Logo courtesy of the City of West Sacramento

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – City Council members received a report at their June 3 meeting on the city position vacancies along with recruitment and retention efforts — a report required by recent state legislation.

In her report, Human Resources Manager Kaitlyn Montez told council there are 68 vacant positions in the city spread across five bargaining units and unrepresented groups. The city currently has 505.55 authorized permanent staff positions.

The five bargaining units are the Battalion Chiefs Association, Firefighters Association, Stationary Engineers Local 39, Police Officer Association and the Police Management Association. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the unit with the highest position vacancy was the Police Officer Association at 17.52%, 18 of 83 positions, followed by Local 39 with 20 of 113 positions (15.04%).

Underrepresented city staff vacancies were third at 14.96%, 30 of 170.55 positions open. West Sacramento’s overall position vacancy rate as of Dec. 31 stood at 13.45%, 6.57% for represented positions.

Council members raised concerns during the question and comment period about the police officer vacancies. Councilwoman Dawnté Early noted the council, in conjunction with city and Police Department officials, had implemented a number of measures recently designed to increase officer staffing levels, including compensation and benefit increases.

Police Chief Robert Strange said there were 12 positions open as of June 3. The department’s patrol division has been aided recently by the hiring of lateral entry officers, with several brought on in May, one starting soon, another in a couple weeks and three to four more “in the pipeline.”

“The beauty in that is that the train up time if we’re taking someone out of the academy is another five to six months where with a lateral officer it’s usually a month to six weeks,” Strange said. “It strengthens the patrol force very quickly compared to someone coming out of the academy.”

Strange said they are adding an academy graduate later this month who will be involved in field training, with two more hires coming off field training over the next two months. Montez added that the Police Officer Association vacancy rate currently stands at 11.68%.

The city is instituting a number of steps to address the vacancy rate through recruitment, beginning by expanding its NEOGov Attract module to increase employment opportunity visibility and provide better tracking tools. According to its website, NEOGov is an AI-supported human resources program built on “best HR practices” that is customizable for specific city needs.

“It allows us to fill our vacancies at a much higher rate than our counterparts in other jurisdictions,” Montez said of the tracking capabilities.

Other steps include reducing hiring time through conducting a “comprehensive review and refinement of internal hiring workflows” enabling the city to respond more quickly to staffing needs and reduce risk of losing qualified candidates. Montez said they have also removed bias in candidate selection through “Blind Screening of Personally Identifiable Information” which removes personal identification data such as candidate names, addresses and educational institutions from application reviews.

West Sacramento has also stepped up its social media presence by promoting jobs on multiple platforms. Staff have negotiated and implemented multi-year agreements with collective bargaining units that have not only increased compensation and benefits but also provide investments in employee development, promote work-life balance through flexible scheduling and work options along with increased focus on employee recognition and wellness initiatives.

The annual report is required by Assembly Bill 2561, which was passed in 2024 and went into effect Jan. 1, 2025. The legislation requires public agencies to present a vacancy status report in a public hearing before the governing body at least once per fiscal year and prior to adoption of that government’s final budget.

There was no action required by the council other than to receive the report.