Morton trustees amend residency rule for fire director, extend compliance window to 12 months

Trustees for the Village of Morton approved Ordinance 25-20, amending section 5-1-3 of the Morton Municipal Code to change residency requirements for the director of fire and emergency services and to extend the residency-establishment period to 12 months.

The ordinance, introduced by Pat Reid, would make the residency standard for the director of fire and emergency services consistent with the standard already applied to the chief of police, replacing a requirement that the fire director live within the village corporate limits with a five-mile buffer from the village limits. During debate, a trustee moved to amend the ordinance to replace a six-month residency-establishment period with 12 months; the trustee said six months is too short for an employee who may need to sell and relocate and pointed to the villages employee policy manual, which lists a 12-month period for the position. A second supported the amendment.

Trustees then voted on the amendment and on the ordinance as amended. Roll-call votes on the amendment, as recorded in the meeting transcript, were: Hilliard, yes; Leach, no; Menil, yes; Newman, yes; Perry, yes; Boomer, yes; the amendment passed. The subsequent roll call on the ordinance showed approval and the motion carried.

The ordinance revises a municipal-code residency provision for a senior public-safety position and explicitly references the five-mile buffer applied to the chief of police. The employee policy manual was cited at the meeting as the basis for the 12-month residency-establishment period; trustees adopted that longer period via amendment before approving the ordinance.

No further implementation steps or effective dates were stated in the public portion of the meeting record.