Careers

Description:

Thurston County Public Health and Social Services (PHSS) is recruiting for an Environmental Health Specialist I for our Environmental Health Division. 

In your role as an Environmental Health Specialist I, you will primarily be responsible for implementing and enforcing environmental health regulations to protect public health and community resources. You will investigate complaints and potential violations involving concerns such as failing septic systems, improper animal waste management, and other environmental health issues, working with property owners and occupants to identify and correct violations and achieve compliance. You will also support our countywide stream and lake monitoring program by collecting and managing high-quality water quality data in accordance with our quality assurance project plan and helping communicate results to the public.

Essential functions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Enforce the PHSS Sanitary Code in relation to water quality concerns
• Interpret laws and policies, assist with program development, draft policies, and make recommendations for consideration by department management and the Thurston County Board of Health
• Investigate, sample, evaluate, and act upon public complaints of conditions involving pollution, disease, illness, or contamination
• Conduct sanitary surveys and dye tests on onsite sewage systems
• Document inspection results and prepare documentation needed for enforcement action for failing septic systems and other nonpoint pollution sources
• Work with property owners and residents to correct conditions on their site that contribute to or have the potential to contribute to pollution
• Conduct environmental studies by gathering, evaluating, and reporting on data 
• Manage and analyze data
• Maintain rigorous quality assurance/quality control standards
• Offer technical support and education to the public
• Conduct water quality monitoring in lakes, streams, groundwater, and marine waters
• Write technical reports

Skills/Eligibility:

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental health, biology, bacteriology or related field.
• One year of professional environmental health work experience requiring extensive public contact. Additional experience may substitute for education on a year-for-year basis.
• Current Washington State driver’s license or have requested and obtained an appropriate accommodation.

DESIRED SKILLS: 

Respect and Organizational Culture

• Create an environment where employees and partners can safely express needs or concerns and where employees can make and correct mistakes
• Effectively interact with sensitivity while working with persons from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, educational, racial, ethnic, and professional backgrounds, and persons of all ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, and lifestyles
• Thrive in a fast-paced, robust organization maintaining a positive work environment

Communication

• Serve the public in a timely, complete, accurate, and professional manner while ensuring that written and verbal communication is clearly understood by others
• Maintain cultural competency to support diverse perspectives in developing, implementing, and evaluating policies, programs, and services that affect the health of the community
• Strong oral communication for networking and interpersonal relationships
• Excellent written communication including the ability to craft correspondence, reports, and articles or web postings with minimal grammatical and syntax errors

Goal Setting and Accomplishment

• Use strategic thinking and planning for goal setting and evaluation
• Effectively plan, organize, and manage competing priorities and challenges under pressure
• Create a sense of mission by articulating and modeling confidentiality, professional values, and ethics with honesty and integrity
• Operate with a high degree of flexibility, initiative, attention to detail, and commitment
• Delegate and use persuasion and negotiating skills for shared responsibility and acceptance of change