The city council in Springfield , Massachusetts Monday will take up the mayor’s veto of a residency requirement for employees of the city.
The ordinance approved by a 9 to 3 vote would ban city department heads and their deputies , hired after January 1, 2014 from living outside the city. The mayor would be able to waive the residency requirement for other new hires in a limited set of circumstances. The bill was sponsored by City Councilor Mike Fenton who said he wrestled with the thorny issue for years.
But Mayor Domenic Sarno vetoed the ordinance on the advice of legal counsel who warned it infringes on the powers granted the mayor in the city’s charter.
