On March 18, 2025, the Fullerton City Council convened and swiftly passed their appointments and consent calendar with a unanimous vote.

Councilmember Dr. Ahmad Zahra nominated Miss Megan Fleenor to the Planning Commission. Following the nomination, Councilmember Valencia raised concerns regarding Fleenor’s qualifications, requesting a resume for review. “I don’t know much about this person, so is there a resume we can look at or anything?” she inquired.

Valencia continued to participate in the meeting and cast a “aye” vote – though she had apparently not read the council materials beforehand where the background information was provided.

After the motion passed without opposition, the council passed the consent calendar, noting that no members of the public had requested any items be removed for further discussion. The meeting proceeded as the council tackled the remaining agenda items.

A significant focus of the meeting was a public hearing led by Human Resources Director Manfro, who presented an inaugural report on the city’s recruitment and retention challenges. This report follows the enactment of Assembly Bill 2561, signed by Governor Newsom in September 2024, which requires local public agencies to provide annual updates on these critical issues. Manfro outlined the city’s struggles, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing that the vacancy rate had soared to nearly 25% in 2022. This rise was primarily attributed to an unattractive compensation package that prompted many employees to leave for better-paying positions.

The city continues to face low interest in open job positions, with numerous applicants failing to show up for interviews or declining offers after meeting with officials. As of March 1, 2025, the city has budgeted 614 full-time positions, of which 65 remain vacant, resulting in an approximately 11% vacancy rate. This reflects a notable improvement from the previous years when the city reported a consistent vacancy rate of 9% to 10%.

The report credits this positive trend to new multi-year labor agreements, which have enhanced the city’s compensation package and led to a 30% increase in successful candidates on the eligible hire list. Moreover, the turnover rate has significantly dropped from 16% in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to just 6% in the current fiscal year. Despite these advancements, challenges remain, especially in recruiting police dispatchers, a position experiencing high vacancy rates akin to other local agencies. Manfro also highlighted the city’s establishment of 36 eligible lists for various positions during the fiscal year as part of a broader strategy to meet staffing needs.

Current recruitment strategies include advertising on the city’s website and using platforms such as governmentjobs.com, Indeed, and Google, alongside specialty publications. One area for enhancement noted by Manfro is the city’s recruitment efforts via social media. He acknowledged that while there had been sporadic attempts, plans are underway in collaboration with the city manager’s office to strengthen the city’s online presence to attract potential candidates.

Councilmember Dr. Ahmad Zahra pressed for more detailed vacancy information for each department to be included in future reports. Manfro assured the council that he would provide the requested details after the meeting.

As Fullerton continues to navigate the post-pandemic landscape, the council recognizes that while progress has been made in addressing staffing challenges, ongoing efforts will be essential to sustain momentum in recruitment and retention.

Public Comments

Todd Harrison said, “I want to clarify my observations regarding the first slide on employment and vacancy numbers. This is not a critical comment; it’s just the engineer in me noticing a gap. We see the relative percentage of vacant positions showing a significant reduction, but I believe we need to include the absolute numbers as well.

“Specifically, I’d like to know how many vacant positions the city had during the challenging year of COVID. We are currently comparing percentages, but I think it’s essential to look at total numbers to understand the real change, whether it is an improvement or a decline. If any City Council members are interested, that absolute number should be available. Without it, the scaled percentages do not provide a complete picture.”

There were no other comments

Mayor Fred Jung stated, “I noticed that both positions for Economic Development Manager are vacant, and we’re having trouble recruiting for that particular role.”

Manfro added, “I’m going to have Laura address that issue.”

Laura replied, “We recently completed the recruitment for our Economic Development Manager, and an eligible list has been established. Interviews were conducted by the director, and we are now waiting for her decision on whom she would like to appoint to the position. The Economic Development Project Manager position has been deliberately put on hold until we can fill the Economic Development Manager role. Once that position is filled, we will then shift our focus to the other position.”

Jung said, “Can you give me the order in which that position, the one that we’re recruiting for actively right now, when did that become vacant?”

Laura responded, “That became vacant when Sunayana Thomas was appointed director. So it was about two years ago, give or take.”

Jung said, “Have we done a recruitment in those two years or is this the first one?”

Laura said, “I believe this may be the first one since she took it because she was the economic development manager and principal planner. She took the director position. We purposely held that position vacant. Because it was a temporary appointment, once the appointment became permanent, I think we had due to some of the fiscal challenges, some of the positions were being held vacant and that was one of the positions that were being held. Might be the second yeah. Yeah, it’s possible it could be in the second recruitment. The recruitments unfortunately get a little bit blurred for me because we’ve been working diligently to try to fill as many positions as possible. But yeah, it’s been vacant for at least two years.

Jung said, “Understood. And then, chief of police, the dispatcher vacancies that. That’s a difficult position to recruit, right, Sir?

Fullerton Police Chief Jon Radus stated, “Yes, typically, there is a dispatcher shortage nationwide. It’s not just an issue in Fullerton or Orange County; it’s a challenging job. Dispatchers face high-pressure situations and are tethered to one location for 12.5 hours, making it quite stressful.

However, I want to highlight that our dispatcher numbers have steadily increased. About two and a half years ago, we were at a critically low number, and now we have improved to three personnel: one lead dispatcher and two additional dispatchers. We’ve done a great job of recruiting, and today we are in a much better position than we were two years ago. Back then, we were operating on a shoestring budget.”

Jung said, “All right. Any members of our council with any questions or comments, Madam Mayor Protem?

Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Shana Charles expressed her appreciation for the human resources department, stating, “I want to commend our human resources department for all the work they’re doing in staffing. I appreciate that you are clarifying the connection between our decision to raise salary floors and ensuring that employees have decent benefit packages, which are still on the lower end compared to other cities. While we are not the highest in terms of compensation, we’ve managed to retain trained staff who might otherwise leave for better opportunities. I’m really glad for your efforts.

One suggestion I would like to make, which reflects my own professional experience, involves the use of social media for hiring. Lately, we’ve noticed that LinkedIn has become surprisingly active among individuals pursuing various degrees. We are currently facing challenges in receiving applications for specialized positions, such as water systems managers, which require highly technical degrees. I recommend that we consider utilizing LinkedIn more effectively for recruitment. I’ve observed that the cities of Santa Ana and Long Beach are both very active on this platform and seem to be successful in attracting candidates. This is something we should explore further.”

Manfro said, “I appreciate that and I agree with you 100%. Regarding Mr. Harrison’s comment, I appreciate your input, and I think you’re right. We could have done a better job of making an apples-to-apples comparison with those different data points. To address your question, during the COVID period, we had a 25% vacancy rate, which meant actual vacancies were somewhere between 100 and 120.”

Council member Dr. Ahmad Zahra asked, “I have two questions. I see that we have four vacancies in the water systems. How is that impacting the water utility and the systems we operate?”

Manfro replied, “Director Bise would be in a better position to answer that. I can say that some of the recent hires have alleviated some pressure on their department.”

Zahra continued, “But water is a highly technical area, and it has also been challenging to find qualified applicants in recent times.”

Manfro responded, “Again, you should speak with the director. I don’t believe they are at a critical state, but it is a concern whether we have the technical skills in-house to manage the PFOS treatment systems. Director Bise would be in a better position to address that. I’m not aware of them struggling to meet any state mandates.”

City Manager Eric Levitt added, “I can address that to some extent. We do have some technical skills in-house for managing the PFOS issue. Additionally, we rely on the CWD, who installed the PFAS treatment plants, to help us manage them after they’re installed. We also had a couple of key positions in the water department that left before this report was compiled, so we’re still working to fill those roles. The challenge we face in water recruitment is likely similar to other cities; special districts can often offer higher salaries than municipalities, making it difficult for us to compete.”

Zahra thanked him for the answer and added, “I’ll reach out to Director Bise for more details on that specific issue. My other question concerns the ratio of new hires to experienced lateral hires. If we’re not offering competitive salaries, we won’t attract experienced lateral hires, right? That’s definitely been a challenge in the past.”

Manfro stated, “For entry-level positions, we don’t rely heavily on lateral hires. In fact, we’ve tried a few lateral recruitments in public safety, and they haven’t been very successful. However, for supervisory, journey-level, and managerial positions, we absolutely need to tap into the lateral hiring market because candidates must have relevant experience. Currently, we are seeing an increase in the number of applicants, and the challenges we faced previously have diminished. In the past, we might have interviewed two or three candidates, hoping for the best. Now, we are interviewing six to seven candidates and have a larger pool of quality applicants.”

Zahra then asked, “Regarding retention, do you believe we will remain competitive and not become just a training ground for new hires?”

Manfro replied, “So far, the results over the last couple of years have been promising. Both Chiefs and the Public Works Director can attest to that. While we know we won’t keep everyone for their entire career, we’re not experiencing as many cases of employees leaving within six months to three years. Although we will always have some turnover, the main reason our vacancy numbers have improved is not necessarily due to hiring more people, but rather because we are losing fewer employees.”

Zahra expressed, “I’d love to see those numbers in the next report. Also, looking at attrition data would be beneficial.”

Manfro responded, “I can follow up with a written report to the council.”

Levitt added, “Mr. Mayor, let me clarify. This marks the end of the first recruitment cycle for the economic development manager position.”

Jung asked, “Councilwoman Valencia, do you have any concerns or questions?”

Councilmember Jamie Valencia replied, “I have a question regarding Parks and Recreation, but since Daisy isn’t here, I’ll wait for her to return. I need clarification on the two vacancies for the parks project manager role and the parks project specialist. I would like to understand the differences between these positions and what we’re looking for in candidates, as well as what they can offer our city.”

Jung inquired, “Can we get an answer to that question without the deputy city manager present?”

Manfro said, “I’m sorry, but we’ll need Daisy to address that.”

Jung acknowledged, “Understood. If there are no further questions, I will close the public hearing. This is a receive & file, so thank you to the staff for the report.”