The Huntington Beach City Council majority rejected a proposal to study new ways to recruit and retain city employees, during a time when the city has experienced a mini exodus of officials.
The proposal from Councilmember Rhonda Bolton would have asked city staff to present possible recruitment and retention benefits that would be alluring for current or future employees. But the idea failed 4-3 with no comment from other councilmembers.
“We’ve lost several department heads,” Bolton said. “You have to figure out what you do to make sure you’re an attractive employer.”
The focus would have been on benefits that would cost the city a minimal amount of money, she said. Examples included allowing different work schedules or providing child care, she said.
The Work Institute estimates each employee departure costs an organization about one-third of that person’s annual earnings.
There have been several department heads that have left Huntington Beach in recent months.
Community Development Director Ursula Luna-Reynosa announced on Wednesday that she would depart Huntington Beach to be Garden Grove’s economic development director. Luna-Reynosa has been with the city for five years and oversaw the planning division.
In March, former Public Works Director Sean Crumby and Community & Library Services Director Chris Slama left Huntington Beach to work for the city of Irvine. Dahle Bulosan, a former city CFO, left in January for Irvine after being with the city for 16 years.
Irvine’s city manager, Oliver Chi, moved over from Huntington Beach in 2021.
The acting Chief Financial Officer Sunny Han in June was about to leave Huntington Beach but changed her mind days later and said in a statement that she “kept coming back to how much I love working for the city I reside in.”
