Two Des Plaines administrators will not have to live in the city

Des Plaines aldermen Monday night scaled back residency requirements for department heads, voting to exclude the chiefs of human resources and finance from the rule.

The heads of human resources and finance will no longer be forced to live in the city after Monday's vote. Mayor Tony Arredia had to break a tie vote in favor of the change. These two positions are vacant.

In 2001, Des Plaines voters approved residency requirements for department heads.

Supporters of residency requirements say a leader who lives in town is more accessible and has a stronger vantage point when it comes to the issues affecting Des Plaines.

Under the change aldermen backed Monday, the following positions are bound by residency: city manager, the fire and police chiefs, city attorney, community and economic development director, engineering director and public works director.

Third Ward Alderman Laura Murphy said she believes the director of human resources should be considered a department head.

Murphy, 4th Ward Alderman Jean Higgason, 7th Ward Alderman Don Smith and 8th Ward Alderman Rosemary Argus opposed the change.

Argus said she fielded calls from residents who said they believed City Manager Jason Bajor was "circumventing residency" by proposing exempting certain positions.

At the time of the 2001 change, aldermen decided to exempt veteran employees from the residency rule. As a result, the current police and fire chiefs, who don't live in Des Plaines, aren't forced to meet the rule.

A frustrated city council in 2006 forced Bajor, as an assistant city manager, to move into the city to meet the residency requirement. Since then, Bajor says he has seen the benefits of living in the town he serves.

"I see the community in a much more immediate and present way," he said.

But he says that affects him as a resident, not necessarily in his duties as a department head.

Bajor said the police and fire chiefs, who both live outside Des Plaines, do a fine job regardless of their residency. So, that's an example, he says, of why residency need not be a requirement to draw good employees.

At one point, 1st Ward Alderman Patricia Beauvais noted that sometimes it takes longer to drive from one side of Des Plaines to another than to drive into the city from another town.