Dana Point presents AB 2561 vacancy and retention report: city reports low vacancy rates, faster hiring goals

Dana Point — City staff presented the city’s 2024 recruitment and retention report on April 1 under Assembly Bill 2561, describing staffing counts, vacancy rates and retention initiatives. City Council members praised the city’s retention and employee-development efforts but took no formal action during the hearing.

Marion Garces, the staff presenter, said AB 2561 — which took effect Jan. 1, 2025 — standardizes reporting of job vacancies, recruitment and retention efforts for public agencies and requires an annual public hearing. Garces summarized 2024 workforce figures: the city had 68 budgeted full-time positions, 14 full-time vacancies for an average vacancy rate of 4.8%, and an average time-to-fill of 86 days for full-time vacancies. Of the 14 full-time vacancies, six were represented positions. For part-time roles, staff reported eight separations and an overall part-time retention rate of 66.7%.

Garces described recruitment channels the city uses, including postings on the city website, GovernmentJobs.com, LinkedIn, Handshake and industry job boards, plus internship pipelines and internal promotions. She said the city follows standardized recruitment processes to comply with equal employment opportunity practices.

On retention, Garces outlined employee-engagement activities — including 10 staff events in 2024 (quarterly lunch-and-learns, a spring mixer, summer picnic, Halloween and holiday activities) — plus professional-development programs. She said the city launched a team-development initiative based on the book The Ideal Team Player; 83% of staff respondents said the book and associated discussions positively impacted their professional development.

Garces also reported results of the employee engagement survey: in 2023, 82.9% of employees said they were satisfied or strongly satisfied; in the most recent survey the rate rose to 92.8%.

Council members who spoke during the item praised the presentation and the city’s work to retain and develop employees. Councilmember Federico called the report “a really good report,” and noted the city’s retention work predated the state requirement; Councilmember Frost and Mayor Pro Tem Gabbard echoed those remarks. The council opened and closed the required public hearing; no members of the public spoke in the excerpt. The transcript records no council direction beyond receiving the report.