Alpharetta considers adding offenses to city code

Court could decide cases away from Fulton County

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Alpharetta City Council discussed adding several criminal offenses to its city code, which would allow municipal prosecution rather than sending offenders to the Fulton County court system.

Alpharetta City Solicitor Kelsie Mattox submitted the proposal to the City Council at its Feb. 20 meeting. The item was originally included as a first reading, but Mayor Jim Gilvin said it had been changed to a workshop item.

Mattox said the amendment would not replace the way felonies are handled, which would still be sent to Fulton County for prosecution.

Mattox and Director of Public Safety John Robison said the amendment would give Alpharetta Police Department officers more discretion in determining which cases are worthy of a felony prosecution.

“Ultimately right now, Fulton County and their backlog and the cases that they’re seeing, a lot of the felonies that go down there aren’t even being prosecuted as felonies,” Mattox said. “Especially when it’s a first-time offender, or a situation where they just don’t have the resources to prosecute them effectively.”

The ordinance would amend Article 1 of Chapter 30 of the city code, and it would address destruction of property, defacing buildings, unauthorized entry of property, creating hazardous or offensive conditions, keeping a disorderly house, making false representations and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Councilman John Hipes said he was concerned that the amendment would overstep the boundaries of the city’s charter, which mandates that felony cases are heard in the state courts.

Hipes also said unauthorized entry of occupied property is the definition of a burglary, and destruction of property is a felony offense if the amount is over $500, which would make the city ineligible to handle the prosecution of such offenses.

Councilman Doug DeRito said he was uncomfortable with the city being responsible for crimes that Fulton County or the state had failed to prosecute, and he said was concerned with the additional cost to taxpayers if it is adopted.

“I do believe there’s some good ones in here that are clearly misdemeanor under our charter, and we can enact them,” Hipes said. “I’m just going to say from my viewpoint, we’ve bitten off more than we can chew with some of this stuff, and I don’t want to pass something that we’re not legally able to pass.”

City Attorney Melissa Tracy said her office will continue to work with Mattox to address the council’s concerns before the ordinance’s first reading.

Council approves mid-year budget adjustments

Councilmembers unanimously approved mid-year budget amendments for the 2023 fiscal year, including a $288,273 increase to local option sales taxes and several increases to department budgets.

At the City Council January planning retreat, Finance Director Tom Harris said the city’s legal services handled by Jarrard & Davis would require an additional $750,000.

The anticipated budget increase for legal services has reduced $400,000, with councilmembers approving a $350,000 increase to the $750,000 budget at the Feb. 20 meeting.

Councilmembers granted the Public Safety Department an additional $51,340 to its $36.7 million budget.

The council also approved an additional $826,336 for Recreation, Parks and Cultural Services, making its amended budget $12,629,527 for the fiscal year.

Disorderly House

Alpharetta city officials are considering an ordinance that would allow various offenses to be prosecuted in municipal court rather than sending cases to Fulton County. One section outlaws “a disorderly house.” It then stipulates that a disorderly house means a place where “conduct occurs in violation of law or ordinances relating to,” the following things:

• Alcohol

• Gambling

• Prostitution

• sale, possession, or use of drugs

• disorderly conduct

• public nuisance

• “Any other unlawful conduct or pattern of unlawful conduct pursuant to city ordinances.”