Grants Contracts Specialist

Salary: $51,536.00 Annually

Location : Durango, CO

Job Type: Full-Time

Job Number: 2023-00091

Department: Finance

Division: Accounting – 4121

Opening Date: 05/16/2023

Closing Date: Continuous

Schedule Details:: 8 am to 5 pm

Description
Are you looking for a challenging yet rewarding career that offers work-life balance? Are you highly skilled and motived to make a difference? Durango is the mecca for outdoor enthusiast with world class hiking, biking, fishing, and breath-taking beauty. Durango is the safe, easily accessible, and charming heart of Southern Colorado. Employment with the City of Durango represents more than just a job; it’s a commitment to public service excellence and enhancing the quality of life for those that live, learn, work, and play in our beautiful City!
Essential Job Duties
This role will be part of our Financial Services Team. Your role will perform highly complex, detailed work with department personnel to identify needs that may be addressed through grant funding opportunities. Research and apply for grant funding, manage grant recipient process from application to receipt of awarded monies including disbursement, tracking, and reporting.

• Research and identify grant funding opportunities and grant funding needs across City departments.
• Coordinate with members from City departments in the preparation and submission of grant applications
• Coordinate timely and accurate reporting on all City grants including preparing budget documents for grant applications and grant progress reports, reimbursement requests, tracking reconciliation, closeout documentation, and annual reports.
• Creates contracts and maintains contract records and prepares contract-related correspondence.
• Monitors contract performance and makes recommendations to the CFO based upon performance measures.
• Prepares reimbursement requests by assembling reimbursement support documentation, analysis, justification, and report creation.
• Prepare a variety of written documents, including staff reports, resolutions, Council agenda documents, presentations, public hearing notices, progress reports, grant proposals, as well as charts, maps, tables, drawings, and other visual aids.
• Coordination of renewal and extension of contracts
• Ensures all grant and contract files are complete with appropriate documentation in compliance with Federal, State and City record retention policies.
• Maintains data for tracking grants and contracts.
• Maintains and upgrades professional knowledge, skills and development by attending seminars and training programs and reading trade and professional journals and publications.
• Reviews all work products to ensure highest level of quality.
• Lead in preparation of the annual Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA)
• Assist in the preparation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) reporting.

The Department:
The Office of Financial Services is a fast-paced team charged with developing the budget and strategic plan, creating data solutions, process design & improvement, and performance management across all City departments. The Financial Services Team is also responsible for aspects of financial management including accounting efforts, the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, managing Utility Billing, Sales Tax Reporting, and management of the City’s Fleet and Facilities.

The Financial Services Department focuses on the following key initiatives:

• City Budget – the team manages the City’s approximately $159 million-dollar Budget. Our team focuses on planning, development, preparation, and reporting of the budget.
• Annual Comprehensive Financial Report- the manages the Actual results of operations / historical following General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Accounting Standards (GASB) this is then independently audited by CPA firm
• Fleet and Facilities- the manages the repair, maintenance and replacement of the City fleet for all departments as well as maintenance of all facilities
• Customer Service Utility Bill Management- the team manages utility billing and customer service for all City managed billing, invoicing, utility set up and shut offs.
• City’s Strategic Plan – the team manages the Strategic Plan processfor the city. This process involves taking the goals of council and putting them into action with collaboration from all departments.
• Data Analysis – use data processing tools, data transformation and dashboard/report building to support data driven decisions across City departments and support effective performance management.
• Performance Excellence – collaborate with City departments on identification of performance excellence projects and track them through automated dashboards used for operational decision making.

You Will Thrive in This Role if You:

• Learn quickly. Demonstrably able to learn and quickly master the budget supporting various department operations and create meaningful support to drive more informed decision making.
• Build relationships. Fully understand and accurately represent operational realities through budget dashboard design and data analysis by building relationships with department heads, division managers, frontline employees, and other city employees. Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
• Follow up and follow through. Follow-up and persistently follow through to ensure that projects, work deliverables, and office initiatives are accurate and complete.
• Work collaboratively and take the initiative. Ability to work collaboratively as part of a cross-functional team to create holistic solutions. Take the initiative and work independently on projects and programs while knowing when to engage colleagues.
• Think Strategically. Develop business intelligence strategies to address problems of moderate complexity focused on a specific program, function, or service area.
• Manage Time and Organization. Demonstrate superior time management skills: ability to effectively balance multiple responsibilities and priorities simultaneously.
• Balanced Decision-making. Consider and weigh multiple (and sometimes conflicting) elements in the process of making decisions.
• Apply Compliance. Pertinent Federal, State, and local laws, codes and regulations including regulations concerning municipal purchasing, grant requirements and contract coordination.

Work Environment:
Work is performed in a typical indoor office setting; and is mostly sedentary with periods of mobility and light physical activity.

Physical and Mental Requirements/Activities:

• This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 10 pounds of force; work regularly requires sitting, frequently requires standing, speaking or hearing, using hands to finger, handle or feel and repetitive motions and occasionally requires walking, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling and reaching with hands and arms.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close, distance and peripheral vision; depth perception; and the ability to adjust focus. Will spend a large amount of time viewing a computer screen.
• Vocal communication and normal hearing are required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word.

• Acceptable verbal and conversation skills to effectively communicate with others via the phone, at meetings and to greet and assist visitors.

• Work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data and observing general surroundings and activities.

• Frequent use of phone handset and repetitive use of hand & fingers to operate office equipment, use computer keyboard & computer mouse and to perform other office tasks.

• Ability to recognize occupational hazards in work activities and take safety precautions.

• Maintain mental capacity which allows the capability of making sound decisions and following directions.

Minimum Qualifications
Minimum Education and Certification: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in Business Administration, Public Administration, Communications, English or Finance or a closely related field.Minimum Experience: Three (3) years of technical experience in contract management, compliance, budgeting, technical writing or related field. Or a combination of education training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the position duties and responsibilities.
Supplemental Information
Nothing in this job description limits management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. The duties listed above are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position. The job description does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and requirements of the job change.

We offer a complete benefits package to full-time employees including medical, dental & vision insurance, retirement, deferred compensation plans, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, long-term disability, holidays, and paid time off.

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01

Do you have any relatives who currently work for the City of Durango?

• Yes
• No

02

If you answered yes, provide your relative’s name, the department they work in, and their relationship to you.

03

Do you have a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in Business Administration, Public Administration, Communications, English or Finance or a closely related field?

• Yes
• No

04

Do you have three (3) years of technical experience in contract management, compliance, budgeting, technical writing or related field. Or a combination of education training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the position duties and responsibilities?

• Yes
• No

05

Have you been previously employed by the City of Durango?

• Yes
• No

06

If you answered yes, provide previous City positions and approximate dates for those positions.

07

Have you ever been convicted of a crime, including misdemeanors, deferred sentences/judgments?

• Yes
• No

08

If you answered yes to having been convicted, you are REQUIRED to provide DATE(S) and DESCRIPTION(S) of offense(s) below.

Required Question