DeKalb committee defers camping ordinance after commissioners raise Legistar and scope concerns

The PEX committee voted to defer proposed code changes that would address public camping and certain nuisance behaviors after multiple members raised concerns that the ordinance (and a substitute) had not been posted in the county’s Legistar system for public review.

Chair Nicole Messiah introduced agenda item 2026-0550, explaining the substitute changes legal terminology and responds to similar local efforts in other jurisdictions. The substitute replaces the word "vagrancy" with "drifting," a change county legal staff said clarifies the behavior-focused intent rather than criminalizing homelessness.

Commissioner Longspears pressed staff over public access: he said the ordinance and the substitute were not available in Legistar and recommended a two-week deferral so the public could find the attachments and stakeholders could provide input. "The attachment, which is the actual ordinance itself and certainly now we have a substitute, was never placed into the Legisar system," Longspears told the committee, adding that his office had received about a dozen constituent calls about the missing materials.

Other commissioners raised operational questions: how encampment removals would be carried out to avoid harm, whether diversion or civil‑citation options could replace arrests, how the county would manage animals and storage of personal property, and whether day-shelter capacity could be a placement alternative for people who violate a code provision. County staff and the operations chief said they could develop an SOP (standard operating procedure) that would describe outreach before removals and options for staged engagement.

Legal staff described why the substitute replaces the term "vagrancy": the legal definition of vagrancy carries broader statutory baggage, while the substitute aims to target specific behaviors that can create public-safety or public‑access issues.

After extended discussion, the committee approved a motion to defer two ordinance items (referred to in the meeting as 0015 and 0017) for two weeks so law and staff can post the ordinance materials in Legistar, prepare any requested SOPs, and draft a decibel-only noise alternative for separate consideration. The committee will revisit the items at the next PEX meeting.