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Rohnert Park reports 27 vacancies and 19 frozen positions; union warns staff are carrying 20% more work
Summary
Under AB 2561 the city reported 27 vacancies (11.2% overall) and 19 positions frozen in the FY 26/27 budget. The Rohnert Park Employees Association said, counting recent eliminations, the removal of positions means remaining staff are doing roughly 20% more work; council received the report and discussed recruitment incentives.
The Rohnert Park City Council held the statutorily required AB 2561 hearing on May 26 to review the city’s vacancies, recruitment and retention efforts. City staff reported 242 budgeted authorized positions for fiscal year 26/27, of which 27 were currently vacant (an overall vacancy rate the report lists as 11.2%) and 19 positions were frozen for the next fiscal year.
Interim HR staff provided a department-by-department breakdown: Public Safety showed 10 vacancies (including multiple deputy chief and records positions, some frozen or underfilled with officers), Public Works had six vacancies, Development Services four, Community Services two, and smaller counts in finance, HR and IT. The report noted several recruitments in process and some imminent hires.
Terresa Petraowski, president of the Rohnert Park Employees Association (RPA), told the council that the vacancy figures understate operational impact because five positions were permanently eliminated in the budget process, four of them represented by RPA. Factoring those eliminations, Petraowski said the union’s effective vacancy impact is closer to 15 positions — nearly 20% of its represented workforce — and that remaining staff are shouldering roughly 20% additional workload.
"Including those recently eliminated positions, the vacancy rate for RPA is actually 15 positions or almost 20% of the RPA workforce, which means that remaining employees are all doing about 20% more work to continue providing services," Petraowski said.
HR staff described the city’s recruitment processes and incentives for public-safety hiring adopted by council resolution (bonuses described on the record: $20,000 for lateral officers/dispatchers, $8,000 for academy graduates, $3,000 referral bonus, and other paid-leave incentives). City leaders said frozen positions were a budget choice to maintain long-term fiscal stability and that the city is actively recruiting for priority roles while continuing to evaluate staffing needs during the next fiscal cycle.
Council members expressed appreciation for the report and for staff efforts, noted the need to monitor vacancy rates (a benchmark mentioned in discussion was keeping vacancy rates under 20%) and said the matter will be revisited in future budget and labor negotiations. The council's motion to conduct the AB 2561 hearing and receive the report passed 4-0 with Mayor Samborn absent.
