Mayor updates council on museum transition, wages process and busy road construction season

Mayor Payne told the council on Aug. 19 that the city’s recent takeover of museum operations has been smooth so far and that Jordan Stish, the museums’ manager, has introduced new programming. The mayor praised Parks and Recreation leadership for managing the operational transition and encouraged councilors to visit the museums and meet the manager.

Payne said the Human Resources Committee is changing the process for setting wages for nonrepresented city employees (employees outside police and fire). The city plans a public discussion of nonrepresented wages at the September Human Resources Committee meeting; the mayor said he will present proposed wages and the budget rationale at that time so the council can discuss and adopt them before the budget is finalized.

The mayor also cautioned councilors that August through October will be a difficult stretch for residents because of multiple ongoing road-construction projects, especially on milled streets, and encouraged councilors to direct constituents to the public works director for project questions.