If it were up to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, all municipal employees would be required to live within Toledo’s limits.
But of the 19 top-level city staff — including deputy mayors and directors — nine live outside Toledo, including such leaders as its safety director, fire chief, director of transportation, and director of parks and youth services.
“My attitude has always been, if you want to work in the city of Toledo and enjoy the salary and benefits, pension. and health care, then you should live in the city of Toledo,” the mayor said this week. “I have never wavered from that opinion, I have always believed that.”
But Ohio cities haven’t been allowed to enforce such rules in well over a decade.
When an Ohio law passed in 2006 forbade cities from imposing residency rules, Toledo was among some 125 cities and 13 villages statewide to impose some sort of residency requirement. As court challenges to that law progressed, Toledo stuck to its requirement, including when former Mayor Carty Finkbiner’s administration sent termination notices in 2008 to about a dozen employees because they didn’t live in Toledo. Some moved back into the city in response, while others with 10 or more years of service had obtained waivers to avoid that requirement.
But in August, 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the law, officially ending Toledo’s employee residency requirement.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said that having more police officers, in particular, living in the neighborhoods they have sworn to protect and serve would make Toledo stronger and safer. But a majority of Toledo police do not live in Toledo; according to the mayor, only 47 percent of patrol officers and 24 percent of command officers — sergeants, lieutenants, and captains — call Toledo home.
“Most Toledo officers do not live in the city of Toledo and I think that’s a shame,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “I think Toledo would be better off if all of the men and women who worked in Toledo lived in the city. I think that is especially important when it comes to safety forces.”
It will also be an important factor when choosing the next police chief, he said.
“As I look for a new police chief, I can’t say that will be the only consideration, but that will be one of the considerations that I factor in: that the chief live in Toledo or is willing to relocate to Toledo,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.
While former Police Chief George Kral maintains a Toledo residence, interim Chief Michael Troendle, who assumed that job Monday, does not. The new interim chief argues, however, that while not a Toledo resident, he still holds a strong connection to the city.
“I am vested in our city,” Chief Troendle said Thursday. “I have 623 sworn officers who are out there every day and they’re working 24/7. Their health and welfare and safety is a lot dependent on what I do as a leader to reduce crime in the city, and I am completely invested in reducing crime in the city.”
Also boosting his connection to Toledo are regular family outings here and having close relatives and friends who reside in the city, which give him “a lot of skin in this game to make sure that we have a safe community.”
But while Mr. Troendle intends to apply for the chief’s job on a permanent basis, he said family circumstances would keep him from relocating into Toledo.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he would prefer all who hold key staff positions live in Toledo.
“It’s been my practice and my preference that these individuals in important positions should live in the city of Toledo. I can’t require it, but it is my preference,” the mayor said. “I believe that not just about the police department, but the fire department, and the folks who work in parks, and everyone who works for the city should live in the city.”
First Published January 14, 2023, 3:56 p.m.
