Residency waiver for Health Commissioner referred to COW

Last night, City Council voted unanimously to approve the Norwood Health Board’s salary request for the Health Commissioner candidate and to place the issue of the residency waiver into the Committee of the Whole for further discussion (see Dr. Frank Perrino’s letter posted 3/23 below). The general consensus among council members seemed to be that waiving the residency requirement immediately without first considering other options like a temporary waiver for up to 2 years could pose problems in terms of requiring all future City department head hires to reside in Norwood.

COW Chairperson John Mumper called a meeting for 7:00 p.m. Monday, March 28, to discuss the issue. It was felt that if a majority of COW members sign a report recommending some version of a residency waiver, that would be a strong signal to the Health Commissioner candidate how council would likely vote when they take the matter up at their next meeting.