Editorial Originally Published in the Lynn Daily Item
Residency and the Law: Looking forwards rather than backwards
The Lynn Police Association is committed to working with the City of Lynn and Mayor Kennedy in resolving the issue of residency. In 2000, Salem Superior Court Judge Joseph Grasso ruled “that a local residency requirement imposed on police by city charter is subject to collective bargaining” and more specifically, that “the City is required to tie its local residency requirement to the collective bargaining process whether that residency requirement is imposed by charter (emphasis added) or by local ordinance or by-law”. This ruling has been reaffirmed in the most recent court matter, where Lawrence Superior Court Judge Richard E. Welch III stated, “Judge Grasso’s decision is persuasive authority…and that residency is a subject to collective bargaining”.
The compulsion to collectively bargain residency is unequivocal; it is the law under which the city must finally recognize its duties and resolve the matter in the public interest. The current situation is not unlike the residency exemption provided by state statute to teachers, which was placed in law through the same legislative processes as the 15-mile exemption for police and fire. Whereas the teacher exemption was never challenged by the city, the statutory right to bargain as to police and fire has been. Throughout this lengthy and costly legal process, we have consistently requested consideration in line with our concerns that a sudden enforcement of the residency requirement would produce unequal and negative results. Bargaining the issue to resolve those concerns has always been the position of the Lynn Police Association.
In a recent Item editorial, it was suggested by the editor that a vote of the electorate be taken in order to rectify the situation. The Lynn Police Association would wish to correct any perception that an electorate vote or charter amendment has any bearings on the city and its obligations to bargain the residency requirement with our association. Not unlike any other court decision, the judgments regarding bargaining are binding on the parties named—the City of Lynn and the LPA. The resolution ultimately resides with and ends in the collective bargaining process between these two parties. From our perspective, the issue is no longer a legal one; rather it is solely a political one.
On this, we think the time is ripe to move forward. The City of Lynn, through the efforts of Mayor Kennedy and Police Chief Coppinger, stands at the vanguard of a state initiative to regionalize dispatch call centers. This effort will result in the City of Lynn’s prominence within Essex County regarding the provision of call and dispatch services by the police and fire departments. The development of Lynn as a regional partner truly does call into question the efficacy of an anachronistic policy that restricts, rather than expands, the diversity of persons and skills that will be needed to meet the new demands placed on the City. This is the time to work together to resolve this issue and to move this city forwards, not backwards.
On behalf of the members of the Lynn Police Association,
William Sharpe, President
LPA
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