Salinas HR presents AB 2561 vacancy report as council presses for hiring fixes

Salinas human resources staff presented the city’s first annual AB 2561 vacancy hearing on May 27, outlining 2024 hiring, vacancy and retention data and describing steps the city is taking to speed recruitments and retain staff.

Human Resources Manager Patricia Peñaloza told the council AB 2561 requires public agencies to track vacancies and present them annually before adoption of the final budget. Peñaloza said the report covered vacancies, recruitment activity and separations for the calendar year Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2024, and that the city recorded 144 vacancies filled in 2024 and 124 new vacancies created during the year. She said the city’s authorized full‑time workforce stood at about 650 positions, including over‑hires and frozen positions; at year start there were 99 remaining open vacancies and at year end 88.

Why the process can take months

Peñaloza described the multi‑step hiring pipeline — job description revisions and meet‑and‑confer where required, advertising, application screening (no AI used), written or performance exams when needed, panel oral interviews,…