Yann Ranaivo

The News Journal

After a day of work as the city of Wilmington's finance director, Sheila Winfrey-Brown answered her door at her Bear home in a comfortable nightshirt.

Winfrey-Brown has worked for the city for more than a year, joining the ranks of others who were hired after Mayor Dennis P. Williams took office in January 2013. Winfrey-Brown, like every other new city employee, has to live in Wilmington, according to an ordinance first adopted in 1974. As finance director, she serves on a city review board responsible for enforcing Wilmington's residency requirement for new employees.

But last Tuesday night, she answered the door of her Bear home, where she and her husband live.

"I meet my residency requirements," Winfrey-Brown said while standing in the doorway as the family dog peeked around her left leg at visitors. "I'm in the city typically Monday through Friday, and I'm in Newark on the weekends."

The next evening, Winfrey-Brown walked into her daughter's residence on West 25th Street in Wilmington after a long day that included teaching bible study class after work. This is the home she declares as her Wilmington residence to comply with the law that requires new city employees who don't live in the city to make their move within six months of being hired. Employees can seek a six-month extension if they run into problems, such as difficulty selling their home.

A property records search by The News Journal shows that some of the top city staff who came in with Williams own houses outside the city. But they argue they fulfill the city's residency law because they list another home in Wilmington as a residence.

Other top city staff who came in with Williams and who own family homes outside Wilmington are cultural affairs director Kenneth Briscoe and city solicitor Michael Migliore. Briscoe owns a house on the 500 block of Bluebill Drive in New Castle, while Migliore owns a house on Stoney Run Road north of the city, according to property records.

Mayoral spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge said Winfrey-Brown and other top managers hired by Williams comply with the city's residency requirements. They can meet the law's terms by owning a home, renting or staying at a residence owned by someone else in Wilmington, Coppadge said.

"To date, the city's Personnel Department has not received any evidence or complaints that the aforementioned individuals have not met the residency requirement," Coppadge wrote in an email response.

City employees are free to own or rent multiple homes, but the personnel department considers their residence to be the home the employee lives in most of the time, she said. Employees, however, can only declare one home as their residence when they file their annual residency declarations with the city, she said.

Some council members don't think the living arrangements made by some of the mayor's top brass fulfill the residency requirement. Councilwoman Loretta Walsh said owning a house outside the city while claiming a city address is "skirting" the law.

"If four or five employees move in together, rent a house or sign a lease and then go back home, I think it's actually a flagrant misuse of the law," she said. "I think it's manipulating the law to suit you."

For Winfrey-Brown, selling her Bear home when she got her Wilmington job was not an option.

"My husband and I have been married 25 years. He's retired and he did not want to move to the city," she said.

She said she returned to her Bear home Tuesday night to check on her dog because her husband was out of town.

"I cleared everything with HR. I cleared everything with internal audit," she said. "Every one of my neighbors can tell you, I'm not typically here during the week."

Defining residency

Until the late 1990s, anyone hired by the city had to live in Wilmington. The law was later amended and now mandates new hires to live in the city for five years.

Winfrey-Brown, who uses the Wilmington house owned by her daughter as the address on her voter registration and driver's license, said she stays in Wilmington on weekdays and usually returns to Bear on weekends.

Winfrey-Brown said she and her husband didn't want to give up their home.

"I'll be retired in five years," she said. "I'm in Newark on weekends, I'm in Wilmington on the weekends, I'm in New Castle on the weekends. I'm all over Delaware on the weekends."

Former Mayor Jim Baker said renting an apartment or staying with a relative in Wilmington while owning a house outside the city "doesn't count" as meeting the residency law.

"It's actually a secondary residence," he said. "Now, if you owned a house outside the city and rented it out to someone and had an apartment or townhouse in the city, then that's OK."

Baker said if employees can show their house outside of Wilmington is not their primary residence, then they would comply with the residency law.

"But you just can't say, 'I rent a house in Wilmington … but I own a house outside, and my wife and children live there.' That's not sufficient grounds for residency," he said.

A tough market

Briscoe, Wilmington's cultural affairs director, was reached at his New Castle home on a Wednesday evening. He said he also stays at a house his mother owns on the 300 block of West 39th Street in Wilmington.

Briscoe said he visits his New Castle home a few times a week to check on his wife and son before returning to his mother's house in Wilmington to sleep.

"It was tough on my wife, but she was like, 'Listen. You got to do what you got to do. You took the job, you got to owe up to the obligation,'" he said.

Among other challenges, Briscoe said the housing market has made it tough for him to move his family to Wilmington.

"I do have plans to officially move, but until we can get this house out of the market, with the market the way it is, we just can't," Briscoe said last week.

Migliore acknowledged last week that he owns the home on Stoney Run outside the city, but he also uses an address on Barrett Street in Wilmington. He declined to comment further on his residency.

An issue unaddressed

Tonya Richardson took a job with the city in the fall, now working on the public relations and media team with Coppadge. On a Wednesday evening, she was approached at her parent's home on Windflower Drive in Milltown, an address she listed on a recent voter registration as her primary residence.

She said she was visiting her parents for a belated Father's Day gathering, and now lives at an apartment in Wilmington.

A more recent voter registration lists an address for Richardson at an apartment on the 200 block of North Market Street.

Councilman Mike Brown said he also is concerned that some of the city's top officials don't live in Wilmington as required. Brown said he's heard of other city employees who don't meet the residency requirement.

He said he tried to address the issue last year but couldn't get enough support from council to initiate a review of residency for employees who may not meet the law.

"We have had one or two people who quit because they didn't conform to residency," Brown said.

Economically questionable

Baker disagrees with the current residency requirement of five years because it doesn't make economic sense for someone who lives minutes away from Wilmington to uproot their lives for the brief period.

"Why would I want to buy a house for five years, or rent this place for five years?" Baker said. "How do you make these economic choices in a five-year period? I don't think people will buy a home under the circumstances they're in. Then a lot of people will just get a place and say, 'Let me call this my permanent residence.'"

Baker said the residency law was initially enacted to soften the effects of suburban sprawl on Wilmington during the latter part of the 20th century. He said leaders at the time wanted to keep its employees in Wilmington to help keep the city from stagnating.

"It was saving the city from losing a lot of people to the suburbs. It was basically economic," Baker said. "People were saying, 'Geez, we're paying them and they move outside the city. They're not even paying taxes.'"

But Baker said he thinks the city will consider removing the residency law in the future. He said it's hurt the administration's ability to grab the best talent.

Baker said the problems city leaders worried about in the 1970s are much less evident now. He said Wilmington has been able to maintain its economy through developments, such as the apartment and condominiums on the Riverfront.

Brown said he's considering asking council to review the residencies of certain employees by calling them in for a hearing.

"And be prepared to show me, or show committee, that you live where you say you live at," he said. "Don't tell me you live with your brother, your momma's house. Tell me where you get your mail at. Tell me where you wake up in the morning at. Show me a driver's license, a utility bill with your name on it."

Walsh said it's important for city employees to follow the residency requirement.

"If you live where you work, nine out of 10 times, you're doing everything there. You're spending your money there, sending your children to school there. You're part of the community," she said.

Councilman Bud Freel said he's not sure if owning a home outside the city and staying in Wilmington during the week breaks the residency law. He said he's not saying that city employees can't own a home outside the city and rent an apartment in Wilmington.

"I don't know if there's a definition of living, to be honest," Freel said. "If I thought they were working and living in the city all week long, then staying with family on the weekend, that might meet the requirement."

Contact Yann Ranaivo at (302) 324-2837, yranaivo@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @YannRanaivo.