Santa Clara notes high vacancy rates under AB 2561; unions warn of service strain and retention gaps

The Santa Clara City Council received a statutorily required staffing report on June 10 under Assembly Bill 2561 and formally “noted and filed” the document after presentations from city human resources staff and representatives of bargaining units. Union representatives used the session to outline recruitment and retention challenges in engineers, dispatchers and police ranks.

Deputy Human Resources Director Ashley Lancaster presented citywide recruitment metrics required by AB 2561, which mandates an annual report on vacancy rates, applicant pools and hiring timelines. Lancaster said the city’s overall vacancy rate stood at about 14.16% and that classified recruitments often take three to six months; specialized roles and background checks for public-safety positions can extend timelines further.

Two bargaining units exceeded the statute’s 20% vacancy threshold. Lancaster said the engineers’ bargaining unit had a roughly 30% vacancy rate after the council approved new positions earlier in the fiscal year (18 positions had been added in 2024–25, six of them in engineering). Lancaster outlined current candidate pipelines, conditional offers and eligible lists for multiple engineering classifications.

Union testimony: Unit 4 representative Steven Balath (presenting union concerns for engineers) said his group was operating with roughly a 30% vacancy rate and highlighted sharp growth in capital programs — including electric utility projects approaching $800–950 million — that require specialized, multi-disciplinary engineering skill sets. He requested more aggressive recruitment and compensation to retain engineers needed to deliver major utility and infrastructure projects.

Unit 10 (public-safety dispatchers) presenter Leslie Loreto told the council the dispatch center had 12 working dispatchers out of 21 positions (about 57%) and 11 of 15 records specialists (73%). Loreto said lateral hires are rare and training for new dispatchers can take nine to 12 months; she described pay and cost‑of‑living disadvantages compared with nearby cities and warned that ongoing vacancies reduce minimum staffing and increase overtime.

The police bargaining-unit representative, Jeremy Schmidt, described a roughly 10% shortage in sworn personnel when expressed as an aggregate, noted a lengthy training pipeline for recruits (a multi-month academy and field training that often extends), and said the service area’s major events (including FIFA and Super Bowl dates) will strain the department unless lateral recruitment and retention improve. Schmidt said Santa Clara’s officers are increasingly living farther from the city, lengthening commutes and complicating disaster-response availability.

Council action: After the presentations and audience remarks, the council voted to “note and file” the AB 2561 report. Council Member Karen Hardy moved the motion, which was seconded and approved unanimously.

What happens next: Lancaster told council the city is exploring recruitment enhancements, internships (a Mission College summer internship program has started), lateral-hire incentives, revisions to civil‑service rules (which would require meet-and‑confer and Civil Service Commission steps), and an internal review of hiring process bottlenecks. Several council members urged a follow-up on targeted strategies and quicker progress on filling critical public-safety and engineering roles.