Some City Council members led the successful effort last year to stop Mayor Purcycki’s efforts to end the worker residency rule.
By Bradley Vasoli
A year ago, Wilmington faced a choice: Continue to require non-union municipal workers living outside the city to move in within a year of getting hired or ditch the restriction.
The city chose the former, a controversial policy to the point where outgoing Mayor Mike Purzycki (D) feels it’s hampering recruitment for some roles and helping recruitment for others.
It was a debate that led Purzycki to compare the debate to “mob rule” after Wilmington City Council rejected his effort to remove the residency rule.
In July 2022, Governor John Carney (D) signed legislation letting the city write residency rules for its staffers. Mayor Purzycki decided, in response, that a previous worker-residency requirement was no longer in effect and would not be enforced. A veto-proof majority of the City Council reacted by passing an ordinance keeping the mandate in place.