Council Eases Residency Requirements

Most city department heads no longer have to live in Oak Creek under an ordinance approved by the Common Council earlier this week.

Only the city administrator, police chief and fire chief must live in the city, under the new ordinance. All other city employees generally must live within a 20-mile radius of Oak Creek, a rule that has been in union contract language for many years. 

But now that also applies to the leaders of nearly all city departments - such as health, parks and community development.

Aldermen approved the changes 5-1, with Tom Michalski opposed.

Michalski said he looks to department managers for suggestions on policies. Since many of the ideas they come up with affect Oak Creek residents, they should have to live with them, too, especially those policies that deal with public money and tax increases.

"I don't see that we're having a shortage of good, qualified people to come here to the city," he said.

But other aldermen said that with the poor housing market, it can be tough for would-be managers to sell their homes, so the city could be losing out on quality people to lead departments. On the other end of the spectrum, the rules could hurt employees trying to move up in their careers. 

And with today's technology, the residency rule is somewhat outdated, supporters of the measure argued. Mangers are easily accessible by phone or e-mail and can respond to situations much quicker than when the requirements were put in place.

"Within a union contract, (city employees) can live 20 miles outside the city. I see no reason why department managers cannot just mirror that union contract," Alderman Dan Bukiewicz said.

The ordinance proposal was brought forward, at least in part, because of impending relocation expenses for the city's finance director (Mark Wyss) and city engineer (Mike Simmons), according to a report to council members. 

Officials said keeping the residency requirements could have resulted in the city spending $30,000 to $40,000 in relocation expenses for Wyss and Simmons, as well other relocation costs in the future.

Not the first discussion

The issue of residency requirements is not a new one. Retiring Police Chief Tom Bauer requested the council drop the rules last summer, shortly before the Police and Fire Commission began its search for his replacement. 

The man the commission ended up hiring, John Edwards, echoed Bauer's sentiments in a memo to council members. Both Edwards and Bauer are lifelong residents but feel the department's line of succession may be impacted in future years, as many officers do not live in Oak Creek.

However, aldermen have stayed pat on keeping the requirement for police chief, as well as city administrator and fire chief.

Residency requirements have also come up in state budget discussions. Gov. Scott Walker proposed eliminating them for city of Milwaukee employees as well as Milwaukee Public Schools teachers.