Madera County reports 10.7% vacancy rate, outlines recruitment steps under AB 2561

Shanika Dixon, Madera County director of human resources, presented the county’s AB 2561 annual public hearing on May 20, reporting a 10.7% overall vacancy rate, a roughly 88% retention rate and an average of about 132 days from requisition to hire for filled positions.

Nut graf: The presentation, held as a public hearing required by Assembly Bill 2561, identified two bargaining units that at one point met or exceeded a 20% vacancy threshold — the communications dispatch unit and the postgraduate licensed professional unit — and summarized steps the county has taken to reduce vacancies and streamline hiring.

What HR reported Dixon said the county has 13 bargaining units and that some portion of the 545 vacant full‑time equivalents reflected vacancies carried from 2023 into 2024. Key drivers cited for vacancies included staffing growth (new positions), internal promotions/transfers, retirements, voluntary separations and previously untracked categories the department is now capturing.

For the communications dispatch and postgraduate licensed professional units, HR provided detailed recruitment metrics (number of applicants, qualified candidates, and days to fill). Dixon said the county has adopted continuous recruitments for some classifications to maintain a talent pool, revised job announcements and minimum qualification language, approved compensation adjustments previously, and increased targeted outreach. She reported recent reductions in the two units’ vacancy rates: the postgraduate licensed professional unit dropped to 12% and the communications dispatch unit to 8.33% as of the latest update.

Retention and recruitment efforts Dixon said the county is expanding presence at job fairs (noting four fairs so far this year compared with four in all of 2024), increasing use of industry job boards and LinkedIn, adding county social media outreach and improving job posting pages (including QR codes to job listings). The HR department also has streamlined internal requisition forms to better capture data and has implemented onboarding and employee engagement initiatives, training for managers and a classification and compensation study.

Board and public response Board members commended HR’s presentation; no members of bargaining units appeared to speak at the hearing. The board closed the public hearing after no public comments were offered online or in person.

Next steps HR plans to continue data collection improvements and to coordinate with departments and bargaining units on recruitment strategies and compensation adjustments as needed. The report was presented to the board as the annual AB 2561 hearing before the FY 2025–26 budget process.

Sources: Presentation by Shanika Dixon and meeting record, Madera County Board of Supervisors, May 20, 2025.