Delco Passes Movie Making And Residency Changes; Bond Issue — Delaware County Council, last night, March 20, unanimously passed ordinances allowing commercial movies to be filmed in county parks and to allow the issue of general obligation debt of $74.5 billion to pay for infrastructure projects. It also passed with Dr. Monica Taylor dissenting an ordinance to allow the hiring of non-county residents for all jobs except those requiring local residency by state law. Carris Kocher of Concord said she had asked courthouse workers if taking an oath was still a requirement. It wasn’t as there were many employees who weren’t citizens. It would be unfair to ask them, she was told. She asked if at least citizenship would be a requirement. Joy Schwartz of Upper Darby asked if the county would hire people without permanent addresses. Carl Bell (phonetic) asked why the need to hire outside the county. Councilwoman Christine A. Reuther said she would be happy to hire someone without a permanent address. She said the law need changing because of trouble hiring people. Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer said that Delaware County was the only county in the state besides Philadelphia that had a residency requirement. She supported changing the law. Councilman Kevin Madden said he has changed his mind over the past few years due to the hiring problems. Councilman Richard Womack said he also changed his mind. He noted the number of positions the county already exempts from the resident requirement. “You might as well get rid of (all exemptions},” he said. Ms. Taylor, the lone dissenter, said it was best to hire from within Delco. In the second round of public comments, Mrs. Kocher returned and emphasized the need for a citizenship requirement. She noted that that foreigners are being hired by many counties to help run elections. Bell also returned and asked if the county could hire from other states. He also wanted to know how the new policy could help get workers if Delco was still paying less than other counties as one council member said. There was no discussion regarding the bond issue and the change to the movie making rules was greeted positively by all. Kathy from Haverford said she had relatives in the movie industry and the county would have no problem getting filmmakers to pay a fee for the use of the parks.
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