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Highland councilors debate $200-per-month residency stipend for public-works and parks employees
Summary
Councilors discussed draft ordinances to offer a $200-per-month residency stipend (up to $2,400/year) to full‑time Public Works and Parks & Recreation employees to encourage residency and faster emergency response. Concerns about broad eligibility and unbudgeted cost led to formation of a three‑member committee to refine eligibility.
The Highland Town Council debated draft ordinances Jan. 26 that would add a residency stipend to the compensation rules for full‑time employees of the Public Works and Parks & Recreation departments.
The proposed language, included in drafts of Ordinance No. 1845 and Ordinance No. 1842‑A, would pay $200 per month — up to $2,400 in a calendar year — to qualifying employees who live in the Town of Highland. To qualify, employees would have to provide a copy of a Homestead Exemption or a current lease plus a sworn statement of residency. The ordinance drafts state the stipend would be paid in one lump sum in January following the year of residency and would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026.
Councilor Alex Robertson said the intent is to incentivize employees who respond to emergencies to live in Highland and thereby decrease response times. "If we open it to everybody, then isn't it defeating the purpose of why we're doing it in the first place which is to incentivize our employees to move to Highland," Robertson said, urging the Council to limit eligibility to positions that are regularly called out for emergency response.
Other councilors pushed back on the draft's broad language. Councilor Philip Scheeringa said Park Superintendent Tim Diamond told him the parks department could not feasibly participate and recommended keeping call‑out pay instead of a blanket stipend for the entire department. Councilor Doug Turich said the way the draft is written would let employees who do not respond to emergencies collect the stipend and questioned whether that is appropriate.
Councilors also discussed the scale of potential cost. Robertson said Public Works employs roughly 28 people and that about 12 would be eligible under the current draft; Turich estimated that a broad rollout could total about $30,000 a year and noted the expense had not been budgeted for most departments. Metropolitan Police Chief Ralph Potesta confirmed officers in his department receive a residency stipend, an existing precedent cited in the discussion.
To resolve different interpretations and fiscal concerns, Council President George Georgeff established a working committee of Councilors Turich, Robertson and Scheeringa to meet with department heads, identify which positions should be eligible based on emergency‑response criteria, and report back with recommended ordinance language and any required budget adjustments. No final vote on the ordinances was recorded at the Jan. 26 study session.
Next steps: the committee will meet with department heads and return recommendations to the full council for ordinance amendment or further action.
