Grand Marais city councilors approved creating a new management assistant/director of communications position at the board’s Wednesday, January 31 meeting.
Driving the change, said city administrator Mike Roth, was the retirement of Jan Smith this past summer and the impending retirement of Tina Hansen. Both ladies have handled a wide variety of duties at City Hall. Mike Taylor, who headed up the electric department, also left to take another job in the past year, and that position has not been filled.
To address the openings the personnel committee and city council came up with a new staffing plan, contemplating creating two and a half positions to replace three openings.
To date, said Roth, the city has only added a halftime secretary and needs additional staff to handle the city’s workload. The next step would be to add a staff person to manage communications, customer service, planning and some personnel areas, and special projects.
In describing what the position would look like, Roth said many of the duties would be designed to provide either a new service or improved level of service in communications. The person hired would work with the community in customer service and community engagement, as well as work with special projects. The new hire will report to the city administrator.
“We will begin recruitment immediately, with the intention of hiring someone in late February,” said Roth, adding, “Please consider anyone you know who would have the skills and abilities to be successful in this position. Also, please use your networks, including social media, radio appearances and professional connections to spread the word about this opportunity.”
Once the job has been filled and several months have passed, Roth said a re-evaluation of the city’s staffing needs would be held to see if any additional help is needed. Mayor Jay Arrowsmith- DeCoux said it should be noted that the title for the new job is a working title, and it may change.
The salary for the fulltime job starts at $46,360 with increases to $51,500 within a successful year of employment.
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