Thomas Breen Photo
Ordinance's first beneficiary, CAO Regina Rush-Kittle.
A handful of high-up local officials can apply to live outside of New Haven, as long as they can demonstrate a “critical need” or “extraordinary hardship” associated with living within city bounds after serving in their roles for at least a year.
The Board of Alders carved out that avenue for incumbent “coordinators,” who each oversee 8 to 10 city departments, to circumvent the city charter’s residency requirement by passing an ordinance amendment on Monday evening.
The legislation marked a tentative step toward loosening residency mandates for city employees — a goal that Mayor Justin Elicker’s administration has supported as a means of helping the city more easily recruit talented staff, but that failed to gain traction during the alder-led 2023 charter revision process.
The city’s coordinators currently include Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli, Community Services Administrator Eliza Halsey, and Chief Administrative Officer Regina Rush-Kittle.
Rush-Kittle is planning to seek out the exception to live in Rocky Hill, where the rest of her family resides. In a February statement to the Independent, she wrote, “It has been a privilege working for the City of New Haven for the past two years, and I would enjoy continuing to serve in this role. At the same time, my family is based in Rocky Hill and, like other working families, I’d love to be able to do the job I love during the day and then commute home to be with family on the evenings and weekends.”
Four alders — East Rock’s Anna Festa, Fair Haven Heights’ Rosa Ferraro Santana, Beaver Hills’ Tom Ficklin, and West Hills’ Honda Smith — voted against the amendment on Monday.
“I’m torn about this ordinance. It makes sense. It’s clear. But I feel strongly that any leadership positions for this city should reside in this city,” Festa said in public remarks before voting. “We don’t have anyone that is qualified to fill these positions that resides in the City of New Haven?”
In response, Majority Leader and Westville Alder Richard Furlow stressed that the exception would apply only to incumbent coordinators who have already served in the role.
“We also know that sometimes, life happens,” Furlow said. “This ordinance is providing an exception for any coordinator that at some point may run into hardship and can no longer be a resident or an elector of the city.”
Under the new ordinance, a city coordinator who has served in their role for at least one year can submit an application (or have the mayor submit one on their behalf) to the city’s personnel director with a description of a “critical need” or “extraordinary hardship” that requires them to live outside of the city.
The ordinance amendment provides examples of such a need or hardship, including:
- “Economic hardship,” such as whether the coordinator would suffer a financial loss by selling a previously-owned home outside of the city and the “cost of maintaining multiple residences for the purpose of complying” with the residency requirement.
- Whether the coordinator’s household includes school-aged kids.
- Whether a member of the coordinator’s household has to live in a different location.
- “Health-related or medical reasons.”
A majority of the Board of Alders would have to approve of the application. If the exception is approved, the coordinator would still have to live within 50 miles of New Haven and within the state of Connecticut.
City Hall employees paid with taxpayer dollars from New Haven residents will establish important policies and budgets and contracts and then go home to their safe harbors.
So, FOR EXAMPLE, a CAO who has been complicit with defunding and neutering the NHPD to the point where it takes 5 hours for a police officer to respond to call in Westville, will leave the City and go home to the safety of the suburbs and avoid having to deal with living in a neighborhood where crime is UP 70% this year.
Or, FOR EXAMPLE, a Finance official who is complicit with sending $6M of Public Education funds to a fraudulent account, will go home to the suburbs where their children will not be enduring a failed, cash-strapped school system where 87% of the students are reading below grade level.
Nice job Elicker. The only saving grace is the next election is only 607 days away.