THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 69 lines
New Economic Development Director Thomas A. O'Grady lives in Virginia Beach. Utilities Director Al Moor lives in Norfolk.
Yet both men work for the city of Suffolk.
Suffolk currently has no requirement that top officials live in the city that they serve, but that may change.
Today, the City Council will consider an ordinance that would require the city manager, department heads and assistants to the city manager to live in Suffolk. No other local city has such a law, although several do have informal policies that achieve the same ends.
Suffolk Personnel Director Marie A. Dodson said there's value in having a city employee live where he works.
``You get better results,'' said Dodson. ``The public trusts you more instead of working at a place and not connecting.''
The residency requirement is being pushed by Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish, who says it's important for high-ranking officials to live close their communities.
Moor and O'Grady say they're looking to move to Suffolk - even though the ordinance doesn't affect current employees. Both city officials say there are often circumstances that can make residency a challenge.
For Moor, it was his wife Cecilia's job as a registered nurse at a Norfolk hospital. Moor is trying to sell their house in Norfolk and build on property he and his wife own in northern Suffolk.
Yet Moor says he understands the importance of living in the city where he works.
``I think even in your travels to and from work, you have the opportunity to learn more about a community and its needs. By living there, you get a better opportunity,'' said Moor.
Thomas A. O'Grady says he views Suffolk as part of an economic region. Therefore, he doesn't see the necessity in moving.
``We are selling the region as a whole, so in my personal feeling, and I stress personal feeling, I don't think someone who is a city official should have to live in the city,'' said O'Grady.
Requiring residency has long been a contentious issue.
Some courts have ruled that a residency requirement is a violation of personal rights, and, in 1993, the General Assembly passed a bill to bar local governments from imposing residency requirements on all current and prospective employees. It does permit what Suffolk is considering, however, allowing the requirement for top managers.
Norfolk City Councilman W. Randy Wright once led an effort to require all city employees to live in Norfolk. He said he was hoping to get all public safety officials to live in Norfolk in hopes of curbing crime.
``I know in my heart that it's a deterrent to have a police officer living in your own neighborhood,'' said Wright, who saw an off-duty police officer in his Camelia Gardens community help a stabbed youth.
Several localities have informal policies that require top employees to live in the cities in which they work.
Norfolk City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. requires all department, bureau and division heads to live in Norfolk. Oliver estimates there are about 100 such employees, and they all live in Norfolk.
``I think they have an emotional residency that connects to their professional residency,'' said Oliver. ``We put a lot of emphasis on high performance, a condition of promotion and community-based involvement.''
Chesapeake and Portsmouth city managers also require high-ranking officials to live in their cities.
Virginia Beach does not have either a formal or informal policy on residency. Fagan Stackhouse, the city's director of human resources, said that residency has never been an issue there. He estimated that about 90 to 95 percent of the city's high-ranking officials live in Virginia Beach.
KEYWORDS: RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT