Youth Camp & Public Sanitation Coordinator

Location: Austin, TX

About the role

Serves as the Youth Camp & Public Sanitation Programs Coordinator in the Youth Camp and Public Sanitation Operations Branch, performing highly advanced (senior-level) oversight and coordination work in planning, developing, and implementing policies, procedures, and work plans for the Youth Camp (YC) and Public Health Sanitation (PHS) programs. Coordinates the implementation of legislative requirements and oversees the activities of the YC Advisory Committee (YCAC) and YC Safety Multidisciplinary Team (YCSMT). Serves as senior technical expert and team lead in responding to legislative, media, agency, and citizen group questions and concerns regarding YC and PHS issues. Coordinates responses to legislative and media inquiries.

Responsibilities

• Develops policies, procedures, and work plans to improve program outcomes.
• Serves as team lead for YC and PHS staff, assigns workloads, and monitors work performance.
• Coordinates program activities with central office staff, inspection field staff, local health officials, and key stakeholder organizations to review operational processes and procedures, identify barriers, and execute solutions as needed to ensure that program regulations are implemented effectively.
• Coordinates the implementation of legislative requirements and oversees the activities of the YCAC and YCSMT.
• Prepares and presents regulatory information to the public and coordinates development of outreach materials and guidance documents.
• Coordinates responses to legislative and media inquiries.
• Initiates, oversees, and contributes to the preparation and implementation of program clarifications and guidelines.
• Directs updates to the YC website as needed.
• Assists the Rules Coordinator in the development of YC and PHS program rules packages, ensuring participation by stakeholders, legal counsel, and program staff to develop rule language.
• Handles special legislative assignments and provides bill summaries, fiscal notes, and additional information as needed.
• Coordinates and oversees the comprehensive technical and quality control reviews of emergency management plans, complex inspection reports, and complaint investigation reports conducted by program staff under the Youth Camp regulations, including evaluation of the report content, evidence collection, and documentation.
• Endorses inspection findings and determines when violations warrant referral to the Compliance Review Committee (CRC) for escalated enforcement action based upon severity level, repeated non-compliance, and other established policy and criteria.
• Reviews inspection reports and documents endorsement activities using the Division’s Versa Regulatory (VR) system.
• Reviews case summaries using Microsoft Excel and Word.
• Oversees the presentation of cases to the CRC, including compliance history and enforcement summaries.
• Reviews recommendations for corrective actions, routine warning letters, and escalated enforcement action for administrative penalties, license suspension, or license revocation.
• Participates in informal administrative conferences to provide guidance and interpretations of applicable laws and regulations.
• Monitors the resolution of enforcement cases to ensure proper application of regulatory requirements.
• Coordinates follow-up inspections to evaluate compliance with legal orders.
• May assist in conducting joint inspections during special assignments and escalated enforcement cases.
• May be called upon as a technical expert witness to provide testimony in hearings administered by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).
• Coordinates with RLHO inspection staff and Compliance Section staff as needed to ensure equitable and consistent regulatory compliance statewide.
• Develops and coordinates program-specific training for inspection field staff.
• Conducts joint inspections for training purposes and to provide backup to inspection staff when required.
• Evaluates efficacy of program activities and conducts quality assurance of YC inspections and emergency plan evaluations.
• Performs on-site YC visits as quality assurance checks of regulatory requirements.
• Oversees the development and revision of inspection protocols to ensure compliance with updated requirements.
• Establishes criteria for prioritizing and implementing the complaint investigations from parents and the public, and coordinates with inspection field staff managers to ensure that all complaints are investigated and resolved.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the Manager to meet the needs of the Branch and the Environmental Section, including participating in emergency response training and actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role on occasion to meet the agency’s obligations for disaster response and/or recovery or Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation.

Requirements

• Must be registered as a professional sanitarian by the State of Texas.
• Prefer degree from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in natural science or a related field.
• Experience in conducting inspections and investigations and in environmental sanitation work.
• Prefer experience coordinating, overseeing, and/or supervising work activities between teams, groups, or units to complete projects.
• Prefer experience with youth camp regulations and answering related technical questions.
• Experience and education may be substituted for one another on a year-for-year basis.

Skills

• Knowledge of environmental sanitation principles and practices, state and federal public health laws, and public health organization structures and functions.
• Knowledge and comprehension of state and federal statutes and regulations affecting youth camps under Health and Safety Code, Chapter 141 and Texas Administrative Code Chapter 265, Subchapters B & N.
• Knowledge and comprehension of state and federal statutes and regulations affecting public health sanitation, including swimming pools and spas, interactive water features, artificial swimming lagoons, public nuisances, and other public health issues under Health and Safety Code, Title 5 Chapters 341 & 343 and Title 9 Chapter 757 and Texas Administrative Code Chapter 265, Subchapters K, L, and M.
• Knowledge of legislative procedures and agency rule-making processes.
• Skill in understanding and interpreting relevant statutes and regulations.
• Skill in reviewing technical inspection, investigation, or audit reports to ensure compliance with regulations.
• Skill in technical writing, training, teaching, public speaking, and risk management and communication.
• Skill in the use of various software programs, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint.
• Skill in managing multiple and competing priorities.
• Ability to conduct inspections and investigations, to prepare concise reports, and/or review inspection reports to ensure the accuracy and consistency of inspections in accordance with program requirements, and to communicate effectively.
• Ability to oversee environmental and public health programs and evaluate laws and ordinances.
• Ability to develop and implement policies and procedures.
• Ability to evaluate reports and to supervise the work of others.
• Ability to gather, assemble, correlate, and analyze facts; to devise solutions to problems.
• Ability to communicate technical information effectively, and to prepare and present highly technical information to professional groups and the public.
• Ability to adhere to agency policies and procedures.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and to make sound decisions.
• Ability to work effectively and cooperatively with co-workers, teams, supervisors, managers, the regulated community, the public, and professionals at all levels of government and industry.
• Ability to be tactful and diplomatic in adverse situations.
• Ability to travel to attend technical training courses, to perform outreach, to perform inspections, and to conduct training and evaluations of field staff, as necessary (up to 55% travel).

Benefits

DSHS offers insurance coverage and other benefits available through the State of Texas Group Benefits Plan administered by the Employee Retirement System of Texas (ERS).

Pay

Salary Range: $5,425.33 - $8,886.16 per month

Schedule

• Full-time
• Day shift
• Eligible for telework