Host: City of Santa Rosa
Region: Northern California
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Mitigation, Energy Efficiency, Water Management, Water Policy
Skills Needed: Project Management, Relationship Management, Data Collection, Project Management, Detail-Oriented, Self-Motivated

Service Needs & Plans

This project will assist Santa Rosa Water with administering the Water Use Efficiency Direct Install Project, which aims to install water efficient fixtures including toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators at residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers across Santa Rosa. The CivicSpark fellow will assist in a water use efficiency project which will lower total water use in the City of Santa Rosa.

Project Description

The City of Santa Rosa is a leader in implementing innovative water conservation and efficiency programs. Water conservation and demand management are an integral part of the City’s water supply strategy so the City has been implementing water conservation programs since the 1976-1977 drought. Since the early 1990s, the City has spent over $21 million on its water conservation programs.

The City of Santa Rosa is seeking one Fellow to support a new water use efficiency program, the Water Use Efficiency Direct Install Project. The Direct Install program offers eligible Santa Rosa Water customers up to two high-efficiency toilets, showerheads and faucet aerators for kitchen and bathrooms installed by a qualified plumber — at no cost to customers. The goal of the program is to install approximately 4,000 high efficiency fixture packages (toilets, showerheads, aerators) at locations throughout Santa Rosa, worth over $3,800,00.

Our Fellow will focus on program development and implementation including development, review and maintenance of marketing materials and website content, interfacing with plumbers and customers regularly to confirm eligibility, and in-person inspections of customer’s homes. This position is a mixture of in and out of the office work, so it’s perfect for someone who does not want to sit in front of a computer all day.

The CivicSpark Fellow will support:

• Learn about water use efficiency best practices, and how to implement a successful water use efficiency program
• Develop social media content, newsletter articles, brochures, and website content for outreach and community education
• Confirm customer eligibility with plumber
• Correspond with plumbers to request and verify installation data for tracking and reporting purposes
• Conduct in-person site inspections of fixture installations 
• Develop a survey and analyze results about customer’s experience with the program
• Respond via phone, email, and in-person to customer and plumber questions
• Coordinate on managing and tracking budget expenditures 
• Track and report program participation for State and Federal grant reporting purposes
• Analyze water savings data to understand if the program is meeting project goals

The CivicSpark Fellow will develop skills in program management, customer service, grant reporting, budget tracking, marketing materials development and program evaluation. Fellows will also learn how to develop and implement a successful program while coordinating multiple stakeholders and managing a large budget.

Some of the anticipated project outcomes include:

• Installation of approximately 4,000 fixture packages within the Santa Rosa Water service area
• Manage budget expenditures to stay within the allocated budget
• Develop reports and tracking mechanisms for required State and Federal grant reporting

The Fellow may also support other water use efficiency projects including WaterSmart Checkups (in-person inspections of homes and businesses to encourage water use efficiency), rebate pre-qualification appointments and data analysis of water savings achieved.

Desired Skills

The ideal Fellow will be passionate about water use efficiency and equity, has strong communication, and organizational skills, and an ability and desire to work with diverse populations. Those with an interest in water use efficiency and project management are encouraged to apply. 

The Fellow should also be comfortable working somewhat independently, be motivated, and take ownership of their work. The Fellow should be flexible and have a willingness and ability to try to figure out how to approach a problem. They should also be effective at clearly communicating any questions or needs.

In turn, the Fellows will have the opportunity to work on interesting and complex problems and can expect high quality mentorship and experience with a City leading on water use efficiency in the State. Our goal is to support the professional development of our Fellow in achieving their future career goals. 

Organization & Community Highlights

The City of Santa Rosa, Water Department’s (also called Santa Rosa Water) main goal is to provide a safe, economical, dependable, and environmentally friendly water supply for our community. Our workplace culture is governed by The Basic Principles, which include: 1) Focus on the situation, issue or behavior, not the person, 2) Maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of your coworkers, 3) Maintain a good relationship with your co-workers and your supervisor, 4) Take initiative to make things a little better, 5) Lead by example. These Principles are not just guidelines but requirements of our workplace, and are demonstrated through our actions in our office. The overall culture of the Water Use Efficiency team is close knit, collaborative, kind, supportive and fun. We like sharing baked goods, and taking walks together on the creek paths that run behind our office building.

Equity is identified as one of the City Council’s priorities, and the City of Santa Rosa seeks to establish a lasting culture of equity and belonging within our organization. To help achieve this goal, the City has just finished work with an equity and organizational development consulting team that collaborated directly with staff to develop the roadmap for how to get there. More info is at www.srcity.org/3610/Equity-SR.

Working for the City of Santa Rosa will help a CivicSpark Fellow gain valuable work skills in program management, customer service, grant reporting, budget tracking, marketing materials development and program evaluation.

Remote or On-Site Placement

On-site