Florence Mayor Tom J. Rankin was voted in at the Wednesday, June 19th Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Regional Council meeting as the newest member to MAG’s Transportation Policy Committee (TPC). The vote was unanimous. Congratulations to Mayor Tom J. Rankin!
You can find more about Mayor Rankin’s new position below:
By Donyelle Kesler, Digital Information Specialist
When Engineering Technician Salamatullah Sayeed looks at Queen Creek, he said he sees a community with enormous potential for growth and development. Those were things he also said he saw for himself with the opportunity to work with the town’s Development Services department.
“Queen Creek is a community growing at a very fast pace. With my academic background and experience, I felt I had a lot to offer and saw a great opportunity to be part of that expansion,” Sayeed said.
Since joining the town staff in January 2013, Sayeed has taken on a number of responsibilities. He reviews engineering plans and retention basins, issues encroachment permits, and works with custom home and general subdivision developments issuing permits throughout the construction phases. He works closely with Engineer Marc Palichuk, Senior Inspector Todd Sautter and other divisions to ensure operations run smoothly.
Sayeed received his bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2008 from Arizona State University. His previous work experience in the private sector and with the city of Tempe’s Public Works Engineering Division make him instrumental in the town’s efforts to be responsive to customers, according to Development Services Director Chris Anaradian.
“Sayeed is part of our next generation of technical specialists who will help us increase the quality of life for all in Queen Creek as the town experiences the next leap of growth and development,” Anaradian said. “He is providing the kind of added value that prevents problems from happening when they are on paper, before becoming costly delays on a construction site. Everyone benefits from that kind of assistance.”
“Having professional individuals like Sayeed working for our community makes us stronger as a town and a more appealing place for developers to build quality projects,” said Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney. “We’re fortunate to have such qualified staff whose attention to detail is unwavering.”
Sayeed says the biggest challenge he’s faced since starting with the town was beginning work on a number of subdivision projects already in progress while still becoming familiar with the layout of the town. He says he is also looking forward to future projects he will have the opportunity to assist on, including working towards town plans for a possible hotel and public transportation.
“There’s lots of variety with my job that I really enjoy,” Sayeed said. “I like being able to take on multiple tasks and no two are the same, so I’m constantly interacting with different people. It keeps my job from being repetitive.”
Settling into his new position, Sayeed said one thing he has observed and enjoyed most about being part of the town staff is the dynamic among employees and their ability to work closely as a team no matter which department they belong to.
“With every department in one building and working so closely together I think it has a positive impact on the town,” Sayeed said. “It seems that everyone shares the same vision of where we want Queen Creek to be five, 10 years from now. We have people who have come from other places and know the challenges growing communities encounter and how to best deal with them and then there are people who have been here for a long time that really understand the community and can share their knowledge.”
Town of Queen Creek Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Shawny Ekadis knows where 90 percent of the streets in Queen Creek are. After 15 years with the town she says its second nature. I look at them on a daily basis while addressing for the town and verifying locations from calls our office receives, Ekadis said. But thoroughly knowing the town layout is just a fraction of the expertise Ekadis brings to her job with the town.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are designed to incorporate hardware, software and data in order to capture, manage, analyze and display data and trends in the form of maps, reports and charts. The information is used by the town in a wide variety of functions, including utilities, public safety, trash and recycling services as well as planning, zoning and other development resources.
Starting out as an intern with the town while working towards a bachelors in planning from Arizona State University, Ekadis worked on everything from an exotic animal ordinance to creating one of Queen Creeks first zoning maps. Back then, she remembers the town as a much more rural community.
Its interesting looking back, there were not very many people and they had different concerns about the communitys growth then they do today, Ekadis said. Working in a small community you are able to do a number of different things and with the towns growth you get a lot of opportunities to learn and work on projects you might not get to in a big city.
Ekadis received her masters degree in GIS from ASU in 2005 and began her current position as GIS coordinator in which she currently heads up addressing for the town, creates map products, conducts analysis of data and information for various departments and works with staff who collect GPS data for internal systems. She assisted in the creation of the towns first Fire Department five years ago, and is now working closely with the department as they work to develop Queen Creeks fire district.
Shawnys accurate mapping is absolutely vital to the towns public safety efforts, Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney said. Her work with the Fire Department is critical and gives the department the resources they need to accurately and quickly respond to emergencies. We look forward to seeing the outcome of the projects she is currently working on and know that they will be invaluable both internally for staff and for the public.
Ekadis is currently working on developing a series of interactive maps for the towns new website, which will debut later this spring, that highlight school districts, Shop Queen Creek member information and an application for parks and recreation facilities, making it easier for the public to find and make reservations. She is also working on a website feature that will be used internally to easily locate town-owned property and existing records for each one.
Hopefully Ive done a good job in taking information and painting a picture that gives people a better understanding of that information, Ekadis said. That artistic element and the opportunity to work with different people on different projects is what I love about my job.