7/9 Weekly Email + Surveys
Hi all,
This week I have an update on my availability in the next few days, a UAEA budget update, information on upcoming Employee Development classes,updates on who won our first Donation Incentive Raffle, and some reminders about upcoming events and surveys (whose deadlines are tonight!)
Both Brittainy Nelson (our Vice President) and myself will be on overlapping vacations in the next few weeks - we will both be out from July 10th thru July 14th. I will be back in the office and answering emails on July 15th. Treasurer Brian Gonzales will have the union phone if members need any assistance during this period. Please also reach out to Natalya Ennels, our Resolutions Coordinator, if you need representation in a disciplinary matter or investigation (resolutions@uaeatempe.com).
UAEA Budget Update: The UAEA Board approved our Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget at a board meeting last week. This is normally a fairly mundane process but I wanted to highlight it this year in an effort to be fully transparent with members about our organization’s financial state. I don’t want anyone to skim through and get the wrong impression so I’ll state this plainly from the top - none of our organization’s core features or offerings are going to change, and the board currently has no plans to propose a dues increase.
UAEA’s costs for various services have risen quite a bit in recent years - while we’ve managed to keep our legal fees level, other operational expenses have continued to climb with inflation. These include the various expenses for organizational software and hardware (private email server, union phone plan, computers for union business, computer programs for graphic design and tax paperwork) but also things like organizational merch, food for member events, and even giveaways like gift cards. One clear example is that it now costs approximately twice as much as it did in 2020 to bring food to members’ meetings. When I first joined UAEA in 2018 I recall the board handing out $5 giftcard incentives to members at monthly meetings - this was good for at least a coffee, smoothie, or sandwich at a lot of fast food chains. Now, $5 won’t cover a drink or side at many restaurants, and it is difficult to purchase gift cards with less than $15 on them at most stores.
UAEA’s Board has helped reduce the impact of these cost increases by cutting costs in other areas - by switching phone plans and consolidating software services, for example, we’ve saved about $500/year. We’ve saved money in other ways by relying more on the City Print Shop, purchasing refurbished electronics for boardmember use, reducing the number of restaurants and types of food we rely on for catering orders (keeping monthly meeting costs more consistent), and reducing the amount of merch we produce and giftcards we give away. These tweaks have allowed us to both offset the rising costs in other areas and free up some funds to try new programs - the Donation Incentive Program, the Employee of the Quarter giftcard incentives, and the awards for our various quarterly contests have all been funded through cost savings in other areas.
This has worked for the past two years, but the 2026-2027 budget has forced us to make further cuts, reflecting both our ever-increasing costs and a continued drop in membership. To reiterate something we mentioned at our January meeting, our budget is based on forecasting “worst case scenarios,” and the membership count it is based on reflects a continued decline in members over the next year. Keeping that in mind, our current membership drive has already yielded a nice boost in member counts above our running 3-month average, and that trend could continue, so it is completely possible the board will go back in and revise some budget line items in the Fall. That said, we think it is important to be fiscally responsible (and our bylaws require we aim for a balanced budget), so we are scaling back a few things for the time being. This includes a reduction in our funding of special events the City puts on (MLK Breakfast, Tempe Tardeada, Mayor’s State of the City), a reduction in the total amount we allocate towards our annual scholarship program, a reduction in the amount we have budgeted to support employee events/recognitions in each work area, a reduction in the award levels for future quarterly competitions, and a further reduction in the amount we have budgeted for food at each member meeting. These changes will not impact UAEA’s responsiveness to member needs, our ability to assist in disciplinary matters, or the legal services and coverage members have through our law firm.
UAEA could resolve our budgetary issues, boost funding to key parts of our budget, and continue to add new programs/events by simply requesting an increase in member dues, but the board is uniformly opposed to such a move - we know that times are tough for a lot of our members and want our membership fees to remain low and accessible to as many employees as possible. It is possible that we may need to request an increase in the next few years due entirely to inflation (or if a major existing fee like our legal services goes up), but we will do everything we can to minimize our expenses before we get to that point. I should also note here that we should be able to announce soon a new initiative that will allow the board to save some additional money each year and/or shore up our budget - we’re still in the planning phases, but we think this move will resolve some of our budgetary problems in the long term if properly executed.
Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about our budget and/or our long-term plans. We’ll give a more detailed update at our annual meeting in January (and I’ll include information in our weekly emails and newsletter around the same time).
Job Highlight: UAEA is here to support people’s career development in 2026, and I wanted to continue highlighting some open roles on the Tempe hiring site (keep in mind there are far fewer than normal due to the hiring pause - the site normally has 60-80 open roles). Some of these may be interesting to seasoned employees, others might be entry-level roles good for friends or family who are looking for work. There are 34 open positions but I think these 4 are ones that more than 1 or 2 UAEA members might find interesting - that said, if you have direct experience in commercial driving, fire inspections, or chemical testing, I would take another look at the hiring site for those specific opportunities.
VICTIM ADVOCATE - Job Code 902448 , Range 112
This position provides formal support services to victims of crime in Tempe. It both provides immediate support to victims after certain incidents and follow-up support services and advocacy in the months after an incident occurred. I believe the role requires both attention to detail from a case management perspective but also an extreme degree of empathy. The role requires 1 year’s of experience in victim advocacy/social work/or a related field, and a bachelor’s degree in social work or a related field - many employees working in CARE7, HOPE, or specific Community Service or Community Health and Human Service roles may be eligible. Spanish fluency is a plus, but not a job requirement, and while the role requires two certificates, both can be obtained within two months of hire.
BUILDING INSPECTOR - Job Code 902474, Range 111
This position conducts building inspections to ensure compliance with state and Tempe standards. It requires employees who are extremely detail-oriented and good at maintaining records - improper inspections can yield dangerous buildings, especially as Tempe continues to build up. The role only requires a high school diploma/GED and 2 years of experience in construction, framing, plumbing, electrical work, or inspections. This means that many UAEA staff from the Facilities Maintenance Team or various city inspection teams (Community Development, Public Works, etc) should be able to apply (just make sure you discuss how your experience is relevant to the work/your ability to spot issues on the application). The role requires several ICC certifications, but these can be obtained within 6 months of hire.
ARTS & CULTURE COORDINATOR – COMMUNITY ARTS (Visual Art Coordinator) - Job Code 902421, Range 113
This position creates and oversees many of Tempe’s public art events, including Art in the Parks, Free Art Friday and Tempe Jam. It is a TSA role since much of the work requires training and delegating responsibilities to staff. The role requires the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in an artistic, history, or related field (a formal degree or at least 4 years of experience), and at least 3 years of experience in arts and culture work, programming, operations, or related work. I believe many employees in Community Services, especially those working with TCA, may be qualified for this role - I believe a big thing to stress on the application is your ability to plan, execute, and document events, as well as your ability to collaborate with stakeholders both within your department and across the City.
RECREATION COORDINATOR, Job Code 902469, Range 113
This role plans and runs adult (age 50+) programs at Tempe’s Pyle Recreation Center. It requires similar education and experience to the previous two roles, but requires a bachelor’s degree in social work, recreation management, education, or a related field, and 2 years of experience in event programming or similar work. A big part of this role is use of computer programs to coordinate with internal and external stakeholders - per the posting, “this position requires working knowledge of the Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook), Zoom communications, website, PeopleSoft, Timeclock Plus, and ActiveNet.” I don’t think you need to be proficient with all of those programs to be considered, but I would list any that you are proficient with and your relative familiarity with computers on your resume or application.
Donation Incentive Raffle: UAEA held its first Donation Incentive Raffle on Tuesday and would like to announce our winners. As a reminder, this is the first year we have done this raffle and employees received entries based on the number of FHL hours they’ve donated over the past year (from July 1st, 2025 to May 27th, 2026). Non-members were allowed to donate hours over the last few years, so they received a few entries, and former members who donated hours, including those who were promoted or retired in the last few years, were also eligible to participate.
The following employees won gift cards in the 2026 Raffle:
Allison Anderson
Matthew Mays
Rufino Uribe
Megan Lumen
Tim Li
Stephanie Stafford
Tim Horne
Jedidiah Such
Fernando Torres
Eric Fiallos
Congratulations again to the winners! I already sent an email to everyone on this list, but if your name is on this list and you haven’t seen anything, feel free to respond directly to this email.
Our next raffle will be tentatively held in July of 2027 and will tentatively use time donations from May 22nd, 2026 through May of 2027. Every member will automatically receive entries based off of the number of FHL hours we request in January of 2027 and any hours we’ve collected from new members between May 22nd and December 31st of this year. Both members and non-members can receive additional entries if they would like by donating extra FHL hours between now and next May. Please note that any donations made in 2026 will need to be received by the end of November so HR has time to deduct from the donor's banks prior to the balances being wiped (FHL hours are “use it or lose it”).
If you’re interested in donating excess FHL hours, feel free to submit entries at this link.
July Member Meeting: Our next member meeting will be July 16th, from 5:30-6:30AM at the Tempe Municipal Operations Complex (TMOC), at the first floor conference room of Building 1. You can enter this site off of the intersection of South 48th St and West 1st St - there is plenty of parking in the employee parking area. Enter the southern building in the parking lot through the main entrance - the conference room is just to the right as you enter. You can rsvp here until Thursday, July 9th (tonight).
Kiwanis Event: UAEA is hosting a pool party event at Kiwanis Recreation Center on Sunday, July 19th, from 11-1PM. We will be providing free entry, food, and drinks for attendees. As a correction to prior emails, we have a slightly different contract than I initially thought - we will have 1 hour of private pool time and then 1 hour of time where the pool is open to the public. We currently have 150 spots available for members and their families and may be able to secure additional slots if there is significant interest. If you’d like to attend, please fill out this rsvp form by tonight, July 9th.
Union Messaging Survey: UAEA is working on some plans to start some virtual group chats and improve member’s ability to communicate with each other across the City. We have a fairly concrete idea of what we’d like to achieve with this but would like to receive some feedback before we finalize our choice of platform and policies. Whether you are interested in participating or have no desire to participate, please fill out this survey by July 9th so we can better understand member needs. The survey will be open after July 9th, but we’ll do our first review shortly after the deadline.
Podcast Survey: UAEA is exploring additional options to further improve our communication in the coming year. The board is tentatively interested in producing podcast episodes that summarize what we’re working on, overview City benefits, and go over some of our special content, like interview prep materials. Before we invest the time and energy into that endeavor we’d like to know if this is something our members are even interested in and what format these should take. Our hope is that these can fill the communication gap for people who spend all week in a truck or in the field, but we’re also open to other ideas if people have them. I also should be clear, this would be in addition to existing communications we put out, not a replacement, and our goal would be to minimize the amount of time we would take to produce this content. Whether you are interested or not, please fill out this survey by July 9th to weigh in. The survey will be open after July 9th, but we’ll do our first review shortly after the deadline.
As a reminder, you can also access all of our weekly emails online at this hidden page on our website.
Blood Drive: The next employee blood drive will be held on Thursday, July 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Tempe History Museum. You can register here for your preferred timeslot.
Giving blood is always a good thing in itself, especially if you are a universal donor, but there are also perks for doing so. As a reminder, you can give blood during your normal workday and will be paid as normal by the City for the time the process takes. You also get entered into various raffles hosted by Vitalant and accrue points that can be exchanged for giftcards and merch.
Free/Discounted Summer Activities: If you’re looking for free or discounted things to do with friends or family this summer, this webpage has a list of activities in and around Phoenix.
Besides free days at certain museums, don’t forget about the Culture Passes offered by Maricopa County libraries. These offer free entry for up to 2 people at places like the Desert Botanical Garden, the Arizona Heritage Center, Reid Park Zoo, and the Phoenix Art Museum. Passes are first-come, first-served, for library patrons, but I just learned that their websites can tell you which are available at every branch.
Member Recruitment Drive: UAEA is running a Member Recruitment Drive from June 1st through August 1st of this year. Every current member who refers a new member and every new member who signs up will receive $25 giftcards. New members and members who recommended new members will also be entered into a giftcard drawing at the end of this promotion - the more people who sign up, the more giftcards will be drawn. A full list of the promotion rules can be found here.
Summer Reading Program: The Maricopa County Summer Reading Program is running between June 1st and July 20th of this year. Adults and children can participate for a chance to win a variety of prizes, including free food, books, basketball tickets, and a variety of gift packages.
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
Thanks for a great week, everyone!