Springfield City Councilor Hurst highlights broken residency ordinances

Dec. 7, 2021 | Matt Conway
mconway@thereminder.com

SPRINGFIELD – After an investigation from Supreme Investigations scrutinized rumored allegations, Councilor At-Large Justin Hurst is taking to task the breaking of residency ordinances from two district chiefs in the Springfield Fire Department.

In his press release, Hurst highlighted the rule bending of District Chief Paul Arpin and District Chief Brian Tetreault, with the councilor claiming that both individuals did not establish residency within their respective time allotments. Arpin was asked to establish residency by March 2020, while Tetreault was given a date of February 2021 to make the move to Springfield, according to the press release.

In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Hurst discussed how he made this discovery. “I have heard all along from a number of individuals in the Fire Department that these two individuals were in violation of the residency ordinance for a while,” said Hurst.

While the rumors were percolating, Hurst said he began researching the subject and discovered an independent investigation ran by Supreme Investigations. “[The investigation] found a lot of evidence that, upon further scrutiny, made it clear to me that these individuals did not live in the city,” said Hurst.

After making this discovery, Hurst followed the proper channels of command by asking Springfield Director of Human Resources William Mahoney to analyze these claims. According to Hurst, Mahoney’s investigation took “an unreasonably long time,” with the independent investigator discovering that both district chiefs were tipped off that they were under investigation. “At that time, they started to give the appearance and not make it as obvious that they were living outside the city,” said Hurst.

For the councilor, a central reason for highlighting the residency ordinance break is maintaining accountability throughout the city. “If we as a city are going to hold residences accountable for abiding by the law, then we ought to do the same as government. We have to be transparent about that process, or else folks are going to look at us as though we are hiding something. I want everything to be above board,” said Hurst.

According to Hurst, residency was a key aspect stressed in every collective bargaining agreement that the City Council established.

“We want to see it enforced, otherwise it was a colossal waste of time,” said Hurst. The councilor also believes that the city should want to maintain the rules to set a strong precedent for not turning a blind eye to any infraction of regulations.

Hurst said the next step in his process to request a public records request to further delineate whether the ordinances are being followed or not. “These two individuals should be able to produce a utility bill in their name in an address in the city of Springfield from the time they are supposed to be living in the city. If they cannot do that, then they don’t meet the standard, in which case they should be terminated,” said Hurst.

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