Carlsbad’s city manager no longer will have to live in Carlsbad, though the city has not enforced its residency requirement for more than a decade.
The City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to allow their top employee to reside anywhere within a 40-mile radius of City Hall. The initial proposal was to set the limit at 60 miles, but a resident pointed out, and council members agreed, that 60 miles would allow someone to live across the international border in Mexico.
“How about 40 miles?” suggested Mayor Keith Blackburn. “Somebody coming from 60 miles, which is more than half the way to Los Angeles, that isn’t a reasonable drive, especially in today’s traffic.”
Carlsbad City Manager Scott Chadwick and his family lived in Point Loma when Carlsbad hired him in 2018. He grew up in the small community of Dehesa in eastern San Diego County, and today he resides in San Diego.
Most of Chadwick’s career has been with the city of San Diego, where he was chief operating officer from 2013 to 2018.
Carlsbad established the residency requirement when it hired its first city manager in 1955, said Sheila Cobian, director of legislative and constituent services.
A provision added to the state constitution in 1976 says that no city, county or district can require employees to be residents, only that employees “may be required to reside within a reasonable and specific distance of their place of employment.”
Carlsbad has not enforced its residency requirement since 2008, Cobian said.
The council received at least three letters or emails from people opposed to the revision.
“The reason for the residency requirement is obviously so that the person who holds the position understands and prioritizes the needs of the residents of Carlsbad,” wrote Luigi Persico.
The updated ordinance is expected to be approved as a routine matter at the next City Council meeting and will take effect 15 days after that.
