5/15 Weekly Email - Nominees + MHA

Hi all, 

I have a couple of big announcements this week - please read through this carefully. 

Elections: I’m excited to announce the nominees for our 2025 Elections! I have attached bios from each candidate to this email - you can also view them on our website. I will print bios of the two VP candidates and update city bulletin boards within the week. 

Vice President: Brian Gonzales and Brittainy Nelson

Membership Director: Jeremy Hopf - running unopposed

Resolutions Director: Natalya Ennels - running unopposed

Citywide Representative: Leah Sergeant and Jeremy Hopf

Jeremy, Natalya, and Leah are running unopposed for their positions and will thus automatically assume the positions of Membership Director, Resolutions Director, and Citywide Representative, respectively. Given that there are only two candidates running for one position (Brian and Brittainy for the Vice President role), we are maintaining a very similar schedule to what we originally planned. We have scheduled two meet and greets for candidates on May 29th, one at 5:30AM at the Priest Yard Assembly Hall, one at 12PM at the Cottonwood Room on the second floor of the Tempe library. 

Voting is currently scheduled for Thursday, June 5th through Monday, June 9th at 4PM. Voting links will be sent to every member’s email. If you will be out of town or not working during this period and would like to vote, please contact president@uaeatempe.com with a personal email we can send a link to. Please do so no later than Monday, June 2nd. 

Segal: Most people should have received or will receive information about the results of the Segal study this week. I sent an email yesterday and wanted to follow up - if you have concerns about the information you were given, please fill out this survey. If you need a list of existing pay ranges, check out this link. 

MOU Ratification: I will be sending out a separate email soon with details about ratifying the new version of our MOU which resolves our concerns with UB time usage. There are a few changes but the big takeaway is that the negotiation team has secured an extra 16 hours of Holiday Leave (for a total of 24 hours each year), not the 8 we originally aimed for. We have also changed the rules so that the Holiday Leave can be used at nearly any time of the year, not just during December and January. I want to be transparent - the board will likely be asking for a donation of some of that time through a bylaws change soon, but every member will be walking away with more time than they had before we started negotiations, not less. 

President Phone: I am mid-process transferring the union phone number to another carrier. There are a few bugs that I’m resolving at the moment, including one that is preventing me from receiving calls when I’m not on a wifi network. I believe I am still getting records of those calls when re-connected to wifi and have been following up accordingly - that said, please reach out via email if you call or text me this or next week and don’t receive a prompt response.

Mental Health Awareness: May is Mental Health Awareness month so I wanted to share some resources. Nearly everyone in UAEA has jobs that will lead to stress at times - whether it’s interactions with angry residents or long workdays, stress-reduction is a skill that can help us all. This link from the University of Colorado has a few solid suggestions for stress-reduction, ranging from commonly-known things like deep breathing to more nuanced tips like cold water exposure and gum chewing. In more tangible terms, the City of Tempe has both the Employee Assistance Program, a convenient way to access counselors and clinicians, but also the Employee Relief Fund, a source of financial assistance for unexpected hardships. Do check out the EAP link - there are a number of specific features available through one of the apps the program uses, including group grief counseling through Virtual Support Connect, mindfulness training through Mindstream, and relaxation tips/coaching through Animo. There are also separate areas with information about budgeting and taking care of sick family members. Our insurance also has some very cheap co-pays for therapy outside of the City - the Cigna online portal can help you find an in-network therapist located near you or even someone who you can meet fully remotely.  

One really important thing to keep in mind is that stress management is a skill. It’s something that needs to be practiced in order for it to become an automatic behavior, otherwise you’ll probably forget everything you know in particularly stressful situations. Try to practice things like deep breathing or meditation on a consistent basis - if you have a heated conversation with a resident, for instance, take some deep breaths and practice the skill, even if you don’t think it’s necessary. This may seem silly but it’s how you build the muscle memory needed to access those skills in far more precarious situations, whether at work or in your personal life. Using these skills can have financial benefits too - many of the supervisory promotions I’ve seen in the last few months have been people who are consistently calm and composed in their personal life. Obviously skill sets and education play a role too, but I think it’s fair to say the City would prefer people who can calmly deal with supervisory decisions rather than those who might respond rashly or emotionally. 

Open Enrollment: As a reminder, open insurance enrollment will be occurring between now and May 30th. Every City employee will need to select the level of insurance plan they would like, any amounts they wish to dedicate to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and any family members they would like to include on their plan. I finished my enrollment earlier this week and can confirm it takes no longer than normal - the only extra step is checking boxes if you want to  Check the attached email for more information. 

If you know you or a family member will need surgery or a recurring medical service (therapy, physical therapy, etc) in the next year, I strongly encourage you sign up for a FSA. All money put in the FSA accounts can be used for basic medical services tax-free, something which might save you some money. Find more information in this blog post. 

Thanks for a great week,