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County HR reports on vacancies and recruitment under AB 2561 as unions press for more transparency
Summary
Kern County Human Resources presented its annual AB 2561 vacancy report: overall SEIU vacancy rate was reported at 11.25%, recruitment efforts yielded nearly 44,000 applications and about 1,500 hires in the year, while some bargaining units remain hard to fill and labor representatives urged greater transparency and restored audit capacity.
Kern County Human Resources staff presented the county's annual AB 2561 report on job vacancies, recruitment and retention and described outreach and hiring efforts used to address hard'to'fill classifications.
Chief Human Resources Officer Tracy Eldridge said staff processed nearly 44,000 applications over the last fiscal year and assisted departments with hiring nearly 1,500 new employees. The report broke out vacancies by bargaining unit: the overall SEIU vacancy rate was reported at 11.25%, and HR noted the Criminal Justice bargaining unit had a reported 100% vacancy because it contains a single, currently vacant sheriff aircraft pilot classification. The district attorney's bargaining unit has experienced vacancy levels near 30% historically; HR described targeted recruitment strategies such as hiring bonuses, statewide outreach to recent bar exam passers and direct outreach through LinkedIn recruiter to reduce vacancy in attorney classifications.
Deputy Chief Brenda Guerrera summarized public safety recruitment efforts, citing a 65% increase in applicants for deputy sheriff trainee and a 47% increase in applicants for detention trainee since 2022, and said those gains helped reduce the Sheriff's Office vacancy rate from 38% to about 19% for sworn positions. Deputy Chief Kimberlyn Stillwell summarized non'safety recruitment work that included more than 33 outreach events and targeted partnerships with local colleges and veteran services.
During the public hearing multiple county employees and union representatives asked for deeper transparency and for the county to restore audit and vacancy reporting mechanisms that they said had been curtailed, argued that deleted vacant positions can mask staffing shortfalls, and provided examples of units with operational strain. The board moved, seconded and voted to receive and file the AB 2561 vacancy report for the pay period that included May 29, 2026.
