About us

Lee-Russell Council of Governments is a public agency encompassing and serving the people and local governments in the region. It is founded on, sustained by, and directly tied to Alabama local governments through state law, regional compacts, inter-governmental agreements, and articles of incorporation. Our goal is to improve the quality of life in the region by acting as servant leaders, with proactive purpose, and in collaboration with all community partners.

Purpose: The Regional Planner assesses and proposes solutions to region-wide issues as well as manages and maintains the eligibility of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for funding by developing and coordinating transportation planning and program requirements in the MPO Study Area and the rural areas of Lee and Russell Counties. Assumes responsibility for developing and maintaining GIS hardware, software and data to support the transportation planning process.

Supervisory Controls: The Regional Planner works under the administrative direction of the Planning & Economic Development Director. Supervisor sets overall objectives and employee and supervisor, in consultation, develop the deadlines, projects, and work to be done; employee is responsible for planning and carrying out the assignment; and work is reviewed from an overall standpoint.

Direct Reports: None.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Collect, organize, analyze, interpret, and present regional data

1. Develops, tests and implements geospatial data to support transportation modeling and regional land use and development planning

2. Develops new information technology and imagery processes and programs and coordinates data management in specific planning areas; inputs, maintains, and retrieves data from specialized databases

3. Coordinates the member government staff to facilitate data sharing, development, and management

4. Creates databases to link attributes on the computerized maps.

5. Digitizes data

6. Creates and updates maps using GIS software

• Monitor Land Use and Transportation System Network Changes

1. Use GIS, data analytics, and other relevant tools to understand current land use configurations, trends, and potential future.

2. Continuously assess the performance of the transportation system network in response to changing land use dynamics

3. Stay abreast of ongoing and planned multimodal infrastructure development projects and assess their impact on land use and transportation patterns

• Develop Planning Activities

1. Identify and define regional planning problems and priorities; provide technical assistance to local governments in identifying and defining local planning problems and priorities.

2. Develops study designs, work programs, contract documents, and project budgets.

3. Advises management and board on selection of professional transportation planning consultants.

4. Drafts policy statements for review and approval by senior management and board of directors.

5. Represent the Council on Auburn-Opelika and the Columbus-Phenix City Metropolitan Planning Organization Technical Advisory Committee.

Coordinate of Planning Activities

1. Manages and maintains the eligibility of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Rural Planning Organization (RPO) to receive Federal transportation funds by coordinating federally mandated transportation planning and programming.

2. Coordinates and communicates the MPO and RPO transportation activities with member governments, state, and federal agencies, and MPO standing committees.

3. Meets with local officials and regulatory agencies to obtain input to and explain results of planning studies.

4. Manages the Public Involvement Plan (PIP), Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and other transportation and region-wide plans.

5. Coordinates public involvement, transportation planning, and MPO and RPO committee meetings to include notification, preparation of meeting materials, resolutions for approval and developing minutes.

6. Participates in public meetings and hearings to explain the organization’s planning and project proposals.

7. Provides technical assistance and prepares grant applications for member governments.

C. Miscellaneous

1. Attends public transportation trainings and events as necessary.

2. Attends educational programs and training to maintain and develop knowledge base.

3. Prepare and Deliver presentations to the public and to local, state and federal officials, the business community and advocacy groups.

4. Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

1. Knowledge

a. Well-developed knowledge of the planning process, especially as it relates to transportation planning

b. Principles, methodology, practices of research and data collection

c. Contemporary transportation, environmental, land use, social, economic, fiscal, legal, and political issues

d. Understanding of the Land Use-Transportation Interaction

e. Federal and state laws concerning land use and transportation

f. Effective public participation techniques

g. Intermediate knowledge of GIS Computer systems, such as ArcGIS

2. Skills

a. Complex Problem Solving

b. Critical Thinking

c. Systems Analysis and Evaluation

d. Strong communication skills, both oral and written

e. Proficiency with ESRI ArcGIS

3. Abilities

a. Ability to read paper and electronic maps

b. Ability to comprehend and interpret data from a variety of sources

c. Ability to attend meetings at night, travel workshops, speaking engagements, and other official functions which may require overnight travel

d. Ability to occasionally work nonstandard hours

Required Qualifications:

1. Education

a. A bachelor’s degree in Transportation Planning, City/Community/Regional Planning, or

b. A Bachelor’s Degree in a related field such as: Geography, GIS, Public Policy, Public Administration, Environmental Policy or Studies, Sociology, Economics, or Civil Engineering and 12 semester hours (or equivalent quarter units) in transportation planning; city, community, regional, rural or urban studies, land use planning and development, or travel analysis and forecasting

2. Experience

a. Four years of professional planning experience. A master’s degree in planning or transportation can be substituted for two years of experience.

3. Must possess a valid driver’s license

Preferred Qualifications

a. A Master’s degree in planning or transportation with three years of professional work experience in transportation planning or a bachelor’s degree in a transportation and five years of professional work experience in planning.

b. Membership in American Institute of Certified Planners or Professional Transportation Planner program.

c. Proficiency with transportation modeling software such as TransCAD.

Physical Requirements:

The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking and hiking trails; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $56,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan

Work setting:

• In-person
• Office

Ability to Relocate:

• Opelika, AL 36801: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person