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Lafayette staff shortages top agenda as council flags hiring, succession and training needs
Summary
Council members and staff identified staffing and succession planning as a top implementation issue, describing seven open positions, upcoming leaves and the need for HR capacity to onboard and retain staff.
Lafayette city staff told the council on March 7 that staffing and succession planning will be a central operational priority for the year. The city manager and personnel staff reported multiple vacancies, several senior‑staff promotions that created openings, and anticipated medical leaves that will leave planning and other departments short staffed through the end of the year.
Tracy, who led the staffing overview, said the city currently had seven open positions, including senior planners and engineering roles that are proving difficult to recruit for in the Bay Area market. Staff said recruitment challenges stem from regional competition and differing compensation levels; contract planners will be used to meet application review needs but are more expensive and require close supervision.
Councilmembers and staff emphasized the immediate need for an HR analyst whose job the manager described as critical to onboarding, training and retention initiatives. The city intends to re‑post that position and to prioritize filling accounts and planning support roles. Staff recommended focusing near‑term hiring on positions that enable delivery of key projects (housing element work, objective design standards) while deferring longer‑range hires until workloads stabilize.
Staff and council also discussed internships and recruitment pipelines: the city has had success promoting employees who started as interns and said internships and partnerships with local colleges are a source of candidates. The city manager said staff will return with a staffing plan that clarifies which hires will be regular positions, which will be contract support and timing for each.
Council offered support for retaining staff through training and clarified that filling some senior roles may require rethinking classifications and job descriptions to match the current recruitment environment.
No binding actions were taken. Direction to staff was to accelerate recruitment of the HR analyst, continue hiring critical planning/finance roles, and return with a hiring and succession plan for council review.
