Workforce vacancies have haunted Plumas County for years. They prompted a recent investigation by the Plumas County Civil Grand Jury and, for the last four months of 2024, forced the sheriff to eliminate on-the-street law enforcement from 10 p.m. until noon.
Just how many positions are vacant, and in which county departments, has been a matter of speculation for the county and the public. Now it is a matter of public record.
Plumas County has a total of 423.476 full-time equivalency positions, said Sara James, deputy county counsel who is temporarily serving as the county’s interim human resources department director. Ninety positions are vacant. That’s a 21% vacancy rate, James told the Plumas County Board of Supervisors Aug. 19.
Reporting by bargaining unit
In her report, prompted by a new state law, James used the county’s employee bargaining units to document vacancy rates, emphasizing those with 20% or higher. Thirteen different bargaining units represent county employees in setting wages and benefits. Three units hit the 20% mark or above, while two others were just below that vacancy rate.
The probation department’s mid-management unit is at the top of the county’s vacancy rate with 50% percent of its positions vacant. That number is deceptive: The mid-management unit has just two positions; one is vacant. The rest of the probation department won honors for having a 0% vacancy rate. All of its 12 positions are filled.
A more realistic picture of vacancies shows in the general employee department, a broad category that includes the treasurer and assessor departments, health and human services, behavioral health and social services. Of its 175.731 full-time equivalency positions, 53.095 are vacant. That’s 30.21%, James said.
The sheriff’s office also illustrates the county’s issue with vacancies. It has 62 positions, including deputies, dispatchers and correctional officers working at the jail. Of them, 14 (22%) are vacant.
Moving to the bargaining unit for contract employees, James said one of its five full-time equivalent positions is vacant. In the confidential bargaining unit, which includes the auditor’s office, three of the 18 approved positions are vacant.
James also reported three vacant department head positions: social services, human resources and the county administrative officer. All three have been topics discussed recently by the supervisors. At its Aug. 19 meeting, the board’s closed session agenda included discussions of appointments of both a CAO and social services director. Board Chairman Kevin Goss reported no action.
While the raw numbers in the vacancy report were sobering, James was upbeat in presenting them: “We’re hoping for a positive conversation to come out of this,” she said.
Supervisor Mimi Hall said she welcomed the numbers as a way to dispel “rural rumors,” her Plumas County equivalent of urban myths. The new state law “forces us to be transparent. We need to be making decisions based on real data,” Hall said.
Recruitment and retention
The actual workforce vacancy numbers may be new, but the supervisors have been working to improve the county’s application and hiring process. Under the leadership of former Interim Human Resources Director Joshua Mizrahi , and now James, the number of new hires is gradually increasing.
During the fiscal year that ended June 30, Plumas County hired 120 employees. In the first month and a half of the new fiscal year, 17 applicants were hired to new positions. That improves the rate of monthly hiring from 10 a month to 11.3 a month, a positive sign, said James.
The HR department has increased its public outreach in recent months, she said. James publicly acknowledged Hannah Hayes, an HR technician, for getting applications out quickly to department heads, contributing to the improved hiring rate.
James also reported that once hired, Plumas County employees stay with their jobs. The average rate of worker retention for Plumas County is 10 years, she said. Over 40 employees have been with the county for 20 years or more, she reported.
In her report James listed a number of challenges to successful recruiting and retaining county employees. Wages, cost of living and health insurance rates are among them. But James also included particular local issues: staffing shortages, burn-out and department stability.
“Outdated” requirements and “cumbersome” process
Several positions that have remained open for over a year may be the result of outdated job descriptions. In the auditor’s office, the assistant position has been vacant since December, 2022. It requires five years of experience and the equivalent of a four-year degree. In its 2025 report, the grand jury found that requirement too high and recommended a change allowing experience to supersede the degree requirement.
Other departments are also impacted by “outdated” job descriptions and a “cumbersome” process for updating them, according to the grand jury report. The county public works department has positions that have been vacant for as long as 17 months. In the building department, key positions went unfilled due to experience requirements and a process requiring resignations and retirements to go through the human relations department. The sheriff’s office is “chronically understaffed,” the grand jury reported.
It recommended that the board of supervisors allow more frequent changes to job descriptions and give authority to the HR department to do that in some cases. The grand jury also recommended a greater effort on recruitment for open positions.
Goss was not available to respond to these recommendations. The board of supervisors has until late September to issue its formal response.
Suggestions from the public
The public also weighed in on workforce vacancies, contributing to the “positive conversation” James said she hoped for when she delivered her report to the supervisors. Several suggestions were aimed at innovations that might help make working in Plumas County more attractive to newcomers and easier for those already here.
Deb Hopkins, a Quincy resident, suggested the county offer daycare to its employees. She also proposed offering work experience to local high school students to introduce them to the jobs that are available.
Rick Foster, a self-described board of supervisors “watchdog,” questioned the number of contract employees working for Plumas County, suggesting that they may be affecting the vacancy rate in some departments. James said they may, in some cases. But the county often needs “overnight services” for positions, required in social services or behavioral health positions where the county has no qualified people.
“As soon as we have the staff, those contracts go away,” she said.
Contract workers also play a role in curbing employee burn out, said Hall. When someone is working a job without the experience or skills required, it tends to lead to quitting, she said. Hiring a contract worker can spare that frustration, Hall said.
Sheriff’s caveats
Chandler Peay, president of the Plumas County Sheriff’s Employee’s Association, said he and the department appreciate the 20% raise across-the-board the supervisors approved in October 2023. But, he pointed out, the raise was the first one in eight years. Low wages for that long “set us back” in terms of recruiting and retaining employees. In addition to the Plumas County Sheriff’s 14 vacancies, several workers are close to retirement, which will create additional vacancies.
“Pay is still our biggest issue,” Peay said. Even with the increase, wages remain 20% below the average in comparable counties, he reported.
Hall said a salary study, currently underway for all county employees, will contribute to reducing the county’s workforce vacancies. It is designed to identify jobs and pay scales across a broad spectrum, producing “real data” for basing decisions.
The salary study, expected to be complete April 2026, should evaluate all employee positions, including department heads, and review the salary and work requirements established for each one, said County Counsel Joshua Brechtel at the supervisors’ July 1 meeting. Until its completion, Hall encouraged county departments to help find ways to “jump-start” recruitment for vacant positions.
The vacancy report was required by California Assembly Bill (AB) 2561. It holds public agencies responsible for an annual public hearing to present the status of vacancies, recruitment and retention efforts. The bill, which went into effect in January, also requires that these recruitment plans be made available online for public review.The bill does not require a vote once the report has been presented.
Source: Plumas Sun
