TO:Andrew P. Powers, City Manager
FROM:Jeanette D. Green, Human Resources Director
DATE:June 9, 2026
SUBJECT: Assembly Bill 2561 Vacant Positions Status
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Receive report.
2. Find that this action is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act.
LEVINE ACT ITEM: No
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
No Additional Funding Requested. Minimal staff time and costs to prepare the report are included in the Adopted FY 2025-26 General Fund Budget.
BACKGROUND:
On September 22, 2024, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 2561 (AB 2561), an act to add Section 3502.3 to the Government Code, relating to public employment. The intent of the bill was to ensure that public agency operations are appropriately staffed and that high vacancy rates do not undermine public employee labor relations.
AB 2561 requires public agencies to present the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts at a public hearing at least once per fiscal year prior to the adoption of the final budget. The agencies must identify any necessary changes to policies, procedures, and recruitment activities that may lead to obstacles in the hiring process.
AB 2561 entitles any recognized employee organizations to present at the hearing.
Further, if the number of job vacancies within a single bargaining unit meets or exceeds 20 percent of the total number of authorized full-time positions, the bill requires public agencies, upon request of the recognized employee organization, to include specified information during the public hearing as outlined in the bill.
Assembly Bill 2561 Vacant Positions Status
June 9, 2026
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
The City has 401 approved full-time (FT) positions in its FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget; of those, 388 are assigned to a bargaining unit. As of May 8, 2026, the City has 22 vacant bargaining unit positions, equating to a vacancy rate of 5.67 percent for all bargaining unit positions. The City has three recognized employee organizations, Thousand Oaks City Employees Association (TOCEA), Thousand Oaks Management Association (TOMA), and Senior Management Association (SMA). As outlined in Table 1 below, the job vacancies within each bargaining unit are well below 20 percent. As such, the special reporting requirements outlined in AB 2561 are not required.
Table 1 - City Vacancy Rate by Bargaining Unit
Bargaining
Unit
Number of FT
Positions
Number of
Vacancies % Vacant
TOCEA 219 10 4.57 %
TOMA 95 8 8.42 %
SMA 74 4 5.41%
The City’s recruitment efforts include advertising vacant positions for recruitment on the City’s internal and public facing websites, external and professional association job boards, and with governmentjobs.com available through Neogov Insight, an applicant tracking system designed specifically for public sector agencies. Neogov Insight was recently implemented at the City. The recruitment platform is designed to improve candidate experience, streamline hiring department participation, and reduce administrative inefficiencies in the recruitment process. The City’s Human Resources Department (HR) also utilizes social media, primarily the professional networking website LinkedIn, to spotlight and promote various job vacancies to potential candidates. The City actively promotes itself as an employer on numerous online platforms including promotional videos posted on its website and on YouTube. Additionally, the City ensures that interested candidates can easily access information about the benefits of being a City employee through the City’s Careers page on its public facing website. There, candidates can find information about the City’s salary schedules and benefits. Finally, HR routinely participates in regional job fairs to promote the City’s jobs and educate the public about the City as an employer.
The City has continued to advance several initiatives in support of employee recruitment and retention. The City has a robust retention program, the foundation of which is the City’s compensation philosophy that targets total compensation at the top of the market for comparable public sector employers within the region.
The City conducts regular market surveys on compensation and benefits. The City maintains a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that offers a full Assembly Bill 2561 Vacant Positions Status
June 9, 2026
range of active employee and retiree benefits. In July 2025, the parties negotiated several enhancements to employee benefits, including changes to medical and parental leave, an increase in the City's contribution toward family medical coverage, and the addition of two weeks of paid parental leave.
This year, the City completed an organizational culture survey to assess employee perspectives, identify organizational strengths and opportunities for improvement, and to inform future efforts. The City Manager’s Office sponsors an Employee Recognition Committee that facilitates a number of events each fiscal year to engage with employees, increase morale, and encourage connection within the organization. Understanding that opportunities for professional development are key to employee retention, the City offers internal training opportunities both in person and through the City’s online learning platform, iEvolve. Moreover, the City supports employees in participating in external learning opportunities such as LinkedIn Learning, webinars, and conferences. The City’s retention efforts have resulted in maintaining a relatively low turnover rate for City positions, currently at
7.65 percent for this fiscal year and an average turnover rate of 8.8 percent over the last five years.
Based on staff’s review and analysis, staff has not identified any necessary changes to policies, procedures, or recruitment activities that may lead to obstacles in the hiring process.
COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE:
Meets the following City Council goals:
B. Provide municipal government leadership which is open and responsive to residents, and is characterized by ethical behavior, stability, promoting public trust, transparency, confidence in the future, and cooperative interaction among civic leaders, residents, business representatives, and staff, while recognizing and respecting legitimate differences of opinion on critical issues facing the City.
C. Operate City government in a fiscally and managerially responsible and prudent manner to ensure that the City of Thousand Oaks remains one of California's most desirable places to live, work, visit, recreate, and raise a family.
K. Prepare for transition of City workforce by ensuring that sufficient succession planning takes place to develop an employment base which is reflective of the community’s demographics.
HRD: 740-10\jg\ H:\COMMON\StaffReports\AB2561 (GC 3502.3) Vacant Positions Presentation