Scot E. Ferris, Cta Email & Phone Number

Leesburg, Virginia, United States

Leesburg, Va

The Land Development Ombudsman position acts as a liaison between the Department of Building and Development (B&D) and the individuals or companies who wish to develop their properties. I work to strengthen the relationship between the County and its citizens by providing clear and concise information about the development process, not bureaucratic techno-babble. B&D encourages a culture of providing superior public service as our primary mission. I help support this mission… Show more The Land Development Ombudsman position acts as a liaison between the Department of Building and Development (B&D) and the individuals or companies who wish to develop their properties. I work to strengthen the relationship between the County and its citizens by providing clear and concise information about the development process, not bureaucratic techno-babble. B&D encourages a culture of providing superior public service as our primary mission. I help support this mission by being a point of contact to a multitude of different customers (internal and external), to help them understand and comply with the various regulatory requirements within the County. My duties as Ombudsman include:• Oversee the daily interactions between Staff and the public to ensure that our complicated regulations and procedures are being communicated clearly and efficiently.• Supervise intake, tracking, and the set-up of Building and Development Land Development Applications. • SuperUser for our Citizen Response Management System – LEx (Loudoun Express Request). Administer and answer service requests placed through LEx - approximately 150 service requests a month.• Facilitate interdepartmental communication concerning land development questions and applications.• Examine, evaluate and provide solutions for internal development processes in order to eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.• Primary member of the Business Assistance Team, which is a coalition of County departments that assists with business development.• Created and taught “Providing Superior Customer Service” class to every staff member in Building and Development – approximately 200 staff over 15 different sessions.• Act as intermediary between outside development world (professional and citizens) in those rare cases of disagreement between staff and the development world. Show less

Leesburg, Va

Manage the "Land Development" customer service counter for the Building and Development Department. Directly supervise 5 employees. Indirectly manage 10 "rotating" planners when at front counter.Daily contact with members of the public, county staff, engineers, architects, attorneys, and Board of Supervisors to answer complex zoning and general questions about development process in Loudoun County.Recruit, interview, hire, train and manage full-time employees… Show more Manage the "Land Development" customer service counter for the Building and Development Department. Directly supervise 5 employees. Indirectly manage 10 "rotating" planners when at front counter.Daily contact with members of the public, county staff, engineers, architects, attorneys, and Board of Supervisors to answer complex zoning and general questions about development process in Loudoun County.Recruit, interview, hire, train and manage full-time employees, including performance reviews and evaluations. Manager for Building and Development file room and the file room imaging project (>60,000 files digital imaged).Lead organizational changes to daily operations, physical layout and switch to paperless environment at front counter.Manage electronic customer service response program. Responsible for review, evaluation and distribution hot-line calls. Personally answered over 4,100 calls in past three years.Designated "Property Manager." This entails responsibility for enforcing staff and customer behavior policy in the "permit office" with rights to remove disruptive customers and staff from County property. Show less

Project manager: reviewed and approved administrative land development (subdivision, easements, boundary line adjustment) applications in accordance with newly adopted County regulations and multiple versions of Zoning Ordinance. Considerable emphasis on larger, more intricate and politically sensitive subdivision projects. Read, analyzed, implemented and interpreted newly adopted Zoning Ordinances. Principal contact with Board of Supervisors, County staff, engineers… Show more Project manager: reviewed and approved administrative land development (subdivision, easements, boundary line adjustment) applications in accordance with newly adopted County regulations and multiple versions of Zoning Ordinance. Considerable emphasis on larger, more intricate and politically sensitive subdivision projects. Read, analyzed, implemented and interpreted newly adopted Zoning Ordinances. Principal contact with Board of Supervisors, County staff, engineers, architects, attorneys and public to review and revise planning applications for major development projects.Prepared amendments and presentations to various Boards and Commissions.Read, understand and commented on engineering plans and legal documents, including deeds, performance bonds, open space and right-of-way easements. Show less

Researched news stories, edited news releases and obituaries, met tough deadlines.

Managed, reviewed and approved discretionary projects such as Subdivisions, challenging Conditional Use Permits and Limited Impact Use Permits.Initiated change to existing systems, procedures and standards, by revising reports, methodology and formats of Planning Department. Examined and revised the Archuleta County Land Use Planning Regulations, and the Archuleta County Community Plan.Presented findings to Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners on a weekly… Show more Managed, reviewed and approved discretionary projects such as Subdivisions, challenging Conditional Use Permits and Limited Impact Use Permits.Initiated change to existing systems, procedures and standards, by revising reports, methodology and formats of Planning Department. Examined and revised the Archuleta County Land Use Planning Regulations, and the Archuleta County Community Plan.Presented findings to Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners on a weekly basis.Provided technical guidance to developers, commissioners and the public. Primary staff representative on the Southwest Colorado Telecommunications Consortium Steering Committee.GIS Coordinator for Planning Department. Show less

Newport Beach, Ca

Extensive comprehensive and current planning experience including: responsible for the implementation and administration of the City's General Plan and Zoning Code; write ordinances and resolutions.Selected, supervised, trained and evaluated interns. Representative on regional committees. Census 2000 & Orange County Council of Government Technical Advisory Committee.Developed relationships, strategies and coordination with various City Departments (including utilities… Show more Extensive comprehensive and current planning experience including: responsible for the implementation and administration of the City's General Plan and Zoning Code; write ordinances and resolutions.Selected, supervised, trained and evaluated interns. Representative on regional committees. Census 2000 & Orange County Council of Government Technical Advisory Committee.Developed relationships, strategies and coordination with various City Departments (including utilities, public works, police and fire departments.) GIS coordinator for the Planning Department. Responsible for the management, design, administration, and maintenance of the Planning Departments Geographic Information System (GIS) and associated Oracle databases. Coordinated and maintained GIS data between various City, county and regional agencies. Researched, coordinated and maintained demographic and economic data for the City.Started, wrote and maintained the Planning Departments Web pages. Show less

Mpa (Master Of Public Administration), Local And State Government

Activities and Societies: Northern Virginia Public Service Fellows Cohort 5 Capstone Project: "Third Party Ethics Seminar - Ethical Issues.

Master Of Arts - Ma, Geography

Thesis Topic - "Web Based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) -Digital Mapping Toy - or Real GIS?" This topic was very cutting edge 20.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Geography

Physical Geography -

Aa, Concentration In Early Childhood Education