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Marietta delays disorderly conduct ordinance after council raises constitutional and scope concerns; public-safety focus on Shady Grove services
Summary
Council sent a drafted disorderly conduct ordinance back for additional legal review and moved its consideration to January after members and counsel flagged potential preemption by state law and broad wording; members also debated heightened 911 calls and safety impacts tied to services at Shady Grove Baptist Church.
After a lengthy review on Sept. 19, Marietta councilmembers directed staff and legal counsel to revise a proposed disorderly conduct ordinance and return it to the agenda-work session in January for further vetting. The committee debated several provisions that council members and staff said could raise constitutional or preemption issues under state law, particularly language about "obstruction" and an "intent" element modeled on other municipal ordinances.
Councilmember Goldstein (unnamed in the audio) said he was concerned that portions of the draft mirrored state statutory language and might be preempted absent an explicit local authorization. City counsel and staff referred to OCGA 16-11-39 (municipal authority to adopt disorderly-conduct ordinances) and cited examples of other jurisdictions (Roswell) that have enacted similar trespass-like provisions; police said Roswell's petty-trespass language has been used for years without successful challenge.
Separately, the Public Safety Committee discussed concentrated calls for service around Shady Grove Baptist Church, where volunteers and parishioners provide meals and services for people experiencing homelessness. The police chief summarized 911 call types recorded near the church this year (discharging firearms, fights, theft, armed persons, domestic disturbances and numerous nuisance or suspicious-activity calls) and said calls come from a mix of church staff, passersby and police patrols. Several councilmembers asked staff to meet with the church leadership (pastor Bass) and other local pastors to explore operational changes and partnerships to reduce neighborhood impacts.
The disorderly conduct ordinance will be re-drafted with legal input and discussed at the January agenda-work session; staff also said they plan to prepare a separate ordinance addressing camping on private property without owner permission.
