Superior City Council Votes to Hold Advisory Referendum on Part-Time Mayor, City Administrator Change

Referendum scheduled for November 3rd

SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Superior City Council voted to hold an advisory referendum for the voters to weigh in on whether the city should move to a part-time mayor and city administrator from just a full-time mayor that they have now.

This after a consulting group, RW Management Group, recommended that, among other changes, Superior should move to a part-time mayor to become more efficient.

The referendum is now scheduled for the November 3rd ballot in Superior. That referendum is only advisory, meaning it will not directly change anything in the city. If the Superior City Council wants to revisit the issue after getting the referendum input, they can.

“This council’s been playing games for a while like this. I really wish they would work on the actual business of the city and not playing around with a non-serious recommendation,” said Mayor Jim Paine shortly after the city council meeting.

At the meeting, multiple Superior residents expressed their opposition to the city administrator and part-time mayor structure.

The Mayor of Hibbing made an appearance discussing how the part-time mayor form of government has worked well in his city.

Councilors who voted to hold the upcoming referendum say it’s a way of gauging the community’s interest in changing the structure, and doesn’t reflect individual councilors’ interest in making or not making that change.

“Tonight we are not voting on changing the style of our government. We are simply voting to either allow the residents of Superior the opportunity to weigh in on the issue or if the matter should be decided by us ten councilors without input from the people,” said council president Brent Fennessey, who voted to hold the referendum.

Mayor Jim Paine tells us he’s disappointed in the council’s vote. He thinks the part-time mayor recommendation from the consultants wasn’t a serious one and that the city has no obligation to consider it, even though they paid more than $40,000 for the recommendations.

Mayor Paine thinks it’s unfair to ask voters whether to change the city government when the city doesn’t know what the administrator and part-time mayor would potentially be asked to do.

“This is an unanswerable question because this council has never discussed those questions. It is in committee to be discussed. They have not approached that. So, if a voter were to go in and face this one question, they wouldn’t know what they’re answering. They wouldn’t have nearly enough information. Even the council doesn’t have that information,” said Paine.

Mayor Paine also tells us it’s now up to him if he wants to sign the resolution passed tonight scheduling that referendum, or if he wants to veto it.