Waukesha Committee Recommending Common Council Loosen Employee Residency Policy

The Human Resources Committee took one step forward in loosening a city policy that requires some employees to live in Waukesha County when it voted unanimously to repeal portions of the policy.

The policy required positions, including police captains, clerical supervisors, administrative supervisors, park supervisors, legal secretaries and others to live in Waukesha County. The Common Council will have to vote on the loosening of the requirements during its April 7 meeting

The changes to the policy read as following:

“Employees … may be subject to a residency or an emergency response residency requirement as determined by the department director as approved by the human resources manager and as set forth in the employee’s job description and reviewed by the Human Resources Committee. Should the residency or emergency response requirements of a position change subsequent to the initial hire of an employee in a job classification, that employee shall not be required to establish a new residence unless the employee moves or is hired or promoted into another job classification with a residency or emergency response time requirement. Where residence and emergency response residency requirements are contained within a collective bargaining agreement, the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement shall apply.”

Department heads are still required to maintain residency in the city of Waukesha under the policy.

Alderman Vance Skinner said he was supportive of the change. The employees can be “tethered” to their jobs using technological tools like smartphones and laptops at any location.

“That dynamic has changed pretty significantly over the years,” Skinner said. “I would say even beyond using technology … you can do a lot of function from alternate locations just as if you were sitting in an office today.”

Skinner said he wants to see the city attract the top talent for the positions and doesn’t want the residency requirement to dissuade potential applications from seeking future positions.

“I think Waukesha is deserving of that and I stand by that,” Skinner said.