Assistant to City Manager

General Summary

The Assistant to the City Manager serves as a senior member of the City Manager’s Office responsible for constituent services, strategic communications, interdepartmental initiatives, organizational improvement, and assigned operational functions. The position promotes responsive service, citizen engagement, customer service excellence, and transparent community outreach across City departments.

Working with significant independence under the general direction of the City Manager, the position oversees constituent inquiry and resolution systems, administers civic feedback channels, modernizes public-facing intake procedures, provides strategic direction for public information and communications, supervises assigned personnel and functions including Parks and Recreation, the Grant Administrator, and Communications Specialist, coordinates special projects, and conducts policy research to drive continuous service improvements.

1. Constituent Services, Issue Resolution, and Customer Experience

• Constituent Services and Issue Resolution: Lead the City’s constituent inquiry and issue-resolution process, ensuring resident concerns are acknowledged, appropriately investigated, coordinated with responsible departments, tracked to resolution, and communicated in a timely, professional, and courteous manner.
• Service Standards and Process Modernization: Evaluate and refine public intake procedures across city operations (e.g., Building, Planning, Public Works, Parks and Recreation) to streamline permit processing, simplify public requests, and eliminate customer service bottlenecks.
• Civic Engagement and Community Feedback: Design, deploy, and analyze community satisfaction surveys, pulse checks, and public comment mechanisms. Translate constituent feedback into actionable operational improvements and executive policy recommendations.
• Executive Escalation and Complex Issue Resolution: Serve as the primary administrative point of escalation for complex constituent issues, working directly with department heads to resolve matters when possible and identifying issues requiring City Manager involvement.

2. Strategic Communications and Public Relations

• Communications Leadership: Provide strategic direction and supervisory oversight of the City’s communications function and Communications Specialist; coordinate sensitive or high-profile messaging; and support transparent, timely, accurate, and accessible dissemination of press releases, official statements, social media content, and emergency information.
• Public Outreach Campaigns: Direct targeted civic engagement efforts surrounding public projects, municipal initiatives, and community programs to foster public trust, transparency, and broad community participation.
• Intergovernmental Liaison: Coordinate legislative messaging and constituent-related administrative workflows with county, state, and regional partners, serving as a key staff liaison to intergovernmental consultants, regional committees, and neighboring municipal entities.

3. Parks and Recreation and Specialized Supervisory Oversight

• Parks and Recreation Leadership: Provide administrative and supervisory oversight of Parks and Recreation operations, including personnel, programs, facilities, community events, customer service, contracts, operating procedures, budget administration, performance measures, safety, and other assigned operational responsibilities.
• Grant Administration Oversight: Provide supervisory leadership to the Grant Administrator, guiding the pursuit, execution, compliance, and administration of municipal grant funding across city departments.
• Staff Direction: Provide direction, task assignments, coaching, and performance evaluations to designated personnel, including the Communications Specialist, Grant Administrator, Parks and Recreation staff, and other assigned personnel. Participate in recruitment and selection and make recommendations regarding hiring, promotion, discipline, reassignment, and other personnel actions for assigned staff.

4. Policy Research, Executive Support, and Compliance

• Constituent-Focused Policy Development: Research, analyze, draft, and refine administrative policies, standard operating procedures, and ordinances that improve service accessibility and address emerging community needs.
• Statutory Compliance and Reporting: Prepare executive policy memos, briefs, and Commission presentations and support compliance with applicable Florida municipal…