Brief

The City Administrative Officer has submitted a resolution requesting that the City Council unfreeze certain personnel positions ahead of the 2026-27 budget cycle. The motion was introduced on June 24, 2026, and is currently pending review by the Personnel and Hiring Committee. Unfreezing allows departments to fill vacancies and restore positions that were previously held back due to budget constraints or fiscal controls.

Full summary

City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo has submitted a resolution that would authorize city departments to fill vacant positions for fiscal year 2026-27, while specifically carving out a large set of newly created, partially-funded positions that must remain vacant until January 1, 2027. The delay on those positions is driven by a budget instruction requiring that any General Fund or special fund position funded for less than a full year be held open until the midpoint of the fiscal year, to avoid salary account shortfalls. The CAO considered granting exceptions for positions that generate revenue or reduce legal liability but ultimately approved none. The attached resolution and position list span more than 20 departments and cover hundreds of individual roles. The largest concentrations of frozen positions are in the Department of Transportation, which must hold 105 Traffic Officer II slots and 10 Senior Traffic Supervisor I slots until January; Public Works Street Services, which has 37 Heavy Duty Truck Operators, 20 Equipment Operators, and a range of trades and supervisory roles on hold; and Public Works Sanitation, which includes 31 Refuse Collection Truck Operators and a broad mix of wastewater, environmental engineering, and administrative positions. The Housing department has 19 Management Analysts and 14 Accountants among its frozen slots, while the Fire department is holding back 21 Firefighter III positions along with engineers and captains. Other affected departments include the City Attorney, Personnel, General Services, the Controller, Finance, Building and Safety, and several smaller offices. The resolution itself is straightforward: it grants general authority to fill vacated positions citywide for 2026-27, then lists the specific roles — identified by department, number of positions, class code, and title — that are exempted from that authorization until January 1, 2027. This structure means most routine vacancy-filling can proceed immediately upon council approval, while the partially-funded new positions remain on hold to protect departmental salary budgets. The file was referred to the Personnel and Hiring Committee on June 24, 2026, where it remains pending. Committee approval would be followed by a vote of the full City Council. This type of annual unfreeze resolution is a standard part of the budget implementation cycle, though the scale of positions held — particularly in uniformed and infrastructure roles — reflects the fiscal constraints embedded in the 2026-27 budget.

Activity (2)

• 2026-06-24 City Administrative Officer document(s) referred to Personnel and Hiring Committee.
• 2026-06-24 Document submitted by City Administrative Officer, dated June 24, 2026.

Documents (1)

• 2026-06-24 Report from City Administrative Officer · report