Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Human Resources topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Oxnard HR outlines staffing, training and new payroll system to council
Summary
Human resources leaders told the Oxnard City Council they support about 1,875 employees across four divisions, described training and onboarding gains and said the city successfully launched its human capital/payroll system in Tyler Munis, while acknowledging the police scheduling system does not yet integrate with the new payroll platform.
At an Oxnard City Council meeting, human resources leaders described department operations, recent technology upgrades and training initiatives and answered council questions about recruitment and payroll systems.
Steve Naveau, human resources director, said the HR department comprises four divisions and “we support approximately 1,875 employees, and we have 24 staff,” and pointed to Oxnard City Code chapter 3 as the department’s legal authority for recruitments and bargaining-unit negotiations. He introduced division managers Megan Ferguson, Alicia Ekberg and Lauren Buelling and noted learning-and-development manager Kaylee McCain provided materials for the presentation.
Megan Ferguson, manager for Recruitment and Employee Relations, summarized the division’s three priorities—recruitment, employee and labor relations, and classification and compensation—and said the department aims for “quality over quantity” when hiring. Ferguson said employee-and-labor-relations work focuses on mitigating liability and handling personnel matters consistently with memoranda of understanding and city personnel rules.
Naveau described the learning-and-development team’s work—delivering workshops, running a 10-course supervisor boot camp and improving the onboarding experience for new supervisors. He said the city tracks 12 core competencies and that 21 supervisors completed the boot camp in 2025, bringing the citywide total to 97 supervisors who have finished the program. Naveau added the city has reached full compliance in annual performance evaluations since the team’s inception.
Alicia Ekberg, HR manager for Payroll and Employee Benefits, said her division administers payroll and benefits for about 1,600 employees and processed roughly 1,400 open-enrollment transactions this year. “This year the payroll department implemented and successfully rolled out the HCM, payroll in Tyler Munis,” Ekberg said, adding the new system has streamlined processes and reduced errors tied to the prior manual system.
Council members asked whether the police department scheduling software integrates with Tyler Munis. Ekberg said the police scheduling tool is a separate system and does not feed directly into Tyler Munis; payroll still relies on the city’s electronic timekeeping system, which requires staff to enter time and can result in dual entry. She cautioned the primary risk is user-entry error if time is entered incorrectly.
Lauren Buelling, risk management, said the division oversees workers’ compensation and general-liability programs, verifies contractor insurance, coordinates safety training and works with third-party administrators on claims. Buelling highlighted an employee safety fair that drew “about 375 attendees,” offering trainings such as forklift operation and ergonomics.
No formal motions or votes were recorded during the HR presentation. Council members thanked the HR team; presenters indicated follow-up would be handled administratively where appropriate.
