Director of Legal Services

Description:

Note: Only those serving in the permanent civil service title of Administrative Manager will be considered

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects public health and the environment by supplying clean drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and reducing air, noise and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. We deliver 1.1 billion gallons of high-quality drinking water per day to 8.3 million New York City residents and more than 1 million people in Upstate New York, and we collect and treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater per day.

The Bureau of Customer Services (BCS) oversees the production and collection of water and sewer bills along with all the work required to maintain NYC's vast network of meters and meter reading devices. BCS serves approximately 836,000 customers and generates $3.6 billion of revenue annually. The mission of the bureau is to effectively operate and manage activities related to the use and sale of water from the New York City water supply system and the enforcement of all rules and regulations governing such use and sale.

BCS is seeking an experienced water utilities candidate to serve as Director of Legal Services. The selected candidate should have relevant legal experience with a public utility municipality. The selected candidate will report directly to the Chief of Borough Operations and as such will be privy to highly confidential and sensitive information as it relates to the Bureau. This position is responsible for providing critical and strategic thinking and planning necessary for the development of policy and strategy for the Bureau. The selected candidate should have knowledge of NYC Law and statutes and cases pertinent to the enforcement of NYC Water Board rules and regulations.

The selected candidate with great latitude for the exercise of independent judgment and policy discretion and action with the directives of BCS Deputy Commissioner, Water Board Executive Director and Bureau of Legal Affairs will and work with other city agencies including the Department of Finance (DOF) and NYC Corporation Counsel.

The work responsibilities include but are not limited to: Plans and manages the day-to-day operation of the Legal Services Unit; Oversees a staff of three direct reports; Responsible for increased volume of responses to Judicial Subpoenas and Summonses; Leads Unit as the BCS primary point of contact to agency legal and third parties that assist with collections enforcement and legal proceedings; Runs the Mayoral priority $10M affordability initiative for HDFCs that was passed by the Water Board and underlying work performed by new staff; Runs a new program to collect on seriously delinquent revenue from tax class 2 properties (large multifamily residential) that cannot be pursued with service terminations due to legal restrictions. There is over $325M in seriously delinquent AR in TC2 that this program will prioritize collecting on; Assist with defending DEP In litigation matters, including researching and reviewing account data, analyzing past DEP actions. drafting account summaries and preparing other documents for court: Responding to Freedom of Information and subpoena requests for documents; Assist the Director of Legal Services with third-party collection efforts; Assist the Director of Legal Services and other Senior Management with lien-sale related matters including responding to elected officials, customers, other agency representatives and attorneys; Assist the Director of Legal Services in general matters, including but not limited to bankruptcy matters, exemptions matters, in-rm foreclosure and refund matters; Provide testimony either in a deposition or in a judicial proceeding, both for cases in which the City is a party and for third-party cases; Staff under direct supervision of the Chief of Revenue and Legal Policy will include employees serving in managerial, technical and clerical/administrative titles.

Preferred Skills:

• Must be able to interpret and explain N.Y.C. Water Board rules and regulations
• Application of laws and legal cases and ability to interpret and execute correctly.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills.
• Develop briefs and arguments to be presented during legal proceedings.
• Ability to multi-task and work under pressure.
• Ability to effectively interact with representatives from other City and State Agencies, social services organizations, utilities, elected officials and community groups.
• Strong critical thinking and strategic planning skills
• In-depth knowledge of City and State governmental rules and regulations related to the position

Minimum Qualifications:

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four years of satisfactory, full-time progressively responsible clerical/administrative experience requiring independent decision-making concerning program management or planning, allocation for resources and the scheduling and assignment of work, 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory capacity. The supervisory work must have been in the supervision of staff performing clerical/administrative work of more than moderate difficulty; or
2. An associate degree or 60 semester credits from an accredited college and five years of satisfactory, full-time progressively responsible experience as described in "1" above, 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory capacity. The supervisory work must have been in the supervision of staff performing clerical/administrative work of more than moderate difficulty; or
3. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and six years of satisfactory, full-time progressively responsible experience as described in "1" above, 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory capacity. The supervisory work must have been in the supervision of staff performing clerical/administrative work of more than moderate difficulty; or
4. Education and/or experience equivalent to "1", "2" or "3" above. However, all candidates must possess the 18 months of administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience as described in "1", "2" or "3" above. Education above the high school level may be substituted for the general clerical/administrative experience (but not for the administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience described in "1", "2" or "3" above) at a rate of 30 semester credits from an accredited college for 6 months of experience up to a maximum of 3½ years.

---