Laura Glesby File Photo
CAO Rush-Kittle: "Work ethic will be the same.”
The city’s chief administrative officer can now live with her family in a Hartford suburb while continuing to oversee New Haven’s police and fire departments — thanks to a residency-requirement exemption granted by the Board of Alders.
Local legislators took that unanimous vote Monday night during the latest regular full Board of Alders meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
They voted in support of an order granting an exception to the city charter requirement that the city’s chief administrative officer, Regina Rush-Kittle, live in New Haven. The CAO oversees departments like police, fire, parks, and 911.
The vote follows the latest version of a longstanding citywide debate over whether or not top City Hall officials should have to live in the city they serve.
Last year, Mayor Justin Elicker’s administration unsuccessfully pushed to remove the residency requirement from the city charter for certain top officials. In March, a majority of the Board of Alders voted in favor of an ordinance allowing city coordinators who have served in their role for at least one year to apply to live within 50 miles outside of New Haven. The coordinator would also have to express “extraordinary hardship” in living in New Haven. While four Alders dissented against the ordinance in March, the vote Monday night for Rush-Kittle’s exception was unanimous.
“We voted to give this item a favorable recommendation to the board as Rush-Kittle meets the requirements to receive this exception to residency,” Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow said.
After Monday’s vote, Rush-Kittle noted that she raised her family in Rocky Hill for “many, many years.” They still live there, and she wants to move back in with them. Due to the charter’s residency requirement, she had established a residence in New Haven and commuted back and forth.
“I’ll continue to do what I’ve been doing in the past. I work long hours. I work weekends when needed,” Rush-Kittle said. “Is it going to change the way I work? No. My work ethic will be the same.”