Peoria officials are in the process of creating new initiatives they say will help make the city run better — and more like a business.
City council recently approved $238,000 to create an Office of Innovation as well as $72,000 for an employee engagement survey.
City Manager Henry Darwin said the Office of Innovation is tasked with assisting individual city departments in creating and executing Peoria’s “audacious” goals, and the purpose of the survey is to eventually identify process improvement initiatives.
“It is abundantly clear that mayor and council have big plans for the city of Peoria,” Darwin said. “And our employees of course are going to be a big part of executing on those plans.”
Members of the Office of Innovation and Darwin will help every department within the city execute on the agenda and policy direction of the mayor and council.
In addition, the new department will provide training and support for all city of Peoria staff on basic problem solving skills and techniques to reach those goals.
City goals include bringing an airport to Peoria and a joint-use helicopter for police and fire to improve public safety.
Darwin said the department is new to the city but is not uncommon in other municipalities. He said the cities of Tempe, Glendale and Mesa have similar offices with similar types of tasks, as well as other municipalities throughout the country.
The new department is planned for about four employees — a director, one senior staff member and possibly one or two junior staffers.
Mayor Jason Beck said the city is “not innovative” and needs to change that. He said the new Office of Innovation will save anywhere between $5 million and $10 million a year.
“The reason why is because we are actually going to drive revenue by bringing businesses in,” Beck said. “Right now there is a mantra where businesses skip over Peoria because we are not innovative. We are not thinking in the terms of business. We need to change that and the way to do that is through this type of process.”
The recently approved Gallup survey that measures employee engagement has been used by organizations for more than 75 years, according to a city document.
For many years, Gallup has measured and evaluated the effectiveness of the 12 questions that make up its Q12 Engagement Survey as an indicator of employee engagement within an organization.
As they continue to engage organizations, they have worked with a large number of organizations, industries, and individuals to amass an extensive database on which to allow organizations to compare how they scored against others in their industry, nationally, or globally, the document said.
Darwin said Peoria leadership will use the scores to begin implementing solutions to increase employee engagement within their departments in addition to identifying process improvement initiatives. Gallup provides engagement resources, training, and tools that leadership can use to begin to define action plans and activities based on their individual department and division results, he said.
“The survey evaluates the employees of an organization and their engagement. It’s not about job satisfaction so much as it is about engagement. The fact of the matter is that engaged employees in any organization will help that organization do big things,” Darwin said.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here