South Gate holds required public hearing on city vacancies; council receives report

At a special meeting, the South Gate City Council on a unanimous roll call received and filed a statutorily required public‑hearing report on city vacancies and compliance with California Government Code section 3502.3.

The vacancy report, presented by the City’s human resources director, said the city had 338 budgeted full‑time positions at the time of a May snapshot and 55 vacancies — an overall vacancy rate of 16.57%. The presentation identified higher vacancy rates in several bargaining groups, including a 22.6% vacancy rate in the Police Officers Association and 22.2% in the Professional Mid Management Association, while the Municipal Employees Association was reported at 13.7%.

The hearing was required under a new state law the city described as requiring a public presentation of vacancies before adoption of the next fiscal budget. Human resources staff described the practical effects of vacancies on workloads and service delivery and summarized recruitment and retention efforts.

"This law became effective January first of this year, and it mandates that we have a public hearing and present to all of you a report on our vacancies before the next budget can be adopted," Human Resources Director John said during the presentation. John told the council that recruitment uses governmentjobs.com and NeoGov, that the department creates eligibility lists and panel interviews, and that many vacancies were difficult to fill because of a competitive local labor market and pension reforms under PEPRA.

City Manager Rob Houston and HR staff walked council through specific vacant positions the report listed, including code enforcement, housing specialists, accounting and finance, electricians, senior engineers and multiple police positions. The report noted some internal promotions since the snapshot and said certain roles were being held vacant or frozen for budgetary reasons.

Council members and members of the public pressed for additional detail. Councilmember Rios and others asked whether the city had relationships with nearby training and trade programs; staff said they are pursuing partnerships with local community colleges and Gateway COG workforce initiatives. Several public commenters urged the council to prioritize retention and training rather than layoffs.

Brandon Williams, president of the Municipal Employees Association (MEA), told the council that vacancies and heavier workloads have increased injuries and burnout in field crews, and urged consideration of retention measures. "That burnout has definitely taken effect," Williams said. "It results in retention issues, because people feel like the workload is too heavy."

Multiple emailed comments and public commenters — including Roberto Sanchez, Mario Dominguez and Maria Chavez — urged the council not to approve salary increases amid the city’s fiscal strain and proposed alternatives such as layoffs, restructuring, or performance‑based raises.

The council voted to receive and file the vacancies report and to make the report available as required by state law. Council members and staff said the presentation and the public input would inform the budget discussions planned for the city’s upcoming budget meetings.

The city also said it will continue to pursue training and internal development programs intended to create internal candidate pipelines and enable current employees to gain the experience departments need, including a newly described "training and development agreement" that allows employees to try other jobs within the organization as part of career development.

Next steps noted by staff include integrating the vacancies presentation into the regular budget process, following up with workforce development partners, and continuing meet‑and‑confer recruitment work with the recognized employee associations.