WATERTOWN, NY — The question of whether the City Manager should actually live in the city he runs made its way back into the spotlight Thursday night at the City Council candidate forum, and it’s quickly turning into one of the clearest dividing lines of the election.
Candidates Pete Monaco and Anthony Velasquez didn’t mince words: if you manage Watertown, you should live Watertown — shovel it, drive it, pay taxes in it, and wait on the same plow schedule as everyone else. Their argument is simple: leadership is different when your potholes are your potholes.
But defenders of the current rule say residency doesn’t make the manager’s office run any better than it already does, and that hiring is already hard enough without narrowing the pool to within the 13601 ZIP code. Their view is that competence beats street address.
The whole debate started after a change this past July, when the City Council voted 4–1 to drop the long-standing rule that the City Manager, City Engineer, and Public Works Superintendent must live in the city. That decision cleared the way for City Manager Eric Wagenaar — who resides in Chaumont — to remain in his position without a future deadline to move.
To critics of the change, it was a disconnect made official: a top city official managing services he doesn’t personally rely on. To supporters, it was a practical fix: fewer hoops, more candidates.
Whether the city manager must carry a Watertown address has now become a bigger question about what “community” actually means in local government — is it something you feel because you work here, or something you live because you live here?
Nothing will change unless a future council decides to bring the old rule back. And that depends entirely on who voters send to City Hall in November. Whoever wins will also inherit the debate over whether senior officials should be required to experience the same water rates, the same plow scheduling, the same roads, and the same lived consequences of their own policy decisions as the people they serve.
Early voting runs October 25 through November 2, and Election Day is November 4. For those who care where their leaders sleep at night — metaphorically or literally — showing up to vote will decide whether this residency rule stays gone or comes roaring back.
