Administrative Assistant

Administrative Assistant Position

Position Open Until Filled

Job Title: Administrative Assistant

Department: Building Department/Rental Housing

Reports to Position: Building Manager

Pay Grade: Grade 5

Location: City Hall

Overtime Status: Salary

FLSA Status: Exempt

Job Summary

This position provides a high level of secretarial and administrative support to the Rental Housing division of the building department. The administrative assistant maintains records, answers telephones, processes mail, provides customer assistance, and research information in regard to rentals, landlords and tenants. Additionally, the administrative assistant provides information to the public; manages the rental housing process, department records and various department accounting functions. Schedules inspections with landlords for the housing inspector by mail, email, or phone. This role works closely with the rental housing inspector to ensure a streamlined, cohesive effort across the division.

The nature of this position is such that the employee has considerable independence in performing routing work. While the employee operates with independent judgement on routine tasks, the Building Manager provides guidance, regular alignment, and support as needed for complex assignments.

Essential Job Duties/Work Performed

• Process incoming and outgoing mail.
• Draft letters of inspection notices.
• Maintains a rental housing database by gathering information, entering data, and tracking landlord rental units.
• Update monthly statements and processes invoices.
• Actively audit and optimize the rental inspection scheduling workflow to reduce gaps, minimize travel time for inspectors, and improve turnaround for landlords.
• Serve as a primary administrative liaison to confidently answer routine ordinance inquiries, guide tenants through rental compliance processes, and defuse sensitive customer service situations.
• Lead the creation and updating of educational outreach materials, landlord FAQ guides for the city website, and onboarding resources for landlords navigating city compliance.
• Serve as a trained backup to the permit technicians in the building department on a limited basis.
• Perform other duties and related work as assigned.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Coordinate the records management effort within the housing department; assist Department with preparation of the Department housing reports.
• Respond to customer requests for information on rental housing properties.
• Provide administrative support to the Building Official, and the housing inspector in regard to the rental housing department.
• Maintain landlord records in a data system for various transactions of the housing department, including properties owned and rented, payments received and payments dues.
• Provide administrative support, when appropriate, to the Building and Engineering Department Administrative Assistants by greeting customers at the front counter, responding to telephone and customer walk-in inquiries and accepting applications.
• Cross train to complete tasks performed by Building Department techs on a limited basis and when appropriate.

Essential Functions/Physical Requirements

• Ability to effectively communicate in English with citizens and employees by telephone or face to face.
• Ability to read, speak, write and understand English. Skilled in written and spoken communication of administrative and technical data with strong grammar/spelling knowledge sufficient to screen own work as well as that of others.
• Excellent coordination and people skills, including ability to establish and maintain good working and interpersonal relationships with the general public, management, City staff, members of the board and commissions, elected officials, leadership of other government agencies, as well as with other private and public organizations.
• Ability to read and understand instructions, reports, strategic planning documents, correspondence, trade journals and policies at a college level.
• Ability to perform general math calculations finding increases/decreases, calculating percentages, basic math and creating charts at a college level.
• Ability to operate telephone, computer keyboard, calculator, typewriter, photocopier and similar electronic and manual office machines. Skilled in entering, organizing and retrieving data using computerized spreadsheets and databases, in preparing reports, presentations and correspondence using work processing and other software, use of internet for research, communication and data exchange.
• Ability to bend, reach, climb, stoop and lift 40 pounds for filing and records retrieval.
• Ability to sit for long period of time for typing and computer work.
• Ability to readily develop an understanding of organizational functions, policies, and procedures as prescribed by management.
• Ability to make minor decisions in accordance with established laws, rules and regulations.
• Ability to maintain clerical records and prepare accurate reports as required.
• Ability to prepare effective correspondence on routine matters and perform some office management duties without supervision.
• Ability to understand and implement oral and written instructions.
• Good telephone skills and presence.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalency required.
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written, with sufficient command of English to effectively compose and edit documents; ability to review technical documents, interpret and organize data and information.
• Three years of experience in a similar role in a technical environment with exposure to the public world would be advantageous.
• Any acceptable combination of education, training and experience that provides the above knowledge, abilities and skills may be substituted.

Working Conditions

• Work is primarily sedentary, involving sitting 95% of the time, standing and walking 5% of the time.
• Vision requirements: The standard for use with those whose work deals with preparing and analyzing data and figures, extensive reading, and the use of a computer terminal.
• Required physical activities include hearing, talking, finger dexterity and repetitive motions.
• Work is primarily performed in an office setting.

Required Background Checks

• Sex Offender Registry Check
• Criminal Record Check