By Joe Carlson, Munster Times (Indiana)
HAMMOND, Indiana - Twenty-four years ago, back when David Hamm was a neophyte firefighter, the vast majority of his co-workers called Hammond home.
Upwards of 90 percent of Hammond Fire Department workers lived inside the city, driving local streets and shopping at local stores every day, he recalled. Today, about half of the department’s employees live in the city.
“There have been police or firefighters who have been employed here but have never lived in the city a day in their life,” said Hamm, who became fire chief in January.
Hamm applauded a city law approved by council last week that forces police officers and firefighters to live in the city during their first year of employment. After one year, state law says such uniformed personnel can live in any Indiana county that borders the one they work in.
A spokesman for the Hammond Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 51 said the union is still researching the legality of the city law. City officials said they were on the right side of the law, although similar litigation in Calumet City lasted about five years and consumed millions in legal bills.
The Hammond law also requires all other city employees to live in the city. However, since the law does not apply retroactively, the practical effect is that the residency requirement applies only to new hires and anyone seeking a promotion or transfer.
“People who live outside the city are not going to get fired,” Council President Kathy Pucalik said before the Nov. 15 vote. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who campaigned on employee residency last year, said he expected to sign the city ordinance into law soon.
Asked if he was concerned about litigation from the Fraternal Order of Police, McDermott said the city was on solid legal footing in its fight.
McDermott argued against a proposal from Councilman Robert Markovich that would have forced the residency requirement on current employees retroactively, saying the city might lose a legal challenge if the law included Markovich’s idea.
“I think we’re fighting the good fight. We want people to live in the city of Hammond,” McDermott said.
In Calumet City, the local police union protested a similar residency requirement for police. The legal fight dragged on for about five years after city officials appealed an arbitrator’s decision to strike down a police residency requirement.
Another appeal finally brought the matter to a state appellate court, which ruled in November 2002 that residency was a matter for collective bargaining, not city law.
Three officers fired for breaking the residency requirement were rehired, given back pay and a $1.2 million legal settlement through federal civil rights litigation.