Greensboro North Carolina - Water Resources Director - Developmental ...

Greensboro
North Carolina

Invites your interest in the position of

Water Resources Director

The City of Greensboro is seeking a visionary Water Resources
Director to lead an innovative, customer service-oriented, and
forward-thinking Water Resources Department. The next director
will be outstanding in project management and lead with a customer
service focus that effectively coordinates with all internal
departments in the City, external stakeholders, and will work to meet
City goals.    The Greensboro Water Resources Department has
created cutting-edge programs and responses to complex issues to
ensure the safety of water resources for the community. The position
is open due to the retirement of its long-time Director.

The Community:

Greensboro is the third-largest city in North Carolina and is the
county seat of Guilford County. With a diverse population of nearly
295,000 where over 100 languages are spoken, Greensboro is the
largest city in the Piedmont Triad region, followed by Winston-Salem
and High Point.

Once known as the “Gate City” for the large numbers of trains that
passed through downtown, the city maintains its history as a
transportation hub with its easy access to major interstates and
highways. Greensboro is also known for playing a major role in the
Civil Rights movement when four NC A&T State University college
students staged the first “sit-in” in the nation at the Woolworth
“Whites Only” Counter. This act sparked a larger response across the
state and nation. Today, Greensboro is part of the US Civil Rights
Trail and has a dedicated museum to help citizens understand the
history of race relations in the City, State and US.
Twelve colleges and universities in the Piedmont Triad provide
Greensboro businesses well-trained and highly-educated people
each year, adding to the city’s existing workforce. The textile industry
helped build Greensboro, but the local landscape has transitioned to
technology, healthcare, and service industries with five of the top 60
Fortune 500 companies having a presence in Greensboro resulting in
a vibrant economy. With its temperate climate and close proximity to
both the mountains and the coast, Greensboro offers the best of
both worlds.
Demographically, the city is 44.6% Caucasian, 39.8% African
American and 7.6% Hispanics of any race, 5% Asian and 3% other.
With a median age of 34, the City continues to work hard to develop
and promote quality of life choices for all ages with focused efforts
in K-12 schools, job training, economic development, employment,
and recreation. More information about the City of Greensboro is
available at www.greensboro-nc.gov.

Organization Overview:

Greensboro is governed by a City Council utilizing a council/manager
form of government consisting of a Mayor and eight Council
members. The City Council sets the policy and direction; the City
Manager oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization.
The City, believing in active Community input and engagement has
more than 20 Council Committees, Commissions, or Boards. Due to
a solid employment base in and around Greensboro and careful
management of resources, the City of Greensboro has bond ratings
of AAA and consistently wins awards for its annual budget and
financial report. The 2019-2020 adopted budget is $566.5M. The City
has approximately 3000 employees working across 20 departments.

Water Resources Department and Position Overview:

Reporting to one of four Assistant City Managers, the Water
Resources Director will oversee a department with 353 employees
working in seven divisions: Water Supply, Water Reclamation,
Stormwater, Engineering, Operations and Administration, Customer
Service, and Business Center. With a water and sewer budget of
$137.2M, stormwater of $13.9M, and capital improvement budgets
of $26.6M for water and sewer and $4.9M for stormwater projects,
the director oversees a department that interfaces with other
departments in the City and has extensive external contact with
citizens, business leaders, builders and developers. Having the third-
largest Water / Sewer utility in the state, Greensboro Water
Resources provides service to 104,000 accounts. Drinking water is
pumped from three watershed reservoirs to one of two treatment
plants where the water is cleaned, tested, and pumped into the
distribution system. The City's plants treat and deliver an average of
about 32 million gallons of water per day through 1511 miles of
water line and 1420 miles of sewer line.

Examples of the department’s vision and progressive thinking
include two programs – one internally focused and one externally
focused. The department has had a robust vision for succession
planning and launched the WaterMARK Academy to develop leaders
in the four pillars of Management, Accountability, Relationships and
Key Performance Traits. These four pillars are consistent with the City
values of Honesty, Stewardship, Respect and Integrity. In addition,
the Water Resources Department prides itself on being a City-wide
leader in the Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise
(MWBE) program which requires a sincere belief in the program as
well as the ability and desire to foster relationships and partnerships
to maintain and enhance the program.

Key Priorities for the next Director include:
   • maintaining and enhancing innovation efforts with
       WaterMark, MWBE, strategic planning approach (Effective
       Utility Management), customer service, and billing initiatives;
   • continued work with department leaders, who are leaders in
       the region and state, on managing the complex issues
       related to changing weather patterns and the resulting
       environmental impacts;
   • managing a large number of ongoing capital improvement
       projects, capacity evaluations, and long-range planning for
       water, wastewater management, and stormwater;
   • joining the assessment of Advanced Meter Infrastructure
       (AMI) system to make a recommendation and implement
       decisions;
   • evaluating staffing needs and ensuring employees have the
       training and continuing education to be maximally effective
       in current and future positions as a part of ongoing
       performance excellence and succession planning; and,
   • developing public education initiatives to inform citizens and
       elected officials about water resource issues.

More information about the department can be found here (or by
copying and pasting https://www.greensboro-
nc.gov/departments/water-resources into your browser).

The Successful Candidate is:
•   adept at developing an excellent customer service culture for
    internal and external customers while supporting and
    advocating for employees and the department;
•   experienced in proactively leading water utilities strategically,
    not just operationally and reactively;
•   an effective team builder, equally committed to building a
    cohesive team throughout the department as well as to
    developing individual employees;
•   outstanding at public relations and community engagement
    with the ability to tactfully engage with people from diverse
    backgrounds;
•   resourceful in finding or developing innovative solutions to
    meet workload demands;
•   knowledgeable of theory, principles, practices, and techniques
    of water and wastewater utilities;
•   knowledgeable of applicable federal, state and local law, codes
    and regulations governing the administration of public utilities
    functions and activities, including interlocal service agreements
    and public administration in general;

•   an experienced project manager who is adept at overseeing
       utility-related construction and infrastructure projects;
   •   proactive in building collaborative external relationships with
       the North Carolina Department of Transportation, contractors,
       developers, engineers, architects and business leaders to
       effectively meet City goals and building internal relationships
       within the Water Resources Department as well as other City
       departments;
   •   resourceful in finding or developing innovative solutions to
       meet workload demands with reduced staff in a tight budget
       climate;
   •   an effective listener who seeks input from relevant parties,
       realistically assesses plans and consistently communicates;
   •   a principled leader who values accountability while holding
       realistic and fair expectations of self and others;
   •   an effective communicator, including in one-on-one
       communications, small groups and public speaking, who
       confidently and persuasively engages citizens, community
       groups, staff, and elected officials; and,
   •   a lifelong learner who maintains knowledge of trends and
       initiatives regionally and nationally.

Qualifications:
The hiring range is $107,474.00 - $143,298.00 plus Executive
Compensation Supplement (beginning salary will be commensurate
with experience). The City offers a highly competitive benefits package.
Additional information about the benefits package can be found at
https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/human-
resources/benefits. There is a residency requirement to live within thirty
miles of the city limits of Greensboro or move within these boundaries
within 12 months of appointment to the position.

To apply, please go to http://www.developmentalassociates.com, and
click on the Greensboro – Water Resources Director link on the home
page. All applications must be submitted online via the Developmental
Associates application portal – NOT the City portal, nor any other
external website; it is not sufficient to send only a resume. Resumes and
cover letters should be uploaded with your application. Application
review begins December 11, 2019. Semi-finalists will participate in on-
site assessments in Greensboro on January 15-16, 2020.                 We
recommend that all applicants reserve these dates should you be invited
to     participate.          All     inquiries     should be    emailed to
hiring@developomentalassociates.com.                                  EOE.

Developmental Associates, LLC is managing the recruitment and selection
process for this position.