Compliance Specialist (Water And Wastewater)

About Our Organization

When you join the City of Guelph, you join a team of 2000 full and part-time employees who deliver services the community relies on every day. Together, we are bringing to life Guelph’s vision of an inclusive, connected, and prosperous city where we look after each other and our environment.

As a regional top employer, the City of Guelph values its employees and offers competitive salaries, excellent benefit packages, opportunities for professional development, a healthy work-life balance, and many roles with flexible work options. Our corporate values are integrity, service, inclusion, wellness, and learning. Guelph is consistently ranked as one of the best places in Canada to live, work, and play—all good reasons to consider a career in this beautiful city.

Job Summary

Resumes are being accepted for the position of Compliance Specialist, reporting to the Supervisor of Compliance. The Compliance Specialist is part of the dynamic and collaborative Compliance & Performance team, and supports the Environmental Services department’s managers, supervisors, project-related and operational staff in compliance excellence. The successful candidate will support and facilitate legislative compliance for the City of Guelph’s water-related divisions (water and wastewater). The successful candidate must have a commitment to continuous improvement, quality assurance, focus on detail, and cross-jurisdictional relationship building.

Guided by the goals and objectives of the City’s Strategic Plan and committed to the Corporate Values of integrity, service, inclusion, wellness and learning, the candidate will aid in the achievement of the Vision for an inclusive, connected, and prosperous city.

Your role

• Facilitate continuous improvement and, in the case of deficiencies, lead root cause analysis to ensure corrective actions, recommendations are recorded and implemented.
• Develop and review standard operating procedures (SOP), work instructions (WI) and other documents developed by operational leads to ensure alignment with latest regulatory requirements and provide constructive guidance.
• Consolidate, analyze, and summarize operational data to demonstrate compliance for internal and/or Ministry inspections and reports; produces required compliance reports and presentations
• Facilitate and verify the completion of compliance-related legal reporting for Top Management and the System Owner.
• Recommend and develop water-related (water and wastewater) compliance strategies and solutions; provide support to operational staff in executing infrastructure and operational change and upgrades.
• Ensure accurate and timely response to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks to meet all regulatory scheduled requirements and inquiries.
• Solicit, coordinate, and/or consolidate staff and peer input on legislative, regulation and certificate changes (i.e., Drinking Water Works Permit, Municipal Drinking Water License and Environmental Compliance Approvals) and other regulatory instruments.
• Liaise with peers and technical groups in creation of industry-leading water and wastewater compliance/operational precedents and solutions to compliance-related operational programs.
• Assist with the collection of operational information required for benchmarking and performance measurement pertaining to compliance objectives.
• Provide backup support to the QMS Specialist, EMS Specialists and Training & Licensing Specialist, as needed.
• Develop and/or project manage regulatory and environmental monitoring programs, studies or similar initiatives, as required.
• Liaise as City’s first contact for the Ministry inquiries, inspections (planned and unannounced) and compliance-related meetings; report non-compliant incidents to governing bodies on behalf of Environmental Services’ management team.
• Review legislative compliance risks of proposed Operating Authority water-related (water and wastewater) infrastructure projects and provide guidance and recommendations to mitigate risks through work implementation.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Lead the monitoring, review, interpretation, and summary of legislative, regulatory, legal, and contractual requirements of the City related to drinking water and wastewater management. Examples include the Environmental Review Tribunal, Safe Drinking Water Act, Environmental Protection Act, and Ontario Water Resources Act.
• Assist in implementation of the City’s Drinking Water Quality Management System, Wastewater Environmental Management System, Operational and Emergency Response Plans.

Qualifications

• Considerable experience related to the duties listed above, normally acquired through the completion of a degree or diploma in Environmental Science or a related discipline and considerable experience in compliance systems for water and/or wastewater operations, preferably in municipal environment. Candidates with equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• QMS Auditor Certificate and or Project Management certificates would be an asset.
• Knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Excellent customer service skills with the ability to respond effectively to regulatory and customer issues.
• Class I Water Treatment or Water Distribution or Water Supply and Distribution License or Water Quality Analyst Certificate would be an asset.
• Change management principles and methodologies to plan, lead and manage compliance system development and operational projects to meet changing business needs.
• Ability to develop and deliver training programs.
• Ability to interpret and apply environmental legislation and knowledge of policies, procedures and guidelines to plan and deliver the compliance systems; and to ensure that regulatory considerations are incorporated into all phases of program development and management.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Knowledge of water industry-related regulations, legislation, guidelines, standards, procedures, inspections, and the Drinking Water Quality Management System as they relate to operations of a drinking water system.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel or database management software – demonstrated ability to quality assure/quality control (QA/QC) operational data, mine for inconsistencies and resolve to ensure compliance; Intermediate skills in other Microsoft Office Suite tools (i.e., Word, Teams, Power Point and Outlook).
• Expert knowledge of applicable Provincial acts, regulations, policies and procedures of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
• Class 1 Wastewater Treatment or Wastewater Collection Certification would be an asset.
• Excellent negotiation and problem-solving skills with a demonstrated ability to interface tactfully and effectively with all levels of management, operational and specialist staff, Provincial approval and legislative agencies, consultants and contractors, suppliers, peers, and the public.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate with all levels of staff and stakeholders.

In keeping with our corporate value of Wellness, The City of Guelph recognizes the many benefits of hybrid work arrangements including flexibility and better work-life balance for our employees. Where the work permits, employees will have the ability to participate in our Hybrid Work and our Flexible Time programs. Please note, this position is eligible for Hybrid and Flexible work arrangements (subject to change).

Rate

$79,113.20-$98,891.50

How To Apply

Qualified applicants are invited to apply using our online application system by June 8, 2023. Please note all applicants must complete the online questionnaire specific to this position at the time they submit their resume and cover letter in order to be considered. Proof of qualifications will be requested at the interview stage.

The City of Guelph is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in the workplace. We are therefore happy to accommodate any individual needs in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If you require an accommodation in order to participate in the hiring process, please contact us to make your needs known in advance.

Personal information collected through the recruitment process will be used solely to determine eligibility for employment. We thank all candidates in advance; however, only those being considered for an interview will be contacted.