Administrative Assistant and Billing Clerk - Part Time - City of Newton

Job Description

Checks and verifies invoices, resolves discrepancies with vendors, and prepares schedules of invoices for payment. Prepares purchase orders, shipping orders, and transfer bills. Files and retrieves documents, manages the transfer of documents to archives and maintains current log of documents in storage. Assists residents over the telephone, and the office. Prepares correspondence. Performs other clerical and bookkeeping activities as required.

Essential Elements

• Prepares purchase orders and requisitions for purchases and payments. Matches vendor invoices to purchase and shipping orders and receipts. Data enters information into computer. Investigates and resolves discrepancies. Responds to vendor and other inquiries. Maintains appropriate records. Files vendor invoices.
• Assists the Streets management team in the preparation of purchase orders, requisitions, and transfer bills. 
• Answers resident and other inquiries for information via the telephone, or in-person at the office. Responds to citizen and other complaints, resolves problems or makes appropriate referrals for additional assistance.
• Oversees the transfer of department documents to the archives and maintains a current log of archived files and documents, including their location. Retrieves files and documents from the archives as necessary.
• Assists in maintaining office supplies inventory, initiates requisitions for items in low supply.
• Performs special projects for the Director of Streets
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

 To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE: High School diploma or equivalent plus specialized/technical course work or training and one to three years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Knowledge of clerical and exemptions practices, and office procedures. Experience with the operation of general office equipment such as calculators, copiers, and fax machines. General experience with personal computers, and one year of experience with Microsoft Excel and Word. Experience with Munis is a plus.  

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read and comprehend instructions, routine correspondence and memos. Ability to write routine correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one‑on‑one and small group situations to citizens and other employees of the city.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS: Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, decimals and percentages. Ability to compute ratios, percentages and apply concepts of basic algebra.

REASONING ABILITY: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions. Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where prescribed standard practices exist.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here represent those requirements that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job, except when working during storm/extreme weather conditions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Company Description

THE CITY:

The City of Newton is a wonderful place to live and work. Newton has safe and attractive neighborhoods, an excellent public school system, an active community life, multiple transportation systems, proximity to Boston and a well-managed and financially strong City government. The City of Newton has a population of approximately 88,900, with 32,600 housing units and occupies a land area of 18.3 square miles. Newton is principally suburban-residential in character. Unlike many other communities that are established around a single Main Street or downtown, Newton is comprised of thirteen distinctive villages. Newton has a diversified economic base with approximately 4,700 establishments employing approximately 79,500 people. Newton is special in many ways. It is home to a variety of private secondary and post-secondary schools including a portion of Boston College, Lasell University, William James College, Hebrew College, and the UMass Amherst – Mount Ida Campus.  The longest stretch of the Boston Marathon runs through the City, including the well-known Heartbreak Hill. Newton-Wellesley Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham health care system, serves as an important partner to the City. In September 2018, Newton was again ranked #1 in Massachusetts as the best place to live and #12 in the U.S.

OUR GOVERNMENT:

Newton has what is known as a “strong Mayor” form of government with the Mayor having the executive and administrative powers of the City. The legislative branch is comprised of 24 City Councilors. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller was sworn in on January 1, 2018 after serving on the City Council. She ran on a platform of providing Newton’s children with a top-notch education in an inclusive environment where empty nesters, seniors, young families, and people of diverse incomes can live together in vibrant villages and neighborhoods. Mayor Fuller is committed to keeping Newton safe, improving the city’s infrastructure, addressing climate change, providing excellent and responsive city services, and fostering art, culture and community life. The first female Mayor of Newton, she is a tireless advocate for all the city’s residents and is committed to making sure the city is welcoming, inclusive and diverse. The City of Newton was evaluated by Moody’s Investors Services in February 2020 and assigned its highest rating of AAA. Newton was thus well-positioned to weather the pandemic and economic downturn.

AS AN EMPLOYER:

The City of Newton believes that its employees are its greatest asset.  To that end, we are committed to supporting our employees by providing competitive wages and growth, a comprehensive benefits package which includes a defined municipal pension plan, quality health and dental insurance plans, generous paid leave benefits, paid holidays, and access to supplemental benefits such as deferred compensation, short term disability plans, flexible spending accounts, and other employee benefits.  We also provide access to an Employee Assistance Program and access to employee training and professional development opportunities.  We continuously work to review and expand upon our benefit offerings.  We encourage you to visit our Human Resources Department website to learn more about our organization and benefits which are available to our employees.  And as always, you are encouraged to reach out to our dynamic HR Team by emailing hr@newtonma.gov.

Human Resources Diversity Statement

We recognize our workforce is a source of strength that is vital to our ability to effectively serve the City of Newton’s diverse community. We will:

•   Actively recruit, develop, and retain a diverse and talented workforce.
•   Proactively address discrimination through education and in partnership with other departments and leaders.
•   Serve as a role model to celebrate and nurture diversity.
•   Foster inclusion by staying curious and clarifying assumptions.
•   Evaluate and develop policies and practices that reflect the diverse nature of our workforce.
•   Build and strengthen accountability at all levels to support diversity efforts.

Benefits

This is a non-benefited position