Sec. 2-313. - Residency requirement.
(a) Except as otherwise provided, no person shall be eligible to hold elective office in the city unless such person is a resident of the city.
(b) Effective January 18, 2022, no person shall be hired, promoted, transferred, or reclassified to the position of city manager unless that person maintains his or her principal residence within the corporate limits of the city, or establishes his or her principal residence within the corporate limits of the city within 180 days of the effective date of the personnel action. Effective January 18, 2022, no person shall be hired, promoted, transferred or reclassified to the position of city attorney, deputy city manager, assistant manager, or department, division or office head unless that person maintains his or her principal residence within a 30-mile radius of the Winston-Salem City Hall, or establishes his or her principal residence within a 30-mile radius of the Winston-Salem City Hall within 180 days of the effective date of the personnel action. Effective January 18, 2022 all persons hired, promoted, transferred or reclassified to a public safety position (sworn police personnel or fire suppression personnel below the level of department, division or office head) shall be required to maintain their principal residence within a 60-mile radius of city hall and within the state or establish their principal residence within such areas within 180 days of the effective date of the personnel action.
Except as otherwise provided herein, employees:
(1) In positions that were previously covered by a residency requirement prior to January 18, 2022, and that will no longer be subject to a residency requirement after said date, may move and establish their principal residence as they deem appropriate;
(2) In positions that were previously covered by a residency requirement prior to January 18, 2022, and that, effective January 18, 2022, will be subject to a more relaxed residency requirement, may move and establish their principal residence in compliance with the new residency requirement; and
(3) In positions that, prior to January 18, 2022, required residency within the city limits, and that remain subject to the same requirement, must continue to maintain their principal residence within the city limits.
Except as provided herein, there is no residency requirement for city employees.
(c) This section is not intended to limit or restrict the area of recruitment for city personnel, it being the desire of the city council that the best qualified personnel available should be sought for positions in city employment.
(d) Due, in part, to the impermanence of annexations, it shall be the policy of the City of Winton-Salem to refrain from approving annexation petitions (satellite or contiguous) that are initiated for the sole purpose, as determined by the city, of allowing a person, seeking to be hired, promoted, transferred or reclassified to a city position, to establish or maintain residence within the corporate limits of the city.
(e) This section shall not apply to county employees who may become city employees on account of any consolidation of services until two years following the date of any such consolidation.
(Code 1975, § 2-178; Ord. No. 4140, § 1, 2-7-94; Ord. No. 4141, § 1, 2-7-94; Ord. No. 4325, §§ 1, 2, 5-17-99; Ord. of 1-6-03, § 1; Ord. No. 4588, § 2, 6-18-07; Ord. No. 29217, § 7, 2-19-18; Ord. No. 2997, § 5, 6-18-18; Ord. No. 2022-5, § 1, 1-18-22; Ord. No. 25-0028, § 1, 2-3-25)
