City Clerk

What is a City Clerk?

A City Clerk serves two main functions for their community by...

  • Providing a direct link between citizens and their government
  • Serving as a historian for the entire recorded history of the city and its people

Every municipality in the United States has a City Clerk or someone who functions as one. The official functions and duties of the City Clerk are outlined further in the City Clerk Responsibilities section below. In this section, we hope to provide you with a more general view of the City Clerk's role, and the background and history of this office.

Responsibilities

  • Plans, organizes, controls, and directs all aspects of the City Clerk’s office and serves as supervisor to the Deputy City Clerk
  • Serves as the Executive Assistant to the City Mayor, providing highly responsible executive support, office administration, coordination, and research to assist the City Manager
  • Performs research and provides information, documents, and legislative management services to the City Council, and serves as the liaison between the City Council and the public
  • Manages City Council meetings to include scheduling, preparation, and distribution of agenda packets, ensuring notification of public meetings and hearings meet all legal guidelines
  • Attends all City Council meetings to record proceedings and compose meeting minutes for the official city record
  • Creates and administers city records management program to store, preserve, maintain and retrieve all official city records
  • Manages the city’s official public records requests process, including receipt, assignment, research, redaction, cost of service, and distribution
  • Composes legal notices, letters, and advertisements for council actions and the City Mayor’s office
  • Manages the annual operating budget for the City Mayor, City Council, City Clerk/Deputy City Clerk, and Community Relations
  • Administers all Oaths of Office to Police Department personnel and public officials
  • Manages all city advisory boards and commissions: schedules interviews, maintains rosters, manages terms, and advertises open positions