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Goodyear unveils 3'to'5'year staffing and succession framework; compensation study procurement planned for summer 2026
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Summary
City HR presented a multi'year staffing and succession plan tied to the citywide strategic plan, including department-level staffing plans for FY28'32, a succession framework, and a compensation study with consultant procurement expected June'July 2026; staff said unions and employees will be engaged.
City human-resources staff presented a framework for a three'to'five-year staffing plan and a FY27 succession plan at the Goodyear work session Jan. 5, telling council the work will be iterative and inform FY2027 budget discussions.
"The goal here is smart growth," Deputy City Manager Rachel Garcia said as she introduced the presentation. HR Director Lyman Lockett detailed objectives including workforce supply-and-demand analysis, skills-gap identification, turnover and retention strategies, and steps to identify critical roles for succession planning.
Planned deliverables and timeline
Lockett said deliverables will include department-level staffing plans rolling up to an organizational plan covering fiscal years 2028 through 2032, an organization-wide succession plan and a compensation study. He said the city plans to begin procurement for a compensation consultant in June or July 2026 and integrate that work into succession planning. The presentation also noted that a compensation analyst position has been hired and that Payscale is being implemented to support in-house benchmarking.
Employee and union involvement
When asked how employees and unions would be involved, Lockett said staff will solicit employee input on job descriptions and use the meet-and-confer process to collaborate with unions during compensation work. He listed 11 peer cities planned for benchmarking, including West Valley cities such as Avondale, Buckeye, Peoria and Surprise and East Valley peers including Tempe and Chandler, and noted the consultant will validate the peer group selection.
Addressing retirements and hard-to-fill roles
Council members pressed for attention to anticipated retirement waves and technical or specialized roles that are hard to recruit. Lockett said the staffing-plan process includes identifying 'pockets' of expected retirements (he cited fire and police as examples) and developing recruitment, mentoring and internship strategies to create pipelines for critical positions.
Next steps
Staff said this session is the first of three planned work sessions; they will return in spring and again next year with recommendations and anticipated budget implications for council review. No formal action or vote was taken in the work session.
