Bill to bar residency rules is set for a vote

Youngstown has a residency requirement for its city employees.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The Ohio House of Representatives is poised to vote today on a measure that would generally prohibit local governments from requiring full-time employees to live in any specific area of the state.
House Speaker Jon A. Husted, a Dayton-area Republican, said Tuesday he's allowing the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, R-Chesterland, to come to the floor when the House convenes today.
But the speaker said he continues to consider the Senate-passed measure's merits.
"It's a question of whether or not we should be identifying specifically what these local governments can and can't do as it relates to their employees and balancing that with some of the very legitimate concerns that the employees have about the inflexibility of many of the policies across the state," Husted said.
Support
Backers of the bill say there's no need for the residency requirements for workers such as police officers and firefighters with the modern freeway system and the advent of mobile telephones and pagers.
"There may have been a time 25 years ago that for public safety reasons it was important your local police and fire lived in the community. But with today's technology, that need is no longer there," said R. Michael Taylor, a vice president with the national Fraternal Order of Police, which supports the measure.
The national FOP has about 360,000 members nationwide and about 24,000 in Ohio.
But bill opponents say residency requirements are a matter of local control.
"Our primary concern is this is the most blatant example of the Legislature trying to violate home rule that we have seen in a very long time," said John Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League, which represents many cities and villages throughout the state.
"This is a matter of local self-government," Mahoney said.
According to the league, 125 cities and 13 villages across the state have some requirement for residency in their charters.
The league said many of Ohio's largest cities including Akron, Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus have a residency requirement for virtually all employees in their charter.
These requirements are to live within the city limits, except in the case of Columbus, which allows employees to live in Franklin and adjacent counties, the municipal league said.
The municipal league said Cincinnati requires its employees to live within Hamilton County. Youngstown requires its employees to live within the city.
The bill provides some exceptions to an outright prohibition on residency requirements. The measure would permit citizens, through initiative, or the legislative authority of a local government to require local-government employees to live either in the county where the political subdivision is located or in an adjacent county.
State Rep. John A. Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st, has voted for similar bills in the past, but is unsure how he'll vote on this proposal.
"My feelings on it comes from a more philosophical perspective," Boccieri said. "It's almost un-American to force people to live where they don't want to live."
The Senate passed the bill in June on a 19-13 vote. If passed by the House, it would go to Republican Gov. Bob Taft's desk for consideration.