Administrative Assistant

Salary : $62,108.80 - $75,524.80 Annually

Location : Petaluma, CA

Job Type : Full Time

Job Number : 2025-00465

Department : City Clerk

Opening Date : 12 / 01 / 2025

Closing Date : 12 / 15 / 2025 11 : 59 PM Pacific

Max Number of Applicants : 150

Summary / Class Characteristics

Administrative Assistant

The City is currently recruiting for an Administrative Assistant to fill one (1) vacancy in the City Clerk's Office. This recruitment may also be used to fill future Administrative Assistant vacancies in other City departments over the next 12 months.

This recruitment will close once 100 applications have been received or Monday, December 15, 2025, whichever occurs first. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply early to ensure consideration for the position as the recruitment could close at any time.

About the City Clerk's Office :

The City Clerk's Office plays a crucial role in ensuring the efficient and transparent functioning of the City's government. The City Clerk serves as the City historian, elections manager, and City Council support team all rolled into one. The Office's responsibilities include recording and preserving City Council actions; maintaining accurate and accessible records and keeping them safe and accessible to the public; administering elections; and providing information and support to the City Council, City staff and the public.

Many of the Clerk's duties are prescribed by Federal, State, and local laws, either in general terms (e.g., the Clerk must have a system for managing records) or specific terms (e.g., the Clerk must respond to a public records request in a certain way and in a certain number of days).

A member of the public might interact with the City Clerk's office in order to :

• Learn what the City Council is discussing at its next meeting or read about decisions made a previous meeting
• Share an opinion or concern with the City Council (public comment)
• Request public records
• Review campaign documents or find out the results of an election

SALARY AND BENEFITS PACKAGE

MEDICAL INSURANCE : Choice of a variety of CalPERS Health Plans. City pays ~95% of the Bay Area Kaiser premium for employee & eligible dependents; or alternative option to receive Medical Cash Back (if you have medical coverage elsewhere). Please see the 2025 Health Plan Contribution Memo.

CALPERS RETIREMENT PACKAGE

2% at 60 for Classic CalPERS members

Vacation : 80 Hours, increasing with years of service

Paid Parental Leave - up to 8 weeks of paid time for qualifying family bonding

For more information regarding the benefits associated with this position, please visit our website and look at the Unit 1 Memorandum of Understanding and .

Summary

Provide varied secretarial and office administrative assistance for assigned department and associated supervisory and professional staff.

Class Characteristics

General supervision is provided by a higher level supervisor or manager; responsibilities may include the indirect supervision of support staff.

This class is distinguished from other City office support classes in that the Administrative Assistant provides secretarial and office administrative services for the Assistant City Manager or a designated division head and related supervisory or professional staff. General guidelines for action are normally established by the unit manager; however, day-to-day activities may require the use of initiative and independent judgment, particularly when prioritizing work from several staff members or when dealing with a variety of City staff and representatives of the public. This class is distinguished from Senior Administrative Assistant in that the latter provides complex and sensitive secretarial assistance to a department director and associated managerial and professional staff.

Duties

The duties, skills, and demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with a disability to perform the essential duties, skills, and demands.

Receive and screen visitors and telephone calls, assist the public in completing and filing applications and other forms, and provide factual information which may require the interpretation of policies and procedures; take messages or refer the caller to the proper person.

Research and compile a variety of informational materials from sources both inside and outside of the office; open and sort mail and attach pertinent back-up materials.

Type and draft a wide variety of finished documents from stenographic notes, brief instructions, or printed materials; may use word processing equipment; input and retrieve data and prepare reports using an on-line or personal computer system; initiate specified correspondence independently for signature by appropriate management, supervisory, or professional staff; review finished materials for completeness, accuracy, format, and compliance with policies and procedures, and appropriate English usage.

Organize and maintain various office files; follow up on projects, transmit information, and keep informed of unit activities; schedule and arrange for meetings; organize own work, set priorities and meet critical deadlines; may arrange for meetings, including preparing and distributing agenda materials and taking and producing minutes of actions or proceedings.

Collect fees, handle cash, credit, and check transactions, and issue receipts for various services; reconcile cash, credit, and checks processed.

Specified positions may require skill in taking dictation by hand or stenographic machine at a rate of 80 words per minute and transcribing it accurately.

Prepare meeting agendas and distribute materials; attend meetings to take minutes; prepare and distribute minutes; compile, edit, package, and track reports.

Perform related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Knowledge of :

Standard office administrative and secretarial practices and procedures, including business letter writing.

City's policies, rules, administrative regulations, and procedures.

Record keeping, report preparation, and filing methods.

Correct English usage, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.

Standard business arithmetic.

Office procedures, methods, and equipment including computers and applicable software applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and databases.

Education and Experience

Any combination equivalent to the education and experience likely to provide the required knowledge and abilities would be qualifying. A typical way to gain such knowledge and abilities would be :

Education :

Equivalent to graduation from high school; college, business, or secretarial school training is highly desirable.

Experience :

Three years of secretarial or office support experience.

Physical Demands and Working Environment

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use the computer keyboard and mouse, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, talk or hear, stand, walk, and stoop, or crouch. Occasionally lift and / or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. Requires the ability to work in an office environment where the noise level is usually moderate.

The City of Petaluma offers a wide range of benefits. For details, please find the information here

01

Describe your experience performing general clerical work and / or administrative / office support related duties. In your response, please include the name of the employer(s) where you gained this experience.

02

How many years of experience do you have in performing clerical, administrative and / or office related duties?

03

Please list any computer software programs you have used in the course of your work. For each computer software program you listed, please indicate your level of expertise as "Beginner", "Intermediate" or "Advanced" user.

04

Please describe your experience providing customer service and working with the public. Please include whether you provided information by phone, email, and / or in person.

05

Please describe any experience you have working for a governmental or public agency (you are not required to have public sector experience to be considered).

06

What excites you about serving the local community by working for the City of Petaluma, specifically in the City Clerk's Office?

Required Question