The legislature further declared that there is a statewide interest in ensuring that public agency operations are staffed appropriately and that high vacancy rates do not undermine public employee relations.
Public agencies are required to hold a public hearing once per fiscal year, prior to the adoption of the agency’s budget, outlining its vacancy rates and efforts in recruiting and retaining employees.
The City has six employee groups, five represented and one unrepresented. Unions include the Modesto City Employees Association (MCEA), Modesto Confidential and Management Association (MCMA), Modesto Police Non-Sworn Association (MPNSA), Modesto Police Officers Association (MPOA), and Modesto City Firefighters Association (MCFFA).
DISCUSSION:
The City workforce is comprised of 1,436 total full-time employees across 16 departments.
Total Workforce by Department1
AUD 1 HR 20
CAO 7 IT 39
CCM 2 MFD 240
CCO 6 MPD 377
CED 54 OPMB 7
CMO 9 PRN 63
ENG 50 PW 231
FIN 70 UTL 259
Total 1435
The City is in the third year of four of Memorandum of Understandings and the second year of the fifth. Working in partnership with employee unions, the City has worked diligently to ensure competitive base salaries and incentives that encourage retention.
Beginning July 1, 2024, the City initiated market adjustments to bring the City within market for the first time in a number of years. A longevity incentive was also started to recognize employees for their tenure. Education incentives were enhanced to attract and retain high-performance individuals.
The City initiated an employee engagement survey in March of 2024, after which the City and departments utilized the feedback to improve culture, work on better communication, 1 See attached Department Acronym Key
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Vacancy, Recruitment, and Retention Report
and various other initiatives. A repeat survey was conducted in March 2026 and improvements have been recognized. Efforts will continue to focus on opportunities into the foreseeable future.
Vacancy rates by union are illustrated in the following chart. Charts show both the number of vacancies and percentage of vacancies. Rates have held study over the last year.
Vacancy Rates by Union
Overall vacancy rates are 9.1 percent with rates by union ranging from 2 percent to 22.8 percent. The highest union is MPNSA with 28 positions open out of 123 total positions.
Much of this number is made up of Community Service Officers with 10 vacancies, Park Rangers with 5 vacancies, and Police Officer Recruits with 3 vacancies. The Recruit positions are passthrough allocations to allow proactive recruitment of potential Police Officers in relation to known upcoming retirements and other vacancies. Removing these passthrough positions, the vacancy rate is 20.3 percent.
The below chart illustrates the number of vacancies by department. Beyond MPNSA within MPD, a few classifications are somewhat challenging to fill. These include approximately 10 Engineering classifications, which have proven to be due to a shortage of talent in the market.
Recruitment and retention efforts specific to MPNSA include:
• Hiring open house events to educate potential applicants on job requirements and hiring process
• Targeted advertising for inclusive outreach
• Active participation in job fairs throughout the region • Expediting the pre-hire process to get candidates hired and onboarded In addition to these efforts, the City offers hiring incentives to various classifications within the Police department. Police Support Specialists and Community Service Officers receive a total of $2,500 over two payments as an incentive to work for the City. 46 4
31 28
15 2
0 10
20 30
40 50
MCEA MCFFA MCMA MPNSA MPOA UNREP
Number of Vacancies
8.0%
2.0%
11.1%
22.8%
7.4%
3.9%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
MCEA
MCFFA
MCMA
MPNSA
MPOA
UNREP
Chart Title
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Other incentives include providing sick leave and vacation accruals upon hire that the new hire will earn over their first few months.
Vacancies by Department
For the calendar year of 2025, the City’s turnover rate was 9.5 percent. The goal is to remain below 10 percent as some turnover occurs as a regular cycle of employment.
Years of service range from new hire to 39 with an average of 8 years. The City focuses on retention through employee supportive policies and practices, purposeful work, and professional development. Investing in employees encourages knowledge expansion, engagement, and motivation to promote. 62 employees promoted within the City workforce and represents 4.3 percent.
Attracting high-performing employees begins with inclusive and purposeful outreach during the recruitment to fill positions. The City received a total of 12,284 applications for employment during the year. Notably, the most applications were received for the Police Department (3,348), Public Works (1,707), Utilities (1,468), and citywide administrative positions (2,254). Specific to the hard-to-fill classifications in MPNSA, the City received 481 application for Park Ranger and 468 applications for Community Service Officer.
It is imperative that potential applicants move through the hiring process in a timely manner to ensure candidates are not lost to other employers. Tracking time-to-hire statistics allows the City to analyze where bottlenecks may be occurring and to take corrective action to reduce delays. The following chart provides an illustration of the various average times for departments who were hired in 2025. Pre-hire activities vary by position with requirements being the most intensive for the Police Department. For the general classification, pre-hire activities include background checks, preemployment physicals, and the needs of the potential new hire to provide notice to their 0 1 0 0
10 0
8 5
2 3
11 51
1 4
15 19
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 AUD CAO CCM CCO CED CMO ENG FIN HR IT MFD MPD OPMB PRN PW UTL Number by Department
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Vacancy, Recruitment, and Retention Report
current employer and other personal needs. Total average for all departments was 97.4 days, however, removing the Police Department lowers the average for all other departments to 89.2 days.
The City continues to strive to be an employer of choice through improving policies and practices, employee investment, fair wages, and an inclusive environment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact related to this item.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
This item is not required to be reviewed by Council Committee as it is an Assembly Bill mandate and informational only.
CEQA/NEPA REQUIREMENTS:
This item does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and requires no environmental review.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Staff Recommendations:
Motion accepting the Informational Report on vacancy rates, recruitment, and retention efforts to comply with Assembly Bill 2561.
Approved by:
Christina Alger, Director of Human Resources
88.0 87.7
96.0 81.9
105.0
46.5 160.9
97.5 65.5
79.9 144.2
97.4 City Manager's Office
Community and Economic Development
Engineering Services
Finance
Information Technology
Modesto Fire Department
Modesto Police Department
Office of Performance Management and Budget
Parks, Recreation, & Neighborhoods
Public Works
Utilities
Citywide
Average of Time to Hire
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Joseph P. Lopez, City Manager
Attachments:
1. City Department Acronym Key
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