Two new ordinances that aim to establish a new residency requirement for City of Wilmington workers will be introduced Thursday.
The City of Wilmington’s employee residency requirement has been in question since Mayor Mike Purzycki’s administration stopped enforcing it earlier this month.
An ordinance seeking to codify that decision was tabled after over three dozen Wilmington residents spoke out against it at City Council’s last regular meeting. Now, Council Members Shané Darby and Latisha Bracy are offering two new options.
Darby’s legislation, Ordinance #0362, maintains the city’s five-year residency requirement, but extends the 6-month window to become a resident after being hired to a full year.
She says the other additions were based on comments made by the public during the last council meeting. They include creating a Residency Working Group to explore ways to solve some of the current barriers to hiring. That means offering things like relocation assistance for people who are not currently Wilmington residents, sign-on bonuses, and more ways to ease some of the financial burdens associated with living in the city.
“I’m also encouraging the Mayor’s administration to partner with job training organizations, job training centers, and colleges to fill the vacancies that do exist,” she said. “Currently we have 110 vacancies and we have only maybe about 15 or 20 posted online. So I’m also asking that if there is a vacancy to actually post it.”
She says she’ll also work to assure the city advertises that they have second-chance hiring, which widens the applicant pool to those who may have a criminal record.
Bracy’s legislation, Ordinance #0365, extends the requirement from within city limits to all of New Castle County, but gives hiring preference to Wilmington residents.
Bracy says her goal was to find a compromise quickly after council was informed the residency requirement was not being enforced.
“The mayor definitely was in favor of removing residency completely,” explained Bracy. “This way we have kind of a very clean, easy to enforce mechanism in place that ensures that people are still connected to our county. And they're still close enough and a quick distance from the city if they don't live in the city.”
Darby argues that large expansion would hurt the city.
“I think by allowing this to happen what we’re going to see down the line is a large group of people who live outside of the City of Wilmington limits but in New Castle, and a lack of investment in the City of Wilmington,” said Darby. “We’ll see crime rates and vacant homes either stay the same, where we are now, or increase because of the lack of investment in the people and in the economy here in the City of Wilmington.”
Bracy agrees that more needs to be done to support Wilmington residents, but doesn’t think expanding the geographic boundaries of the residency requirement will lead to a lack of investment in the community.
But she says after the scope of the new requirement is decided, council’s focus needs to shift to preparing for the next budget.
“We really need to be looking at how we invest to align with workforce development programs that are already out there. How do we strengthen and support those? How are we supporting entrepreneurship? How are we really building economic development that strengthens the economic mobility of the residents of the City of Wilmington,” said Bracy. “So I think we can really do both at the same time and really strengthen the economy. But then also kind of open up the pool a little bit larger so that we can fill the jobs that we need within the city.”
Darby thinks those investments need to happen sooner, arguing that investing in the city to make it attractive as an employment destination will not only help solve some issues faced by current residents, but also make it so there’s no reason to extend the boundaries to New Castle County for the purpose of filling vacancies.
That’s reflected in the ordinance she drafted, though it needs supplemental legislation.
“This [Ord. #0362] is going to have to be coupled with some other legislation around affordability: in rent stabilization, inclusionary housing, and housing trusts. But I think this is a good start,” explained Darby.
Bracy is open to working with Darby on an option they’re both happy with. Both Council Members are looking to prioritize and invest in Wilmington residents.
“Wilmington residents should be the priority, and if there's anything else that I could do to make this even stronger for promoting our Wilmington residents I am absolutely in support of it,” said Bracy.
Both ordinances will be discussed in detail at the Nov. 6th joint Intergovernmental and Finance committee meeting.
