Deana Stroisch
The State Journal-Register
A residency requirement for future Springfield city government workers remains on hold, almost four months after a majority of voters supported the idea. Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, who has been pushing for the residency rule, said last week that he’s talked to each alderman and the mayor about drafting an ordinance that would require new employees to live in the city limits.
McMenamin said several wanted to wait until after the city’s budget for fiscal 2014 was approved, which happened last week. Now, he said, some want to wait until the city OKs a new contract with the union representing Springfield firefighters. Implementing a residency requirement in the middle of contract talks could muddy negotiations and make them more complicated, he said.
The history
The city required employees to live within Springfield’s borders until December 2000, when aldermen abolished the rule for all city workers except elected officials and department heads.
In August, aldermen voted 7-2-1 to put the issue before the voters in a non-binding referendum. About 59 percent of city voters supported the proposal. It passed in 99 of the 104 election precincts in the city of Springfield. The exceptions were five precincts in Ward 1, which is represented by Ald. Frank Edwards.
McMenamin said the referendum results helped garner the support of some aldermen who previously were against a residency requirement.
What’s next?
If a residency requirement is reinstated, Mayor Mike Houston has said the city’s 23 union contracts would have to be renegotiated, and the city probably would have to make other concessions to the unions in exchange.
Supporters of the requirement disagree with the mayor’s assertion that the city would need to pay union employees extra to live in the city.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 