Mayor, council ponder: Who should live in New Bedford to work for the city?
NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Jon Mitchell wants to eliminate a residency requirement for about 150 city management positions, and has offered to add city workers and firefighters into the mix.
Mitchell submitted a proposed ordinance to the city council in January that would end the residency requirement for the 150 non-union, "Unit C" employees.
He has since offered to cease enforcement of the residency requirement altogether for AFSCME Local 851, which represents city workers, and in part for firefighters — if the council OKs the Unit C ordinance.
AFSCME employees are required by contract to be city residents for the entire duration of their employment, and firefighters are required to be residents for the first 10 years of their careers.
Under Mitchell's proposal, the firefighter requirement would be reduced to five years.
That would be in line with police officers, who are currently required to be residents for the first five years of their careers.
See who made the list: New Bedford's 50 highest paid employees in 2023. Here's what they made.
Residency requirement 'major obstacle' to management hires
Mitchell has said the residency requirement is a "major obstacle" to attracting qualified candidates for the Unit C jobs.
Positions in Unit C range from directors of the council on aging and emergency management to the sealer of weights and measures and superintendent of highways.
Under the current residency requirement, Unit C employees are subject to a 10% reduction in annual salary if they live outside the city unless they have been a city employee for at least 10 years.
It's also mandatory that several high-level department heads in Unit C be city residents with no option to choose a reduced salary and the ability to live outside the city.
City Solicitor Eric Jaikes represented the administration in the council's March 13 ordinance committee meeting.
Firefighters' union supports Mitchell proposal
He said the mayor had communicated his offer to ASFCME and the firefighters' union.
New Bedford firefighter union President Billy Silva said the union supported reducing the residency requirement, Jaikes said.
However, Jaikes added, he wanted a memorandum of agreement drawn up to make it binding in the future and on future administrations.
Mitchell is willing to enter into an MOA with the two unions, Jaikes said, and asked for more time so they can be drawn up.
Jaikes said during the council committee meeting that his office also needed to clarify in the ordinance that it didn't apply to city boards or commissions.
Eliminate all residency requirements to be 'fair'
Councilor Linda Morad said the residency requirement should be eliminated for all city employees, including the respective 10-year and five-year requirements for firefighters and police officers. It should be, "fair and equitable to everyone," she said.
Councilor Leo Choquette agreed, saying the requirement should be eliminated "across the board." That's especially important with the Police Dept., which is understaffed, he said.
The ordinance committee will take the proposed ordinance up again on March 25.
Morad said during Monday's committee meeting when the issue of residency requirements was mentioned that the message to convey to the mayor was: "If you want to move forward, it has to be across the board. We're not kidding here."
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Which New Bedford employees should be excluded from residency rule?
