Manager I

POSITION SUMMARY

The Fire Department Office Manager performs under the general direction of the Fire Chief, Fire Department administration, and/or the Fire Prevention Bureau. The Fire Department Office Manager oversees all administrative operations, providing high-level support to the Fire Chief and staff. Key duties include managing budgets, payroll, personnel records, and public records, alongside scheduling, purchasing, and often acting as a confidential assistant to the management team. The office manager works under the direction of the Deputy Fire Chief.

Ability to read, write, and perform mathematical calculations at a level commonly associated with the completion of high school or equivalent.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

NOTE: The following are the duties performed by employees in this classification. However, employees may perform other related duties at an equivalent level. Each individual in the classification does not necessarily perform all duties listed.

• Manages daily office functions, including drafting correspondence, filing, answering phones, and maintaining departmental records.
• May take dictation from Fire Administration; prepares correspondence and documents from notes both
• typed and copied, rough drafts, oral instructions, memos, transcripts of minutes and reports, and edit drafts for composition and grammatical structure.
• Supports personnel with record-keeping, schedules, and coordinating with Human Resources on hires, terminations, or benefits.
• Handles or assists with payroll, accounts payable/receivable, purchasing, and budget preparation. Assists
• in the preparation of the payroll in accordance with Columbia County Guidelines; maintains and controls overtime, emergency call back, holiday pay, incentive pay records; prepares overtime reports.
• Acts as liaison with various county departments regarding budgets, finances and Fire Department business; represents the department in meetings and dealings with the public.
• May arrange schedules of appointments for Fire Administration, sets up meetings, makes room arrangements, and contacts other participants.
• Maintains high confidentiality for personnel data, legal issues, and management discussions, takes responsibility for releasing information to authorized parties; compiles a variety of narrative and statistical reports.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Knowledge of:

• Modern office practices and procedures, including business correspondence, record-keeping systems and standard office equipment operations, including automated systems.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel), database management, and virtual meeting platforms.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for producing reports and communicating with the public and staff.
• Understanding of, or ability to learn, Fire Department Guidelines, county policies, and purchasing procedures.
• Special knowledge of managing and coordinating secretarial aspects of a moderate-sized fire department

Ability to:

• Perform difficult clerical work involving independent judgment and requiring accuracy and speed.
• Make clear and comprehensive reports and keep difficult records.
• Understand, interpret, and apply laws, rules and written directions to specific situations.
• Effectively meet the public in situations requiring tact and poise.
• Identify and correct errors in English usage and grammar and arithmetic calculations in a variety of documents.
• Evaluate demands on an administrator's time and arrange schedules accordingly.
• Use good judgment in assigning priorities to workload, and working with officials and members of the general public in routine, emergency and emotional situations.

DESIRABLE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

• A high school diploma or equivalent
• A minimum 18 years of age.
• The equivalent of four years full-time increasingly responsible secretarial and administrative support experience, which must include one year full time experience directly supervising administrative support staff
• All candidates must be able to type at a speed of not less than 50 net words per minutes, with 80% accuracy