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Phoenix suspends vaccine mandate for employees
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FEATURES......... 20 Steve Perry recalls his childhood in “The Season”
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Anthem Area Edition
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Wednesday, December 15, 2021
New executive director ‘excited to be in Anthem’ BY ALLISON BROWN Foothills Focus Staff Writer
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nthem’s new executive director, Aaron Baker, officially started Dec. 1. During his short time in the North Phoenix community, he has been impressed. “My family and I, we’re just excited to be in Anthem,” Baker said. “It’s a great community and a wonderful opportunity. We’re just excited for a new area, both personally and professionally. So, we’re settling in, and we really appreciate the warm welcome we have received so far.” Hailing from Utah, Baker earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in geography and Russian. He joked that he doesn’t get a chance to use his Russian much, but it made a huge impact on his life and career choices.
“I took a Russian geography class in college, and I really enjoyed it,” he explained. “The professor was super interesting, so I took another class with him and another, and he said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come look at this program we have in the geography department that’s called urban, rural and environmental planning?’ It was basically city planning. I looked at the program and I loved it. It was like a dream come true. So that’s kind of how I got into the local government arena.” After graduating, Baker moved to Nevada, where he put that city planning passion and knowledge to work. He started out as an assistant planner reviewing residential and commercial plans for the city of Mesquite and climbed up the ladder to city manager. During his 15 years with Mesquite, also handled economic development, redevelopment, budgeting and management.
PD may let others handle calls
BY PAUL MARYNIAK Foothills Focus Staff Writer
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onfronting a sea of unfilled uniformed and civilian positions, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams laid out for a city council committee six types of service calls that might be kicked over to other departments so that her depleted force can focus on
more serious ones. She said her department is not alone in studying Arizona State University’s recommendations as she and her top aides look to “maintain baseline service delivery.” “We’re looking at about 80,000 to 90,000 calls for service that we could
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“I feel like I’ve just had a spectrum of experiences that fit well for what Anthem was looking for and what they need,” Baker said. “I feel like I’m able to bring to bear those experiences and benefit the community — I hope.” In addition to his time in local government, Baker served as the vice chair and chair of the homeowner’s association board when he was in Nevada. While he said that organization was much smaller than Anthem’s, it still gave background knowledge to apply to his new position as executive director. Baker said he, his wife and children are happy to be in Anthem, and the move wasn’t as dramatic as it might seem. Baker said he looked at moving to the area when he graduated college, and, while he
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Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams recently laid out some of the tough choices her department might have to make as it struggles to fill its rapidly depleting ranks. (Photo courtesy of the city of Phoenix)