Dozens of open jobs at stake as Hollister considers budget

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Hollister city leaders may cut up to 39 vacant positions to help close a budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year. 

The city says doing so could save about $6 million, leaving a gap of about $4 million for 2025-26.

According to a June 9 presentation on city vacancies required by Assembly Bill 2561, the city has a 17.5% vacancy rate within its 222 full-time positions budgeted for the current fiscal year. 

The Mid-Management Association and Hollister Police Officers Association have the highest vacancy rates at 26.7% and 20.7%, respectively, among the city’s four represented employee groups.

While the number of mid-management positions is significantly lower than the other employee groups, it has the highest vacancy rate. There are four vacancies in the 15 budgeted positions. In addition, Planning Manager Eva Kelly said she expects another vacancy in the near future.

City Manager David Mirrione said there have been 11 applicants for open positions in the mid-management employee group, and one applicant was hired for an engineer position this fiscal year.

Kelly said while the numbers presented by Mirrione were accurate, “a few things” were misrepresented. She said the numbers for mid-management did not include the 21 budgeted executive positions, of which eight are vacant. She said that would raise the combined management vacancy rate to 38.1%.

“Those remaining positions are being covered, [by a] majority if not fully, by your Mid-Management Association,” Kelly said. 

She said mid-management is covering at least 17 vacant positions across different employee groups.

While Mirrione said the city has conducted compensation and benefits studies to fill the vacancies, Kelly said that has not been the case for mid-management positions. She said the city had not met its obligation under the current labor agreement to conduct a compensation study for eight positions by February 2024. She added the union was excluded from the February 2025 compensation study.

In addition, Kelly said the union’s health benefits have been frozen since 2023.

“Across the board, health contributions are lower than Service Employees International Union  (SEIU), confidential and executive,” she said. “They are the lowest health benefits you offer at this agency.” 

To cut costs, she suggested the city: cancel the Hollister Independence Rally, saying that it takes significant staff time to organize; avoid implementing new programs that require staff time; and to reach an agreement for fire services, while filling vacancies with local contractor members. 

“We understand the city is currently facing a difficult situation with the budget deficit and you are exploring options,” she said. “However, please also understand your staff is trying to assist and evaluate potential solutions and it feels like those ideas are falling on deaf ears.”

Mirrione said in the current fiscal year, 512 candidates applied for various positions in the Hollister Police Department, including police officer, sergeant, multi-services officer and animal control officer. 

Of those, four were hired and one was promoted. He said the department currently has 12 vacancies. 

According to Mirrione, among the challenges in recruiting are candidates not meeting qualifications, incompatibility with city or department standards and non-responsiveness to testing or interview invitations. 

SEIU representative Jay Donato urged the city to focus on retaining current employees over recruitment.  

“What SEIU asks is to protect your vacancies but unfund them,” he said. “Sometimes if you eliminate vacancies, it’s much more problematic to reinstate them.”

The city has 62 SEIU positions funded and eight are vacant. 

The Hollister Firefighter Union has the lowest vacancy rate at 8.5% and four vacancies among its 47 budgeted positions.

No representatives from the firefighters union or police officers association spoke at the meeting. 

Council members thanked the staff and said they appreciated them but limited their comments after City Attorney Mary Lerner cautioned them about bargaining in open session.

Other city actions

The Hollister City Council is expected to renew cannabis dispensary Higher Level of Care’s permit.

According to the staff report, the dispensary is the only one operating in the city and its permit expires July 25.

Any approval would be conditioned on the dispensary making monthly $25,000 payments toward what it currently owes the city, which totals $275,000. The amount includes operating fees and business tax. 

According to the staff report, the dispensary’s balance goes back to the third quarter of 2024.

Cannabis Affairs Manager Maria Mendez said the city receives, on average, $150,000 quarterly from Higher Level of Care.

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