Lynn to argue in favor of charter at residency hearing

LYNN – The city’s residency commission, despite an attempt this week to do otherwise, will move ahead with its appeal of a court ruling that says the city needs to bargain its residency requirement with its unions.The only supporters of a vote to squash the appeal were commission members Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Executive Director James Cowdell, who originally opposed the ruling.Cowdell and Kennedy sit on the commission with City Clerk Mary Audley, City Solicitor Michael Barry and Personnel Director Joseph Driscoll.Cowdell, Audley, Barry and Driscoll voted last July to challenge a state Superior Court ruling allowing residency to be bargained between the city and municipal unions. The city is scheduled to argue on March 6 before the state appeals court that the Lynn City Charter, which requires residency for city workers, is the final authority on residency.Audley was leaning toward voting to drop the appeal but gave an impassioned speech in support of residency instead.Lynn Police Association President Lt. William Sharpe said he wasn’t surprised by the vote, which took place at a residency commission meeting Wednesday.”We weren’t expecting anything different. We’re resigned to it, we’ll fight on,” he said. “But I think the comments by the City Clerk show her ignorance of the subject.”In her statement Audley pointed out that the taxpayers have voted twice, overwhelmingly, first in 1978 and again in 1999, to keep the residency requirement intact.”It is unfortunate that this issue has continued to create battle lines between City of Lynn employees,” she said. “It has become an ?us against them’ issue.”Audley said she has always been a strong supporter of residency and, more importantly, of the local law, which in this case requires city employees to live within the city’s boundaries.Sharpe, however, argues that requirement makes an exception for teachers, which comprise one of the largest pools of city employees, “and the law specifies that we’re not different than teachers.”Audley admitted that she struggled with her decision, not in terms of her feelings on residency but in terms of the commission and how it’s been functioning. In the end, she said, she followed her heart.”The hearing relative to this matter is less than a month away. Let’s get an answer one way or another,” she said. “If the city of Lynn is not successful in the appeal, then so be it. Let’s put this issue to bed. If the city of Lynn is successful, I would hope that the Lynn City Council will review the ordinance establishing this Commission.”Sharpe would like to see the commission derailed. He said it is unacceptable for a “board of unelected officials to hijack city government.”Sharpe was forced to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Secretary of State’s Office after the commission failed to answer a request for very specific list information. The list includes copies of all residency commission meeting minutes from 2002-2012, residency records regarding former city employee Thomas Bogart and records regarding James Amato, among others.”They can’t produce a simple list of people who have been exempted from residency,” he said. “This is a commission created to investigate people ? but when you ask for a list it’s non-existent.”The courts will once again take up the issue of residency next month when arguments are heard before the state’s appeals court in March.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].