The Jefferson City Council will consider a bill to alter the policy of department directors residing within city limits.
A bill scheduled to be introduced Monday would extend the residency requirements to a 15-mile radius around Jefferson City for almost all department heads.
The city administrator, city clerk, fire chief, police chief and director of public works would be the only department heads who need to live within city limits. The city also would not cover moving expenses for any new department heads unless they moved within city limits.
The City Charter only specifies the city clerk needs to live in the city.
City policy is that all city employees are required to live within 25 miles of city limits, but seven out of nine department directors are required to live inside city limits.
The information technology services director and planning and protective services director are not required to live within city limits because the policy was enacted before those positions were created.
The discussion came about because of issues in the city's searches for a new finance director earlier this year and late last year. In the last national search, city officials said several good candidates were eliminated simply because they lived just outside city limits and were unwilling to move.
Another bill to be introduced Monday would outline two
cooperative capital improvement projects the city is undertaking with Cole County - the Frog Hollow Road project and intersection improvements to Dunklin and Lafayette streets.
The agreement outlines which aspects of each project are handled by the city and which are handled by the county. The cost for each project will be split equally between the two entities. The Frog Hollow project is estimated to cost $2.3 million total and the improvements to Dunklin and Lafayette streets are estimated to cost $750,000.
The city's portion would be funded from the capital improvements half-cent sales tax.
In other business, City Administrator Nathan Nickolaus is scheduled to give a presentation on city goals Monday.