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Brawley staff and unions flag staffing, pay as recruitment, retention challenges ahead
Summary
City HR presented staffing and vacancy data required by AB 2561; firefighters and police unions urged action on pay and career steps and asked council to use comp study data ahead of contract talks.
Brawley opened a statutorily required public hearing on June 17 to report workforce vacancy, hiring and retention data under Assembly Bill 2561 and Government Code section 3502.3, with human resources staff and bargaining-unit leaders detailing persistent shortages and pay-related turnover.
The city’s human resources administrator, Shirley Bonillas, told the council the city has 157 full‑time regular positions and 37 vacancies in fiscal year 2024–25 to date, producing an average vacancy rate of about 4% and a peak monthly vacancy of 11%. Bonillas said police sergeants briefly exceeded the 20% threshold that triggers extra reporting, noting “BPSA… 2 out of 6 makes it 33%,” and that overall turnover for the period was roughly 16.56%.
Those figures matter because recruitment and retention decisions affect public safety and day‑to‑day…
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