Emergency Manager
Group: City of Cannon Beach
Location: Cannon Beach, OR
Salary Range: $90,000 - $124,000
Deadline Information: Application deadline: Open until filled. First review of applications will be July 19, 2024. Download an application and job description from our website: www.ci.cannon-beach.or.us/jobs. For more information or to send a letter of interest, resume and completed application form contact Jennifer Barrett, Recorder, City of Cannon Beach, PO Box 368, Cannon Beach OR, 97110; or via email to barrett@ci.cannon-beach.or.us.
Posted Date: 07/08/2024
Website: https://www.ci.cannon-beach.or.us/jobs
Contact Information for Applicants
Jennifer Barrett
Barrett@ci.cannon-beach.or.us
503-436-8052
The Organization
The City of Cannon Beach employs a council-manager form of government. The City has a permanent population of approximately 1500 but it is possible that there are over 20,000 visitors on an average summer day. The city employs 38.65 full-time employees. Departments include Executive, Community Development, Police, Finance, IT, and Public Works, as well as community programs including the Farmers Market and the Haystack Rock Awareness Program. Fire service is provided by the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District.
The Position
Working directly with the City Manager and Police Chief, the Emergency Manager enhances the capacity of the town to be resilient during and after emergency events. Duties include assessing potential hazards such as windstorms, extended periods without electricity, events of extreme cold, high tide/high wave events, forest fires, tsunamis, and earthquakes; evaluating the need for response to such events; and developing plans to protect both residents and visitors. Plan development entails identifying and prioritizing specific actions necessary to improve the City’s overall response to an event and developing tangible implementation strategies to carry such actions through to completion. The Emergency Manager is responsible for maintaining the four cache sites that store supplies for emergency shelter operations and treatment of victims isolated by an event.
The Emergency Manager must consider strategies to protect the large influx of summer tourists who may be unfamiliar with the City’s plans for disasters such as tsunamis or earthquakes. They must develop a strategy for care and feeding of residents and visitors that might not be able to immediately leave the area due to road, bridge and landslide damage. A communication strategy is a key element to success. He/she must also develop a strategy for initial clearing of City streets and damage assessments following emergencies especially considering that few employees live in town . Recovery plans must be established to manage debris and restore utility operations.
Education and Experience Requirements
Minimum of three years of demonstrated progressively responsible professional experience in a field related to emergency management. Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in emergency management or related field is required; master’s degree preferred. Any satisfactory equivalent combination of education and experience, which ensures the ability to perform the work, may be substituted for the above.
The Ideal Candidate
The Emergency Manager must create and sustain a positive and collaborative work environment, effectively modeling the City’s values in working with staff, volunteers, other departments and community partners. This includes a professional approach that models and supports an emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking, effective communication, continuous improvement, and effective and efficient service delivery to the public and co-workers.
• An ability to be even-handed and respectful of differing perspectives and interests is critical. The Emergency Manager must be able to make decisions in an objective and competent manner, while maintaining an open mind and active listening practices. The capacity to work effectively with a variety of actors including local, state, and federal emergency agencies, the business community, individual homeowners, and other entities is essential. A bias for consensus-building, and a willingness to be an impartial player in challenging community conversations is important. Negotiation skills and an ability to be creative and adaptable are essential to success.
• Experience and training developing emergency management policies and plans is critical. The successful candidate must be able to build plans and communicate those plans for each phase of multiple emergency scenarios, while ensuring the plans are simple enough to be implemented in stressful environments.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively engage and manage advisory committees and other policy-making bodies is essential.. The Emergency Manager will interface often with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Cannon Beach Medical Reserve Corp (MRC), Disaster Animal Response Team (DART), American Red Cross (ARC), Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club (SEARC), City staff, and County and State EOC, and must be able to foster effective working relationships and help ensure these bodies continue to operate in a productive and appreciated fashion.
• A commitment to building positive, collaborative relationships with City leaders, and engaging in frequent and open communication through email, phone, and in-person meetings is imperative. The Emergency Manager must work closely with the City Manager, Police Chief, and Public Works Director and provide accurate and complete analysis to inform policy decisions.
• An ability to foster meaningful citizen engagement in policy development processes and a commitment to the principles of transparency, inclusion, and public participation is necessary. Cannon Beach citizens are passionate about their community and are active in civic decision–making.
• A genuine appreciation for the unique qualities that make Cannon Beach a charming seaside village, including the breathtaking natural surroundings, ethos of environmental stewardship, vibrant arts community, numerous shops and restaurants, and thriving community atmosphere, will be central to success.
The successful candidate will:
• Be a hands-on leader
• Be self-motivated and directed
• Possess the ability to inspire volunteers with the individual’s work ethic and positive attitude
• Want to work with and be skilled in accomplishing things with and through others
• Be a state-wide advocate for the city’s CERT, MRC, DART, and SEARC.
• Be active in local, county, regional and statewide EM efforts.
• Respect and coordinate efforts with fellow team members
• Have the ability to secure and administer local, regional, state and federal grants.
• Respect the culture of the existing framework established for emergency response.