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Northern Blacklands

Job Announcement
NBL-08-03
Field Unit Manager

Location: Corsicana District Office, 4001 S 15th, #2, Corsicana, TX 75110
Opens: August 22, 2008
Closes: when filled

Job title Field Unit Manager	Service location Field office
FLSA class Exempt	Job status Regular
Reports to: Supervisor of district office
Job type Supervisory or management

Job Summary

Assists in managing all aspects of the eradication process within the zone, in coordination and communication with other supervisors. Provides leadership within the zone/district management team. Provides ideas and input to zone/district management about program requirements and organization.

Responsible for all Foundation activities, protocol, guidelines and policies to eradicate the boll weevil in assigned work units. Coordinates and supervises all activities of Field Technicians, Ground Equipment Operators and Field Scouts engaged in performing their job duties (ground spraying, trapping, airport recording and ground observing) in assigned work units. Checks crop stages and locates cotton fields within assigned work units and maintains public relations with cotton growers having fields within assigned work units. Proficiently uses computer software programs such as MapInfo, Weevil, Satloc, Del Norte, Wag, AgNav and MS Office, to compile and analyze program data.

Essential Duties

Eradication Program in Work Units

• Monitors, coordinates and supervises all Foundation activities, protocol, guidelines and policies to eradicate the boll weevil in assigned work units.
• Assists other employees in program operations.
• Assists in the management of eradication activities throughout the zone/district and provides management input to zone/district staff as needed and requested.

Managing Employees

• Coordinates and supervises employees assigned to work units in performance of their specific duties/responsibilities.
• Interviews, hires and trains employees for work-unit positions of field technicians, ground equipment operators and field scouts.
• Trains supervised employees in on-the-job skills, protocols and procedures and Foundation safety rules, regulations and procedures.
• Monitors and verifies employees’ time and attendance records.
• Appraises employee performance and takes disciplinary action as needed.
• Addresses employee complaints and resolves problems.
• Performs high level of quality control inspections and reviews tasks performed by supervised employees.
• Maintains a positive, well-organized and productive workplace.
• Assists in management of employees from units other than assigned units as needed and requested.

Maps of Work Units

• Works with Farm Service Agency and cotton growers to locate current year’s planted cotton fields. Transfers grower information from FSA forms and maps to Foundation database and mapping software.
• Prepares computer-generated maps of cotton fields for trap inspection and spray activities.

Trapping Data from Work Units

• Compiles and reviews boll weevil trapping data to establish the location of trap captures, determine the presence and degree of infestations, identify cotton-crop stages and problem fields and situations.
• Maintains accurate records of trapping and spray activities for the fields in work units.
• Performs a high level of quality control on trapping data, trap placement, inspection and protocol in work-unit fields.

Spray Applications in Work Units

• Determines fields to be aerially or ground sprayed, based on trapping reports.
• Provides notification to producers and others of fields to be sprayed.
• Coordinates and arranges spray applications for fields in assigned work units and communicates this information, as needed, to pilots, Ground Equipment Operators and Field Technicians.
• Maintains communication with ground personnel and pilot during aerial applications.
• Maintains awareness of weather conditions in spray area through visual observation and radio communication.
• Informs supervisor immediately when conditions are unfavorable for proper spray application and suspends application when the supervisor is not immediately available.

Safety

• Trains employees in the Foundation’s safety rules and regulations, emphasizing safe driving practices, safe working habits and required personal protection equipment and clothing.
• Responsible for ensuring that Foundation safety rules and regulations are followed by each supervised employee.
• Identifies and rectifies unsafe and hazardous working conditions and situations.
• Accompanies any injured employee to healthcare provider.
• Ensures subordinate employees have supplies necessary to complete their specific jobs, including applicable safety equipment and clothing.
• Arranges lab testing of subordinate employees for compliance with Foundation’s drug, alcohol and cholinesterase testing policies involving pre-employment and post-accident testing requirements, as directed by supervisor.
• Conducts regular meetings on safety topics applicable to subordinate employees and their specific job duties.
• Completes vehicle maintenance and accident damage records as required for vehicles assigned to work units.

Public Relations

• Contacts and communicates with members of the public such as cotton growers, landowners, tenants, managers, county agents and FSA personnel, to inform them of eradication program activities, regulations and progress; to secure cooperation to conduct eradication program activities; to monitor quarantine regulations; and to encourage increased participation in, and cooperation with, the eradication program.
• Records all complaints and submits these to supervisor. Immediately investigates all complaints to seek solutions to reported problems.

Driving

• Follows safe-driving practices.
• Drives a Foundation vehicle from the office to the assigned worksite and back in a safe manner.
• Reads, understands and follows maps of cotton fields and surrounding areas.
• Maintains complete vehicle mileage and gas records.
• Performs daily maintenance checks on assigned vehicle to ensure mechanical reliability, and reports damage and mechanical problems to supervisor immediately.

Essential Job Requirements

Education/Experience Requirements

• Prefer college degree with major course work in agricultural studies and five years cotton field experience, two years of which include independent project responsibility in cotton management or consultation.
• One year of full-time, paid employment in cotton-field operations may be substituted for each year of college.
• Prefer one year’s experience and proven proficiency as a Field Unit Supervisor.

Abilities Requirements

• Demonstrated leadership and organizational and personnel management skills.
• Drive a Foundation vehicle.
• Identify boll weevils and the characteristics of major insect pests.
• Hammer/drive wooden stakes into the ground.
• Read, write and speak English language at college level.
• Write in a legible manner and compose routine reports and correspondence.
• Read, interpret and explain documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals.
• Interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Grasp basic principles of pest detection, mapping and map reading to quickly and accurately record data.
• Enter numbers into a handheld scanner.
• Add, subtract, multiply and divide two-digit numbers.
• Apply knowledge of basic computer concepts in using a compute and software to effectively compile weevil data, create maps, track aerial applications, track employee time and attendance and write reports and correspondence.
• Communicate clearly using a two-way radio.
• Communicate clearly with supervisor and co-workers.
• Hear aircraft and radio communication.
• Read and follow cotton-field and road maps.
• Perform math operations using the U.S. system of measurement, volume and distance.
• Define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions about pest population.
• Speak effectively before groups of people.
• Think and move rapidly to deal with emergency situations.

Driving Requirements

• Have and maintain a valid driver’s license.
• Be insurable under the Foundation’s auto insurance guidelines.

Special Requirements

• Willing and able to work hours longer than normal office hours, which may include evenings, weekends and holidays, as requested by supervisor.
• Regular attendance is an essential requirement for this position.
• Willing and able to provide blood samples as needed for ongoing cholinesterase monitoring program.
• Maintain valid state Noncommercial Political Pesticide Applicator’s license.

Physical Requirements

Must be physically and mentally able to travel to and work in isolated, remote cotton fields. Work involves:

• Performing all essential duties and job responsibilities of this position in a safe and effective manner.
• Driving daily over extremely rough roads, ruts, washouts and slippery, muddy fields.
• Daily walking, hiking, climbing, standing, balancing, kneeling, stooping, bending, stretching and reaching in extremely rugged, cotton-field terrain, including walking across ditches and furrows, up and down steep banks, over muddy ground and through loose, shifting sand.
• Working outside in all types of weather, including rain, extreme hot and cold temperatures and fierce, dusty winds.
• Frequently entering and exiting a Foundation vehicle throughout each day.
• Sitting and driving in a normal, seated position for extended periods of time in a vehicle.
• Sitting in a normal, seated position at a computer for extended periods of time.
• Hammering/driving wooden stakes into the ground.
  Using hands to manipulate equipment and plants or to operate a compute.
  Medium work involving lifting 50 lbs. Maximum, with frequent lifting and/or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 lbs.
  Distance vision, depth perception and field of vision within normal parameters.
  Hearing ability within normal parameters.

Work Environment

The work environment includes both office and outdoor settings. Hazards in the work environment may involve the following:

• Work in an office environment where the noise level is normally low.
• Travel by vehicle to and from cotton fields and airports.
• Isolated work in remote cotton fields and county roads where noise level is normally low.
  Work at airports where the noise level is usually moderate to very noisy during aircraft takeoff and landing.
• Work with wooden stakes that may split and splinter when hammered.
• Exposure to stinging and biting insects.
• Exposure to poisonous plants, non-poisonous and poisonous snakes and other types of wildlife found in and around cotton fields and farmland, including mice, rats and other types of rodents.
• Possible exposure to chemicals, pesticides or herbicides associated with cotton fields and agriculture.
• Possible exposure to conditions consistent with airports, aircrafts and aerial applicators, including aircraft propellers and aircraft fuel.

 

HOW TO APPLY

An application is required for all positions.

Current TBWEF employees must submit an updated application along with a résumé or a letter of consideration stating the reasons for seeking the new position and the applicant’s qualifications.

All others must complete an application for employment bearing the position title and announcement number. A résumé or letter of consideration should accompany the application. Previously submitted applications are not reviewed when new positions open. If you have submitted an application with the Foundation within a year, you may call the Human Resources Department and request to be considered for another position without completing a new application. Applications may be obtained at any TBWEF office and should be returned to Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation Inc., Attn: Human Resource Department, Box 5089, Abilene, TX 79608-5089 or by fax to (325) 672-5034. Inquiries about positions may be sent by e-mail to jobs@txbollweevil.org

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Drug-Free Workplace
Pre-employment drug testing required for all applicants

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