Construction Liaison & Design Manager

The employee is responsible for providing design coordination, community engagement and impact mitigation services for public infrastructure improvement projects in the public right of way and in City buildings. The Construction Liaison and Design Manager supports the Infrastructure Department’s community engagement planning to ensure broad, diverse, and timely stakeholder engagement in Somerville’s efforts to rebuild its aging utility, street and building infrastructure.

The position will create and enhance opportunities for participatory, collaborative, and meaningful community engagement.

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

• Create and implement comprehensive and inclusive community engagement strategies to expand public participation in the planning and design of infrastructure improvement projects including streetscape, water, sewer, stormwater, municipal building and school building improvements.
• Coordinate and facilitate virtual, hybrid and in-person community meetings with residential communities, abutting businesses, and other special interest citizen groups. Meetings are intended to inform constituents, obtain design input, and develop construction impact mitigation strategies. Such meetings may include planning, design, preconstruction, neighborhood, tree management, school educational visits, and others.
• Communicate complex technical information in a variety of mediums inclusively to a broad audience.
• Support developing robust relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and maintaining a network of new and existing allies and community partners for specific planning and design projects.
• Identify and implement new and emerging practices in outreach.
• Maintain organized and accurate records, including contact information and meeting notes for community engagement activities and events.
• Coordinate interpretation and translation services for public meetings
• Work to ensure that engagement opportunities are socially just and accessible, and help constituents and stakeholders feel they have a voice in their community’s future.
• Support Project Managers with additional oversight over contracted work while being part of the planning and execution of Infrastructure Department projects.
• Prepare planning and design project status updates for internal distribution and assist other city departments in correctly routing constituent calls and emails.
• Provide project information to the Communications and Community Engagement Department and collaborate/assist as needed in the development and distribution of information and updates to the community.
• Engage constituents to identify and prioritize issues, and coordinate with the Engineering, Capital Projects, and Communications Departments on the development of strategies for direct and/or on-site communications with residents and businesses as necessary throughout project schedule.
• Prepare technical responses to citizen requests, comments and concerns submitted via 311 Q-Alert system in coordination with Engineering, Capital Projects, and Communications staff.

Education & Experience: Two to five (2-5) years of experience in infrastructure improvement administration support and/or community engagement. A background in urban planning, community organizing, customer service communications, or marketing is preferred. Applications demonstrating lived experience with proper knowledge of community engagement instead of education…