Gerald Plock Associates, Inc.
101 E. Park Blvd, Suite 600, PMB 634
Plano, Texas 75074
Phone: 1-866-748-7704
|
Gerald Plock Associates, Inc. Phone: 1-866-748-7704 |
is
Currently Seeking a
San Antonio is the ninth largest city in the U.S. and the third largest city in Texas. The population of the City of San Antonio is 1.2 million and the population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (four counties) is 1.6 million. San Antonio’s population is 32% Anglo, 58% Hispanic, 7% African American and 3% “other”. San Antonio is approximately 430 square miles. Located in south central Texas, San Antonio enjoys modified subtropical weather because of its location on the edge of the Gulf Coastal Plains. Because of the moderate temperature and enormous amount of activities available in the City, 7 million visitors come to San Antonio per year.
San
Antonio has one of the lowest cost of living rates among large U.S. cities. This is a continuing trend as reflected by the 2nd
quarter 1998 ACCRA survey, which showed San Antonio at 10% below the national
average.
The economy of San Antonio is an excellent mix of business services, manufacturing, health care and research, telecommunications, higher education, distribution, high tech, corporate and regional offices, military/government, and the convention and tourism industry. San Antonio is home to the oldest Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in the nation.
There
are 16 independent school districts that serve the San Antonio area and San
Antonio is the home to several college/universities including: University of
Texas at San Antonio; St. Mary’s University; Trinity University; Our Lady of
the Lake University; University of the Incarnate World, and Alamo Community
College.
The
famed “Paseo de Rio” or River Walk is nestled among the busy metropolitan
downtown area. Located 20 feet
below street level, the cobblestone and flagstone paths border both sides of the
San Antonio River as it winds its way through the middle of the business
district. It stretches for
approximately 2 ½ miles with sidewalk cafes, specialty boutiques, nightclubs
and gleaming high-rise hotels located along the River.
River taxis deliver visitors to Rivercenter, a spectacular three-level
glass shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and to the Henry B. Gonzalez
Convention Center. Also located
downtown is the famed Alamodome, home to the World Champion Spurs basketball
team.
The
City has several attractions outside the downtown area.
San Antonio is home to two major theme parks – Sea World of Texas, the
world’s largest marine life park, and Six Flags Fiesta, Texas, a park created
around four themed areas.
Within
the cultural districts, the city enjoys several venues.
There are two impressive art museums including the McNay Art Museum and
the San Antonio Museum of Art. The
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center provides a venue for Hispanic artists of
literacy, dance, music and drama and the Blue Star Art’s Complex provides a
variety of venues for local and international artists.
The Carver Community Cultural Center mounts a stellar season with an
accent on African-American artists. The
Majestic Theatre downtown is a historical setting, built in 1929, is the
permanent home of the San Antonio Symphony.
San
Antonio also offers a wide variety of outdoor activities including several
public and private golf courses, area lakes for fishing, canoeing, and
white-river rafting, just to name a few. Professional spectator sports include
the San Antonio Spurs, San Antonio Iguanas of the International Hockey League,
and the San Antonio Missions minor league baseball team.
More information on San Antonio can be obtained on the following web
site: www.sanantonio.gov.
San
Antonio has a Mayor, Council-City Manager form of government.
The City Council members are elected from 10 districts and a mayor is
elected at-large. Council
members serve two two-year terms. The
Council sets the policies for the city and the City Manager serves as chief
administrative official. The City
Manager appoints and removes all officials in executive positions of the City,
with the exception of the City Clerk, City Auditor, Presiding Judge and
Municipal Judges. The Executive
Team consists of 35 Department Directors, one Deputy City Manager, four
Assistant City Managers, three Assistants to the City Manager. The current City
Manager, Terry M. Brechtel, was appointed in April 2001. Ms. Brechtel, a City employee for more than 10 years,
recently served as Executive Director of Administration and Financial Services,
providing supervision for the departments of Asset Management, Budget and
Performance Assessment, Finance, Human Resources, Information Services, and
Purchasing and General Services. She
has overseen coordination of the City’s Capital Improvements Program that
includes the construction of streets, drainage improvements, parks, libraries
and other City facilities. She has
been a key staffer in assessing departmental performance.
The
budget addresses critical priority initiative of the City Council as expressed
through the annual Goals and Objectives Worksession held in June of each year.
The new Director will be a participant at this worksession.
The City’s strong economy is reflected in substantial growth in the tax
base that continues providing added resources.
The
FY 2002 through FY 2007 Capital Budget for the City of San Antonio totals $713.9
million. The FY 2002 Capital Budget
is $202.7 million. The six-year
program represents the City’s long- range physical infrastructure development
program. The City of San Antonio is
in strong financial condition and that is reflected in an AA+ rating from
Standard and Poor’s, AA+ rating from Fitch, and an Aa2 by Moody’s Investor
Service.
Recently, City Manager Terry Brechtel introduced a reorganization of land development functions. The Building Inspections Department has been renamed the Development Services Department. With the reorganization, the Land Development Division of the Planning Department and the Development Engineering section of the Public Works Department have become part of Development Services. City zoning and platting services are now under the administration of Development Services as well as development drainage, platting and traffic engineering review. The move is intended to bring development services under one umbrella in order to improve communication and supervision and ultimately to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the development process. The Planning Department continues to perform comprehensive, long range planning for the City. However, the administration of the Zoning and Planning Commissions now resides within the Development Services Department as well as responsibility for the implementation of the new Unified Development Code. With the transfer of development engineering from Public Works and another reorganization in which Environmental Services was classified as a new department, Public Works now focuses mainly on infrastructure improvements and maintenance.
City Council recently approved a development agreement for the design and construction of the City’s One Stop Development Services Center. The new center, which will be located at the northwest corner of Alamo and Flores streets, will provide convenient “One Stop: customer access to development services. These services include the departments of Development Services and Planning as well as the Fire Marshal’s Office, Health Code Inspectors, Economic Development Department Small Business Programs, as well as CPS, SAWS, and Bexar County representatives. Design work on the civic quality building has begun with occupancy scheduled for early 2003. The Director leads a staff of 180 full time employees and is responsible for a budget of $9,537,117 (FY02).
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR
Under the general direction of the Assistant City Manager, the Development Services Director is responsible for planning, directing, managing and overseeing the activities and operations of the Development Services Department, including development plan review, zoning, inspection and permitting within the City of San Antonio. The Director also coordinates assigned activities with other City departments and outside agencies; and provides highly responsible and complex administrative support to the City Manager’s Office. Responsibilities include the following:
§
Assumes full management responsibility for all
department services and activities by formulating, implementing, modifying and
improving the activities for development services; and recommends and
administers policies and procedures.
§ Manages
the development and implementation of department goals, objectives, policies,
and priorities for each assigned service area; establishes, within City policy,
appropriate service and staffing levels; and allocates resources accordingly.
§ Monitors
and evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery methods and
procedures; assesses and monitors workload; administrative and support systems,
and internal reporting.
§
Monitors and evaluates the efficiency and
effectiveness of service delivery methods and procedures; assesses and monitors
workload; administrative and support systems, and internal reporting.
The Mission of Development Services Department is to safeguard and protect the health, safety and public welfare through customer service oriented administration of land development and construction related codes
PROGRAM INFORMATION
The Development Services Department regulates land development and
construction that occurs within the incorporated City limits and
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of San Antonio.
This review is based on locally approved and amended regulations,
including the City’s Master Plan and Unified Development Code (UDC).
Provisions of the UDC include, but are not limited to, tree preservation
and landscape, zoning, subdivision platting, floodplain and drainage, and
traffic impact ordinances.
The Department also provides administrative and technical support to
boards and commissions that direct and review issues on land development and
construction regulations. These
boards include the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Building and Fire Code Board of
Appeals, Plumbing, Mechanical, Electrical, and Home Improvement Boards, and
Zoning and Planning Commissions.
In addition to protecting the health, safety and public welfare through
regulation of land development and construction, the Department seeks to provide
an efficient and effective development process that supports City growth and
economic development.
GOALS
AND OBJECTIVES
§
Continue
to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of San Antonio
- Adopt
the latest national construction codes
-
Continue to support other City development- related initiatives, including
minimum housing standards, neighborhood sweeps, Affordable Parade of Homes, and
the Dangerous Structures Determination Board.
-
Provide a development process that will facilitate or assist landowners in
complying with development regulations that enhance economic development.
§
Improve
the delivery of customer service
-
Increase training and monitoring of customer service programs to ensure
effectiveness and professionalism.
- Inform
customers of the development review process through written materials, seminars,
interactive web site and other means of communication.
-
Increase the number of construction plans reviewed at the One Stop Counter.
-
Implement a single permit system for one & two family residential
construction.
§
Continue
implementation of recommendations of the Management Review of Development, Code
Compliance and Business Assistance Services Final Report.
- Finish
design and significantly complete construction of One Stop Development
Center.
§
Continue
the quality control program aimed at improving consistency in the application
and interpretation of code requirements.
- Seek
to further the professional education and development of department staff.
-
Promote the certification and cross training of inspections, plan review and
permitting personnel to increase staff knowledge of the entire development
process.
§
Fully
implement the new Unified Development Code (UDC).
-
Establish procedures to meet required plan review standards.
-
Provide technical assistance and guidance to oversight committees.
- Orient
staff and the public on the changes and additions.
-
Complete training and hiring of staff.
-
Develop regular training process for Zoning and Planning Commissions and Board
of Adjustment.
§
Improve
the quality and efficiency of the development process
-
Continue to assist in the development of a City Geographic Information System (G.I.S.)
that integrates land and development data.
-
Improve business processes through review and technology investment.
Coordinate
and work with other City departments and agencies to improve the quality and
timeliness of the plan review process.
The bulk of the technology issues for the Development Services Department will be solved with the investment in land management software and hardware. The components that should be addressed by the new system include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) Electronic submittal, review and storage of digital construction and site development plans 2) Electronic document Management System—Department Goal is to be as paperless as possible. This includes imaging, archiving and cataloging historical information 3) Project Management - Integration of information tracked on different mainframe platforms to one user-friendly desktop application. 4) Electronic permitting/e-commerce. System should allow for various permit application submittal and issuance via the Internet. Certain permit information can be cross-referenced to other information in the database to issue or deny the permits. 5) G.I.S. All data input and tracked should be importable as layers into the City’s Geographic information System which will be available to personnel and the public via the Internet. 6) Field Inspection module. Solution should have field inspection software and hardware to replace current Cellular Digital Packet Data (C.D.P.D.) laptops. 7) Automated telephone response system. In an effort to maintain and expand current tri-modal delivery of service (in person, Internet, and telephone) any solution should have an automated telephone component that allows for unattended information retrieval and requests. 8) Department level control. Screens and processes should be controlled within the department.
The
new Director should have a proven record of achievement and demonstrate strong
leadership skills that motivate and build high morale.
The selected individual should have considerable supervisory experience,
be committed to professional development for staff and have a participative
management style. The successful candidate will have a collaborative style,
making genuine efforts to work across departmental boundaries. The Director
should also have strong administrative skills, including report writing,
planning, budget preparation, budget administration and program evaluation.
The
successful candidate will have a broad understanding of the development process.
Ideally, the individual will have successful experience in organizational
transformation. While the
conceptual reorganization has taken place, the new Director will be responsible
implementation and integration of the plan. The successful candidate will build
a strong working relationship within the development community and have a sense
of urgency and be sensitive to issues of turnaround time from the development
community—including residential, commercial and industrial.
Above all, the candidate must possess a customer service orientation and
a user-friendly personality.
The
selected candidate will have a strong background in information technology and
applications.
The
successful candidate should also have a commitment to continuous improvement.
The candidate should also have the willingness to confront problems in a
straightforward manner.
The
new Director should have excellent communication skills and bi-lingual
capability is a bonus. The
successful candidate will be expected to have an open door and maintain an open
dialogue with customers and the public.
A
Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university with major course
work in Public or Business Administration, City Planning, Architecture, Building
Construction or a related field and ten years of increasingly responsible
professional experience in the field of development services or building
inspections, including five (5) years of administrative or supervisory
responsibility is required.
Salary to $110,000 DOQ/E. In addition, as part of the City’s Executive Staff, the Director of Development Service receives an excellent package of employee benefits. The package includes:
Retirement
City of
San Antonio employees automatically become members of the Texas Municipal
Retirement System on date of employment. Employee
contribution is 6% and the City contributes 2 times employee contribution.
Employees become 100% vested after 5 years of service beginning January
2002.
Health Plans
The City offers two premium free health plans and pharmacy benefits that cover the employee and dependents as well as an HMO plan. Dental and vision coverage is also available.
Basic life insurance benefits are free for City employees and are equivalent to each employee’s annual salary. Additional term
may be purchased.
Auto Allowance
Executives receive a monthly car allowance of $400.
Deferred Compensation
If
contributing to a deferred compensation program offered by the City, ICMA-RC or
Nationwide-RS, an employee may defer up to 25% of taxable wages up to the
current maximum allowed by law.
Individuals
interested in applying for this position should send their resume to the
City’s Executive Search Consultant: Gerald
Plock Associates, Inc., 7501 Stallion Circle, Flower Mound, Texas 75022;
817/464-4610 Phone; 817/464-4061 Fax; email – grplock@aol.com;
www.geraldplockassoc.com
The City of San Antonio is an Equal Employment
Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer. All applications are subject to Texas Open Records Act.
Home | Who
We Are | About Gerald Plock | Who
We Serve | Diversity
Associates | Current Positions
© 2001 Gerald Plock Associates, Inc. No part of this site may be reproduced (either electronically or in printed form) without written permission of Gerald Plock Associates, Inc.