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Eugene council moves to remove department-head residency requirement from charter, consider ordinance
Summary
The Eugene City Council voted 8-0 to direct staff to draft a resolution to remove the charterresidency requirement for department heads and to consider whether the rule should instead be set by ordinance; city staff and several councilors said the rule hampers recruitment.
The Eugene City Council on Sept. 24 voted 8-0 to direct the city manager to draft a resolution to remove the department-head residency requirement from the City Charter and to consider whether to adopt any residency rule later by ordinance.
Councilors said the residency requirement — which currently requires the city manager and department heads to live within Eugene while serving in those roles — has complicated recruiting and, in some cases, required staff to relocate. Jason Dedrick of the city manager's office presented research showing none of the six largest Oregon cities (excluding Portland) include a department-head residency rule in their charters and that most peers handle employment conditions outside the charter.
The council discussed several options: removing the residency requirement entirely; removing it only for the Eugene'Springfield fire chief; replacing the rule with a mileage radius; or moving the residency rule out of the charter and into an ordinance so future changes would be easier. Several councilors said they preferred removing the requirement from the charter and then deciding whether an ordinance should set any geographic limit.
City Manager Madari told the council she opposed keeping the charter requirement. "It's an antiquated way to establish this and it's a, it puts Eugene at a real competitive disadvantage," she said, noting some executive candidates have had to sell homes or decline applying because of the rule. Several councilors said that precedent and the city's hiring needs argued for flexibility.
Council President Evans moved the instruction to staff; the motion was seconded and passed by an 8-0 roll call. Staff were asked to return with a draft resolution and a work session to refine the proposed charter amendment and to clarify whether any ordinance should immediately follow if the charter language is removed.
Next steps and timeline noted by staff: if council wishes to place charter questions on the May 26, 2026, ballot, council must complete deliberations and provide staff direction before the December break so resolutions can be acted on in January to meet a Feb. 18 referral deadline. The council did not finalize whether an ordinance would be adopted immediately after removal from the charter; staff will return with options.
