Unanimous Support for Town-Manager Residency Requirement

IPSWICH — The finance committee (FinCom) has unanimously agreed with a proposal to give the new town manager more time to move to Ipswich.

A charter change is proposed for town meeting on November 7. Listed as Article 19 on the warrant (embedded below), the new rule says the town manager has to be resident in Ipswich within one year of being re-appointed.

Since the manager will be hired for an initial three-year term, the change will give the new boss up to four years to move.

The current charter provision has been interpreted to mean the town manager must be resident when they start the job.

Although the government study committee (GSC) is reviewing the town charter, which was adopted in 1967, the residency proposals have been brought forward by the impending retirement of town manager Robin Crosbie.

Her last day at work will be on February 2, 2018, and selectmen have already started the hiring process.

Meeting with FinCom at its warrant hearing this week, GSC member Gary Champion said his committee at first wanted to abolish the residency requirement altogether.

However, they modified their proposal after “pushback” from many quarters, he added.

GSC chairman Craig Saline said the residency requirement puts Ipswich at a “comparative disadvantage.”

GSC member Suzanne Benfield said her group looked at 59 similar towns in the state and found almost 70 percent had no residency requirement.

FinCom member Jamie Fay asked if there was any benefit to having the town manager live in Ipswich.

“We’ve struggled with that one, and the first answer is no,” Saline replied.

In previous meetings, some selectmen have said they wanted the manager to live in town and live with the services they manage.

Saline noted some people like to run into the manager around town. “That was the impetus back in 1967, and it made a lot of sense then,” he added.

However, the manager is not an elected position, and their job is to run operations, Saline said.

FinCom member Walter Hartford asked if renting during the work week counts as residency.

“Is that the spirit of and the letter of what you’re trying to accomplish?” Saline replied.

Benfield said the GSC found one town with a residency rule, Amherst, where the town manager lives in Somerville.

However, he rents a workday apartment to meet Amhert’s requirement, she added.

Saline said Crosbie’s predecessor, Bob Merkel, rented in Ipswich.

The proposal going to voters needs a two-thirds majority to change the town charter.