Harrison's New Residency Laws

It's no longer such a small world - in Harrison, anyway.

The town board's newly instated legislation allows residents of not only Westchester county, but adjoining counties as well, to hold public office in Harrison. The decision stems from the need to clear the way for non-Harrison residents slated to take over positions of retired holders to enter public office.

"That was the issue that needed to be addressed," said Town Attorney Frank Allegretti." For those in public office here in Harrison, many of the retirement incentives kicked in in December, and some of the seconds-in-command of those retiring did not have residency here. So we have extended that requirement to include the greater Westchester area, even surrounding counties."

Allegretti explained that prior to this new law, the Harrison Town Board had made an exception once before, for the position of comptroller.

"We wanted more flexibility, more openness to the positive candidates who aim to hold our government offices," said Allegretti. "You'll see that a lot of municipalities actually follow this same ideology, as long as it is done following local law."

Two positions currently being considered for reinstatement of non-Harrison residents are: engineer, or commissioner of public works, which is held by Robert Wasp. Wasp may be replaced by Michael Amodeo if the Town Board sets its approval. The second position is that of assessor, currently filled by James Calandruccio. Mark Heinbockel, the deputy assessor, is his potential follower.

The job of the engineering department is to prepare the drawings for all town projects, including new buildings, sidewalks, roads, etc. The assessor is responsible for determining values of parcels of land based on market values.

Mayor Walsh spoke at the most recent Town Board meeting, emphasizing the need to promote people already working for Harrison by replacing those who had announced their retirements in the previous month. The limitations that had been placed on filling these offices had been causing difficulties in securing posts for worthy candidates with prior experience working for the town or village of Harrison.

The law prior to this new action stated not only a requirement of owning a home in Harrison but residency in New York State for a particular amount of time depending on the desired office.

In 2006, the town board created a "personnel manager" position in order to aid the retirees in public offices. Now, with this new legislation, retirees in public offices will be able to pass their position on to those waiting in the wings, Harrison resident or not.