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City reports on hiring progress under AB 2561; union urges transparency on vacancies and attrition
Summary
Personnel director presented a year‑in‑review of city vacancies and recruitment activity as required under AB 2561; union speakers said attrition and use of temps were undermining bargaining‑unit work and called for improved transparency and meet‑and‑confer notices.
As required by recent state law (Assembly Bill 2561), the city held a public hearing summarizing vacancies, recruitments and retention work for calendar year 2024. Personnel staff reported an average annual vacancy rate around 11 percent for city positions (classified and unclassified), with month‑to‑month vacancies ranging between roughly 471 and 592 open positions during the year. The personnel director described recruiting channels and special efforts for hard‑to‑fill roles, including national searches and targeted outreach.
The city’s recruitment team reported 191 new recruitments opened in 2024 and said roughly 507 of the year’s filled vacancies were promotions from within the organization, a sign of internal upward mobility. Personnel staff cautioned that civil‑service rules and classification minimums can lengthen recruitment timelines and said a possible municipal‑code change could speed hiring for certain classes after meet‑and‑confer with labor groups.
The Fresno City Employees Association (FCEA) addressed the council at the hearing and welcomed the required transparency. The union said it has observed vacancies being held as a budget technique (attrition) and warned against broad reliance on temporary hires for bargaining‑unit work; it asked for regular disclosures when departments use temps and for the city to meet and confer if contracting out or material changes to workloads are proposed. The union said the AB 2561 process should be used to identify trends and to ensure bargaining partners are notified when changes affect represented work.
Council members asked personnel for follow up material on use of search firms, totals for contracted recruitment expenses and further breakdowns of hard‑to‑fill positions; staff agreed to provide the requested reports.
