COVINGTON, Ga. — A new ordinance that could hold parents/guardians criminally liable for their children’s actions has officially passed within Covington city limits.
Council members voted 4-2 to pass the second and final reading of the parental accountability ordinance on Monday after weeks of deliberation spanning over the course of several meetings.
Councilman Dwayne Turner, who has championed the proposed ordinance, delivered a presentation ahead of the final reading and provided some additional data not previously revealed. Turner said that the City of Covington has had 967 juvenile incidents within city limits, but only 51 arrests, citing the use of discretion by police officers.
Turner then cited a similar ordinance that has been passed in the City of Savannah, which has provided much of the framework for Covington’s ordinance. According to Turner’s presentation, juvenile arrests in Savannah dropped from 419 in 2018 to 266 in 2025. There have currently been 144 arrests so far this year. Additionally, he cited declines of juvenile court referrals by more than 30%, school referrals by 50%, probation violations by more than 75% and incarcerations down by 48%.
One of the main concerns brought forward by detractors is the maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine that violators could face under this ordinance. Turner brought up the maximum criminal penalties for littering, which is one year in jail for a misdemeanor count and five years in jail on a felony count, according to Georgia law.
Turner said that the maximum penalty is almost never enforced on those types of cases and could see the same with this ordinance.
“The parent responsibility says 30 days in jail [and/or] a $1,000-$2,000 fine,” Turner said. “Just because the law says that, that does mean that that’s going to happen.”
Turner concluded by telling the council that he sought public input from the West and East wards of the city and was met with an array of results, but also some positive input.
Councilman Anthony Henderson continued to carry his same concerns from previous meetings. Henderson cited a letter from Covington Police Chief Brent Fuesting that urged City Attorney Frank Turner, Jr. to conduct a legal review of the ordinance. Following the letter, the city reportedly made changes to the ordinance to make it compliant with state law.
Henderson asked if the first reading violated due process, to which Frank Turner responded that this was not the case.
“So I didn’t make any due process changes, but I think there were vagueness arguments that the chief raised, and there were conflicts of state law that we took out several issues,” Frank Turner said. “The main gist of it, though, about holding the parent liable if they knew or should have known that the child was going to commit a delinquent act that’s remained the same.”
Henderson also questioned why this ordinance was not on Dwayne Turner’s platform when he ran for office last year. When asked by Henderson if he was influenced by any outside parties, Dwayne Turner said that he was a “one-man show” in pushing this ordinance.
Councilman Travis Moore cited two large-scale incidents where the ordinance could have played into affect — the 2025 Independence Day celebration and 2024 Halloween on the Square, which was a large gathering that was not sponsored by the city. Moore called last year’s July 4 festivities an “absolute mess,” and said it was time to put something in place to deter criminal behavior from juveniles.
“What we got going on isn’t working,” Moore said, “and I watched the news all weekend in every city, after this city, after this city. What are they doing? Exactly what’s being proposed. They are done. They are tired of these kids just running lawless, taking over their cities, and that’s what has been happening.”
Dwayne Turner made the motion to carry the ordinance forward, which was seconded by Councilman Jared Rutberg. Henderson and Councilwoman Charika Davis were the two dissenting votes, with the latter claiming before the vote that this would be equally enforced.
“I still stand by opposing the ordinance because again, we know it’s not going to land equally across everyone throughout the city,” Davis said. “As I stated at the last meeting, we know low-income families will be impacted the most. They are the people who cannot afford these fines. These are the people working two, three jobs.”
