Director of Policy and Legislation; NCS; Comptroller's Office

Job Title

The office of the Comptroller of Baltimore City leads efforts to modernize systems and to increase transparency, information accessibility, government accountability and efficiency.

The Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs supports the Chief of Staff and Comptroller directly and reports to the Deputy Chief of Staff on matters of legislative affairs, special projects, community affairs and policy initiatives. This is a non-civil, at-will position of trust.

• Provides oversight, administration and coordination of all aspects of policy work for the Office of the Comptroller.
• Collaborates internally and externally to inform and implement policies that enhance the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of City government.
• Acquires subject matter expertise through research, experience and internal and external relationships.
• Collects, organizes and interprets information for persuasion and presentation in both formal and informal reports.
• Prepares and/or coordinates with a team of colleagues, quantitative reports on a wide range of City government policy, practice and policy issues.
• Evaluates policies, programs and procedures that address issues of transparency, accountability and efficiency of government for comparative and best practice assessment purposes, those of other municipalities.
• Undertakes literature reviews on a range of governance issues and prepares written and verbal reports on the subject.
• Collaborates with the Comptroller's Data Manager to examine, manipulate, format and query existing City government and external databases to produce narrative reports and thematic mapping efforts.
• Designs, plans, implements and prepares special research projects as directed.
• Prepares correspondence and works with the Deputy Director of Communications to inform speaking notes on a range of governance issues, problems and resources for elected officials and agency staff.
• Represents the agency at meetings and events.
• Provides oversight, administration and coordination of legislative affairs on behalf of the Comptroller and office of the Comptroller.
• Develops and maintains relationships with City Council members and staff and other elected officials to facilitate the exchange of information and support the Comptrollers legislative and policy priorities.
• Serves as liaison with Baltimore City Council and Maryland General Assembly on legislative issues.
• Monitors and analyzes proposed legislation and initiatives that may impact City government policies and operations; recommends actions and leads response.
• Collaborates with other City legislative offices when appropriate.
• Leads preparation of testimony and represents the Office of the Comptroller at legislative hearings.
• Provides oversight of the planning, organizing and coordination of community engagement on behalf of the Comptroller and office of the Comptroller.
• Manages, with direct and indirect staff, a variety of special projects, events and engagement activities by creating and executing plans of action and prioritizing multiple tasks effectively.
• Represents the department or program at meetings and community functions in a liaison capacity with other city managers and officials.
• Attends and represents the Comptroller at community and stakeholder meetings, community events, and other special events across Baltimore City, including evenings and weekends as needed.
• Coordinates the Comptroller's participation in public events, develops talking points and manages logistics for events hosted by the Office of the Comptroller.
• Develops short- and long-term goals for community engagement.
• Provides oversight of constituent services on behalf of the Office of the Comptrollers.
• Manages direct customer service to constituents via phone, email, and written correspondence; logs & tracks interactions, outcomes, and follow-up in a centralized data system.
• Maintains organized records and files of constituent inquiries and requests. and constituent service program to meet the objectives of the Office of the Comptroller.
• Leads special projects that can include drafting or oversight of special reports at the direction of the Comptroller and/or Chief of Staff and in collaboration with other members of the Central Office Teams.
• Examples include analysis of City legal settlements, recommendations for prompt grant payments, revenue reports for real property sales.
• Drafts plain language summaries of audit reports.
• Collaborates with Communications, IT Systems Management and other internal and external colleagues on deliverables.
• Manages staff consistent with City HR policies; participates in management training as required, meets regularly with operational team; provides consistent and timely feedback to staff including timely evaluations coordinated via the City's current HR management system (Workday).
• Participates in annual budgeting processes to ensure appropriate budget levels and requests for staffing and operational needs.
• The position also meets regularly with peer managers…