MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Residency requirements are once again a hot-button issue in Memphis.
At least one council member wants city workers to live in the city limits.
Some say it’s not necessary, and others say it could hurt public safety efforts.
As you know, the Memphis Police Department is dealing with a shortage, but Councilman Martavius Jones said when city workers live outside the city limits, it creates a lot of problems.
“We have an erosion of the tax base, and that’s just an unsustainable model for the people who will remain here,” said Jones.
That’s why Jones put a resolution on the table that could require new city employees to live in Memphis.
Jones said the hope is to put this issue on the November ballot, giving voters a chance to decide.
Some like the idea, saying it gives police officers a chance to relate to people in their community.
“Yes, they will actually know what was going on so they won’t jump to conclusions so fast, because a lot of people get hurt because they don’t know they environment,” said Christopher Spencer, who lives in Memphis.
The Memphis Police Department is already struggling to recruit officers. Now it’s putting out TV and radio ads.
Mike Williams with the Memphis Police Association said the department could take a hit.
“Just to say that you have to live in the city, that’s going to turn a lot of individuals away because they’re not going to want to live in the city,” he said.
Jones said in the past, there was a residency requirement that employees had to live in the city limits. He said two years later, the council opened it up to Shelby County, and he said that still didn’t solve the recruiting problem.
“There was a referendum, the voters approved it, but in my opinion, there was tricky language that put it back and undid it,” he said.
Jones said as far as public safety, they will have to take a look at some of the recruiting practices in the past to see where to go from here.
Again, this would only apply to new employees, and that’s only if the council puts it on the ballot and voters approve.