Kingsburg adopts AB 2561 compliance policy after low vacancy rates reported

The Kingsburg City Council on March 19 adopted a compliance policy implementing AB 2561 requirements after staff reported vacancy and recruitment statistics for the previous calendar year.

Assistant City Manager Christina Windover explained that AB 2561 requires a public hearing at least once per fiscal year on city recruitment and retention efforts for represented bargaining units and gives employee associations an opportunity to present when vacancies in a bargaining unit reach 20 percent or higher. The city’s three recognized bargaining units — the Kingsburg Police Officers Association, Kingsburg Professional Firefighters Association, and Kingsburg Public Service Employees Association — did not meet the 20 percent threshold in any month of 2024, Windover said.

Windover summarized that the three associations were notified of the public hearing and none requested to present. She reported five total reportable vacancies across the three bargaining units in 2024, an average fill time of 73 days and average calendar days to fill of 81. Staff identified recruitment obstacles such as difficulty finding qualified candidates, failures of pre‑employment exams, and the city’s anti‑nepotism policy; Windover said staff would update the personnel manual if needed and continue outreach efforts.

Councilmembers praised staff for low vacancy rates and recruitment practices. A motion to adopt the AB 2561 compliance policy passed on a voice vote; the transcript records the motion, a second and “Aye” votes without individual roll-call tallies.

Next steps: staff will post the adopted policy, continue annual reporting as required by AB 2561 and update any personnel policies identified as obstacles to recruitment and retention.