County department heads have to live in Anson County, or within a 50-mile radius of the county border due to recent changes in the residency policy voted for by the Anson County Board of Commissioners.
The board approved the change 6-1, with Lawrence Gatewood the lone voice in dissent. Commissioners Bobby Sikes, Vancine Sturdivant, Dr. Jim Sims, Harold C. Smith, Vice Chairman Jarvis T. Woodburn and Chairman Ross Streater were for the measure.
Roslyn Ingram, head of Human Resources for the county, brought the proposal to the board as an addition to a personnel ordinance.
“By making this change, and making it more flexible, we can retain and recruit more,” Ingram said.
The county manager still has to live in Anson County. Employees will have one year to move within the radius or within county borders.
Sims brought up a “grandfather clause” for those who have lived out of the county for many years. Ingram said that the “grandfather clause” will be included.
Gatewood inquired about how they arrived at the 50 miles radius.
“Well, we did do a survey on our site department heads, and researched other counties, and most of them were within certain radius miles of the boarder,” Ingram said. “We came up with 50 miles radius because I believe in the state department, they are operating within 50 miles, so we went with the state requirement.”
Gatewood said when he received the agenda packet, he reached out to some of the residents of District 5.
“The county taxpayers, some of them have concerns about the policy change,” he added. “There are some who expect all employees of county government to live within Anson County.”
He went on to say, “There are others who are pretty emphatic who said department heads, some of the best paid staff in Anson County government, should reside inside Anson County.”
Gatewood said the reasons the citizens shared with him are that employees in the county gain more knowledge of existing conditions, and have a greater ownership of the county’s progress; employees support local businesses, pay local sales and property taxes, thus contributing to the economic development and the econmy of Anson County; are more likely to be involved in community-related activities through service and volunteerism; and department heads living in the county, their children will have to be enrolled in Anson County Schools, thus adding to the quality of life in the county.
Gatewood said a resident mentioned to him that, “If Anson County money is good enough for you to take, it should be good enough for you to live here.”
He also said that most counties don’t have residency policies, but smaller Tier 1 counties do.
“This is just a guess, but we have maybe 45 percent of our department heads living outside Anson County,” Gatewood said. “We couldn’t run Anson County without those individuals, so I would certainly approve grandfather clauses exempting them.”