City Clerk butterfly


11/8/2022 GENERAL ELECTION AND BALLOT MEASURES
The City Clerk performs a wide variety of complex and highly skilled administrative and executive assistant duties in support of the City Manager, Mayor, and City Council.  The Office of the City Clerk is a service department within the municipal government upon which the City Council, all City departments, and the general public rely for information regarding the operations and legislative history of the City.

The City Clerk serves as the liaison between the public and City Council and provides related municipal services.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

  • Record and archive keeper of the City's legislative actions;
  • Elections Official for the City;
  • Clerk to the Council, preparing agenda packets and minutes;
  • Keeps the City's information transparent and available to the public;
  • Supervises the City's Response to Freedom of Information requests and ensures that the City responds appropriately and timely to all Public Records Act requests. 
  • Keeps the City's Corporate Seal;
  • Holds the City's Legal/Official records - Ordinances, Resolutions, Minutes;
  • Manages/ensures compliance with the City's Bidding process and procedures;
  • Lead staff for the City's record management system;
  • Oversees Commission/Board/Committee vacancies, appointments, ceremonial function, trains line department staff, and exercises quality control over the agendas, packets, and minutes for all City Boards and Commissions;
  • Ensures the City remains in compliance with FPPC requirements in accordance with the Political Reform Act, Brown Act, AB 1234 Local Ethics and AB 1825 Sexual Harassment Prevention trainings;
  • Maintains the codification of the City's Charter and Municipal Code;
  • Performs a variety of tasks in support of the City Manager.
As a Legislative Administrator, the City Clerk plays a critical role in the decision-making process of the local legislature. As the key staff for City Council meetings, the City Clerk prepares the legislative Agenda, verifies legal notices have been posted or published, and completes the necessary arrangements to ensure an effective meeting. The City Clerk is entrusted with the responsibility of recording the decisions which constitute the building blocks of our representative government.

As a Records Manager, the City Clerk oversees yet another legislative process; the preservation and protection of the public record. By statute, the City Clerk is required to maintain and index the Minutes, Ordinances, and Resolutions adopted by the legislative body. The City Clerk also ensures that other municipal records are readily accessible to the public. The public record under the conservatorship of the City Clerk provides fundamental integrity to the structure of our democracy.

PUBLIC RECORDSAs a public agency, the City of Pacific Grove adheres to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) which requires that governmental records shall be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there is a specific reason not to do so.  Permission exemptions from disclosure include documents that invade an individual's right to privacy (e.g., privacy in certain personnel or medical records) or hinder the government's need to perform its assigned functions in a reasonably efficient manner (e.g., maintaining confidentiality of investigative records, official information, records related to pending litigation, and preliminary notes or memoranda).  

To request public records please email cityclerk@cityofpacificgrove.org 

See The People's Business - A Guide to the California Public Records Act for more information.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CITY CLERK PROFESSION, SEE THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MUNICIPAL CLERKS (IIMC) AND THE CITY CLERKS ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA (CCAC).

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