After a leadership exodus and a shifting of positions at city hall, the city of Peoria has added more permanency to its upper level of employment.
At the Aug. 15 council meeting, City Manager Henry Darwin announced three positions have been filled: Diane Arthur as communications director, Rhonda Humbles as public works director and Sean Kindell as chief financial officer.
“This is exciting news to share about our leadership,” Darwin said at the meeting.
Leading up to the swearing in of the new council and into the early months of this year, the city experienced an exodus of upper level employees including the city manager, deputy city managers, city attorney and communications director. This included the firing of Deputy City Manager Katie Gregory with no explanation.
Two of the three positions announced at the Aug. 15 meeting were hired internally.
Arthur most recently served as the assistant town manager in Parker, Colorado, where she supported the communications team, legislative affairs and special projects. Before that, she spent 16 years with the city of Surprise, serving as public information officer and marketing and communications director, prior to being named deputy city manager in 2018.
Before entering public service, Arthur had a nearly 15-year career in broadcast journalism.
Humbles has devoted more than 20 years of municipal service to the city of Peoria. She served as interim fleet manager in 2009, solid waste manager from 2009 to 2016, and the deputy public works director since 2016.
Before her employment with Peoria, Humbles spent 20 years in the military, serving in the Air Force both active duty and reserves and ending her career at Luke Air Force Base.
Kindell joined the city of Peoria in November 2018 as a deputy director in finance responsible for financial accounting, accounts payable and payroll, treasury functions and materials management.
He started his career in the general accounting office for the state of Arizona where he worked with a team tasked with creating the state’s first Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Next he worked for the city of Phoenix Aviation Department where he was responsible for the accounting more than $2 billion in capital assets and more than $100 million in annual capital project spending.
Kindell then moved to the city of Phoenix Finance Department where he was responsible for the accounting for capital assets and projects city-wide. He retired from Phoenix as a deputy director of finance responsible for the financial accounting and reporting division.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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.
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