Leader, Building Safety

Position Summary

As a member of the Community Growth and Infrastructure Team, the Leader, Building Safety is accountable for overseeing the activities and operations of the Building Safety division in alignment with departmental goals, the City’s Quality Management Plan, and applicable legislation. The position provides leadership, technical guidance, mentorship and operational oversight to Building Safety staff, including Safety Codes Officers and the permit issuance team.

The Leader, Building Safety is accountable for supporting public safety under the Alberta Safety Codes Act and related regulations, maintaining effective permit and inspection services, monitoring service levels and workflow, and ensuring consistent, timely, customer-focused permit issuance and compliance monitoring.

• Participates in the building of cohesive teams that work to achieve departmental objectives in collaboration with other departments.
• Provides opportunities for team members to understand and value each other’s expertise and skills.
• Provides mentorship and leadership to the Safety Codes Officers relating to permits and Inspections, along with the administration of the Safety Codes Act.
• Responsible for coaching, mentoring and training the Building Safety Codes Officers on policies, procedures, codes, standards and best practices.
• Monitors and supports the permit issuance team to ensure permit applications are received, reviewed for completeness, routed, issued and documented in accordance with approved processes, service level expectations, the City’s Quality Management Plan and applicable Safety Codes legislation.
• Reviews permit issuance workflow, workload, turnaround times, quality assurance results and customer service trends; identifies risks, bottlenecks and training needs; and implements process improvements to maintain timely and accurate permit services.
• Acts as the Subject Matter Expert when it comes to the Building Safety Codes enforcement matters and resolving complex situations.
• Expected to manage and resolve escalations, conflicts, create and implement action plans to improve team dynamics and overall performance and ensure that all members of the team are provided with the resources needed to perform their jobs.
• Acts as a model of the desired values, attitudes, skills, and behaviours that contribute to a safe and ethical work environment.
• Provides building discipline technical advice within the bounds of the Safety Codes Act. The Leader, Building Safety, is responsible for educating residents, developers, builders, City staff from other departments/groups, and business owners on the interpretation of safety codes.
• Networks and facilitates partnerships with local, regional, provincial, and federal subject matter experts and service providers, peers in other municipalities, consultants, developers, etc.
• Provides technical support and options for various projects to City Management on the project, including sensitive issues.
• Provides hiring advice to City Management, which may include participating in reviewing job applicants and interviews.
• Appropriate and responsible use of confidential information; maintains confidentiality and security of all information related to the city.
• Ensures a safe and healthy work environment for staff, visitors, the community and stakeholders, e.g., participates in workplace safety initiatives, participates in formal and informal worksite safety and environment inspections and audits, ensures compliance with the City’s Health and Safety Management System, reports and assists in the analysis of near misses or incidents.
• Participates as a member of the Chestermere Emergency Response team in preparing and enabling the community to respond in the event of a local or regional disaster.

As a member of the Community Growth and Infrastructure leadership team, you will be expected to foster an inclusive leadership approach that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as psychological and physical safety. As a strategic decision-maker, you will possess political acumen and have experience in leading transformational change and…