Council ActionMAYOR
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Source: LegislationDetail.aspx · gridLegislation
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WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s residency requirement for its municipal employees has helped foster stable neighborhoods and economic opportunities for its residents, and everyone agrees that continuing to require residence as a term of employment is in the best interest of the City; and
WHEREAS, City employees not in the civil service have six months to establish City residency according to the Home Rule Charter, and civil service employees have no residency requirement under the Charter, but in 1953 a two-tiered system was created by Council, requiring all civil service employees to reside in the City for at least one year prior to appointment; and
WHEREAS, Different standards for residence creates an appearance of preferential treatment, and one uniform residency policy is in the best interest of all City employees; and
WHEREAS, Considering that Philadelphia lost nearly 70,000 residents in the last decade and half a million residents since 1950, a new approach is needed which would encourage people to move into the City, including potential applicants for City jobs; and
WHEREAS, Requiring that job applicants have to already live in the City hinders Philadelphia’s ability to attract the most qualified applicants from anywhere and also discourages potential employees from moving to the City; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia and Boston are the only major cities that require civil servants to be city residents for a year before appointment, and other major cities have recently decided to eliminate their residency requirements in order to attract more residents; and
WHEREAS, As Mayor Joe Clark said in 1951 when Council overturned his veto of the pre-employment residency requirement, “No one expects the Phillies to get all of their players from within Philadelphia, yet these same people somehow feel that the City should find all of its employees within its own geographic bounds;” and
WHEREAS, For all these reasons, Council has concluded that it is time to eliminate the pre-employment residency requirement for Philadelphia’s civil servants; now, therefore,
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA HEREBY ORDAINS:
SECTION 1.
Section 20-101 of The Philadelphia Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
§20-101. Residence Requirements.
[(1) No person shall be appointed as an employee in the civil service of the City unless he has been a bona fide resident of the City for at least one year prior to his appointment.]
[(2)]
(1)
Every employee in the civil service shall [maintain]
establish
his
or her
bona fide residence in the City
within six months of his or her appointment, and shall thereafter maintain bona fide residence in the City, except that no person shall be appointed as a laborer in the civil service of the City unless he or she has been a bona fide resident of the City for at least one year prior to his or her appointment.
The City Controller may require proof of the residence of any employee in the civil service.
[(3)]
(2)
The Civil Service Commission may, upon the request of the Personnel Director, waiver the above residence qualifications when in its discretion the circumstances warrant a waiver.
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Explanation:
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted.
Italics
indicate new matter added.
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