{"id":343760,"date":"2026-06-03T01:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343760\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T01:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:11:13","slug":"santa-clara-tackles-employment-gaps-overhauls-performance-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343760\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara Tackles Employment Gaps, Overhauls Performance Reviews\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa Clara is working to address gaps in its procedures regarding city employees.<\/p>\n

At its most recent meeting<\/a> on May 26, the Santa Clara City Council heard two items on the topic: one aimed at addressing understaffing and the other to establish a policy for evaluating the city manager\u2019s and city attorney\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

State law requires the city to provide an annual report on vacancies and address recruitment efforts, said Ashley Lancaster, Interim Human Resources Director. If any department has a vacancy rate above 20%, the law requires city employees to identify obstacles to recruitment and devise a strategy to address the gap.<\/p>\n

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Since July last year, the city has filled 204 full-time positions, lowering the city\u2019s vacancy rate from 15% to 12%.<\/p>\n

Lancaster said the city has made \u201cvery significant progress,\u201d but that some roles, such as senior engineers, are difficult to fill. That department\u2019s vacancy rate sits at 22%, the only one in the city with a vacancy rate above 20%.<\/p>\n

Barriers to recruitment include civic service rules, department workload, competitiveness of the pool of specialized positions and background time to hire, with such requirements as a polygraph, or psychological test, she said.<\/p>\n

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Council Member Kevin Park was concerned that the city is struggling to fill vacant positions compared to other cities, given that Santa Clara offers high pay and good benefits.<\/p>\n

On a similar note, the council also adopted a policy for evaluating the city manager and city attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marco Mercado, Assistant Director of Human Resources, said the policy creates \u201cpredictability and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process has been problematic,\u201d said Council Member Suds Jain. \u201cThere has never really been a driver for this process. As a result, we have had very haphazard performance reviews for our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process involves an HR facilitator. If the council fails to complete the evaluation before the end of May each year, the employee gets a raise \u2014 either 2% or in line with the consumer price index (CPI), whichever is lower.<\/p>\n

Park took issue with establishing goals just ahead of the creation of a subcommittee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how we can do evaluations without knowing what we are evaluating against,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mercado told Park that the policy allows for goal-setting earlier in the process. However, Park said that \u201ccan include\u201d is very different from \u201cdoes include,\u201d adding that he likes knowing \u201cwhat is going to be done, not what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Darby, a public commentor, said he liked that the policy \u201ctakes personalities out of the equation,\u201d adding that employee turnover is \u201cdisrupting and demoralizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a rarely seen moment, Mayor Lisa Gillmor sided with Park. The automatic raise stuck in Gillmor\u2019s craw, saying the policy \u201crewards delay\u201d and \u201ccreates different standards.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of an annual evaluation is to assess performance before giving any sort of compensation, so when a raise occurs automatically, when the evaluation isn\u2019t completed, compensation can increase without a formal review or performance,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is just automatic, and it is not based on any performance. This is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jain said he didn\u2019t see the policy as rewarding delay. Instead, he said, it prevents the council from intentionally delaying an evaluation, forcing its members to \u201cget on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy passed in a 4-2 vote, with Park and Gillmor dissenting and Council Member Kelly Cox absent.<\/p>\n

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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