2/06/25 Weekly Email

Hi all, 

Welcome to February! The temperature is returning to normal pretty fast so make sure you’re staying hydrated. I hate to say it but we may be swiftly approaching the end of jacket and sweater season. 

First, February Member’s Meeting. As a reminder, Tempe City Manager Rosa Inchausti will be the guest at our February 20th Member’s Meeting. Several Tempe Council members have also said that they will be present. Please make sure you sign up to attend at this link prior to Tuesday, February 18th at 5PM (this includes virtual signups). Please also make sure you submit questions to Rosa in advance at this link. We have received no questions since the survey opened last week  - please take advantage of this opportunity to pick Rosa’s brain and make her feel like her time with us is well-spent. 

Second, Community Forum. Next Wednesday, February 12th, the Tempe Community Council will be hosting a forum for Tempe residents to discuss the community and how they want their tax dollars allocated between social programs. If you’re a UAEA member who lives in Tempe this might be a good opportunity to discuss some of your thoughts about the direction the City has taken different programs. This event will take place at the Pyle Community Center (655 E Southern Ave) between 6 and 7:30PM. See the attached flyer for more details. 

Third, RoadWork. I don’t normally mention construction projects in these emails but I was notified on Monday that University Drive will be heavily restricted between Myrtle and Rural Road from now until early August. Multiple parts of Rural Road will also be restricted between University and Apache over the next few weeks. This will likely impact both people who work downtown and those who have to travel down University in the course of their daily work. I could not find any information on Tempe’s website so I threw together a quick diagram - if any of our members can point me to the project pages I can also highlight them in next week’s email. Regardless, please consider alternative routes like Rio Salado or Veteran’s Way for the next few months. 

Fourth, Employee of the Quarter. Nominations for our next round of Employee of the Quarter are being accepted until March 1st. I mention this because we have received only one additional application to consider since our last round. We are more than happy to award a single person in April, but the board would also really appreciate the opportunity to both award multiple applicants and not award anyone just by default. Please nominate your peers if you believe they provide exemplary service either to the public or within your workgroup - keep in mind we will also consider self-nominations if needed. The application can be found here and takes less than 5 minutes to complete.  

Fifth, CPR Training. I’m a huge proponent of CPR Training - I’ve been certified for a decade and think every City employee should have access to the course. CPR classes are not just about chest compressions - they usually cover respiration techniques, preventing choking, how to stop bleeding, and how to control an accident scene such that victims get the attention they need as quickly as possible. These are incredibly useful skills that can be applied in your personal as well as your professional life and the City is offering the course for free (it’s normally $75-$100), during work hours. That said, spots are limited. Check out the link here to see dates and times then click on the link at the bottom to sign up through NeoGov. You will need to get permission from your supervisor to attend the class but UAEA can step in if you experience any pushback. 

Sixth, 9x80 Schedules. I alluded to this in my January 23rd email since many departments had not yet formally announced an upcoming change to schedules. I believe everyone should have received an email by now from their department admin about this change - if not, and you work a 9x80 schedule right now, please let me know. 

The top level summary is that 9x80 schedules will no longer be offered by the City within a few months. Internal Audit recently conducted a review of IRS policy and determined that 9x80 schedules do not meet FLSA standards. Tempe reached out to other Valley cities and confirmed that most, if not all of them, have done away with 9x80 schedules for the same reason. I want to be clear that this policy change is not designed to target UAEA-represented employees - every employee in TSA, Fire, and PD that works this schedule will need to make the change. 

The bad news is that this means employees currently working a 9x80 schedule will have to switch in the next month or two to a compliant work schedule. The good news is that UAEA is here to help and we received assurances from HR that they would be willing to work with employees who cannot make the change quickly due to a compelling reason. We were also told that there may be the possibility that certain areas can still offer a 9 day schedule, but it would change to be alternating weeks of 5x8 and 4x10 schedules. This availability may vary depending on the needs of your workgroup though. 

Please reach out if you have any questions about this change. Again, UAEA is here to help and make this transition as painless as possible. 

One last note to wrap up on - I’ve met with a few City Council members in the last few weeks and I’m happy to say they had nothing but praise to give City staff. Most of them have personal experience with departments but they also constantly receive plaudits from the community members they interact with. Rest assured that they know how hard everyone works to keep the City operating and they want you to know your effort is seen and appreciated. 

All best,