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National City complies with AB 2561; reports 35 vacancies and hiring improvements
Summary
Under Assembly Bill 2561’s new public-reporting requirement, city HR presented its vacancy and recruitment data: 55 recruitments opened this fiscal year, 74 full-time hires completed, and 35 vacancies remained as of March 1; council received the report unanimously.
The council received the city’s required AB 2561 report on job vacancies and recruitment efforts, hearing staff describe hiring activity, vacancy counts and steps to shorten recruitment timelines.
Haley Lusher, HR recruitment analyst, told the council that effective Jan. 1, 2025 AB 2561 requires local agencies to present vacancy and recruitment data at least once per fiscal year before the budget is adopted. Lusher said the city opened 55 recruitments since the start of the fiscal year, filled 74 full-time positions and had 35 vacancies as of March 1, 2025. The report documented reductions in fill time; non-safety positions that once took nine to 12 months now take nearer to three months, staff said.
Union representatives and department advocates spoke during public comment. Jeremy Day of the National City Firefighters asked the council to support use of budgeted but vacant fire-department positions to create a division chief of operations; Day said the operations side needs a management position to improve succession planning and operational oversight. SEIU Chapter President Carla Palategui called AB 2561 “very positive” for employees and requested that staff include part-time positions and noncareer listings in future data when practicable.
Council received the report and asked staff to continue improving recruitment speed and to include follow-up data as required by the statute. A council motion to receive the report passed unanimously.
Details: the staff packet included recruitment lists, classifications with vacancy counts and a breakdown by department. HR said it modernized the recruitment platform (NEOGOV) and increased job-fair outreach to local colleges and community events. The police recruit salary increase and other changes were cited as examples of targeted adjustments that improved applicant flow for some classifications.
