DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Recruitment #1906-5299-001

Introduction

The Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Commissioner of Health.

Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, Milwaukee is an urban hub bursting with energy. Milwaukee provides a casual sophistication – big city appeal without the big-city hassles. We are accessible and affordable, and our residents are welcoming. Milwaukee brings together its unsurpassed old world charm with a breathtaking art museum, top-flight arts and cultural attractions, professional sports, lakefront festivals, recreational opportunities and great restaurants.

Purpose

The Position 

The Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health is responsible for external policy and advocacy at the city, state, and national levels to influence population health as well as strategic and operational development. Internally, this position will implement and evaluate cost-effective and impact-based programs with regard to home environmental health, consumer environmental health, environmental health specialties, and emergency preparedness and response.

 

The Department

Since 1867, the City of Milwaukee Health Department has served the residents of the City of Milwaukee, seeking to improve and protect the health of all who live, work and play within the City. One hundred and fifty years later, the MHD remains steadfast in this mission. As the largest local health department in the state of Wisconsin, the MHD now serves nearly 600,000 residents through direct services, evidence-based programs, partnerships, and policy development. The MHD is committed to ensuring that every Milwaukeean is able to live life to the fullest.

The MHD has an annual budget of approximately $14 million and a multidisciplinary team of over 250 public health employees across four branches: Community Health, Environmental Health, Clinical Services, and Policy, Innovation and Engagement.

For more information about the Milwaukee Health Department, please visit https://city.milwaukee.gov/HEALTH.

Essential Functions

Strategic Planning, Innovative Direction, and Management:

·         Provide strategic planning, direction, and leadership for four complex and technical programs (i.e. lead, food inspection, emergency preparedness, and other environmental concerns).  Implement and evaluate emergency preparedness, lead hazard reduction and regulatory plans in cooperation with a wide range of other federal, state and local governmental agencies, non-profit organizations and private sector businesses.

·         Coordinate federal, state and regional plans across all divisions in Environmental Health.  Serve as Incident Commander (IC) during community-wide public health emergencies and serve as liaison to the City or County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

·         Manage federal and state grants, contracts and initiatives including those through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) within the City and multi-county area.

·         Formulate and recommend City policies, ordinances, resolutions and legislative positions related to a variety of environmental, communicable disease and emergency preparedness and response issues that impact human health, economic development and overall quality of life within the City.

·         Generate program summaries, project updates, special reports, technical papers, grant applications, statistical analyses and other documents as needed or requested to support programs.

·         Maintain and oversee data management systems related to evaluation of outcomes, expenditures and revenues generated through Disease Control & Prevention (DCP) activities to validate effective and efficient program/project strategies.

·         Participate in strategic planning, outcomes-based management, total quality improvement and team decision-making in order to assure consistency with short and long term goals and objectives established by the MHD.

Conduct Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning:

·         Oversee emergency preparedness and response plan integration, employee response training, and homeland security exercises.

·         Ensure the employees of the health department are prepared to respond to a variety of emergencies or large events affecting the city’s populations.

·         Strategically integrate the MHD with other city departments and community leaders with regard to emergency preparedness.

 

Communications and Outreach

·         As assigned by the Commissioner of Health, serve as the MHD media contact with regard to environmental and emergency preparedness and response issues.

·         Represent the MHD in areas of technical expertise through interaction with department heads, mayoral staff, aldermanic offices, outside public agencies and officials, community groups, private sector businesses as well as through participation on various committees, consortia, coalitions, task forces, professional organizations and special project teams. Provide public and community presentations on all technical and strategic aspects of assigned program areas.

·         Provide technical support and consultation to other MHD branches, divisions, programs and City departments.

 

Reasonable accommodations requested by qualified individuals with disabilities will be made in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008.

Minimum Requirements

1.      Qualified to serve as the local health officer (Level III), as established by Wis. Stat. § 251.06 (1) (c).  Accordingly, qualified candidates must possess one of the following:

A.    A master’s degree in public health, public administration, health administration or, as defined in rules promulgated by the department, a similar field and three years of experience in a full−time administrative position in either a public health agency or public health work.

B.     A bachelor’s degree and 16 graduate semester credits towards a master’s degree in public health, public administration, health administration or, as defined in rules promulgated by the department, a similar field and five years of experience in a full−time administrative position in either a public health agency or public health work.

C.     A license to practice medicine and surgery under ch. 448 and at least one of the following:

i. Three years of experience in a full−time administrative position in either a public health agency or public health work.

ii. Eligibility for certification by the American board of preventive medicine in public health or general preventive medicine.

iii. A master’s degree in public health, public administration, health administration or, as defined in rules promulgated by the department, a similar field.

iv. Notwithstanding pars. (i) to (iii), relevant education, training, instruction, or other experience that an applicant obtained in connection with military service, as defined in s. 111.32 (12g), counts toward satisfying the requirements for education, training, instruction, or other experience to qualify as a public health officer if the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that the education, training, instruction, or other experience that the applicant obtained in connection with his or her military service is substantially equivalent to the education, training, instruction, or other experience that is required to qualify as a public health officer.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Transcripts are required and must be emailed as an attachment to ljhoffm@milwaukee.gov by the closing date and time. Student/unofficial copies are acceptable; however, your transcript must be legible and include your college/university name, your name, the degree completed and the date completed.

                                                                            

2. Five years of full-time, progressively responsible experience in public health program  management, administration and supervision overseeing programs related to environmental health.

3. Valid driver’s license at the time of appointment and throughout employment.

Desirable Qualifications

1.      Experience overseeing programs related to environmental health.

2.      Graduate-level coursework in the fields of industrial hygiene, toxicology, and epidemiology.

3.      Doctorate level degree in epidemiology, health sciences, public health or a related field.

Knowledges, Skills, Abilities & Other Characteristics

Technical      

  • Knowledge of management of physica,l environmental and occupational health issues.     
  • Ability to lead or support epidemiologic investigations, case and contact investigations, outbreak management, emergency response, community health assessments, and community health improvement planning.         
  • Knowledge of public health priority-setting, the socioecological model, and the county health rankings model.       
  • Knowledge of microbiology and chemistry related to environmental health.       
  • Knowledge of the public health science and best practices related to lead abatement, food safety, emergency preparedness and other community environmental health issues.        
  • Knowledge of the public health science and best practices related to communicable disease identification, tracking and response.   
  • Ability to perform statistical analysis related to public health issues.        
  • Ability to maintain and oversee data management systems related to the evaluation of outcomes, expenditures and revenues.         
  • Ability to serve as the media contact relative to environmental and emergency response and preparedness.
  • Knowledge of grant application and monitoring practices.         
  • Ability to formulate policies related to lead abatement, food safety, emergency preparedness and other community environmental health issues.        
  • Knowledge of emergency preparedness strategies, plan integration, employee response training practices and homeland security exercises. ·        
  • Thorough knowledge of prevention-focused public health practice and of applicable federal, state, and local regulations. ·     Ability to serve as the Incident Commander (IC) during community-wide public health emergencies.      
  • Knowledge of the principles and practices of public health administration.      
  • Ability to read and understand documents such as laws, policies and technical publications.      
  • Ability to make decisions and recommendations to further the public health of the community that are based upon research and known mitigation strategies.       
  • Ability to identify and interpret emerging trends in public health and to provide information, analysis and interpretation to stakeholders and community partners.

Leadership         

  • Ability to articulate and promote a vision for public environmental health.       
  • Ability to create a sense of mission by articulating and modeling professional values and ethics.       
  • Ability to develop policies and processes that translate mission and vision into action.      
  • Ability to facilitate and encourage the application of systems thinking.        
  • Ability to develop and implement performance management strategies and measures and to facilitate assessment and planning.        
  • Ability to facilitate and promote individual staff accomplishments toward organizational objectives, including shared responsibility, teamwork and acceptance of change.      
  • Ability to develop and implement strategic public health policies through effective delegation, persuasion and negotiating skills.        
  • Ability to translate policy decisions into organizational and community programs and services.      
  • Honesty, integrity, the ability to maintain confidentiality and responsible stewardship of City resources.

Organizational Skills/Strategic Management       

  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, robust organization.     
  • Ability to effectively plan, organize and manage competing priorities and challenges under pressure.      
  • Skill in short and long-term strategic planning.        
  • Ability to assess the organizational assets, resources and opportunities and to develop new organizational structures, systems and metrics that support accountability and efficiency in the delivery of public health.

 

Communication    

  • Strong public speaking and presentation skills.       
  • Written communication skills to craft policies and procedures, reports and correspondence.      
  • Ability to direct the utilization of media advocacy to communicate the public health mission to stakeholders, including the effective use of social media.
  • Ability to effectively present information to top management, public groups, boards of directors, media and legislative bodies. Relationship Building        
  • Ability to establish and maintain collaborative partnerships with private providers, community partners, and federal, state and local officials.        
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with coworkers, elected officials, representatives of City departments, community organizations and other stakeholders in public health, including citizens.        
  • Ability to engage key stakeholders in collaborative ventures, to develop partnering strategies and to develop strategic plans that involve the input and engagement of stakeholders.       
  • Ability to ensure that the MHD has mechanisms for obtaining feedback and input from persons with diverse backgrounds and to ensure the consideration of the role of cultural, social and behavioral factors and in the accessibility, availability, acceptability and delivery of public health services.

Current Salary

The current salary range (1 JX) is $80,442 -$112,627 and the resident incentive salary range for City of Milwaukee residents is $82,855-$116,006.  Appointment above the minimum is possible based upon level of experience and other qualifications and is subject to approval.  

The City of Milwaukee provides a comprehensive benefit program that includes the following:

·         Defined Benefit Pension Plan       

·         457 Deferred Compensation Plan     

·         Health and Dental Insurance       

·         Comprehensive Wellness Program        

·         Onsite Clinic Services       

·         Onsite Employee Assistance Program       

·         Alternative Work Schedules        

·         Long Term Disability Insurance     

·         Group Life Insurance     

·         Tuition Benefits      

·         Paid Vacation        

·          11 Paid Holidays        

·         Paid Sick Leave and other paid leaves

·         Flexible Spending Arrangement       

·         Commuter Value Pass

For full details of the benefits offered by the City of Milwaukee, please visit http://city.milwaukee.gov/Benefits2019.

Selection Process

Screening for this position will be based on an evaluation of each applicant’s education, experience, and professional accomplishments, which should be detailed in a cover letter and resume.  Please email a cover letter and resume by 11:59 p.m. July 12, 2019 to ljhoffm@milwaukee.gov. Please indicate “Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health in the subject line.  Questions relative to the selection process may be directed to Lori Hoffmann at 414.286.3607.

The City of Milwaukee reserves the right to invite only the most qualified applicants to participate in the selection process.

INITIAL FILING DATE: The selection process will be conducted as soon as practical after July 12, 2019. Receipt of application materials may be discontinued at any time after this date without prior notice. However, recruitment may continue until the needs of the City have been met. The applicant is responsible for attending all phases of the job selection process at the time and place designated by the City of Milwaukee.

Conclusion

EEO 101

The City of Milwaukee values and encourages diversity and is an equal opportunity employer.