Milwaukee Wisconsin Wants to Keep Firefighter Residency Rule

March 29--The current residency rule that requires candidates for police officer and firefighter positions to live in the city has not deterred anyone from applying, says Mike Tobin, the executive director of the Fire and Police Commission.

"History tells us that when we post the positions, we get thousands of applications," Tobin said. Some of those applicants live outside the city and are willing to live in Milwaukee, he added.

Gov. Scott Walker has proposed ending residency rules for public employees in all local units of government in Wisconsin. If approved by the Legislature, the end of residency will have the most impact in Milwaukee.

Currently, 1,699 candidates are on the eligibility list for police officer jobs in Milwaukee. A total of 706 people are on the eligibility list for firefighter jobs. There is relatively little turnover from year to year.

As with the season-ticket waiting list for the Green Bay Packers, many candidates leave their names on the police and firefighter list in the hopes they will get the call.

"People are willing to wait years and years," Tobin said. "That's what happens."

Tobin recently reviewed the eligibility list for both police and firefighter positions. Of the next group of 300 police officer applicants on the eligibility list, 53% indicated they remain interested in the position.

Forty-seven percent either did not respond to a Fire and Police Commission survey or indicated they were no longer interested in the job. Most who said they were no longer interested said they had found another job.

In the most recent survey of the next 200 firefighter applicants on the eligibility list, 51% indicated they remain interested in the job. Forty-nine percent either did not respond to the survey or indicated they were no longer interested. As with police candidates, most people who said they were no longer interested said they had found another job.

Tobin said in a letter to Ald. Joe Dudzik, who had inquired about the impact of residency rules, that "the high number of applications we have received with a residency restriction in place suggests anecdotally that most potential applicants for these particular positions are not deterred by the residency requirement."

If the residency rules are dropped, it won't have an effect on applicants, Tobin said.

"We choose the best people, whether we get 5,000 applicants or 10,000 applicants."