CDI Hiring an Administrative Support Position in Winterset

Conservation Districts of Iowa (CDI) is hiring Administrative Support Positions in all 25 Iowa NRCS Resource Teams.  Winterset was selected as the location for one of the positions. The vacancy is open until filled. 

To learn more, read the following excerpt from an article in the CDI Connections newsletter or click on the vacancy announcement below.

Iowa NRCS has entered into an agreement with CDI that provides much-needed administrative support statewide for each of Iowa NRCS’ 25 Resource Teams. CDI Executive Director Dien Judge announced that new positions financed by the agreement with NRCS will significantly help free up time for SWCD staff, making possible more time for their responsibilities. “This agreement provides 25 resource team assistants that will be located in each Resource Team across the state,” said Judge. “And they’re going to provide general clerical support to Resource Teams including data entry and tracking, and they’ll provide support to the field offices within the Resource Team, including the implementation of Farm Bill programs, conservation technical assistance, Inflation Reduction Act funding programs, administrative work and other duties.”

According to CDI Program Manager Carlee Sabus, the new Administrative Support positions, once filled, will greatly enhance efficiency for district CAs and DCs by relieving workload. “We know this can address a backlog of work, and help get conservation work done,” says Sabus. “And it will assist admin office duties so district staff, like District Conservationists, can actually get out in the field, and not be held back in the office doing paperwork.” The Resource Teams are comprised of a 4-county area and support staff is primarily overseen by the NRCS Resource Team Lead (RTL).

The Administrative Support position is an employee of CDI, but their day-to-day supervision is provided by the RTL. The Administrative Support position will receive overall workload direction from the RTL and will receive their training and training assignments from the RTL with assistance from DC’s and other RT staff as needed. With the increased amount of Federal and State funding in the conservation partnership in Iowa, it’s important that these positions focus on administrative work that does not fall within someone else’s position description or job responsibilities, but may provide needed support based on workload and staffing levels of the Resource Team Area.

“We at CDI are excited to help provide assistance to each of these resource teams through this agreement, helping get things done,” said Judge. “These will be CDI employees, these will be well-compensated, competitive wage positions, with benefits.”

Each individual opening is posted on the CDI website: https://www.cdiowa.org/who-we-are/job-openings/

JOB OPENING: Project Coordinator for North Thompson River Water Quality Project

The North Thompson River Water Quality Project, which is overseen by the Adair, Madison, and Union County Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), has an opening for a Project Coordinator.  The position can be full-time or part-time, and the duty station is negotiable between the USDA Service Centers in Greenfield (Adair SWCD), Winterset (Madison SWCD), and Creston (Union SWCD).  See the position announcement for more details.

The application deadline is Thursday, November 9, 2023.

To learn more about the watershed project, visit this page.

Position Announcement

Winterset Municipal Utilities receives national award for Cedar Lake efforts

Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District congratulates the Winterset Municipal Utilities Board’s Water Department on receiving the 2023 Exemplary Source Water Protection Award for Small Source Water Systems from the American Water Work Association (AWWA)!

Learn more at these links: