The Troy City Council will hold a rare weekend meeting 10 a.m. Saturday at City Hall. The topic is the passage of a Home Rule Message to send to the State Legislature asking to end an exemption for appointed public officers from living in the city.
The move comes from the Republican majority. Requiring city employees to live in town has been a topic for some. There are exemptions such as the supporting memo for the resolution notes for firefighters and police officers. The supporting memo for the council resolution notes that the State Legislature’s session is anticipated to end June 16.
The Memo in Support states:
It is noteworthy that in 1984, local law 4 of 1984, the city passed a local law requiring non-public officers (employees) to be residents of Troy. It certainly makes no sense to allow top policy makers in our city to be non-residents while the average city employee must be a resident.
Of course it makes sense to allow top policy makers a residency exemption. Ideally, top policy makers, Corporation Counsel for instance, are professionals with (hopefully) a unique skill set. By requiring them to live in the city shrinks the pool of available talent willing to take the position.
There are many skilled, private sector attorneys in Troy. How many are willing to take a job that pays less than $100,000 a year? Do we want a private sector attorney who isn't making much more than the Corporation Counsel salary? Then, even if they wouldn't mind living in Troy, moving is a huge hassle.
When a true professional is hired, they take their job seriously no matter where they may happen to reside. To believe that an Albany attorney would not be as good a Corporation Counsel as one that lives in Troy is typical of the small-town provincialism that holds cities back.
We realize where on an island on this one but residency requirements are an old and tired way of doing business. We understand the arguments for residency requirements and they are not without some limited merit. We'd do away with all of them if we could. Either you care about doing the best job possible or you don't, that is unaffected by your residence.
Is a lazy city worker any less lazy if he or she lives in Troy as opposed to Watervliet? Is a poor Corporation Counsel from Saratoga County going to be better if he or she moves to Troy?
Like we said, we're probably alone on this one. Residency requirements are quite popular amongst the villagers and peasants. It distracts from the real problems at hand. It is certainly not worth a special Saturday meeting. Hopefully, the measure won't get through the legislature.
Go ahead, have at it.
45 comments:
I tend to agree with you. Residency requirements are very popular with voters, but the quality of the hires is far more important. To the extent that anyone is burning political capital to get this through the Politburo, I mean Assembly, and the Senate, it could be spent on far more useful legislation for us.
What amazes me is tblhat the only people who are in favor of residency requirements are people who the rules would not apply to, people in the private sector.
You don't have to live in Latham in order to work as an insurance adjustor there, why should it be different for anyone else?
Agreed! Quality of the candidate should be the highest priority.
Quality candidates should be the main priority. But when it comes to taxes and I reside in Troy, do not tax me Loudonville rates so said public officials, police, fire and appointees can reside in Loudonville, Clifton Park, etc.
Qualified candidates are what matter. Who wants to move to troy to take job if you have to buy a house when the property taxes are borderline criminal.
Yes, quality of the candidate is important.
However, if an employee of the city creates, makes, shapes policy that directly impacts our taxes then should they not drink from the same cup ? As a case in point - shouldn't the assessor be a city resident ?
Yes, the assessor should be a city resident. If it's going to be required of rank & file employees, their bosses should have to abide by the same rules.
Why?
The assessor is the biggest opponent to residency. She is also the biggest ass to residence who go into her office.
Using the Assessor again as an example, it is most useful if the person determining the lots actually understands the area. For example, our current assessor decided to put city owned lots together to make it easier for on staff. She lumped the baseball field near DPW with the DPW building because having never been to the site, she didn't KNOW it was a baseball field. Had the assessor taken the time to actually go to the areas being merged, it would have been obvious that the land was not a parking area for DPW as was assumed. If one is going to determine where the lines are drawn, they should understand what they are dealing with.
"It distracts from the real problems at hand."
All 3.9 million of them...
Anyone who impacts the quality of life in Troy NEEDS to live here and have a vested interest in the city and community. PLAIN & SIMPLE. WORK HERE....LIVE HERE. This is especially for full time employees.
The police more than any other group needs to be a part of this community in order to do their job well.
It is certainly prefferable for management level employees to live in the City. On the other hand that, is only one of a number of factors to be weighed in hiring the best possible candidates. Should just be a consideration in individual cases. This move smells like an attempt to hire patronage based employees.
Taxes in Loudonville and Clifton Park are lower than the City of Troy.
That is ridiculous. Should they also be forced to sell and move to different parts of the city each time they are tranferred to a new patrol zone?
Do you ONLY by products made by your company and no where else? Are you automatically bad at your job if you don't? Do the greatest chefs only eat from their establishment of employment? Are they any less skilled if they don't?
An address has absolutely no bearing on a skill-set, if you are passionate about your job, thats all that matters.
Considering what the appointees in Lou and Pat's administrations have and are doing to Troy maybe we should hire from Loudenville or Clifton Park?
I don't think it's ridicules at all. You are talking apples and oranges. A chef isn't a taxpayer funded position. If you accept a position in a private company and part of the contract is you move to a specific location you do when you accept the position to honor the contract. When the city taxpayers pay your salary and they want you to live in the city where your salary is generated you do. I'd like to see both the TPD and TFD be made to live in the city. If they don't like it get rid of them.
If you take pride in your work it doesn't matter where you live. If you don't care about your work it doesn't matter where you live.
I agree, if you don't want to live here why would you want to work here? ChaChinggggg
Are the families of police officers also tax funded positions? Private companies also offer relocation bonuses and employee discounts.
you completely limit the candidate pool if you just go within the City, and create so much more potential for patronage and abuse.
The rank and file don't live here either! That is a fact that does not get addressed
Public safety employees should always live in the municipality they serve. Don't think it matters? Witness our Chief of Police living in Colonie.
The assessor for Troy, reportedly lives outside of the Troy.
Perhaps in Castleton, or one of the Greenbushes ? ? ?
In a beaver dam
The assessor lives in castleton. But no one really knows where her and the girls that work with her personality is from.
The argument here about Troy hiring the "best" candidate is really the "best" democratic candidate. And their argument proves, there ain't any.
Who old smokey or late to work toothpick
Never thought I'd say it, I long for the days of Lou and Pete.
New gatekeeper @cityFloor. See more and more bodies getting hired while CSEA members work without a contract. How about those 3 gatekeepers of the docks pumping gas. Plenty of money for everyone but the fulltimers. Heard a HUGE mid-year tax hike is coming soon. But at least the one boat a day that docks here will have 3 pumping gas in it. And you wonder why I moved to Brunswick.And fuck Carmella too. Make me move you political hack!
6:48 AM: Since this is a council driven initiative, don't you mean you long for the days of Wiltshire & Co.?
How long are they going to keep stepping on the rake? List to and read 1300am today. My god are they that stupid? Lou part II. Can someone please learn the code for demolition. This and please stop lying. One lies and the others swear to it.
Regardless of any laws requiring or exempting it, what does it say to the citizens of Troy when a city employee is not willing to share the burdens of the people he or she is supposed to be working for?
I'm not sure it says anything. It's not a very conservative idea to force people to live somewhere. I thought the GOP was all about freedom, liberty and less government involvement. All they're exceptions swallow the rule. Live here, don't marry that person, you can't control you're own body....
Either you're a good worker or not. Maybe we should look to weakening some of the union protections that bad workers benefit from.
They have to eat at the restaurants as well. No out of town eating or shopping.
If the taxpayers pay your salary and the taxpayers want residency requirements, then guess what. You'll have residency requirements. Don't like it? Then quit. Go find another job. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
B-Doh to the rescue!
They shouldn't be allowed to leave the city, ever, without written permission from the taxpayers. Of city employees have a a family, they also must only make purchases within city limits, and find employment within the city. Their children will also require expressed written permission before leaving the city. After all, this is America, land of the free.
Glad B-Doh came to his senses. As a taxpayer, I want the most qualified candidate, I really don't care if they live in Brunswick or Albany. It's hard enough to get qualified candidates to apply for City jobs, they don't pay as much as private sector jobs, to add residency requirements is ridiculous. Employers can't discriminate on the basis of gender, color, sexual orientation, why should Troy be able to discriminate on the basis geography??
Glad to see our dems sticking together. I was worried there for a while. Glad to see loudmouth McGrath and Carmizilla get it stuck up their asses.
When's the press release/press conference?
So, if you have a tax-payer funded job, the taxpayers control your private life?
Is there one shred of evidence that a resident is a better worker or does a better job than an out of towner. Maybe if we hired more people from out of town we'd get less "old boy network' hires.
There is probably no proof as I doubt anyone has done a study. But, since people make the argument they have the burden of proving its true. Lots of luck.
NYC has the best trained, most professional police and fire dept in the country. They did a damn good job on 9-11. Many don't live in the city.
You're probably right though, if the voters want it, they'll get it. Though not this year. That's democracy.
NYC gets an exemption because it's one of the most crowded and expensive real estate markets in the world, dipshit. Not because they don't think residency matters. Does it hurt being so stupid?
Didn't know that mattered. So if the real estate market is crazy, you do just a good a job no matter where you live. If the market is normal, you'll do a better job if you live in the city.
Why don't you let us know if stupid hurts.
Ha,ha,ha. No comeback from 8:43.
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