Residency ordinance moves one step closer to repeal

EL CENTRO — Despite an impassioned plea from a former county employee, supervisors on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance that would strike an unenforced requirement that county employees to live in the United States.

The vote was not unanimous, as Supervisor Ryan Kelley voted against the motion.

Ryan Kelley said his concern is that the county and supervisors were getting ready to repeal an ordinance that had been around a long time with no alternatives being discussed.

He also agreed with the ordinance.

“If you work for Imperial County you should live in Imperial County,” he said.

To repeal an ordinance requires to two votes by the supervisors.

Former county Social Services program manager and supervisor candidate Claudia Camarena implored the board not only to keep the ordinance, but to enforce it.

Camarena pointed out to the supervisors that the county’s unemployment rate of 27.8 percent is the highest in the state, and added the county is partly to blame by giving jobs to Mexico residents over those who live in the county.

She also took exception to Crook saying there was an allegation the ordinance was not being followed, saying that is not in dispute, so it is not being alleged.

“The county is fully aware of it, but chose not to take action,” she said. “What I am seeing is a far stretch of anti-discrimination to a foreign country.”

Claiming the county could be seen as discriminatory against Hispanics is almost laughable, she said, as almost 80 percent of county employees are Hispanic. On the other hand, less than 1 percent are African-American, she said.

“What about the people applying here,” she asked, adding the county job opportunities were taken away from Imperial County residents.

“Jobs in this county should stay here,” Camarena said. “Every job is important for our county residents.”

Supervisor Ray Castillo said he remembers being on the El Centro City Council when the Imperial Mall was approved and built.

The study, he said, showed 60 percent of the customers would be coming from Mexicali, and added that number is closer to 70 percent now.

“I realize we are talking about residency,” Castillo said. “To (order) employees to live here would be a focus of discrimination. We need to repeal the ordinance. That law is outdated”

Castillo also said there are employees who reside in Yuma and several Calexico residents who travel to Mexicali for work.

“We have people who commute here every day,” he said.

The ordinance section reads: “Every officer or employee of the County of Imperial shall be a resident of the United States unless otherwise authorized by law.”

County Legal Counsel Adam Crook is researching options the county could implement for reasonable and specific distance requirements from employees’ residences to places of employment or other designated locations consistent with state and federal law.

The county does not have a distance requirement, but knows there are some employees who live in other counties, like Yuma.

Crook is researching this issue and will bring back

information to the supervisors at a later date.

Camarena questioned why the distance requirement and the repeal of the residency requirement were not being decided at the same time.

Kelley said every county employee is considered an emergency response worker, so living in locations like Indio and Riverside could be problematic when a quick response is needed.

He said he thinks Crook will bring recommendations for the supervisors to look at.

The new ordinance, if approved in the second reading, will take the place of the repealed section after 30 days of its adoption and prior to 15 days from the passage, when a summary of the ordinance must appear once in an Imperial County newspaper.