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Victorville hears annual report under AB 2561 on vacancies, fire staffing; council receives report
Summary
City staff presented the annual AB 2561 update on vacancies, recruitment and retention. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the Victorville Professional Firefighters unit had a 13.9% vacancy rate; citywide vacancy rate averaged 12.7% for 2024. Council received and filed the presentation.
City Human Resources Officer Heather Barber and Marcus Lynch, president of the Victorville Professional Firefighters (VPF), presented the city's AB 2561 annual hearing on vacancies, recruitment and retention at the May 6 meeting. The presentation satisfied the city's obligation under Assembly Bill 2561 to report staffing status before final adoption of the fiscal-year budget.
Barber told the council the city's average vacancy rate for calendar year 2024 was 12.7%, with a citywide vacancy rate of 14.1% as of Dec. 31, 2024 (69 vacancies). The VPF bargaining unit had 72 authorized full-time positions and 10 vacancies on Dec. 31, 2024, a 13.9% vacancy rate. Barber said the city conducted firefighter-paramedic interviews in March and had eight candidates in background processing; management planned a May recruitment for fire engineer to fill two vacant engineer positions.
Marcus Lynch, president of Victorville Professional Firefighters Local 3710, told the council the department continued to experience recruitment and retention pressure common across Southern California fire agencies. He described the operational impact: force hires and extra shifts for firefighter-paramedics ("anywhere between 3 and 5 extra shifts monthly through our force hire process") and noted 11 members had left the organization since startup for positions with other agencies.
Lynch cited pay as one major factor in departures. He said the top-step Victorville captain pay in 2024 was $125,614 and that a captain who left for Chino would earn $139,979 in the new position. Lynch urged the city to modernize recruitment practices, consider lateral-hire and testing-center strategies and to address wages and benefits in upcoming contract negotiations.
Barber reviewed recruitment and retention strategies the city currently uses, including flexible schedules (9/80), tuition reimbursement, mentorship programs, hybrid telework where eligible, employee recognition events and proactive attendance at regional job fairs. She said the city filled 92 vacancies in 2024 out of 98 created during the year and that the average time once a job posting is open is about 8–10 weeks, though some roles take longer.
The council opened questions and discussion. Members pressed staff on whether internal-only recruitments are allowed; Metzler and HR said current personnel rules do not permit internal-only recruitments but staff is working with labor and legal counsel to modernize rules and consider additional flexibility. The council was also briefed on background checks, candidate attrition in the hiring pipeline and the role of training/academy attrition in keeping vacancy numbers elevated.
Because this was an informational item required by AB 2561, no formal action was taken: the council received and filed the presentation.
Quotes used in this report are from the official meeting transcript and were attributed only to speakers identified in the meeting record.
