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Report regarding a public hearing on the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts for the City of South San Francisco in Calendar Year 2025 in accordance with Government Code Section 3502.3 (Leah Lockhart, Human Resources Director and Darryel Mickens, Human Resources Manager)
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council accept a report on the status of the City of South San Francisco’s vacancies, recruitments, and retention efforts, and conduct a public hearing pursuant to requirements under Government Code Section 3502.3.
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BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Effective January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2561, added and codified Government Code section 3502.3, to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act - the body of law that governs collective bargaining and labor relations at the local government level. This law requires local government agencies to hold a public hearing at least once per fiscal year, prior to the adoption of the final budget, regarding the status of vacancies within the agency and the agency’s recruitment and retention efforts. The law also entitles the agency’s recognized employee organizations to be present at the hearing and to make a presentation. Additionally, if the number of job vacancies within a single bargaining unit meets or exceeds 20% of the total number of authorized full-time positions, the law requires the agency, upon request of the recognized employee organization, to include additional specified information during the public hearing. For the current reporting period, one of the City’s represented bargaining units exceeded the 20% vacancy threshold, therefore further information was presented to the bargaining unit and will be provided during the public hearing.
In May 2025, staff presented the first annual report on City vacancies, recruitment, and retention, covering a reporting period of July 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. This year, staff has shifted the reporting period to a calendar year basis (January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025) to provide for an earlier public hearing ahead of the development of the recommended budget for the next fiscal year. This is also in line with the reporting period that most cities and other public agencies have selected and provides for consistent metrics across agencies.
City Workforce and Vacancies
Authorized positions, including both vacant and filled positions, are included as part of the City’s operating budget approved by the City Council each fiscal year. As of January 1, 2025, the start of the vacancy reporting period, the City had 504.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) budgeted/authorized regular positions, excluding seven Elected Officials, and four positions that were planned but not yet created or incorporated into the City’s classification plan and salary schedule. Of those 504.6 authorized positions, 460.6 were filled, and 47 were vacant. Nineteen (19) of the 47 vacancies were designated as “frozen” in the 2024-25 operating budget as a temporary measure to reduce the City’s projected deficit. A frozen position remains authorized but is not funded for all or part of the fiscal year. Frozen positions may be filled if funding is later appropriated by City Council or transferred from another vacant position. Accordingly, both frozen and funded vacant positions are included when calculating the City’s overall vacancy rate.
Following adoption of the FY 2025-26 budget, the total number of authorized regular positions was adjusted to 502.77 FTE as of July 1, 2025. At that time, 452.77 positions were filled and 50 were vacant. No vacant positions were designated as frozen in the FY 2025-26 budget. Additionally, two new positions were created and added to the City’s classification plan during the reporting period: Crisis Response Clinician I/II (September 2025) and Plant Operations Supervisor (December 2025). These additions increased the total number of authorized positions to 504.77 FTE by year-end.
As of December 31, 2025, 455.77 of the 504.77 authorized positions were filled and 49 were vacant. Over the 12-month reporting period, the vacancy rate (calculated at the end of each month) ranged from a low of 8.54% to a high of 10.74%, with an average vacancy rate of 9.69%. Table 1 (Attachment 1) shows the City’s vacancy rate by month from January through December 2025.
New vacancies are created when new positions are budgeted (staffing growth), when an employee separates from City service (turnover), or when an employee promotes or transfers into a different position (simultaneously filling a different vacant position). During the reporting period, 4% of new vacancies occurred as a result of staffing growth, 63% from turnover, and 32% from internal promotions or transfers.
Full-time and part-time regular employees are represented by one of the five recognized Employee Organizations (comprising six bargaining units) or included in one of two unrepresented units (Executive Management and Public Safety Managers). Table 2 (Attachment 1) shows the vacancies by bargaining unit as of December 31, 2025. Among the recognized Employee Organizations, the lowest vacancy rate was 5.41% in the International Association of Firefighters bargaining unit. The highest vacancy rate was in the International Union of Operating Engineers (IOUE) Local 39, (representing Water Quality Control Plant employees), at 23.53%, due to a combination of existing vacancies and year-end retirements. Although the vacancy rate for IUOE Local 39 exceeded the 20% threshold as of December 31, three new Water Quality Control Plant hires were in progress at year-end and started in the new year, which reduced the vacancy rate to 14.71% by January 2026. Additional recruitments are in progress for this bargaining unit, and additional positions are expected to be filled within the next two months.
Table 3 (Attachment 1) shows the vacancies by City department as of December 31, 2025. The Office of the City Clerk had the highest vacancy rate at 50%; however, this percentage represents only two vacant positions. As the City’s smallest operating department, its limited staffing allocation means that even a small number of vacancies significantly impacts its vacancy rate percentage compared to larger departments. Two departments (Human Resources and Information Technology) had no vacancies at year-end.
Police Department Recruitment
During the May 2025 Public Hearing, concerns were raised regarding staffing shortages and employee compensation within the Police Department. In addition to pursuing significant improvements to compensation and through collective bargaining in 2025, the department implemented several recruitment initiatives throughout the year, including participation in law enforcement-focused career fairs, enhancing online advertisements and social media outreach, and onsite recruiting at the Basic Police Academy. As a result of recruitment efforts, four new Police Officer recruits have been hired since the last vacancy report in May 2025, and the Department had a vacancy rate of 6.84% as of December 31. Although the new recruit training timeline and absences due to injuries continue to strain available on-duty staffing, ongoing recruitment and retention efforts have begun to make progress.
Other Recruitment Activity
Consistent with other public agencies, the City utilizes a standardized merit-based recruitment process designed to ensure equal employment opportunity and selection decisions based on job-related qualifications. Recruitment and appointment procedures are governed by the City’s Personnel Rules and Regulations, as adopted by the City Council. The Human Resources Department administers recruitment and examination processes for regular full-time and part-time positions, including job announcements, candidate evaluation, and eligibility list development. Hiring departments conduct final interviews and selection decisions, while Human Resources oversees pre-employment requirements, which include background checks, and when applicable, pre-employment medical examinations.
Table 5 (Attachment 1) shows the City’s recruitment activity for the calendar year. From January 1 through December 31, 2025, the City conducted 54 recruitments, received 1,950 applications, and filled 66 vacant positions. The average time to fill a vacancy (from the date of posting to the new hire start date) was 148 calendar days.
During 2025, the City continued refining its recruitment practices to strengthen applicant outreach, improve consistency in candidate evaluation, and support more efficient hiring timelines. These efforts were intended to increase applicant pool quality and volume while promoting equitable and standardized screening practices across departments.
Employment opportunities are routinely advertised through widely used public-sector recruitment platforms, including CalOpps, GovernmentJobs, and LinkedIn, as well as specialized industry or professional association sites when appropriate.
Operational departments with ongoing or specialized staffing needs, including Police and Fire, supplement centralized recruitment efforts through targeted outreach activities such as participation in career fairs, academy visits, and professional networking events to engage prospective candidates and promote careers in public service. They also use digital billboards to expand visibility.
Retention Data and Efforts
Employee retention is measured by turnover rate, which is calculated by the total number of voluntary separations (resignation or retirement) divided by the total number of filled FTE at the end of the reporting period. For calendar year 2025, eleven employees retired from service, and twenty-two employees resigned from their positions. This results in a turnover rate of 7.24% for 2025, down from 8.30% in 2024. Although the City’s turnover rate has been elevated in recent years, the current projected rate is down from recent years. This is consistent with trends in the softening job market in the San Francisco Bay Area, following record low unemployment rates in recent years.
The City’s ongoing retention efforts involve both strategic management of the City’s compensation plan and improving employee experience and engagement by supporting a positive organizational culture. The City periodically conducts total compensation surveys of neighboring benchmark cities to ensure compensation packages remain competitive. The next City-wide compensation survey is planned for late 2026, ahead of the next round of labor contract negotiations. In addition, Human Resources continues to implement its employee engagement action plan. Key ongoing priorities include leadership communication, management training, new hire onboarding, employee recognition, and improvements in Human Resources services.
FISCAL IMPACT
This report is informational only and there is no associated fiscal impact.
RELATIONSHIP TO FY 2025-26 ACTION PLAN
This report supports all major focus areas of the City Council’s FY 2025-26 Action Plan by evaluating and monitoring vacant positions to ensure the City can recruit and retain the necessary staffing to support the City Council’s priorities.
CONCLUSION
The Citywide vacancy rate as of December 31, 2025, is 9.69%. There was one bargaining unit with a vacancy rate greater than 20%: International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 39 at 23.53%. City staff will continue to implement recruitment and retention strategies to ensure vacant positions can be filled in a timely manner, and to improve retention of existing staff.
ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS
ATTACHMENT 1: Tables