Wis. Fire Chief Backs Residency Requirement

The chiefs of the city's Fire and Police departments have written a letter to Gov. Scott Walker asking him not to change the city's residency requirements for police officers and firefighters.

The letter, cosigned by Police Chief Edward Flynn and Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing, was sent Thursday to the governor and several top Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). In the letter, both chiefs say both the Milwaukee Police Association and the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Local 215 have asked the governor to eliminate the residency requirement.

Walker has not said whether he would include a provision in his budget to eliminate the residency requirement. City Hall sources say they expect him to do so.

A spokesman for Walker was not available for comment. Spokesmen for both unions did not return calls seeking comment.

The chiefs write: "It is easy to understand why any city worker is attracted to the suburbs, particularly given that so many of them are paying tuition to school their children. But this is a benefit not without negative consequences. It has a dramatic impact over the long term on the economic and social life of the city. It doesn't happen all at once, but gradually and inexorably as a critical mass of middle-class city workers and their families leave the city."

Flynn and Rohlfing say the police and firefighter unions are the only unions that still negotiate contracts with the city. As a result, the two say that if the residency requirement is eliminated, "the state would be essentially giving these unions something for nothing and then saying that the city still has to bargain with them. Not only do we lose the immediate economic trade-off by not receiving anything in exchange, but also the future leverage the residency requirement will provide us to make modifications to employee benefit packages." The two told Walker that Milwaukee is the only city in the state that is affected by a law that requires arbitrators to isolate police contract provisions issue by issue. The two say that means that rather than deciding between two final and best offers, "provisions are no longer weighed against each other once labor negotiations reach an impasse." Both said that situation was dangerous because an arbitrator's award could further jeopardize city finances.

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Copyright, 2013, Journal Sentinel, All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2013 Journal Sentinel Inc.