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City revises employee residency requirements

With the exception of the city of Marshalltown fire and police chief, fire and police department personnel no longer have residency requirements.

The new policy is the result of city council discussion at the Nov. 11 meeting directing staff to prepare a resolution to remove the residency requirements for fire and police personnel, change the driving distance for sworn fire personnel and requiring the police and fire Chief to reside within city limits.

That was followed by a 7-0 vote at the Nov. 25 council meeting.

Both were adopted according to recommendations from Fire Chief David Rierson and Police Chief Mike Tupper.

“We are competing with larger police departments in the state who do not have residency Requirements,” Tupper said. “I would urge the council to implement a new policy.”

His thoughts were echoed by Rierson and Councilor-at-large Bill Martin.

“I think the new policy is reasonable, based on current trends,” Martin said. ‘When residency requirements are imposed it may limit the a spouse’s employment and not be good for morale. This will be good for morale and a step in the right direction.”

New employees shall comply with the residency requirement within 90 days of completion of the department probationary period.

If the requirement is not met within this time frame, the employee’s signature on this policy will serve as the employee’s voluntary resignation of employment with the city and will be effective on the 91st day after the completion of the probationary period.

Also, an existing employee, whose primary residence changes, shall notify the chief in writing as to the new address and the effective date at least 30 days prior to the change.

As a result of the resolution passage, the City of Marshalltown Human Resources Director was directed to distribute the policy change electronically to all effected municipal employees.

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Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-6611 or

mdonahey@timesrepublican.com

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