Board rejects residency rule for police, fire employees

LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock Board of Directors at a meeting Tuesday rejected a proposed ordinance that would require new police officers and firefighters to reside within Pulaski County as a condition of employment.

The board turned away the proposal in an 8-2 vote. City Director Ken Richardson, who represents Ward 2, sponsored the measure.

Richardson and at-large City Director Antwan Phillips voted yes. City Directors Virgil L. Miller Jr., Dean Kumpuris, Capi Peck, Kathy Webb, Joan Adcock, B.J. Wyrick and Doris Wright, as well as Vice Mayor Lance Hines voted no.

Pulaski County encompasses Little Rock and other cities surrounding the capital but does not include communities like Conway, Benton, Bryant and Cabot.

Richardson’s ordinance proposal would have given new police and fire personnel 90 days after they accept a job offer to relocate to within the boundaries of Pulaski County. Employees who did not abide by the rule could face termination under the proposed ordinance.

First responders who were already employed at the time the ordinance went into effect would be grandfathered in, even if they lived outside the county.

Municipal employees beyond those individuals serving as department directors and assistant directors do not currently face a residency requirement.

Nevertheless, incentives are offered to new city employees who choose to move to Little Rock and buy homes or rent apartments, provided they meet certain conditions.

Employees who purchase homes in Little Rock are eligible for a $ 5,000 taxable incentive, while renters who put their names on a one-year lease are eligible to receive half that amount.

Additionally, police recruits who successfully complete the training academy and work for the department for a minimum of two years are eligible to receive a $5,000 one-time recruiting bonus.

In 2015 and again in 2016, the city board rejected proposals sponsored by thenCity Director Erma Hendrix that would have required new police officers to live in Little Rock. Hendrix, who represented Ward 1, died in office Sept. 8 at age 91.

Richardson on Tuesday said he was trying to take what Hendrix had proposed and expand the boundaries.

During the meeting, Ronnie Morgan, a Little Rock police officer and past president of the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 17, spoke in opposition to the proposal.

“Right now, this department is full of officers who are here because they want to help people, and that’s regardless of the ZIP code in which they choose to live,” he told board members Tuesday.

Morgan described the department’s difficulty with regard to hiring. He referred to Mayor Frank Scott Jr.’s recent statement that he wants to double the police hiring bonus as an example of the challenge hiring presents.

On Monday evening, Joe Cuffel, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 34, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by phone that the union opposed Richardson’s proposed residency ordinance.

When residency requirements have come up every few years, Cuffel said members have always been opposed to any type of restriction on where people can live.

Cuffel said he did not know an exact number of firefighters who live outside Pulaski County, but guessed that about half of the department personnel live outside the county. He said some personnel come in from cities like Bryant and Conway.