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Lead commission debates loosening residency rule to broaden hiring pool
Summary
Commissioners and the police chief spent more than an hour discussing whether to relax the city's residency requirement, weighing recruitment benefits against community ties and response-time concerns. No policy change was adopted; several commissioners proposed studying a radius-based alternative.
The Lead City Commission discussed whether to relax the city's residency requirement for employees at its Jan. 6 meeting, focusing in particular on law enforcement recruitment and response times.
Why it matters: Commissioners said the current rule limits candidates for public-safety and public-works jobs at a time when many departments statewide report staffing shortages; opponents said loosening the rule would weaken community ties for employees and could lengthen emergency response times.
Chief (Public Safety) said the department has been short-staffed and some qualified applicants decline to apply…
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