Director of Corporate Services

POSITION SUMMARY:

Working closely with the Organization Coordinator Team you set the strategic direction related to management of the Town of Taber’s internal services. You ensure the Town operates within the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and oversee the service areas of Financial Management (budgeting, financial reporting, resource management (including payroll), and ensuring financial stability and integrity), Centralized Procurement and Information Technology (providing IT support, managing computer systems, and ensuring data security).

NOTE: This position is undergoing transition, and this description contemplates current, proposed, and temporary accountabilities and reporting structure.

You are a subject-matter expert in financial functions from strategic aspiration to factual reporting, particularly in municipal and public sector operations. Your work experience provides insight and confidence in the alignment of your existing expertise with leadership and delivery of information, legislative and employee services. You are a model of calm and reasoned consideration, aligning responses with the appropriate federal, provincial, or local regulation. You foster relationships among your teams, across the organization and with external partners, consultants, and all related affiliations.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• Work is performed in an office with some meetings offsite.
• May be required to attend meetings and events outside of regular office hours as described in the responsibilities.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Position Accountabilities:

The Director of Corporate Services is responsible for the following areas of focus, which are representative (not all-inclusive) of the position outcomes. Specific job functions include:

General:

• Ensuring scheduled review, revisions and recording of bylaws, policies, and procedures.
• Fostering an organizational culture that achieves the goals established by the Organization Coordination Team and a workplace and environment that is safe and welcoming.

Financial Services:

• Monitoring of the Town’s compliance with statutory requirements of the MGA and other applicable federal and provincial legislation, as well as Town of Taber’s bylaws and policies.
• Leading the Town’s multi-year budgeting (operational and capital) process, financial reporting (including annual financial plan, audits, and audited statements) and financial services.
• Developing and maintaining corporate policy relating to assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenditures of the Town that demonstrate effective management and control of the Town’s financial affairs and which satisfy reporting requirements.
• Providing recommendations to the CAO, Council, Boards and Commissions on matters relating to the investment of Town funds, including appropriate methods of securing required funds, cost analysis and recovery options, revenue generation, and issuance of debentures.
• Reviewing and monitoring insurable risks and hazards to which the Town is exposed by developing recommendations and policies that maintain insurance coverage as necessary.
• Developing and directing strategies and creating work plans consistent with the Council priorities, operational and capital budgets, and service review.
• Ensuring appropriate implementation and administration of employee payroll, benefit, and retirement plans, including review and analysis of benefit plans, trends, and cost containment.

Information Technology:

• Implementing systems to protect the security and operation of the Town’s operations, including equipment, network administration, cyber security, and electronic file systems.
• Appropriate research, analysis, inventory and maintenance of hardware and software systems to ensure cost effective allocation of financial and equipment resources.
• Establishing IT systems that effectively integrate organization-wide department functions with appropriate technological, software and hardware solutions to securely and reliably deliver Town services.

Leadership:

Conducts all interactions with a focus on the Town of Taber’s core values of: Integrity, Teamwork, Efficiency, Accountability and Professionalism.

• E-mail and voice-mail messages are professional, concise, and returned reasonably timely.
• Builds a work environment and fosters a culture of belonging founded on individual and mutual respect and values.
• Applies a structured project planning and management approach to the creation and implementation of new processes, programs and operating systems, including new software systems.
• Leads, coaches, and inspires direct reports to achieve personal and professional levels of performance and success identified in individual, departmental and annual reviews.
• Positions change and transition in a positive, constructive way and executes on actions to implement effectively.
• Manages relationships and external partnerships with organizations such as community organizations, provincial and federal government counterparts, external auditors and agencies, legal counsel, etc.
• Attending governance & finance, council, board and committee meetings and presenting information, direction, reports, requests for decision and briefings as required.
• Building, leading, teaching and inspiring a team of professionals whose knowledge may exceed your own and who are motivated to deliver exceptional work.
• Leading department/employee adherence to the Town of Taber’s Health and Safety Policy, ensuring Occupational Health & Safety and other employment and payroll legislative requirements are met.
• Assumes assigned ICS role during Emergency Response Situations.
• Assists CAO on duties as required and not represented above, including taking on term coverage as “Acting CAO”.
• Able to organize, not just own workload, but recognizes the scope and demand for service (daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, etc.) provided year-round by department.
• Effectively manages staffing levels, vacancies, absences, etc. to ensure continuous level of service.

CHARACTERISTICS:

• The following personal traits should be inherent in our Director of Corporate Services:
• Multi-disciplined – you can absorb and retain a range of information that allows you to provide reason and support on topics related to the functions and services of the departments that report to you (without being a subject-matter expert).
• Translation – your expertise in the field of financial reporting can be expressed in words or pictures that are understood by the least mathematically or technically inclined.
• Discipline – your systems of project planning and organization allow you to pull the right resource, at the right time for the right response in order to execute on short- and long-range initiatives. Your personal integrity is reflected in your approach to your work and people interactions.
• Time-bound – your areas of oversight are reliant on deadlines, cycles and reporting targets, the demands of which you appear to effortlessly meet.
• Change Agent – you blend vision and potential with the reliability of numbers and regulatory requirements. Although not an advocate of change for the sake of it, you foster and lead in an environment that seeks to evolve and implement best practices and efficient service delivery.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Completion of post-secondary program or designation in:
  
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in any of the following: Administration, Commerce, Economics, and/or an equivalent field.
• Assets include:
  
  • A professional accounting designation;
  • Certification in Local Government Management;
  • Membership in the Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA) or relevant professional association; and/or
  • Designation as a Project Management Professional.
• At least ten years’ experience in a financial public sector role and at least seven years in a senior or management position in municipal government, requiring:
  
  • Accountability for the financial compliance, operations and reporting;
  • Knowledge and application of provincial and federal government legislation relating to administration requirements of departments reporting to this position;
  • Specific expertise and confidence with interpretation and application of MGA
  • Interpretation of regulatory requirements, local bylaws and policies;
  • Knowledge of principles and practices of Government accounting, including: utilities and agreements, sewer and solid waste utilities, procurement & disposal of assets, payroll administration, etc.
  • Knowledge of information technology systems, including: specific financial tracking, reporting and payroll software solutions, network administration, hardware/software requirements and supports, cyber security, risk mitigation, etc.
  • Knowledge of legislative procedures in bylaw and policy writing, administration of council meetings and procedures, FOIP requests, information governance, etc.
  • Knowledge of human resources functions from pre-hire to retention and associated legislative compliance.
  • Superior skills in writing, verbal, and non-verbal communications;
  • Public presentation of reports, strategic planning or analysis and problem solving;
  • Application of local government or public sector practices and procedures; and
  • Overseeing diverse functions of reporting departments, managing performance and safe and psychologically supportive work experiences of reporting employees.
• A combination of education and demonstrated experience in management of inward-facing municipal services will be considered.
• Physical Abilities: manual dexterity for extensive keyboard and data entry, keen vision and corrective lenses as required, ability to maintain pace through course of day through combination of sedentary and active workstation set-ups, occasional adapting to external weather conditions.
• Cognitive Abilities: confidence in making decisions (with deadlines, high risk and frequency) high level of focus and concentration to ensure accuracy of data collection and entry, working with a range of emotional reactions, sustaining pace of work during peak periods “budget”, covering absences, etc.), positively leading and supporting change within the department and across the organization.
• Ability to blend work and personal priorities to maintain stamina and focus, meet deadlines and maintain a physically and mentally healthy state.      

On hire, you will provide:

• Confirmation of education and/or professional designations required to for the position.
• A criminal background check, including vulnerable sector, education and criminal convictions.

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