Consent Agenda Item 4c
STAFF REPORT
Consent Agenda Item
DATE: March 2, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Siana L. Emmons, Human Resources Director
THROUGH: Amy Nilsen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Receive and File Assembly Bill 2561 Status and Vacancies Report
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend the Council receive and file the staff report and vacancies report and allow for any public comment during the public hearing.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2561 adds Government Code Section 3502.3 to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”), imposing new obligations on public agencies related to tracking and presenting information on job vacancies. The new law and the legal obligations took effect January 1, 2025 AB 2561 aims to increase transparency and accountability related to job vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts within California’s public agencies. Public agencies are now required to report on the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts at least once per fiscal year, prior to the adoption of the budget. The report has to include information from allocated full-time positions by bargaining unit. The City of Fortuna has the Fortuna Employees Association (FEA), Fortuna Police Employees Association (FPEA), and an “Unrepresented” group of employees that are included in the report. If the vacancy rate within any of these units reaches or exceeds 20%, the report must include additional data on recruitment timelines, any main cause contributing to high vacancies, and specific recruitment and retention efforts. As part of the reporting requirements, the agency must also allow the recognized employee organization for a bargaining unit the opportunity to make a presentation at the public hearing, should they choose to do so. The City provided this staff report and information regarding AB 2561 to the FEA, FPEA and the unrepresented groups, and each declined making a presentation during the Council meeting.
During the 2025 calendar year, the City ran a significant number of recruitments, however, the total recruitments included part-time, seasonal and on-call positions, which are not required for this reporting. This staff report will stand as the first annual report, which takes place before the adopted budget for Fiscal Year 26-27 and is required to include the following:
• The status of employment vacancies within the public entity’s bargaining units • Recruitment and retention efforts; and
• Identification of any necessary changes to policies, procedures, and recruitment activities that may be creating obstacles in the hiring process.
Consent Agenda Item 4c
During calendar year 2025, vacancy rates within the FEA and unrepresented employee groups exceeded the 20% threshold at various points, triggering the enhanced reporting requirements of Government Code section 3502.3. As a result of successful recruitment efforts throughout the year, vacancy rates were significantly reduced, and as of the January 1, 2026, point-in-time reporting date, current vacancy levels are below 20%.
Employment Vacancies Summary
As part of this reporting effort, staff compiled a spreadsheet with details from every full-time recruitment that took place between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, and the point-intime reporting date is January 1, 2026.
In calendar year 2025, the City successfully completed ten (10) recruitments within the FEA, representing approximately 26% of the allocated positions. Because this surpasses the 20% threshold within that bargaining unit, the spreadsheet reflects additional required reporting data including: all full-time postings for FEA positions, length of recruitment advertising, dates the recruitments were opened and filled, the number of applications received, the number of candidates interviewed, the number of Conditional Offers made, the number of successful hires and the average number of days to complete hires.
The City successfully completed two full-time recruitments for the FPEA representing approximately 7% of the allocated positions. For the unrepresented group of employees, there were five (5) successful full-time recruitments, representing approximately 26% of the unrepresented group. This number of vacancies also surpasses the 20% reporting threshold within the unrepresented group, so the vacancies spreadsheet includes the additional required reporting data.
At this time, using January 1, 2026, as the point-in-time reporting date, the following reflects current vacancy rates for FEA, FPEA and the unrepresented group:
Vacancy Rates 2025
Bargaining Unit Vacancies Total Allocated
Full-time Employees
Vacancy Rate by %
for 2025
FEA 4.0 38.0 10.5%
FPEA 4.0 27.0 14.8%
Unrepresented 1.0 19.0 5.2%
Reason for Vacancies
Bargaining Unit Retirement Voluntary
Separation
Involuntary
Separation
FEA 2.6% 13.1% 10.5%
FPEA 0% 3.2% 0%
Unrepresented 0% 26.3% 5.2%
Due to the success of full-time recruitments in 2025, you can see that in the FEA and unrepresented group, the percentage of vacancies have, in both cases decreased by almost half. There are very few full-time positions to fill and with continued efforts, the City hopes to see increased numbers to full staffing in 2026.
Consent Agenda Item 4c
Recruitment and Retention Efforts
The City has been and remains committed to taking a proactive approach to filling recruitments in both bargaining units and the unrepresented group by examining and streamlining the hiring process, including implementing Neogov, better known to the public as governmentjobs.com, which provides the public with an online application service. Recruitment efforts also include posting jobs on multiple platforms including classic media and social media, and when applicable using targeted outreach through professional associations and industry-specific networks.
While there have been no changes in policies in regard to hiring practices, as of June 29, 2025, to better serve our community by attracting and retaining staff, the City launched a 34-hour work week trial. The City competes for talent against larger agencies with more funding, so is offering a modern, competitive, and sustainable work-life balance for employees. This is intended to help the City compete for talent while keeping offices open for essential services Monday through Thursday.
The City’s police department has faced recruitment challenges over the past year and more, which has put an undue hardship on the current sworn staff. In an effort to compete with higher wages being offered by other local safety agencies, on November 17, 2025, the City entered into a Side Letter with the FPEA, which increased the base salary for Officers and Sergeants by 9% and in December of this year, will increase Officer base salary by another 9% and will increase Sergeants base salaries an additional 6%.
Ongoing retention strategies for all units include development and training opportunities, certification incentives, and competitive benefits packages. All of these strategies are intended to attract and retain qualified candidates and demonstrate the City’s commitment to recruitment efforts and attempt to reach full-staffing levels.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION
Motion to receive and file the City of Fortuna’s Annual Vacancy Report. Consent Agenda Vote.
ALTERNATIVE TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
1. No Action – do not receive and file report. Under SB 2561, annual vacancy reporting is mandated, and failure to report and receive could result in a perception that the City is not transparent in recruitment efforts and annual workforce data. Currently the consequences are primarily procedural, political and public facing, rather than financial penalties or fines.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment “A”: Vacancies Spreadsheet Reporting Period Jan. 2025 – Dec. 2025