Council confirms museum manager, approves four historic‑properties job descriptions

The Superior City Council on Aug. 5 confirmed Jordan Stish as the city’s museum manager and approved four job descriptions and pay grades for historic‑properties positions, following a Human Resources Committee report and separate votes on each position.

The Human Resources Committee presented recommendations to establish roles and pay grades for a historic properties tour guide, historic properties administrative assistant, historic properties maintenance coordinator and a museum manager; the council approved each recommendation and then confirmed Jordan Stish as museum manager with a separate motion.

The committee’s chair said the positions were created because the city assumes operations of the museums the following day and outlined a hiring plan. Mayor Payne said supervisory positions require council confirmation while non‑supervisory positions can be hired directly by the administration. “The reason you don't see the other employees named is we only need to confirm supervisory employees,” the mayor said during the meeting.

Councilors voted on the job descriptions individually. Motions to adopt the job descriptions were moved and seconded as listed in the minutes; each motion carried. After the committee approvals, a motion by Councilor Ludwig, seconded by Councilor Fennessy, confirmed Jordan Stish as museum manager. Mayor Payne said Stish would be “a pretty important voice in hiring” and that current employees filling equivalent roles would continue under the newly approved job descriptions and pay grades.

The administration said vacant positions and future openings — including a museum director search anticipated in a few weeks — will be filled with the museum manager playing a principal hiring role, assisted by human resources and parks and recreation staff. The temporary wage recommendation for the museum manager during the absence of an established museum director position was included in the confirmation item.

The council’s action completes the Human Resources Committee’s recommendations and authorizes the administration to proceed with hiring for non‑supervisory positions under the new descriptions. Implementation steps, including vacancy postings and timelines for hiring a museum director, were described as near‑term tasks to be completed by the administration.

The council approved the positions and confirmation by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the public audio transcript. The administration and human resources staff will manage hiring and implement the pay grades approved by the council.