Director of Government Relations

About the role

This single incumbent class is primarily responsible for performing supervisory, administrative, government affairs, and internal or external coordination duties. An incumbent’s work mainly involves problem-solving and mediating highly conflicting, unexpected, and unusual problems and issues involving multiple groups.

Responsibilities

• Maintain oversight of monthly San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) Board agenda packets and prepare written and verbal briefings for RTD’s Board member who is an ex-officio to the SJCOG Board and RTD’s CEO regarding policy, program, and funding items.
• Represent RTD on the SJCOG Interagency Transit Committee (ITC), Social Services Transportation Advisory Council (SSTAC), and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
• Represent RTD’s CEO if/as needed on the SJCOG Management and Finance Committee, Executive Committee, and Board meetings.
• Represent RTD as an ex-officio on the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission and provide RTD updates.
• Attend biweekly legislative meetings with RTD’s federal and state legislative advocates.
• Represent RTD at meetings with the Board of Directors, legislative staff, public and private sector organizations, and other external groups.
• Write issue papers and official correspondence; write proposals and technical specifications; formulate or recommend strategy to guide RTD’s state and federal legislative and regulatory initiatives; communicate RTD’s needs or programs to legislators.
• Initiate and maintain ongoing communication with legislators and regulators to advocate RTD’s policies and to secure funding; prepare and present RTD’s testimony before both local and national governmental bodies; monitor the authorization and appropriations of relevant agency-related legislation at the state and federal levels to ensure adequate support for transit-related programs.
• Coordinate RTD’s response to major events or changing policy; monitor, and research items as directed by the CEO; prepare reports of findings and recommendations.
• Provide CEO with timely information on emerging issues in the policy arena so that RTD can take appropriate action.
• Participate in state and local project development teams (PDT) project studies including the Interstate 205 Managed Lanes Project and the State Route 99 Multimodal Comprehensive Study.
• Coordinate and prepare support letters for grants, projects, and proposed legislation.
• Coordinate policy, funding, and other items relating to the SJCOG Measure K program.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of: Transportation planning and programming.
• Federal and California State environmental laws and regulations.
• Federal and state grant requirements including TrAMS and BlackCat grant processing systems.
• Metropolitan Planning Organizations/Regional Transportation Planning Agencies functions and structure.
• Interpersonal and group dynamics.
• Transit challenges and an understanding of various issues relating to transit.
• Methods and techniques of preparing complex analysis reports and correspondence.
• Contract language and laws.
• Budget planning, management, and administration methods.
• Practices of working with elected officials and media organizations.
• Electronic document filing, storage, and retrieval.
• Specialized applications and project management methods.
• Principles and practices of public relations.
• Local, state, and federal transportation laws, policies, funding, and legislative processes.
• Principles, practices, and trends of public and business administration, governmental function, organization, and relationships.
• Analytical methods and techniques used for staff and budgetary analysis, statistics, and policy analysis.
• Program analysis and cost and benefit analysis.
• Research methods and analysis techniques.
• Principles and practices of internal consulting.
• Organization and functions of a public board.
• Principles and practices of sound business communication.
• Principles and practices of effective management and supervision.
• RTD human resources policies and procedures and labor contract provisions.

Skills

• Work comfortably with people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Interpret, synthesize, and implement decisions.
• Write complex technical specifications and contract scopes of work.
• Enforce RTD policies, programs, and practices with employees, outside vendors, and the public.
• Elicit cooperation and compliance from internal and external groups; coordinate activities with internal and external groups.
• Respond to requests for complex information in a timely manner.
• Stay current with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Read, understand, and interpret complex legal documents, regional transportation policies, and comprehensive transit related materials.
• Prepare and maintain a variety of comprehensive reports and documents.
• Research, analyze, evaluate, and present a variety of policy issues and management analysis data.
• Recommend and implement solutions to complex policy and administrative problems.
• Prepare clear, concise, and comprehensive correspondence, reports, studies, and other written materials.
• Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Exercise sound, expert independent judgment within general policy guidelines.
• Exercise tact, discretion, and diplomacy in dealing with sensitive, complex, and confidential personnel issues and employee situations.
• Exercise sound, expert independent judgment, and diplomacy while representing RTD and various local and state meetings including governing boards and councils with elected officials, agency staff, and the public.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of RTD management, Board of Directors, employees, employee organizations and their representatives, other governmental officials, community groups, and the public.
• Multi-task on several complex and time sensitive projects.

Requirements

• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in business, political science, public policy communication, public relations, or a closely related field.
• Ten years of progressively responsible experience in government affairs and/or community relations in a liaison-type position with governmental, civic constituencies, and the general public, at least three of which were in a supervisory or program management capacity; or an equivalent combination of training and experience.