Salinas appoints a new city manager, and works to fill more vacant positions.

On Tuesday, March 19, Salinas City Council voted unanimously to appoint René Mendez as the city manager, filling the city’s top staff position.

“René stands out as a city manager with expertise in economic development, with experience in homelessness, with experience in natural disasters, and so it was only a natural fit that we consider him and hire him as our next city manager,” Mayor Kimbley Craig says.

Mendez has served as Watsonville’s city manager for the past two years. Before that, he was Gonzales’ city manager from 2005 to 2022. In Salinas, he will fill a vacancy created in October when City Council fired Steve Carrigan.

Mendez will come to a city that has vacancies in some important leadership roles, including finance director, airport director and police chief.

The search for a new chief of police came to a halt after community members voiced concerns about what they viewed as a rushed process and rumors that Vallejo’s interim police chief, Jason Ta, had accepted the police chief position in Salinas.

As of Feb. 21, there are 91.5 vacancies, the highest in recent years. In 2019, the City of Salinas had 67.5 vacancies, while in 2021 it had 83.5, according to data provided by HR Director Marina Horta-Gallegos.Since the pandemic, many businesses have struggled to attract employees and the public sector is no different.

The Salinas Police Department has 27 open positions and last year, due to a staffing shortage, the department implemented a priority-based call system, meaning that not all calls trigger a police response.

In March 2023, the council approved $400,000 for an incentive program for police officers. Under this program, Salinas PD has recruited four officers for lateral moves, and nine new recruits. To further their recruitment efforts, on March 19 the council approved a five-month campaign with iHeartMedia Entertainment Inc.