The Utica Common Council has sent a proposed local law amending a part of the city’s charter, suspending the residency requirement for Utica Police officers for five years to the mayor.
Local Law #4 of 2026 amends section 2.045, meaning that those applying for work as a police officer not necessarily need to live in the city of Utica, though Chief Mark Williams did clarify at the August 3 special meeting that if he has the choice between two candidates, with one living in the city and one living outside and both have equal merit, he would choose the candidate who lives in the city.
“I’d choose them because they know the city better,” Williams said.
Public hearing held
The Utica Common Council held a public hearing and introduced the proposed local law, sending it to Mayor Michael Galime. From there, the mayor will hold his own public hearing and either pass or veto it.
There was only one person who spoke at the public hearing, Francis Brown, who was against the residency requirement and advocated for better pay and benefits to compete with other municipalities in and around Utica.
“Someone also needs to stop stalling and come to the table and renew the contract that expired earlier this year,” Brown added. “Or is it the plan to have it it on the table like the fire department?”
Brown also alleged that people weren’t applying to become Utica police officers because they had no desire to live in the city, citing issues like drug problems and housing shortages.
Why change requested
Councilor at Large Samantha Colosimo-Testa said the measure was not because officer candidates didn’t want to live in the city and asked the chief to explain exactly what was happening during the hiring process and why he requested this change.
“We find ourselves competing with other police agencies for a small pool of candidates,” Williams said. “While I’d like to hire all city residents, it’s just not possible based on the candidates we’re given every year.”
Williams said there is a large pool of candidates in their mid 20s and early 30s, who want to work in the city of Utica but have roots settled outside it and are not willing to make the move. This new pool of candidates would be able to greatly aide in the shortfall.
“They tell us it’s too difficult to uproot their families just for a job,” Williams said. “Just last month, we needed to fill 12 vacancies and we hired six before we ran out of our list.”
Additionally, the amount of people applying and actually passing the civil service exam and physical fitness tests are far less than once was the case. Williams said during his time as an officer, there were a lot more people competing for the police positions.
“There were 500 people that took my civil service examination… We just got the results from the May civil service exam. Only 82 people signed up and only 42 confirmed that they’re going to show up to take the agility test,” Williams said. “Typically, we see about half of those people pass and after that, we’re competing with four other agencies locally for those same candidates.”
Between recruiting specialists, heavy advertising, and other practices to attract candidates, the Utica Police Department has been struggling to fill boots.
“And this isn’t just a problem with us,” Williams said. “This is a nation-wide problem. Syracuse is down 64 police officers. Albany just started their police academy and they’re still down 45 officers. And Rochester, to the last of my knowledge, has over 100 vacancies they can’t fill.”
Councilor at Large Heather Wasielewski asked what other efforts the Utica Police Department has been making with recruitment and Williams said that recently, the department has rolled out a website, joinuticapd.com.
The law was voted on unanimously by the Utica Common Council and sent off to the mayor with a pending date for the public hearing.
For more information on the Utica Common Council and upcoming meetings, visit www.cityofutica.com/.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Law to suspend residency requirement for Utica police sent to mayor
Reporting by Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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By Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
