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City secretary skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Allison White,

Allison White

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical city secretary skills. We ranked the top skills for city secretaries based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 17.9% of city secretary resumes contained meeting agendas as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a city secretary needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 city secretary skills for your resume and career

1. Meeting Agendas

Here's how city secretaries use meeting agendas:

Prepare and distribute meeting agendas, as well as bids and legal notices of public hearings and special meetings.
Prepared meeting agendas and packets with information for all city council meetings and city boards and commission meetings.

2. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how city secretaries use customer service:

Resolved operational problems related to employees, payroll, customer service, and lost and found procedures.
Responded to customer service and finance issues on a daily basis.

3. City Ordinances

Here's how city secretaries use city ordinances:

Prepared official city ordinances, resolutions, and proclamations for execution, recording, archiving, or distribution respectively.
Administer municipal licenses in accordance with applicable city ordinances and regulations.

4. State Laws

Here's how city secretaries use state laws:

Ensured that actions by City Clerk and City Council were in compliance with local and state laws.

5. Meeting Minutes

Here's how city secretaries use meeting minutes:

Prepared meeting minutes and manage agendas as directed by the Mayor for Council and all City Boards and Commissions.
Prepared weekly synopses, PowerPoint presentations, and meeting minutes pertaining to the City Council committee meetings.

6. Financial Reports

Here's how city secretaries use financial reports:

Organized quarterly maintenance and monthly property management meetings; produced and maintained various daily, weekly and monthly financial reports
Attended yearly budget meeting Assessed and interpreted compound financial data and prepared financial reports to determine financial performance.

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7. Payroll Reports

Here's how city secretaries use payroll reports:

Completed payroll reports and Worked with highly sensitive information and materials and maintained confidentiality of same.
Prepare all quarterly 941 payroll reports.

8. Notary

Here's how city secretaries use notary:

Served as Notary Public for the state of Texas.
Served as a notary and administered oaths of office.

9. Budget Preparation

Budget preparation is a calculative process between the finance department and the spending department. It indicates the start of the budget process and supervises departments and agencies for developing revised assessments (for the past year) and budget estimates (for the coming year). Budget preparation makes the organization responsible for its expenses, lessens costs, and provides for a worst-case scenario. It works as an assessment tool that can visually explain if you have sufficient funds to operate or to grow.

Here's how city secretaries use budget preparation:

Performed budgeting duties, such as assisting in budget preparation, expenditure review, and budget administration.
Prepared departmental budgets and provide additional information for budget preparation.

10. Municipal Elections

Here's how city secretaries use municipal elections:

Administer municipal elections in accordance to State Law.
Assisted with municipal elections Coordinated publication of requisite legal advertisements.

11. Human Resources

Human resources is a set of people in a business or a corporation that are designated to locate, interview, and recruit new employees into the company. They are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the employees and help them sort their problems out. They try to introduce and manage employee-benefit programs.

Here's how city secretaries use human resources:

Provided administrative support to director of human resources.
Worked with Human Resources in backing up their office as needed.

12. Public Hearings

Here's how city secretaries use public hearings:

Attended meetings and public hearings of the City Council.
Prepare official notifications to the public regarding public hearings including legal advertisement.

13. Legal Notices

Here's how city secretaries use legal notices:

Assured proper legal notices were posted for city council and all boards and commissions.
Prepared and advertised legal notices.

14. QuickBooks

Here's how city secretaries use quickbooks:

Use Word, Excel, Outlook, QuickBooks, and Municipal Court Record System (MCRS).
Managed fireworks inventory through QuickBooks and processed customer wholesale orders.

15. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how city secretaries use subpoenas:

Compiled and summarized responses to subpoenas.
Process summons, court files, subpoenas, warrants, bonds, attorney correspondence and background checks.

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What skills help City Secretaries find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on city secretary resumes?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

Knowledge of spreadsheets software such as MS Excel is a commonly sought-after skill. Employers want word processing and spreadsheet skills but often say they want high school graduates and pay accordingly. These skills aren't always taught in high school. Those in the field should seek these skills. Additionally, medical and legal assistants have highly sought after. Terminology courses for these specialized areas are sometimes offered at the vocational schools but are usually offered at the post-secondary level.

What soft skills should all city secretarys possess?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

Employers have told me repeatedly that soft skills are often the most important. They will ask for my reference after I've gotten to know a student and been able to identify their communication, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. They want someone to take the initiative yet know when to ask questions. Customer service skills and confidentiality were also voiced by our internship supervisors. Verbal and non-verbal communication is a must. The applicant must be able to write well!!

What hard/technical skills are most important for city secretarys?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

In addition to production software skills, including MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, we often taught database skills using MS Access. Every employer has an employee database and a customer/client database that requires input and sometimes maintenance by office personnel. Keyboarding (65+ wpm), basic bookkeeping/accounting, and filing skills are a must.

Do you want to know more?

List of city secretary skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a city secretary resume and required skills for a city secretary to have include:

Meeting Agendas
Customer Service
City Ordinances
State Laws
Meeting Minutes
Financial Reports
Payroll Reports
Notary
Budget Preparation
Municipal Elections
Human Resources

Public Hearings
Legal Notices
QuickBooks
Subpoenas
Telephone Calls
Administrative Functions
Travel Arrangements
Word Processing
Office Equipment
Agenda Preparation
Bank Accounts

Bank Deposits
A/R
Bank Statements
Direct Calls
City Seal
Building Permits
Water Bills
PowerPoint
Public Notices
Journal Entries

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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