| October 9th, 2009 What a hardship: Manchester residency On the matter of residency requirements for Manchester's top officials, a few thoughts: Are not elected representatives (the mayor, the aldermen, school board, state legislators) required to reside in the city? Would it be a good thing if the mayor lived in Meredith and commuted? Why should that be different for top appointed officials, especially those dealing with the safety of the city, such as fire and police chiefs? We have high regard for Police Chief David Mara. As an officer, he had particular reasons for relocating to Bedford early in his career, and his continuing to live there now that he is chief hasn't posed any specific problems that we know of. But we don't buy mayoral candidate Mark Roy's argument that Mara would have been ineligible for his job under the new policy enacted by the aldermen this week. The policy gives a new appointee a half-year to establish city residence. With the vagaries of housing sales, no doubt the aldermen could extend that time frame as circumstances warrant. Roy and other residency opponents seem to be saying that it is somehow a hardship for city department heads to have to live within the city. That is a heck of an image for the chamber of commerce to be promoting to businesses: We are a great place to set up shop, but we don't expect you to live here. Alderman Bill Shea, a former school principal, made a good point. He believes the best candidate for a top job would be willing to move to Manchester and that candidates who refuse to move "in a certain sense ... aren't the best candidate for the city of Manchester." -printed in the Union Leader, Friday, October 9, 2009 Back To News |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Paid for by Ted Gatsas for Mayor. B. Rivard, Fiscal Agent PO Box 6655, Manchester, NH 03108 603.623.0220
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
