(A) Position established. There is hereby created the office of City Clerk. The Clerk plans, organizes and directs the activities and staff of the City Clerk Department. The City Clerk Department is responsible for the human resource functions of municipality. The work of the Clerk is performed in accordance with statutory procedures. The City Administrator and City Council prescribe policies for departmental operations and hold the Clerk responsible for the effectiveness of departmental programs.
(B) Appointment. The Mayor with the advice and consent of the City Council shall appoint and evaluate the performance of the City Clerk. The person appointed by the Mayor to the position of City Clerk shall be nominated solely on the basis of his or her training, administrative qualifications and experience in personnel administration. His or her qualifications and experience shall be consistent with a job description adopted by the City Council.
(C) Tenure of office. The term of the office of the City Clerk shall be coterminous with the term of the Mayor. The City Council and the City Clerk may enter into an agreement with respect to other terms and provisions of employment and may provide for salary, salary adjustments, fringe benefits, severance provisions and payment, and other remuneration and benefits of office.
(D) Compensation. The City Clerk shall receive compensation in such amount and manner, as the Council shall affix from time to time by ordinance or resolution and by agreement.
(E) Statutory duties. The City Clerk's duties are prescribed by ILCS Ch. 65, Act 5, § 3.1-35-90 as these state statutes may be amended from time to time.
(1) The Municipal Clerk shall keep the corporate seal, to be provided by the corporate authorities, and all papers belonging to the municipality the custody and control of which are not given to other officers.
(2) The Clerk shall attend all meetings of the corporate authorities and keep a full record of their proceedings in the journal. The record of those proceedings shall be made available for public inspection within seven days after being approved or accepted by the corporate authorities as the official minutes of their proceedings.
(3) The Municipal Clerk shall have other duties prescribed by the corporate authorities.
(4) Copies of all papers duly filed in the Clerk's office and transcripts from the journals and other records and files of the Clerk's office, certified by the Clerk under the corporate seal, shall be evidence in all courts in like manner as if the originals were produced.
(F) Other duties of the City Clerk. Other prescribed duties of the City Clerk and the departmental staff include, but are not limited to:
(1) Directs and oversees preparation and distribution of the City Council meeting agendas; ensures compliance with legal requirements regarding official postings, public notices and advertising.
(2) Develops, implements and manages the records management system and responds to citizen inquiries.
(3) Processes all requests for access to city records in compliance with state and federal freedom of information laws.
(4) Serves as a local registrar for the State of Illinois Office of Vital Records for Coles County for birth and death certificates.
(5) Administers the municipality's employment policies and procedures as prescribed by personnel ordinances, employee handbooks and collective bargaining agreements. The Clerk manages document preparation and retention pertaining to job descriptions, employee classification and compensation, recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, discipline, grievances and termination.
(6) Facilitates organization wide training to assure employer compliance with state and federal equal employment opportunity, affirmative action and discrimination laws.
(7) Administrates the municipality's risk management program including property, casualty, auto, inland marine, law enforcement liability, public officials liability, employment practices liability, workers compensation, medical, dental, life and disability insurance.
(8) Staffs the safety committee. The Safety Committee consists of the City Administrator and representatives of each department of the municipality. It meets on a quarterly basis for the purpose of identifying and correcting unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.
(a) The Safety Committee reviews and approves written policies and procedures for each of the written programs required by state and federal occupational health and safety regulations.
(b) The Safety Committee conducts safety audits; reviews accident reports, formulates accident prevention recommendations and otherwise critiques the city's safety and risk management program.
(c) The Safety Committee makes personal inspections, participates in government inspections and investigates complaints concerning allegations of unsafe or unhealthy conditions.
(d) The Safety Committee promotes education programs, which will motivate adoption of safe working habits.
(9) Issues licenses in accordance with state statutes and the ordinances of the municipality and keeps a record in a suitable book of each license granted, to whom granted, for what purpose, for what length of time granted, the location of the place of business for which the license was obtained and the amount of the license fee paid.
(10) Serves as the agent of the municipality for administration of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.
(11) Serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Firemen's Pension Fund and maintains the accounting system for both the Firemen's and Police Pension Funds.
(12) Records payments received on the Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund and files semi-annual reports on principal and interest recaptured to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.
(13) Manages billings to commercial property owners outside the city limits for stand-by fire protection contracts.
(14) Supervise absentee election balloting for the Coles County Clerk.
(15) Directs rental of public buildings and parking lots, issues boat permits and maintains records of campground rentals.
(Ord. 2003-5157, passed 2-4-2003; Am. Ord. 2005-5202, passed 5-3-2005)