The summertime transition to his new job as town manager for Fountain Hills has thus far been working well for Grady Miller.

With the council on its summer hiatus during July, Miller has had the chance to get moved to a new home in Fountain Hills, talk individually with council members -- getting to know them and their priorities and preferences -- and he has also had time to meet with other community leaders.

He also has had time to focus on filling gaps in staff brought about by a series of retirements that came at the same time as former Town Manager Ken Buchanan, including Miller’s own former job as administrative service director.

Miller said his own priorities for the job are those of the council.

He will be giving the council an update in August regarding staff efforts to meet the collective strategic goals identified by council.

“I am also looking at the organization and the issue of sustainability,” Miller said. “We are looking at long-term revenues to make sure we are meeting the delivery of services to citizens.

“We are running very efficiently, but there is always room for improvement.”

Quality of life should be the main objective for the town and its staff, according to Miller.

“Sometimes we lose sight of our goal to assure that residents and businesses have a good quality of life,” Miller said. “We need to provide a safe, productive environment for them to work and play.”

Working with the council to achieve economic development objectives is also a big part of the job, according to Miller. That includes promoting and marketing the community to sustain economic development.

“We want to complete the downtown to bring people here,” Miller said. “We need to work with the developer to meet the goals of the town as well as the goals of the developer.”

Although there may be challenges in maintaining the resources to sustain it, Miller said the pavement management plan established by Buchanan is off to a successful start with the work on Shea and now Saguaro.

“There is a lot left to do,” Miller said. “(Buchanan) laid the foundation for going forward and we want to address our arterial, collector and neighborhood streets.”

Miller has praise for the staff working for him.

“The employees really carry the town,” he said. “They wear multiple hats and work hard; dedicated to doing the best they can in the delivery of services to residents.

“The mayor and council are dedicated to the organization and staff. They are working well together and that is part of the formula for a successful operation.”

While they are still settling into a new home, Miller said he and his wife are very happy to be here.

He has worked in municipal government for three decades starting out in California for a brief stint before moving to Peoria, Ariz. where he worked most of his career. He took a job as city manager for a Rhode Island community but chose to return to the Valley when the opportunity arose for the job of administrative service director here in Fountain Hills.

“We really liked Rhode Island, but missed the Valley,” Miller said. “We have family here and that is always the draw.”

Miller remembers coming to Fountain Hills while he was working in Peoria and he got to know the town’s first town manager, Paul Nordin.

“I was always impressed by this town. It has everything one could want as a community to live and have a career,” Miller said. “There is no place else like it in the Valley, this is a great place.”