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Richmond city officials presented a sobering picture of persistent staffing shortages during the city’s first public hearing on workforce vacancies on June 3, drawing urgent calls from union leaders and council members to address hiring delays, burnout, and chronic understaffing across departments.
As Richmond prepares to adopt its fiscal year 2025-26 budget, city officials say they may be able to fill about 20 to 25 currently vacant positions, depending on council direction and departmental needs.
City Manager Shasa Curl said the city is entering the new fiscal year with approximately 130 vacancies. However, the budget does not support hiring for all of them. Instead, the council will consider an 11 percent vacancy rate as part of its budget assumptions.
“Depending on where the city council shakes out on things, you probably have another 20 positions that you can fill, plus or minus 20, maybe, it depends on the level of the position,” Curl said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
The positions being considered for hiring are not general vacancies but are designated according to city priorities, Curl said. These include roles in the Community Crisis Response Program, as well as fire, police, and public works departments.
Councilmember Doria Robinson, seeking clarity on how hiring decisions are made, asked whether the 20 to 25 roles were specifically selected. “They’re not random. They’re not just any openings. But are they specific?” she asked.
“Correct,” Curl responded. “We’ve been prioritizing community crisis response, fire, police, and public works. Those have been the primary four areas and, prior to that, community services.”
Curl also noted that hiring in one department can impact staffing decisions in other departments, particularly when demand is high for new or expanding programs. For example, how the CCRP scales could impact the number of roles available in departments like Public Works.
“We all have to work collectively as a team to balance things out,” Curl said.
Richmond currently has 16 positions listed on the job board.
The City of Richmond reported a 20 percent job vacancy rate as of December 2024, with 165 of 808 budgeted full-time positions unfilled, during Tuesday’s public hearing required under new state legislation, Assembly Bill 2561. The hearing marked a new level of scrutiny over how staffing shortfalls are impacting city services.
Human Resources Director Sharrone Taylor presented the vacancy data to the council, revealing an average vacancy rate of 18 percent or nearly triple the 6 percent vacancy rate built into the city’s budget. Taylor attributed the high rate partly to 55 newly created positions added throughout 2024 for initiatives including traffic calming, transportation improvements, and a community crisis response program.
Vacancy rates varied significantly across employee unions. The Richmond Fire Management Association faced the highest rate at 28.3 percent, while the Richmond Police Management Association had the lowest at 2.1 percent. The general employee union SEIU Local 1021 showed a 16.4 percent vacancy rate.
Despite hiring 112 new employees and making 65 internal promotions in 2024, the city created 179 new vacancies. Nearly half resulted from employee separations, including 42 resignations and 24 retirements. The city’s annual turnover rate reached 13 percent.
Taylor cited multiple factors behind recruitment challenges, including leadership instability that saw five city managers and four human resources directors over seven years. The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted hiring for at least one year under previous administrations.
“The highly competitive market makes it challenging to fill many vacancies, but it is especially difficult to recruit for specialized positions, such as professional engineers,” Taylor said in the presentation. “There are historical challenges that have impacted our recruitment. COVID-19, the great resignation, and unstable leadership left a lasting impact.”
Union representatives painted an even more urgent picture of the human cost.
“Employees equal families. Families equal tax dollars. When we’re not hiring, we’re not providing jobs or opportunities,” said Kevin Tisdale, president of Richmond’s SEIU chapter. “The city’s budget assumes a 6 percent vacancy rate. We’re saving three times that on the backs of the employees who are still here.”
Tisdale and others raised concerns about “soft holds” or positions left unfilled without clear explanation. “It’s not defined in the personnel rules. We don’t understand why it’s happening,” he said.
Ben Therriault, president of the Richmond Police Officers Association, highlighted his department’s particular struggles amid ongoing vacancies.
“We’ve had five straight years of decline in staffing,” Therriault said. “Our authorized strength is 146 officers, but we’re operating closer to 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents which is far below the recommended 1.6.”
Therriault pointed to council-approved staffing surveys and a Contra Costa Civil Grand Jury report that identified severe recruitment and retention issues. “We need a plan. We need a good contract. You can’t just say it’s a national trend. Other Bay Area cities are fully staffed, why not us?”
Report: Richmond Police staffing levels ‘seriously deficient’ to meet the needs of the public
A report on public safety staffing requested by the Richmond City Council has called the current police staffing levels ‘seriously deficient’ to meet the needs of the public and said officer turnover at the Richmond Police Department was an “unsustainable crisis.” The report by Matrix Consulting Group created a data
Soren Hemmila
The city has implemented several retention strategies, including expanded parental leave benefits, comprehensive training programs, and employee appreciation events. Officials also launched online recruitment campaigns for police, fire, and dispatcher positions while partnering with local programs to create hiring pipelines.
Taylor acknowledged that while the city is improving its recruitment infrastructure and succession planning, data gaps remain. “Exit interviews only started mid-2024, so we’ll have more information next year,” she said.
The hearing fulfilled requirements under Assembly Bill 2561, which mandates California public agencies hold hearings on job vacancies before adopting final budgets, and represented Richmond’s first formal vacancy report under the new legislation.
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