Centralina Success Stories

Supporting Data-Driven Government Workforce Planning in Albemarle

May 11, 2025

Like many communities throughout the Centralina region, the City of Albemarle is anticipating significant growth in the coming years. City leaders want to ensure they have the staff capacity and capability needed to continue providing high-quality public services to the community’s growing population. They also recognize the need for a long-term, strategic approach to making staffing decisions. To support Albemarle in this effort, Centralina Regional Council recently conducted an organizational study to aid the city in developing a five-year staffing plan.

Inside the Process

Centralina’s project team began by reviewing Albemarle’s current staffing conditions and met with department heads to understand existing and future needs. The team also evaluated the potential impacts that the planned and projected growth will have on staffing. To assess how the city’s staffing levels compare to those of other communities, the team analyzed benchmark data from five peer cities across the state. The inputs gathered from these activities guided Centralina in creating the project’s primary deliverable: a position request evaluation tool to aid Albemarle in making data-driven staffing decisions. The project team used this tool to organize all requested positions into a recommended, prioritized list, which informed the FY26 budget development process.

Impact and Insights

This project produced a new framework for Albemarle to review and evaluate staffing proposals. Going forward, staffing decisions will be based on a structured process supported by data and aligned with organizational priorities. One of the study’s key findings was the need for additional staffing in the city’s internal-facing departments; specifically, Administration, Finance, HR and IT to ensure the capacity exists to support operations organization-wide. Keeping internal-facing staffing levels on pace with external-facing department expansion and community growth will help all departments operate at their highest efficiency.

The study also found that Albemarle is making strides in fostering a balanced and resilient workforce through existing initiatives. The project team recommended additional ways for the city to enhance their efforts in the areas of leadership development and planning, recruitment and retention, employee training, employee performance, wellness and assessing growing needs.