Assistant City Manager Albert Thigpen presented an update Oct. 7 on the city’s human-resources work, telling the City Council that the city has largely filled HR staff positions and adopted a comprehensive wage-and-compensation plan that takes effect Jan. 1.

Thigpen said the fiscal 2026 budget added 34.3 positions and that the city has a budgeted workforce of 855 but currently has 121 unfilled budgeted positions. “Of that 121, we know that some are waiting requisitions from the departments to initiate the process. We have some that are currently in the interview process. We have some that are currently in preemployment,” Thigpen said.

The presentation listed recent hires including a controller, a director of public services and city engineer, and an assistant utility operations manager. Thigpen said the HR department is implementing the wage-and-compensation plan, training staff on the Munis payroll/HR system, working with recruitment firms, Texas Workforce Solutions and Lamar State College Port Arthur, and organizing job fairs and targeted recruitment for 19 new solid-waste positions.

Councilmembers praised the progress but repeatedly asked for faster movement on the “pre-employment zone” — the time between application and hiring where candidates often wait weeks. Councilmember Kinlaw asked the department to “capture that” process, including better tracking of applicants and a data bank to retain qualified candidates for future openings.

Councilmember Lewis asked whether exit interviews are tracked; Thigpen said the city performs exit polls and that HR would provide vacancy and salary actuals to finance for reporting. Finance Director Lynn (last name not specified in the transcript) said at-year reporting and the annual audit provide the formal actuals by department and that staff can provide more granular reports to council on salaries and vacancies upon request.

Why it matters: Filling vacancies and implementing the wage-and-compensation plan affect service delivery across public safety, garbage collection and utilities. Council members made clear they expect faster hiring pipelines, clearer public-facing listings and regular updates to track vacancies and dollar impacts.