Residency rules and the courts- bad news for Victor Pate

I haven’t forgotten my obligation to my Dayton readers about giving them the up-to-date skinny on what’s happening. It’ll be the same once I’m elected to Congress. Keeping the people informed is what I hope to be best known for (it was the point of the ninja mask after all).

Victor Pate was the city employee who moved out of Dayton and got fired pronto, for violating the residency law after the State tried to intervene. I wrote about it here: http://esrati.com/?s=victor+pate

Akron just won a case to overturn the State law- as covered in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Cities win court victory on employee residency requirements – cleveland.com
Cleveland and other pro-residency cities have won another victory in a quest to make sure their employees live within city limits.

The 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals sided with the city of Akron in a Wednesday ruling that found unconstitutional a state law barring most local residency requirements.

The decision is another setback for police and fire unions seeking to overturn the policy.
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The 3rd Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled in early December that the city of Lima’s residency requirement is legal. It was the first appeals court ruling issued on Ohio’s May 2006 law banning the requirements.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson at the time declared that ruling a victory for cities throughout Ohio. Cleveland’s residency rule, approved by voters in 1982, requires city workers to live in Cleveland. But Ohio legislators lifted the requirement with a new law that took effect in May 2006.

Jackson, however, defied the law and threatened to fire any city employee who moved out of Cleveland. He has fired eight people for violating the residency requirement.

Even with Wednesday’s decision, the battle is far from over. A handful of other appeals courts, including the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Cleveland, are considering the legality of residency laws. The Ohio Supreme Court ultimately will decide the issue.

Several trial courts – including Summit County Common Pleas in the Akron case – have ruled against residency laws.

I didn’t see anything about this in the Dayton Daily News. I’m sure, we’ll be seeing more court cases on this- and it will be years before it’s sorted out.

I still believe that it would be time and money better spent by making Dayton some place you would want to live, instead of fighting to force it. I couldn’t think of anyplace I’d rather live- but that’s the difference between me and Mike Turner- who moved out as fast as he could after he lost his job as Mayor.

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