Tonya Ayres rents a modest home in the middle of a Monroe County farm field and feels safe enough there to leave her car and home unlocked at night.
Green fields expand to the horizon - past a dirt road and trees close to the house. These are all things Ms. Ayres is not willing to give up - even though it meant losing her job as a secretary with the city of Toledo.
"I worked for the city for 6 years and 11 months and for the last two years, I had used a Toledo address at the encouragement of others," Ms. Ayres said, acknowledging the deception.
Earl Boxell, Jr., a Toledo engineer who owns a home in Sylvania Township, was fired but soon reclaimed his job after working out a deal.
"It's a real messy issue and I don't know why the city doesn't back off and wait for the Ohio Supreme Court," Mr. Boxell said. "[Selling] is not a real convenient option, and I had to work that out with my wife."
Mr. Boxell is renting a west end apartment.
"I think it's a narrow policy," he said. "I think it's restrictive and it just doesn't seem like the American way."
Tiffany Powell, who has worked seven years as a Toledo Division of Water distribution dispatcher, was granted a temporary restraining order by a Lucas County Common Pleas judge in March to keep the city from holding a termination hearing because she lives in Maumee.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/NEWS16/809070330
...when you have to pay for higher gas costs to live in more expensive housing outside the city. I think we should subsidize these workers at every opportunity.
So, if the Supreme Court overturns the residency requirement, how does that affect the people who lied about where they live?
Call me crazy, but I don't think that a person who used a fake address to obtain or keep city employment should get their jobs back...even if the court overturns the residency requirement. There's still the matter of intentional deception to deal with.
to exclude anyone who lives outside of Lucas County.