Ald. Abbas Syed
Last month, District 12 Ald. Syed Abbas told the Wisconsin State Journal that he bought a 1,900-square-foot home on Highcliff Trail — six miles away in District 16 in the Door Creek neighborhood — and that his spouse and two young kids moved to that address in September. However, Abbas lists his official residence on the city’s website as Myrtle Street in the Eken Park neighborhood, which is in District 12. Abbas says he started renting the 900-square-foot home on Oct. 1. Does that mean he’s living on Myrtle Street as state law requires?
“This is my district address,” emailed Abbas, who declined to be interviewed over the phone. He did confirm that the Myrtle Street home is also his voting address. When asked, again, to clarify whether he still lives in District 12, the alder did not respond.
City Attorney Michael Haas says state law mandates local elected officials reside in the district they represent.
“Residency for elected officials is based on the same principles as residency for voters which requires both a physical presence and an intent to maintain the residency for voting purposes,” Haas tells Isthmus. “Residency questions involve a person’s intent and whether a residence is their permanent residence or a temporary residence.”
Haas declined to provide an opinion on a specific situation with a current alder. But speaking generally, Haas says that renting a home in a district doesn’t necessarily meet the residency requirement for alders.
“You have to rent the place and live there. You can’t pay rent and have no physical presence,” Haas says.
The city attorney also provided Tell Dylan with a decades-old legal opinion from the Wisconsin attorney general’s office. It lays out guidelines, defined in state statutes, for how to determine residency.
“The residence of a person is the place where his habitation is fixed, without any present intent to move, and to which, when absent, he intends to return,” states Chapter 6 of the Wisconsin State Statutes. “No person gains a residence in any ward, town or village of this state while there for temporary purposes only.”
Hass says his office doesn’t enforce the residency requirement for elected officials; that’s the responsibility of the attorney general. Haas says the AG’s office would likely only investigate a residency issue if a private citizen files a complaint. The Wisconsin Department of Justice informs Isthmus no such complaint has been filed against Abbas.
The alder intends to finish out his current term on the council and has publicly stated he will not run for reelection this spring. When asked via email if he’s meeting the residency requirement, Abbas provided a one-word response: “Yes.”
