Urban Forester Jobs

The City of Concord Public Works Department strives to develop and provide a variety of customer driven maintenance services and programs to protect the City’s investment of infrastructure and public facilities and ensure the health and safety of Concord’s community in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
The Department consists of 84 full time staff over five divisions: Administration & Fleet, Facilities Maintenance, Infrastructure Maintenance, Parks Maintenance, and Transportation. The Parks Division has 28 full time staff and oversees Parks, Street Landscaping, Medians, Urban Forestry, and other areas of maintenance. The Division is committed to providing outstanding levels of customer service, meeting the needs of, and providing quality Core Services to both internal and external customers.
What you will be doing in this role:
The City of Concord is looking for someone with initiative, exceptional people skills, a quick study with a sense of humor and has a creative approach to “getting the job done.” Experience implementing, maintaining, and improving urban forestry management programs, managing an urban forestry maintenance program for a municipality, and maintaining a municipal urban forest is highly desirable.
What we offer:
The City of Concord offers the opportunity to take part in a collaborative and exciting work experience, where you can grow in your career while working alongside the community to make Concord a city of the highest quality. The City is an employer that invests in its employees’ professional and personal development, values work-life balance, is dedicated to employee wellness and provides numerous benefit and retirement options, to include the following:

• A wellness program that offers yoga and fitness classes, annual health expos, health and nutrition education, as well a variety of mental health resources
• Vacation with tiered accrual increases, sick leave and 11 paid holidays per year
• Both 401(k) and 457 deferred compensation plans, including an employer-paid contribution for management
• Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) for healthcare, dependent care and commuting costs
• Participation in CalPERS pension
• Tuition reimbursement
• City-paid dental insurance; vision insurance (City-paid for select employee groups)
• Option for alternative work schedules
• A variety of health care plans or a cash-in-lieu benefit if waiving coverage
• Life and disability insurance

• Salary is negotiable within the advertised range. Benefits described herein do not represent a contract and may be changed without notice. Additional information can be found at www.cityofconcord.org.

The Community:
Nestled in the foothills of Mt. Diablo, Concord is a major East Bay community located 29 miles east of San Francisco and 58 miles north of San Jose. With a population of almost 130,000residents occupying an area of 31 square miles, Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County. The City’s central location offers easy access to the entire Bay Area including Oakland, San Francisco, and the Silicon Valley.
Concord has much to offer; its local lifestyle reflects a careful blending of the City’s early California heritage, along with modern planned development. It is a harmonious community of quiet neighborhoods, an excellent park system, convenient shopping centers, large preserves of open space, a state-of-the-art hospital, and a wide variety of restaurants. Additionally, diverse public and private educational opportunities for students of all ages are available in Concord.
Concord residents enjoy a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild winters.
The ideal weather and natural beauty of Concord make the area ideal for visitors and locals
seeking active outdoor activities. In Concord, where “Families Come First,” one is never far from a park or an open green space for active play or just relaxing. Todos Santos Plaza, the heart of downtown Concord, features a year-round Farmer’s Market, several seasonal and community celebrations, as well as serving as a wonderful outdoor space for all to enjoy.

• Liaison to advisory groups, community groups and Boards and Commissions
• Respond to questions, complaints, and emergency calls from the general public and takes appropriate courses of action.
• Sheriff Work Alternative Program
• Serves role of subject matter expert to the public and with other City Departments.
• Weed abatement and vegetation management
• Athletic Fields grounds maintenance
• Works closely with the community, community leaders, and other service providers; develops partnerships with participating groups to improve service delivery, which requires a high degree of sensitivity and political astuteness.
• Supervises full-time maintenance staff, including determining priorities, methods, and sequences of work necessary to achieve the established performance based budget objectives; determines workloads and schedules; assigns work activities, projects and programs.
• Urban Forestry Program including permitting, planning, development, construction, inspection, code enforcement, mitigation, and administering various plans
• Reviews, trains and evaluates assigned and part-time staff and makes hiring and termination recommendations. Identifies and/or resolves subordinate complaints.
• Promotes the City’s Mission to make Concord a city of the highest quality by providing responsive, cost-effective, and innovative government services; understands and subscribes to the vision and values adopted by the City in its Mission Statement.
• Continually monitors and adjusts the Division goals and objectives, establishes performance standards, methods for management, and budgets to meet targeted Council approved goals.
• Works collaboratively with citizens, school district, community groups, private agencies and businesses to facilitate and develop programs, form partnerships, clarify procedures, identify needs, and to explain and promote existing programs. Serves on City and community task forces, inter-departmental initiatives to work collaboratively to achieve corporate goals.
• May plan, organize, and participate in the development of work plans for the any following assigned program areas:
  • Parks, open space, and trails maintenance
  • Urban Forestry Program including permitting, planning, development, construction, inspection, code enforcement, mitigation, and administering various plans
  • Liaison to advisory groups, community groups and Boards and Commissions
  • Outdoor facility, park reservations and special event support
  • Athletic Fields grounds maintenance
  • Landscape Maintenance Districts
  • Street median landscape and tree maintenance program
  • Weed abatement and vegetation management
  • Sheriff Work Alternative Program
  • Horticultural consulting and project management
• Performs other duties as required.
• Maintains asset and work order management programs, using these platforms to create work programs, set program goals, and ensure services are delivered.
• Street median landscape and tree maintenance program
• Ensures compliance with Departmental/City standards and communicates with Division Head and Department Head on program and budgetary status.
• Prepares and manages bids, proposals, contracts, and service agreements for services; prepares scope of work and technical specifications; evaluates proposals and recommends awards of contract; negotiates, administers, and monitors contracts to ensure compliance with City specifications, quality, and delivery
• Horticultural consulting and project management
• Landscape Maintenance Districts
• Outdoor facility, park reservations and special event support
• Plans and develops proposed performance based budgets for assigned program areas, which consists of the collection and analysis of supporting data, including customer satisfaction surveys.
• Prepares reports and presentations for executive staff, City Council and the public.
• Parks, open space, and trails maintenance
• Builds and maintains positive working relationships with coworkers, other City employees, and the public using principals of providing good customer service.
• Assists Parks Division Manager in administering grants proposals, applications, and awarded projects.
• Keep subordinates current through on-the-job training. Maintains safe working conditions, establishes procedures for good housekeeping and the use of safe work practices by subordinates. Manages the sections safety program including conducting safety meetings and maintaining records to meet OSHA requirements.
• Develops and implements plans to meet established cost recovery goals. Prepares plans based on an assessment of community needs. Implements other approved maintenance, management, and general plans as adopted.

For the full job specification for Parks Program Manager (Working Title: Urban Forester) please visit www.cityofconcord.org.