Emergency Management Specialist

Job ID: 27380

Agency: Department of Public Safety - Emergency Management

Location: Pierre

Salary: $28.87 to $34.36 per hour, depending on experience

Pay Grade: GJ

Closing Date: 07/09/2024

This is a Full-Time position with the Department of Public Safety. For more information please visit https://dps.sd.gov/.

The South Dakota Office of Emergency Management protects South Dakotans and their property from the effects of natural, manmade, and technological disasters. To fulfill this charge, we recognize the four phases of emergency management: Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation. These four phases have various programs and planning steps associated with them.

This position has the exciting role of being a member of the public assistance disaster team and assisting local governmental entities to recover following a disaster. This position will be responsible for monitoring federally funded projects as a result of Presidential disaster declarations. This individual will work with disaster applicants to ensure processes are followed and proper paperwork is submitted for review for project closeout with FEMA. Disaster applicants consist of State, tribal, county, city, and township governments, as well as, rural electric cooperatives and other eligible private-non-profit organizations. This position will be responsible for assisting applicants through the Public Assistance Program and reviewing files to ensure they are adequate for payments and future federal audits. This individual will also conduct site monitoring visits for projects on-going throughout South Dakota to ensure they are completed according to the grant requirements. This requires a review of applicants files and construction progress. Upon completion of the projects, applicants documentation will be collected and reviewed to ensure accuracy before final payment of the project is disbursed. For this reason, attention to detail and ability to work with financial records is important. Additionally, a detailed financial reconciliation of federal grant funding has to be completed in order for the State to close the disaster grant with FEMA.

This position is fortunate to be a team member for the on call Duty Officer program which provides additional training and pay upon becoming a trained Duty Officer. Being a Duty Officer is a scheduled day where calls are taken from county emergency managers when incidents occur in their jurisdiction that are required to be reported to the State and coordinated with other state or federal agencies to handle the incident. On average, one 24 hour on-call shift per three week rotation and one weekend on-call shift every two months. For this reason, the person must live in the Pierre/Ft. Pierre area where cell phone services are available. The Duty Officer is allowed to go about their normal day while they are on call, but must understand they may have brief interruptions to take and coordinate the calls with the appropriate people.

This position will get to work with many state and local agencies in an exciting and fast paced environment when the State Emergency Operations Center is activated. This position will work with the emergency management team to help citizens through the coordination of governmental entities and resources to aid in disaster response.

Periodic travel will take place both in state and out-of-state to attend meetings and conferences to learn new techniques in the ever changing world of emergency management. The ideal candidate can work with a wide variety of people, be an excellent communicator, self-starter, team player, and can work with limited supervision while promoting office programs and initiatives.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have:

A four year degree or equivalent in a related field is preferred, but not required.

Knowledge of:

• computer applications ranging from Microsoft Word to Microsoft Excel;

• government processes and procedures;

• National Incident Management System (NIMS)/ Incident Command System (ICS);

• grammar usage and mechanics related to business writing and editing.

Skill to:

• strong financial reconciliation skills;
• strong writing skills;
• strong verbal communication skills;
• critical, analytical, and logical thinking.

Ability to:

• extract information by asking appropriate questions;
• think on your feet;
• manage multiple tasks;
• meet deadlines;
• communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing;
• focus on the big picture while also ensuring attention to detail;
• work with many different personalities to reach a consensus;
• remain calm during emergency situations;
• remain flexible;
• provide excellent customer service.

This position is eligible for Veterans' Preference per ARSD 55:10:02:08.

Successful applicant(s) will be required to undergo a background investigation. An arrest/conviction record will not necessarily bar employment.

The State of South Dakota does not sponsor work visas for new or existing employees.

All persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and complete an Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9. The State of South Dakota as an employer will be using E-Verify to complete employment eligibility verification upon hire.

The State of South Dakota offers $0 premium employee health insurance option plus eleven paid holidays, generous vacation and sick leave accrual, dental, vision, and other insurance options, and retirement benefits. You can view our benefits information at https://bhr.sd.gov/job-seekers/work-for-state-government/. This position is a member of Class A retirement under SDRS.

Must apply online: https://sodakprod-lm01.cloud.infor.com:1443/lmghr/xmlhttp/shorturl.do?key=Q64

You must apply online, emailed resumes or submissions will not be accepted.

South Dakota Bureau of Human Resources

Telephone: 605.773.3148 Email: careers@state.sd.us

http://bhr.sd.gov/workforus

"An Equal Opportunity Employer"