Deputy Parks Director - Park Operations & Facilities

About the Department

The City maintains an excellent record for public safety and includes several award-winning schools, an extensive park and trail system, and a commitment to protecting the natural environment. These attributes combined offer a highly valued quality of life for the people who live and work in Redmond. That is why we have an exciting new opportunity for you to join us as our new Deputy Parks Director - Park Operations & Facilities. 

In this role, you will be joining a Parks and Recreation Department with a vision of protecting and enhancing the community’s quality of life by delivering exceptional services. With a biennial operating budget of $45 million and a department staff of 117 full-time and supplemental employees, Parks and Recreation embraces their mission to build community through people, parks, arts, recreation, and conservation. 

As our new Deputy Director, we know you will be successful in this role because you are: 

An Inspirational Leader. You have a sincere appreciation for people and how they are each uniquely motivated. Your social and emotional intelligence is the foundation for designing and implementing interactive communication, training, and decision-making processes for your team.

A Decisive but Collaborative Partner– As a Deputy Director, you will lead strategic planning in areas that impact recreation and engagement, as well as other Parks & Recreation activities. In this role, you will quickly build rapport and trust with others because you are a poised, engaging, and concise communicator. You have a natural strength for making timely decisions and helping teams get unstuck from the details and clearing barriers for staff to move forward. Your drive, determination and self-discipline have made you a valuable partner because you know how to take a vision and turn it into results. However, while you have always shown a strong initiative and self-direction, your best leadership successes have been accomplished by working with and through the collaboration and engagement of people or a team.

A Business-Savvy Manager Who Loves to Solve Puzzles. Because this position requires the ability to set and re-set financial and management priorities, we are looking for business-savvy leaders who have demonstrated experience with running a department or organization. Since we are accountable to the community members of Redmond, we want to see how you have solved the puzzles related to the commonly assumed contradictions around balancing community needs, quality of services, and budget constraints in a rapidly changing and urbanizing community.

A Person Who Loves People. The City of Redmond is committed to being a leader and fostering a socially-just community with cultural humility. That means we are looking to see how you effectively enabled positive collaboration with diverse communities and cross-cultural situations, ensuring genuine inclusion in policy development or decision-making. In the end, you are person who loves connecting people with each other, the community, and the services we provide.

Position Duties

• Establishes and maintains a working environment conducive to positive morale, individual style, quality, creativity, and teamwork.
• Provides direction to managers, supervisors, and senior staff members in areas such as policy, operations and planning.
• Coaches managers and supervisors to consistently use performance management techniques; ensures assigned staff correctly supervise, regularly evaluate, recognize, and discipline staff; and conducts consistent staff meetings and 1:1 check-in meetings with direct reports.
• Recruits, selects, trains, and manages staff, handles labor relations, discipline and performance related issues.
• Monitors and enhances customer service initiatives to respond to and support an ever-changing diverse and multi-cultural community.
• Responds to and resolves issues of concern regarding department operations, projects or programs, and citizen complaints.
• Establishes, implements, and monitors short and long-range business plans; manages and participates in the development and implementation of goals, policies, and priorities; and recommends, revises, and administers policies and procedures.
• Develops new approaches to service delivery, performance measurement, capital development, and financial development and controls.
• Directs the preparation of biennial preliminary budget recommendations for the department; analyzes and reviews budgetary and financial data; develops purchasing and budgetary policies and guidelines; and controls and authorizes expenditures in accordance with established limitations.
• Prepares reports and memoranda; reviews and approves contracts and budget-related documents, makes presentations to the Mayor, City Council and other elected officials.
• Serves as a liaison for the Parks and Recreation Department with other divisions, departments, and outside agencies; negotiates and resolves sensitive and controversial issues.
• Serves as a representative on a variety of boards, commissions, and committees; prepares and presents reports and other necessary correspondence.
• Attends and participates in professional group meetings; maintains awareness of new trends and developments in the field of landscape/facilities maintenance, park planning, development, recreation, events, cultural arts and customer service; incorporates new developments as appropriate.
• Serves as the acting Director in the director’s absence; makes decisions and provides information as necessary.

Knowledge of and Skills in:

• Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of parks and recreation, planning, programs, community recreation needs and resources.
• Knowledge of the equipment and facilities required in a comprehensive parks and recreation system.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of facility maintenance, construction, and use of public buildings and park facilities.
• Knowledge of budget management and capital project management.
• Knowledge of personal computers including word processing, database, and spreadsheet applications.
• Skills in developing effective teams and coordinating efforts of multiple complex functions.
• Skills in identifying emerging issues, developing and implementing new approaches and/or refining the department's organization structure to generate desired results as efficiently as possible.

Abilities to:

• Plan, organize, coordinate and implement a comprehensive community park and recreation program.
• Coordinate, analyze, and utilize a variety of reports and records.
• Evaluate complex technical, legal and community relations issues and develop effective solutions.
• Communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, supervisors, other agencies, and the public.
• Supervise and motivate staff.
• Provide leadership, counsel, motivation and constructive performance reviews to staff, securing their respective commitments to the department's goals.
• Maintain or redefine the department's future direction and ways of doing business in response to changing City needs.
• Anticipate and resolve problems before a crisis ensues.
• Develop, implement and monitor appropriate plans, schedules and action steps.
• Develop and maintain productive relationships with elected officials, community leaders, advisory boards, the news media, and the general public.
• Understand the City's political environment and sensitivities and function effectively within that environment.
• Work weekend, evenings, and holidays as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Seven years increasingly responsible experience in parks and recreation operations, planning, and programming.
• Three years progressive supervisory/managerial experience with advanced leadership experience.
• High school diploma or equivalent, Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in business administration, parks and recreation, park administration or a closely related field preferred
• Experience with performance management, change management, High Performance Organization (HPO), Lean, or equivalent type of organizational development experience preferred
• Experience working with a diverse community with multi-cultural backgrounds preferred.
• Budget management and enterprise cost recovery experience preferred.
• Grant writing experience preferred.
• Public sector experience preferred.
• Any equivalent combination of education, experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities

Licenses and Certificates:

• Valid WA State Driver's license required. Accommodations for lack of driver's license may be considered depending on the assignment or circumstances.
• CPR and 1st Aid certification within 6 months of hire.

Other:

This class description describes the general nature of the work performed, representative duties as well as the typical qualifications needed for acceptable performance. It is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of the job.

Please review the Deputy Parks Director job description for more information about the knowledge, skills, abilities, working conditions, and physical requirements.

Other Qualifications

Our employees earn competitive wages and enjoy an exceptional benefits package that includes:

• MEDICAL INSURANCE - Choice of two plans for employees and their eligible dependents: Premera or Kaiser Permanente. All employee healthcare premiums paid for by the City of Redmond.
• PRESCRIPTION DRUG INSURANCE - Included with each medical plan
• DENTAL INSURANCE - For employees and their eligible dependents
• VISION INSURANCE - For employees and their eligible dependents
• OTHER INSURANCE - Life, accidental death & dismemberment insurance, short and long-term disability, optional employee-paid voluntary life insurance
• FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNTS - For tax savings on healthcare and dependent care expenses
• PAID VACATION & HOLIDAYS – with (13) paid holidays per year
• EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP)
• RETIREMENT PLANS - Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) plus additional options that include: Municipal Employees Benefit Trust (Social Security replacement plan) and MetLife 457 Plan
• Annual COLA adjustments
• Annual merit increases of up to 5%

To learn about benefits at the City of Redmond, please visitC2MB (ajg.com)