Yuba City approves hiring five street maintenance workers to address staffing shortfall

The Yuba City Council authorized staff to recruit and fill five Public Works Maintenance Worker I/II positions after Public Works Director Josh Wolf described a persistent staffing shortfall in the Street Maintenance Division.

Wolf said the unit is budgeted for 10 positions but has lost five in the past six months; with one employee dedicated to the street sweeper and two temporary workers, the department has effectively four permanent maintenance staff. He said that paving requires eight workers, crack sealing requires seven, and multiple important functions cannot be completed now given current staffing.

Wolf recommended hiring at the I/II level (entry-level) to maintain necessary operational capacity while respecting the council’s hiring-freeze constraints. He said the five positions were budgeted in the FY25–26 budget, so filling them would not increase general-fund costs; the streets division is funded by streets-and-roads funds. After brief questions about service impacts (quicker pothole response and improved storm-season coverage), a council member moved to authorize the interim HR director to fill the five full-time positions; the motion passed by voice vote.

Council directed staff to proceed with recruitment and indicated the hires should increase responsiveness for pothole repairs, drainage, and paved-surface maintenance.