Official: Bill would avoid residency suits, fees

The mayor would like to see the city challenge the state's looser policy.
By AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Legislation under consideration by city council to change the residency requirement for municipal employees is the best way for Warren to avoid lawsuits and countless fees in arbitration costs, Law Director Gregory V. Hicks said.
The legislation would expand the geographic area where nonelected city employees and officials can live.
The measure would allow the workers to live anywhere in Trumbull or any adjoining counties instead of only within the city limits as the current law requires.
Co-sponsored by Gary Fonce and Robert L. Dean Jr., both D-at large, and introduced at council's meeting June 28, the ordinance would bring the city into compliance with a state law passed May 1 that lifts residency requirements for municipal employees.
It also would clarify the issue for the city's union workers.
In June, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 74, and Warren Management Association sued the city in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, asking the court to declare Warren's residency law invalid.
If the council doesn't pass the legislation, they will probably face a raft of lawsuits and arbitration hearings, said Fonce, who criticized Mayor Michael J. O'Brien for not backing the bill.
"Nonaction is the same as no action," Fonce said at a meeting of council's legislative committee.
Mayoral dissent
In an interview after the meeting, the mayor said he disagrees with Fonce's comments.
O'Brien would prefer the city to be part of lawsuit challenging the state law or to simply wait and see how other cities' lawsuits, such as Youngstown's, fare in the courts.
The new state law will decrease tax revenue and make it more difficult for security personnel to respond to an emergency, O'Brien said. "It's also a matter of loyalty to the city," he added.
Warren stands "an unfavorable chance" of winning any lawsuit, and every arbitration hearing, which would be required if workers were fired for moving out of city limits, would cost between $3,000 and $5,000 dollars, Hicks said.
If the legislation advances as scheduled, it will be ready for passage at the July 26 meeting.
The unions are willing to hold off on any further action until council moves on the item, Hicks said.
Debating noise levels
Also on the committee agenda was a noise ordinance that could land residents in jail for playing music or television too loudly.
The new ordinance will beef up the city's current ordinance by increasing the penalties, said Dean, who co-sponsored the legislation with Councilman Vincent S. Flask, D-5th.
Current legislation orders only a fine for people found guilty of violating the noise ordinance.
Under the new law, anyone committing a third violation also will face a minimum of three days or a maximum of 30 days in jail. And any sound device used to violate the ordinance will be subject to seizure by police.
Violators will be charged with a separate offense each day the noise continues, the legislation says.
Hicks said the legislation is good, but it needs to be more specific.
Instead of prosecuting violators for "unreasonable and excessive noise" the city needs to make a specific decibel level at a specific distance unreasonable, added Warren Municipal Court Judge Thomas P. Gysegem, who was asked by Dean along with Judge Terry F. Ivanchak to participate in the meeting.
"You can't rely on what's reasonable," Judge Gysegem said. "What's reasonable to you may not be reasonable to me."
Judge Ivanchak brought a decibel measuring device that he bought at a hardware store for about $35. He said it would be an excellent tool for police to use to enforce a noise ordinance.
Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, said the city would have to take into account what time of day the noise occurred and whether the area is industrial or residential.
Councilwoman Helen Rucker, D-at large, suggested amending the current noise ordinance to include more specifics, rather than include all new legislation.
agarrett@vindy.com