Assistant Regional Housing Planner (3-Year Time Limited Position)

Salary: $90,446.93 - $114,708.67 Annually
Closing: 1/7/2021 11:59 PM Pacific

THIS IS A THREE YEAR TIME-LIMITED POSITION
A resume and cover letter are not required with your application, but highly encouraged

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. For more information about MTC, visit us at www.mtc.ca.gov.

The Assistant Regional Housing Planner will support the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) on several key regional housing policy and planning initiatives funded by ABAG’s Regional Early Planning Action (REAP) grant. Specifically, the Assistant Planner will be responsible for a range of organizational tasks to support senior staff and consultants in delivering exceptional technical assistance to 109 local jurisdictions in the Bay Area to support the adoption of local housing policies, especially the timely adoption of their Housing Elements. This position is in the Housing and Local Planning unit of the Regional Planning Program serving MTC/ABAG. Prior experience with housing policies and programs is preferred, but not required.

Under general supervision by the Principal Regional Housing Planner, the incumbent will perform a variety of tasks to support senior staff and consultants in delivering the Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program to local jurisdictions. The incumbent will be a professional with exceptional project management skills who can organize, prioritize and process large volumes of documentation on time, on budget and with intense attention to detail. The incumbent will also be a professional able to deliver exceptional customer service while engaging with a diverse set of stakeholders to organize meetings, respond to inquiries and handle correspondence related to Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program funded by REAP.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES
The ideal candidate will have the following knowledge, skills and abilities:
• Overall knowledge and expertise in planning and managing projects with many participants within time and budget limitations, including organizing and processing a large volume of documentation related to contracts and related invoicing;
• Planning and supporting large meetings virtually at first using Zoom, and eventually also in person;
• Collecting, analyzing, and organizing data into accessible narratives, preparing charts, graphs, spreadsheets and reports to depict program performance and compliance with REAP grant terms and conditions;
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with diverse audiences that may include members of the public, staff from 109 local Bay Area jurisdictions and a broad array of outside consultants; and
• Work both collaboratively and independently, as part of a professional team of dedicated public servants.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
An appropriate combination of education and experience that has provided the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way of obtaining the required qualifications is:

Education: A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment, such as transportation planning, city and regional planning; transportation engineering or modeling, financial management, economics, business or public administration. A Master's degree is desirable. (Applicants with a degree issued from an institution outside the United States must have their transcripts evaluated by an academic accrediting service and provide proof of equivalency along with their application.)

Experience: A minimum of one year of increasingly responsible experience in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment, such as transportation planning, city and regional planning; transportation engineering or modeling, financial management, economics, business or public administration. Preference will be given to applicants with additional relevant and professional work experience.

License/Certificate: Possession of a valid California Class C driver's license and a safe driving record, or the ability to provide alternate transportation which is approved by the appointing authority.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the supervision and direction of the Principal , specific assignments and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Contract Management
Primary responsibility is for the day-to-day management of the administration of a high volume of contracts related to the delivery of the Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program (TA) funded through a $23.9M Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grant from the State of California and some Federal funding. Contracts managed will include a high volume of consulting contracts for the Regional Planning Consulting Bench and contracts governing grant suballocations to 109 local jurisdictions in the nine-county Bay Area (Local Jurisdictions).

• Coordinate with consultants and Local Jurisdictions to develop Scopes of Work (SOW) for eligible projects, issue Task Orders for the SOWs on contracts, and process related invoices in a timely and efficient manner.
• Track and document progress on spending on individual contracts and on the overall REAP grant.
• Collect and organize relevant work product produced under contracts (i.e. research, data, reports, presentations, and graphics) to be shared widely with Local Jurisdictions to avoid duplication of effort and expense when possible.
• Assist with monitoring compliance with REAP grant agreement and assist with REAP grant reporting to the State of California.
• Develop expertise (after in-house training) with various software programs used for procurements, contracting, invoice payments and grant tracking.
• Attend meetings with the Housing Team and other MTC business units to identify and implement process improvements to streamline administration of the above.

Staff and Stakeholder Support
Support senior Housing Team staff and consultants in delivering the Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program (TA) to staff at 109 local Bay Area jurisdictions.

• Serve as day-to-day liaison with Local Jurisdictions’ staff for inquiries related to TA, including monitoring and routing of emails received through the HousingTA@bayareametro.gov mailbox.
• Provide logistical and coordination support for regionally-supported local planning collaboratives, peer cohorts and working groups involving MTC Staff, consultants and local jurisdiction staff. This will involve scheduling, arranging logistics for online and in-person meetings, and managing files of associated documents and other materials.
• Conduct data analyses as requested.
• Provide prompt and professional service to local staff, consultants and stakeholders to encourage their participation in, and satisfaction with, the Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program with the goal of building effective and lasting partnerships that facilitate advancement of regional housing goals.

General
• Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing, distilling detailed program or policy concepts into compelling, relevant, and understandable memos and presentations;
• Prepare technical memos and summary reports. Present findings to staff and policy makers;
• Represent MTC/ABAG in a variety of meetings and/or events;
• Advise MTC staff on South Bay land use planning and housing policy efforts; and
• Perform other job-related duties as needed or assigned.

All employees at MTC are classified as Disaster Services Workers.