Public Safety Chief's Residency

At the council meeting of January 15, 2008, the residency requirements for the Chief of Police and Fire Chief were changed. The previous requirement was for the chief's to be located within the city limits. The new requirements are for the the chiefs to live within seven (7) miles of the corner of Calhoun Road and Civic Drive, which is location of the Public Safety Building. As the official minutes show:

14) Alderman Mahkorn moved adoption of the Ordinance amending Section 2.12.080 of the Municipal Code regarding Residency Requirement for Police Chief and Fire Chief. The motion was seconded by Alderman Reddin. A roll call vote was taken and carried Ayes 10, Nays 3 with Aldermen Carnell, Balzer and Berg voting nay. Ordinance No. 2119-08*

Ald. Berg's reasoning to oppose the proposal, thereby continuing to require the chief to live within the city limits, was as follows:

Public safety emergencies that the police and fire departments often encounter require decisive and rapid action. Having the Chief present with his knowledge, experience and command authority may make a critical difference.
Actually living in a city gives you great insight into what that city is like. After all, if you work outside of Brookfield, what do you know about the city your office is in other than what you see along your drive? Understanding first hand what traffic issues, housing changes, lifestyles, etc. are like in the city you protect is important to performing your job well.
The top salary for the position is well over $100,000. In fact, the recently retired Fire Chief was salaried at $101,403 and the current Police Chief is at $97,262. Also, you don't become chief your first year out of school. You would have enough experience to have saved some money from a previous house, etc. That seems like enough to buy a house in Brookfield.
If the new Brookfield Chief currently lives in, say, Madison and decides to move to Pewaukee instead of Brookfield, the city he protects, what message does that send about his commitment to his new position?
This is a fairly common restriction for the position. For example, Milwaukee requires this. The person is usually given a year to actually make the move. See the newspaper story below about a Milwaukee school teacher.
What will be next? Perhaps elected officials shouldn't be required to actually live in the city they represent!

MJS, January 23, 2008 - Right ZIP code, wrong city: Popular MPS science teacher loses job

MJS, January 17, 2008 Water restrictions OK'd

BrookfieldNow! - January 16, 2008 - Residency requirements for chiefs OK'd