Long Questions Residency Rule Change, Suggests Drug Testing for Council

A routine discussion about aligning Loganville’s city charter with state law shifted sharply during Monday’s City Council work session, as Councilwoman Melanie Long pushed back on proposed changes and raised an unrelated issue involving drug testing for elected officials.

 

City Attorney Paul Rosenthal advised the council that Loganville’s charter must be updated to comply with Georgia law regarding residency requirements for candidates seeking municipal office. The city charter currently requires candidates to reside in Loganville for two years before qualifying to run. However, state law requires only one year of residency — a change adopted years ago but not reflected in the city’s governing document.

 

Rosenthal described the update as “just a cleanup thing,” noting that similar compliance measures are routinely undertaken by municipalities across Georgia.

 

Long strongly disagreed with adopting the shorter residency requirement, calling the state mandate a “disservice” to municipal governments. She argued that reducing the residency requirement could lead to leadership lacking local knowledge.

 

“Because at the end of the day, when our city goes sideways, and there’s a bunch of people sitting up here (as council members) that don’t even know the street names (due to a shortened residency requirement), and they’re running our city, and somebody goes back and does their research, (asking) ‘How did that happen?” the current council will get the blame,” Long said.

 

She continued, “… (I)t’s never going to matter why we changed it (the charter requirement for two years of residency), it’s that it changed. And I’m not going to participate in something that I don’t, in my heart and my gut, believe in.”

 

Long also suggested delaying action while the Georgia legislature, currently in session, considers potential election reforms.

 

“We don’t have an election for two years,” Long told her council colleagues. “Let’s wait and see what happens. They (legislators) may rewrite the whole election (code).”

 

She further noted that no one has formally challenged Loganville’s noncompliance, stating, “I say we wait.”

 

Rosenthal cautioned that any charter amendment must be completed before qualifying opens for the 2027 municipal election. He reminded the council that a charter change requires approval at two successive meetings, effectively shortening the window for action to roughly 18 months.

 

As the discussion continued, Rosenthal indicated that the matter may carry more urgency than previously suggested. He told council members that while other cities are out of compliance, Loganville “is on notice that it needs to be right. Period. End of story.”

 

Rosenthal then recommended that the council enter executive session to discuss the issue further. The closed session lasted nearly an hour. Upon returning to open session, Rosenthal announced that no action would be taken as a result of the executive meeting.

 

During the broader discussion, Long introduced a separate proposal: that council members submit to random drug testing as a demonstration of accountability.

 

“I would just like to see if we have any support for random drug testing among ourselves,” Long told Mayor Branden Whitfield and her five colleagues. “Because I’ll go right now and use that restroom. I don’t have a problem. And I think if you’re willing to sit up here and represent the people of Loganville, that you should be willing to hold yourself to the same or a higher standard.”

 

Council members Lisa Newberry, Wes Johnson and Patti Wolfe said they would not object to such testing.

 

“I think we should,” Johnson said.

 

“I have no problem with random drug testing, except when I take my gummies when my knees are hurting me,” Wolfe joked.

 

Rosenthal advised that elected municipal officials are generally not subject to drug testing requirements and said he was uncertain whether such a policy could be imposed.

 

But, Rosenthal said, “I’d be happy to dig into it and research it for you.”