We had ... a total of 20% retire, and then we had, approximately 39% of new positions that were added throughout the year," she said. Levy emphasized that the city conducts exit interviews and that the HR office is tracking time‑to‑fill by recruitment type to target process improvements.
The report described three recruitment types the city uses: alternative (ongoing eligibility lists), expansive (external postings) and focused (department‑level). Levy said 39 vacancies were filled in 2024: 11 filled internally, 34 through expansive recruitment, and 4 via focused recruitment. She said the city is leveraging NeoGov, its applicant‑tracking system, to understand where applicants come from and to refine outreach. "We know where our applicants are coming from," Levy said. Council members asked about comparisons with other local governments and whether NeoGov and internship pipelines are being used to reach potential candidates; Levy said Camarillo's vacancy rates are comparable to peers and confirmed the city uses NeoGov and offers internships.
Levy outlined initiatives to address hiring challenges: refining job postings, simplifying application steps, improving digital recruitment presence, reviewing benefits and promoting employee wellness and alternative work schedules. The council opened the item for public hearing; no members of the public submitted cards to speak on this item and the council moved to receive the report as a public record.
Levy asked council members for questions and input to inform ongoing workforce strategies required by AB 2561.
