Today the city council got together to hear testimony from the public regarding eliminating the residency requirement for department heads and the local option sales tax. A couple people came to speak, including Alan Sousie, former candidate for ward 7 city council.
Alan spoke against the local option sales tax as its an extra burden the people don’t need, which I completely agree with. Alan also stated that the city should hire from within the city first, then consider outsiders. I agree with this as well. I believe it’s very important that heads be from within Burlington as it helps keep them accountable as they will be affected by the actions they take and the people of the city will have easy access to them if they have a problem with them. Also, I think that people are less likely to do something that will negatively affect people they are neighbors with as they must live with the people their actions affect.
Besides we require Burlington and even ward residency for city councilors and the Mayor, as we want people that will best represent our community’s interests, which we should want and deserve from our city department heads.