Deputy Director, Legislative Services

City of San Diego • CA

74d • $190,000 - $213,000

About The Position

The Deputy Director (DD) position will oversee the Office of the City Clerk’s Legislative Services Division (Division). The Division produces the City Council agenda and records and maintains the official minutes of the City Council meetings. It is also responsible for the processing of notices of land use changes such as rezoning, annexations, and street work. This position will assist the City Clerk in providing technical and procedural support to the City Council, ensuring the timely and accurate posting and distribution of the Council docket, as well as the record-keeping and preservation of City legislative proceedings. Additionally, the DD is responsible for the development and administration of policies, programs, contracts, and procedures that meet governing authority mandates (e.g. Ralph M. Brown Act, City Charter, and San Diego Municipal Code). The Deputy Director of Legislative Services is a highly visible position and requires demonstrated experience working in a complex political environment. The DD serves as the liaison for the Office of the City Clerk between the offices of the Mayor, Council President, City Attorney, Independent Budget Analyst, and Chief Operating Officer, attending weekly meetings to discuss and coordinate the legislative proceedings of the City. Additionally, this position interacts with members of the public not only ensuring the facilitation of access and transparency to the City’s legislative proceedings, but actively engaging with the community. The DD will be responsible for taking a leadership role and directly supervising one (1) Supervising Management Analyst, and two (2) Associate Management Analysts and managing a division of approximately 14 full-time equivalent staff. The position is eligible for a hybrid work environment.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, Public Administration, Public Policy, Business Administration, or a related field
• Six (6) years of progressive experience in the development, implementation, and management of policies and procedures, business process improvement, and professional staff development
• At least four (4) years of experience in a combination of: legislative support, meeting management, public policy, and work in a political environment
• Master’s degree is highly desirable
• Any combination of education and professional experience that demonstrate these qualifications may be qualifying

Nice To Haves

• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment with tight time constraints
• Extremely organized with meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to effectively manage multiple projects at the same time and shift priorities as necessary
• Ability to manage practical expectations and progressive delivery of changes
• Experience in leading or participating in prioritization and change governance forums to reinforce communication and alignment to key management and stakeholder priorities
• Ability to communicate effectively to different audiences, including elected officials, various levels of City management, department staff, and members of the public
• Ability to describe complex information and procedures in a simple, clear, and straightforward manner, understandable by the public and outside departments and organizations, including the use of matrices and tables as needed
• Ability to comprehend technical details and understand how they relate to and impact the 'big picture'
• Ability to generate detailed, but user-friendly procedural documents
• Demonstrates proficiency in the Microsoft 365 platform—including Teams, Copilot, and related IT tools—to enhance communication, collaboration, and workflow management across the organization
• Interest in municipal activities and services and how they impact the community
• Highly ethical and objective, with the ability to navigate in a political environment without being political
• Energetic, creative, and motivated with the ability and desire to take initiative
• Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication, organizational, and project and program management skills
• Ability to work collaboratively, ensure deadlines are met, provide quality control, and think critically
• Experience interpreting and communicating federal, State and/or local regulations
• Extensive knowledge and experience developing and implementing complex and diverse projects and programs
• Strong management skills and experience managing varying program disciplines
• Ability to balance competing interests and remain neutral in a highly political environment
• Demonstrated team leadership
• Experience directly leading a sub- and/or professional team
• Experience developing and implementing process improvements that result in improved efficiencies
• Extensive knowledge and experience developing and implementing complex and diverse projects and programs, including information technology projects used to implement new technologies to divisional and/or departmental operations
• Experience leading and managing change efforts
• Interest in municipal activities and services and how they impact access and transparency for the residents of San Diego
• Experience establishing meaningful performance metrics to track and measure success
• Be a highly approachable leader, who can openly accept and work effectively in a climate of interaction, manage and motivate a diverse team to ensure high performance, and communicate horizontally and vertically within the organization

Responsibilities

• Provide technical and procedural support to the City Council
• Oversee the record and maintenance of City Council meeting minutes
• Direct the timely and accurate distribution and posting of City Council meeting agenda
• Manage in-person and virtual meeting management ensuring enhanced meeting participation accessibility for both members of the public, City of San Diego personnel, as well as Councilmembers
• Oversee the processing of land use notices, such as rezoning annexations and street work
• Ensure proper records management of all City Council meeting files, per the City’s records retention governing authority
• Develop, manage, and administer policies, programs, contracts, and procedures
• Ensure compliance with appropriate governing authority mandates (e.g. CA Government Code, Ralph M. Brown Act, City Charter, San Diego Municipal Code, etc.)
• Monitor and manage the accurate and timely incorporation of new laws and/or procedures within the California Government Code, City Charter, San Diego Municipal Code, Council Policy Manual, and the City Clerk’s Administrative Guidelines
• Lead necessary Request for Proposals, Contract Management, and implementation of software and services required for the division functionality and innovation
• Oversee the recordation of deeds, processing of council approved contracts, annexation forms, filing of Notices of Exemption and of appeals to Notices of Determination, and filing of leases and permits
• Coordinate with the Elections & Information Services and Records Management & Research divisions in the development of cross-cutting programs to enhance public participation in all phases of local government legislative proceedings and access to associated documents and council meetings
• Work collaboratively with City Clerk divisions and sections, City departments and/or offices and other agencies to integrate new technology and streamline processes associated with legislative proceedings, meeting management and access to related documents
• Perform programmatic audits within the areas of legislative proceedings to ensure the department remains in compliance with all governing authority mandates and personnel related matters for consistency across the department
• Complete benchmarking and analysis of best practices around legislative proceedings to assist in creating and updating departmental and city policies and procedures, as necessary
• Serve as the Office of the City Clerk liaison for City legislative proceedings
• Act as the central point of contact between the offices of the Mayor, Council President, City Attorney, Independent Budget Analyst, and Chief Operating Officer regarding the City’s legislative proceeding
• Respond to inquiries and requests received from members of the public and City departments surrounding the City’s legislative proceedings
• Interact with members of the public and City departments prior to, during and after City Council meetings
• Assist with budget development and monitoring as it relates to the Legislative Services division
• Supervise the Legislative Services division’s one Supervising Management Analyst and two Associate Management Analysts, and oversee all work products associated with each position’s respective desks
• Carry out additional duties as necessary

Benefits

• Defined retirement plan, including pension reciprocity, dependent on an employee’s eligibility status (new hire, rehire, etc.)
• A wide variety of cafeteria-style health and wellness plans or in-lieu cash waiver
• 11 paid City holidays per calendar year and 1 floating holiday per fiscal year
• Approximately 176 hours of paid annual leave for an employee’s first 15 years of service, and approximately 216 hours for 16+ years of service
• Up to 24 hours of paid discretionary leave per fiscal year
• Up to 320 hours of paid Parental Leave per childbirth or placement of a child
• Up to 40 hours of paid Bereavement Leave per fiscal year
• Tuition reimbursement up to $2,000 per fiscal year, and complimentary LinkedIn Learning professional development opportunities
• Free transit pass (including MTS Trolley, MTS Bus, and all Rapid and Rapid Express bus services)
• Access to premier City golf courses at a discounted rate
• Reduced-rate fitness center memberships
• City-paid life insurance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees