10/22 Weekly Email
Hi all,
I have a lot of new updates and reminders, in the following order this week.
President Out of Office
October Meeting Minutes:
November Meeting Invite:
November Adopt-a-Path
Tempe Mentoring
Tempe Employee Recognition
Tempe Fall Family Events
Floating Holiday Leave Updates
1. UAEA President Out of Office: I will be out of office from tomorrow, October 23rd, through Monday, October 26th. I will be back in the office and returning emails on Tuesday, October 27th. Vice President Brittainy Nelson will be covering the UAEA Phone while I am off - please contact her or Resolutions Director Natalya Ennels if you have any concerns.
2. October Meeting Minutes: I’ve attached the meeting minutes from last week’s member meetings. Thanks again for Councilmembers Brooke St. George and Bobby Nichols joining us - I’ve included a condensed version of their comments in the meeting minutes.
3. UAEA November Meeting: The next in-person UAEA members meeting will be on Thursday November 19th, from 12-1PM at the Kiwanis Recreation Center (6111 S All-American Way, Tempe AZ, 85283). As a reminder, this meeting was moved from the Price Water Plant due to construction - bulletin boards will be updated soon to reflect the change. Please also note this meeting will be snack-based - we’ll be bringing a bunch of pre-packaged snacks and drinks that members can enjoy in-person or take back to their offices/city vehicles. You can sign up for the meeting here.
UAEA will also be hosting a virtual members meeting the same day (11/19) from 2-3PM. You can rsvp for that here.
4. Adopt a Path Signup: UAEA is currently planning to do our next Adopt a Path Cleanup on Saturday, November 21st, from 7-9AM. We’ll meet in the Tempe Parking Lot on the southeast Corner of Curry and Miller (approximate address is 1325 E Curry Road, Tempe AZ 85281, see attached photo), then walk north up our path to Mckellips Rd. Breakfast, drinks, safety gloves, trash pickers, and trash bags will be provided. Please bring a hat, sun block, and/or sunglasses. This event normally takes 1.5 hours to complete, is eligible for community wellness points, and is a great opportunity to meet members of the board and your fellow union members. If you’d like to attend, please sign up here by Thursday, September 19th, at 5pm.
5. LEAD Forward: Tempe’s Mentoring Program is accepting applications for employees who would like to be either mentors and mentees in this coming year’s cohort. Mentoring can be for people at all stages of their careers and will run from January-September 2027. You can sign up at this link until November 12th. Employee development will review applications and determine who will move forward in November.
6. Tempe Employee Recognition: Tempe’s Citywide Employee Recognition System just launched, and UAEA would love to see some of our amazing members highlighted! UAEA will continue to recognize 3-5 Employees of the Quarter but this is another opportunity to highlight your peers - if you’re thinking of submitting an application for one program, take the extra 2-3 minutes and submit one for both. Applications for EoQ can be found here, while applications for TERP can be found here. The deadline for Employee of the Quarter (Q1 2027) will be December 1st, while the deadline for the first round of TERP is November 13th.
7. Tempe Fall Family Events: Kiwanis Park is doing some seasonal events this month, including the annual free Movies in the Park series, which will be showing Toy Story 5 on October 23rd and the Goonies on October 30th. Kiwanis will all be hosting the “Boo Bash” event tomorrow evening, which will include free activities for children like a costume contest, train rides, and face painting.
Tempe Center for the Arts will also be doing a film series from October 28th-31st - the films will be Hocus Pocus, The Ring, The Shining, and Hotel Transylvania. These films do have an admission fee, while the Movies in the Park event is free.
8. Floating Holiday Leave Updates: As a reminder, members have until the last pay period in December to use their Floating Holiday Leave (FHL) hours. Any time not used by December 27th will be lost, then Floating Holiday Leave banks will reset in January. Members who do not plan to use their time can donate it to UAEA through November 15th. Each additional hour donated will count as an entry in the UAEA Donation Incentive Program, which will be raffling off at least 10x$100 giftcards in 2027. As a reminder, all members receive entries in the program based off of mandatory donations, but members who donate additional hours will receive extra entries and a higher chance of winning one (or more) of the giftcards. Hours can be donated at this link.
If you’d like to check your remaining FHL hours, log into Peoplesoft HR, click on “My Time,” and then check the hours listed in the row next to “Floating Holiday Leave.”
The UAEA Board promised that we would be good stewards of FHL time and would not take more time than was needed from our members each year. We took 8 hours of FHL last year, but due to high membership levels, additional time donations, and board vacancies, we believe we will be able to operate with only 6 hours of FHL donated by members this coming year. This time will be automatically deducted from member’s leave banks in January, leaving them 18 hours to use in 2027. We would like to continue asking for 6 or even fewer FHL hours in coming years, but we unfortunately cannot forecast our needs that far in advance - everything will depend on currently unknown factors like the additional leave donations that we receive from employees, our total membership count, and our burn rate of UB hours. We will do our best to keep members posted on our needs well in advance of 2028.
Baking Contest/Dessert Exchange: UAEA is happy to also announce our 4th Quarter Contest, a Baking Contest/Dessert Exchange happening on November 17th at the Tempe Public Library. We’re letting members bring in and exchange desserts from 10-2PM on that date. Non-members can also participate (we mainly want more desserts to pick from), but only UAEA members will be eligible to enter their treats in the contest portion and/or win prizes. This year we will be accepting 4 types of entries, Sweet, Savory, Non-Traditional, and Allergen-friendly - if applicable, participants can enter one dessert in multiple categories and would be eligible for prizes in each. We can’t make any promises, but several members of City Council and Management have expressed interested in attending and/or being guest judges - there’s a non-zero chance you may run into some of them if you stop by.
A complete list of rules can be found at this link. You don’t need to, but the board would appreciate it if members could also sign up in advance at this link so we have a better idea of head count before the day of the event.
Personal Cellphone/Email: If you would like UAEA updates to be sent to your personal email or phone number, please fill out this survey. We’ll get you added within a week or two to our contact lists.
UAEA Member Retirements: UAEA’s Board would like to start recognizing the retirements of UAEA members. If you’re planning to retire, please feel free to shoot us an email or fill out this form and we’ll send you some nice thoughts to close out your time at the City. If you’d like, we’d also appreciate if you could fill out our exit survey before you go - there’s an option to indicate interest in that in the survey as well.
Community Resources: UAEA is aware of rising fuel prices and how this is impacting members. We are having some internal city discussions about possible workplace changes, but also wanted to post some resources for members who may be struggling to make ends meet. This is a similar list to what we posted in November with a few new additions. Please feel to reach out if you have additional recommendations about local resources.
AZ Food Bank Network: This link contains information about dozens of food banks and assistance sites across Arizona. You can search by the directory and the zipcodes they provide services for to find food banks in your areas.
AZ Medical and Nutrition Assistance: This is an Arizona-State run program that can help connect people with Arizona State programs that provide assistance for people who need medical coverage, WIC support, or additional access to nutrition. I do not know all that the program entails.
Maricopa County Utility Support: This is a Maricopa County program that can help people receive assistance paying for utilities. Some cities have unique offerings while others are covered under one umbrella program.
AZ 211: This is a Arizona-State run help line that can help people connect with a variety of resources and support they may be unaware of in their area.
Tempe Employee Relief Fund: This is a Tempe-run program (paid for by employee donations) that can provide support of up to $1,200 to assist Tempe employees with unplanned emergency bills (housing, mortgage, utilities, etc).
Employee Assistance Program: If you have insurance through the City of Tempe, you can take advantage of the EAP, a group of resources which can provide free therapy, legal consultations, or classes on stress management.
Cheap Recipe Guides: These are two free cookbooks designed for cooking high-nutrition and easy meals on a budget. Even if you’re not a fan of the recipes, there are some good tips on stocking a kitchen with affordable and long-lasting staples.
Free Transit Pass: This contains information on how to obtain your free bus, streetcar, and lightrail pass as a Tempe employee.
Sun Bucks: This program offers direct payments in the summer to families whose children receive free or reduced cost school lunches
Discount Grocery Stores: This link provides a few examples of discount/salvage grocery stores around Phoenix that resell food that supermarket chains don’t want (everything is still good, usually stores get rid of items that are out of season or past their best-by date, even if still viable).
First Time Homebuyer Assistance: These links provide information on a few programs designed to help municipal or low-income employees purchase homes for the first time. Some are loans, some are down-payment assistance, some are direct financial support. The first link is an Arizona program meant for home buying in Maricopa County, but the same program is also available to Pima County residents.
Thanks for a great week, everyone!