Council member Cassie Ziegler asked city staff what the FY2026 budget would do to reduce vacancies and improve services; staff and department heads described a mix of department‑level recruitment, specialized advertising and workforce training programs.

Iris Jesse, the city’s HR director, said the city works with departments individually because certain trades require certifications and specialized recruitment: “We do work individually with departments because, some of the departments have specialized needs that, means that, a job advertised in the Georgia Local Government Personnel Association, GLGPA, may not attract the, water resources staff who often have to be certified.” Jesse said HR budgets funds to advertise in trade journals and to support targeted outreach for roles such as water technicians and IT specialists.

Melissa Ettria, East Point’s water and sewer director, described a recently completed workforce development grant that trained residents in water‑trade skills and led to hires: “We just completed the workforce development grant ... we taught them and certified them in water skill trades and also employed many of them once they completed that program.” Ettria said the department recruits at trade career fairs and posts openings on relevant trade association sites.

Police Chief Sean Buchanan said the police department funds advertising and participates in two large job fairs per year; at the time of the meeting the department reported being roughly four officers short and budgeted recruitment funds in the police budget.

Council members also raised cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience. City Manager Jones and finance staff said the IT director has proposed adding specialized positions and infrastructure investments; Jones characterized cybersecurity capacity as a priority but said timing and budget constraints have affected how much could be included in the current draft. A staff member noted the city had implemented Barracuda for fraud and email protection and requires quarterly fraud training for employees.

Several department heads emphasized manual safeguards for critical utilities. Melissa Ettria noted the East Point water treatment plant can operate manually if needed despite increasing automation.

No formal staffing policy changes or new authorized positions were adopted in the meeting; questions and staff answers were part of the budget review and Q&A process.