End of Springfield residency requirement brings more applicants

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — It's been more than 100 days since Springfield City Council voted to pause the residency requirement for city employees. Before the change, employees had time to move into the city once they got a job, but the pause gives people in surrounding areas more flexibility.

"There's a lot of applicants from those small communities right outside of Springfield area," said Nikki Baker, Director of Human Resources for the City of Springfield. "Right now in this competitive environment I want to find and remove all obstacles."

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Baker has also seen a big impact for people looking to move to Springfield for jobs that live far away. Not having a set timeline to establish residency means they can get their family set up for success without worrying about finding housing as quickly.

The Springfield Police Department says they've already seen more people applying from outside of city limits. Sara Pickford, the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division, says most applicants plan to move to city limits, or live very close to the city limits.

"Law enforcement agencies all over the country are dealing with recruitment and retention so it's become quite the competition to hire good, qualified candidates," said Pickford. "Some of the newer officers we just hired, we've got officers from Litchfield, Decatur, Chatham, Sherman, Rochester."

Pickford also said several of the officers they have hired have spouses who are moving into the city to work in local hospitals and within the Springfield medical district.