By Jim Bloch
Is Port Huron such undesirable place to live that the city must pay its workers extra money to live there?
Maybe.
At its regular meeting Feb. 9, the city council voted unanimously to adopt a residency incentive policy that will pay any city employee “a five percent base wage enhancement” to live within the borders of the city.
The goal is to attract new and younger employees and help retain existing employees.
“Many of you may not know this, but under state law we cannot require city employees to live within the city of Port Huron,” said City Manager James Freed as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on YouTube. “It wasn’t even required of me to move into the city, believe it or not, as city manager.”
Freed said about 30 percent of the city’s work force will be eligible for retirement within the next five years.
“We believe that there is tremendous value to have police officers and fire fighters and public servants live the city they serve,” said Freed.
For young people, a five percent pay hike to move into the city and to remain in the city is a good incentive, Freed said. The policy will help recruit and retain quality employees.
According to the resolution, the new policy has the “potential to increase employee investment in the community they serve, strengthen neighborhood stability and homeownership, support local tax base growth and enhance community engagement and pride among city staff.”
Freed said that administration is also considering contributing to down payments on homes in the city for employees, a strategy used by other communities.
“We want you to live here for the long haul,” Freed said.
“For my profession, for 33 years, I had to live within 30 minutes from where a worked, because of response time,” said council member Teri Lamb, a RN. “It’s a big deal and it’s important.”
“It is a very competitive job market, so I think any small incentive is good,” said council member Conrad Haremza.
“We also want to encourage city residents to apply for city jobs,” said Freed. “I want our candidate pool to be very diverse. I think it’s very important that the city staff is representative of the city population.”
The incentive may help the city attract candidates for hard-to-fill jobs, such as water and wastewater treatment operators.
“I mean, those people are scientists over there,” he said. “There’s really not a college degree on how to run a sewer plant. You have to work the job and an apprentice program for five or six years to get the licenses and you build up and build up until you can run your own plant. To find young people who are willing to stick with a career for five or 10 years and become a plant operator, that’s going to be real difficult… The most valuable capital we have is human capital and we have to incentivize (it).”
Council member Barb Payton recalled living in Detroit.
“I experienced this in real time when the police officers and fire fighters were all able to move out of the city,” Payton said. “Our neighborhood took a hard, hard hit… I like that we’re offering up this program to the city workers.”
Mayor Anita Ashford said the policy gives city worker a choice about where to live.
“We’re not mandating or anything like that,” Ashford said. “We’re declining in population… This is just one way we can draw people in.”
The final vote was 5-0. Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Archibald and council member Robert Mozuak were absent.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
