Brushing aside red flags raised from the city solicitor, tonight Sault Ste. Marie councillors directed city staff to look into requiring newly hired department heads to live within the city limits as a condition of employment.
The idea was suggested by Ward 4 Coun. Stephan Kinach, who nonetheless recommended that it not apply to current department heads who live outside the city, provided they continue in their current position.
"I believe having department heads that share in the responsibility and reside in the community is an essential part of our public service," Kinach said.
"Because of how vital their positions are – financial requests and delivery of services – I feel that adding this policy to future contracts would add to our accountability, transparency and enhance the services we provide as public servants.
"And for everyone out there listening, if you feel that you are a great candidate for a future position and currently do not reside in the city of Sault Ste. Marie, I hope this doesn't discourage you from applying.
"We still want you to apply, and if you are successful, you can always relocate within our wonderful city," Kinach said.
But Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi wasn't buying it.
"I think there's a bit of an insinuation in the motion that people who live outside of our community currently may not necessarily be doing the best for our taxpayers and for us in preparation of budget materials," Gardi said.
"I do not feel that is the case. So I'm not going to be supporting this. I think we want the best people that we can have for our senior positions, and if they want to reside outside of Sault Ste. Marie city limits, I don't think there's an issue with that.
"I obviously wouldn't support somebody living in Toronto and being our deputy CAO, but I think what we want to do is be as inclusive as we can, and to invite as many qualified, serious applicants as we can. And I think this could be a bit prohibitive," Gardi said.
Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer, said he'd never heard of another municipality passing a resolution like that proposed by Kinach.
City solicitor Karen Fields indicated there might be legal reasons for that.
It wouldn't necessarily be illegal to make residency a condition of employment, Fields said, but it could raise issues of systemic discrimination.
"If the best person for the job, for example, lived in a community like Garden River, where they have a more of a connection than just, say, Echo Bay or something, we would require that person to leave a community that they are comfortable with, to live in a place that they're not comfortable with in order to get the job. So that would end up being systemic discrimination," Fields said.
She stated she wouldn't want to have to defend a local residency requirement and she advised against implementing one in Sault Ste. Marie.
Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, himself a lawyer, nonetheless voted in favour of Kinach's resolution.
"I'm not necessarily in favour of a residency requirement, which is really what the resolution is asking," the mayor said.
"But I think Coun. Gardi made a point, which is that he wouldn't support a deputy CAO living in Toronto, but right now, we've got nothing that would prohibit that.
"I wouldn't support a deputy CAO living in Toronto either. And I think our neighbours and the city of Sudbury got into some difficulty with this issue . . . so I'm not against staff coming back to us with some parameters of what we might require living within a certain distance.
"So I think this motion allows that review to be done, because I think there is a big difference in someone living in Goulais and then someone living in Ottawa going for one of our department head positions.
"I would support it with the understanding that is where I would feel comfortable looking at this, and not necessarily just the town lines of our community," the mayor said.
Council voted seven to four in favour of Coun. Kinach's resolution.
Here's who voted for his idea:
- Mayor Matthew Shoemaker
- Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth
- Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour
- Ward 3 Coun. Ron Zagordo
- Ward 4 Coun. Marchy Bruni
- Ward 4 Coun. Stephan Kinach
- Ward 5 Coun. Matthew Scott
Here's who voted against it:
- Ward 1 Coun. Sonny Spina
- Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen
- Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo
- Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi