Mayor’s ‘no’ vote kills Springfield residency referendum proposal Aug 08, 2012

Deana Stroisch

Mayor Mike Houston cast the deciding vote Wednesday against an advisory referendum that would have asked voters whether future city employees should be required to live in the city. Houston, who supported a residency requirement during his campaign for mayor, said he has since learned that the city’s 23 union contracts would have to be renegotiated, which he described as a “very expensive process.” The new rules, he said, would likely only apply to new non-union employees.

The proposal, sponsored by Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin,

failed by vote of 5-5. Six votes are required to pass an ordinance. Four aldermen joined Houston in voting no: Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe, Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen and Ward 10 Ald. Tim Griffin. The five voting in favor were: Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 9 Ald. Steve Dove.

After the meeting, McMenamin said he was very disappointed. “It reflects a callous and cynical attitude towards our voters and a turning back on our city’s strategic, long-term interests,” he said.

Theilen said McMenamin would have additional votes of support if he would allow employees to also live in Southern View, Leland Grove, Grandview and Jerome and other “holes in the doughnut.” McMenamin said allowing employees to live within a certain radius of the city would defeat the point of a residency requirement.

On Sunday, McMenamin sent out a mass e-mail asking people to attend Wednesday’s city council meeting and speak in support of the referendum. Twelve people addressed the council; all but one were in support of the residency requirement.

Read the full article at sj-r.com…

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