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 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 has a proven track record and 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 Environmental Quality, 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.

Salary and Benefits:

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.