City Life Continued

Continuing the discussions from City Life this morning, I would like to talk about two City Manager issues, domicile and contract.

First to domicile issues.  The argument advanced was that if the City Manager lives in the City (or town), then he or she knows what is happening and experiences the impact of decisions.  The example given was Dracut, where the Town Manager, who, upon being appointed, moved up from Maryland.  The contrast is Lowell City Manager, Bernie Lynch, who lives in—wait for it—Chelmsford.

My question is, does a person in Belvedere Village, or the Belvedere itself, have a better idea of what is going on in South Lowell or the Northwestern corner of Pawtucketville than someone living just across the line in Chelmsford?  Not only that, but we should ask ourselves if we ARE the City for all those suburbs, and if we are, does not a city employee living in one of our suburbs not feel the impact of decisions taken by our City Government?

But, if we are going to require someone to live in Lowell, rather than them deciding to live in Lowell as a convenience, shouldn't we have to pay for it?  I bet one of the nice things about hiring our Commissioner of Public Works, Mr Ralph Snow, is that his move here was FREE to us.  Everyone retiring from the military gets a free final move of his or her household goods.  Good deal for us.

But, for those senior managers we hire who are not retiring from the military, we should act like a big business and pick up the cost.  I would think that would include:

• Reasonable household goods moving expenses, to include insurance.
• Travel for spouse or SIGO for one house-hunting trip (travel and per diem at State or Federal rates, whichever is lower)
• Closing costs on a new home, plus incidental costs, if applicable
• Costs pursuant to selling previous dwelling
• Purchase of previous home at assessed value if it does not sell within 12 weeks.

With regard to the issue of a contract, I would say that I have never had a contract, so I am not sure of its value.  For those who say, but you were in the military, I would say that the "contract" was all for the protection of the Government's interests.  They could have instituted a RIF and I could have been gone in days.♠  The Courts have ruled that an occasional clearing out of personnel is quite acceptable.

But, as it applies to the City Manager, I think the question is, what does the City Council have the stomach for?  If the City Council is prepared to vote on any given Tuesday to buy up the City Manager's contract, it has nothing to worry about with regard to a contract.  On the other hand, a contract seems only reasonable for someone who is being asked to relocate his or her family to Lowell to meet some residency requirement.  I think the two go hand in hand.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Reduction in Force