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Ordinance Amending Wilmington City Code Section 8-5 on Criminal History Background Checks and/or Credit History Checks Required of Applicants and Employees
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Department: |
City Attorney’s Office |
Meeting Date: |
6/2/2026 |
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Contact Name: |
Meredith T. Everhart |
Public Hearing: |
No |
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Contact Phone: |
910-341-7820 |
Advertising Date/Advertised By: |
N/A |
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Attachments: |
Attachment #1: Ordinance; Attachment #2: Current City Code Sec. 8-5; Attachment #3: Redline of Sec. 8-5; Attachment #4: Council Presentation from 5-19-2026 |
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this ordinance is to bring Chapter 8, Section 8-5 of the Wilmington City Code (“Code”) into alignment with the City’s goals for safety and security of both employees and citizens. The primary changes include requiring criminal background checks of all final applicants for employment, not just for those in specific positions, and providing for periodic random criminal background checks for all employees during the course of employment. Additionally, current employees applying for internal positions or promotions will be required to submit to new criminal background and credit history checks, just as external candidates for those positions are required to do.
BACKGROUND:
Periodic review of the Code is necessary to ensure the information it contains is accurate and up to date. The City Attorney’s Office is presently engaged in a systematic revision of the entire current Code. This review is primarily designed to ensure the current Code is in line with actual City practices and procedures; to identify, amend, and/or repeal obsolete or unlawful provisions; to harmonize the Code with prevailing state and federal mandates and best practices; and to rectify any identified scrivener’s errors.
This section of the Code, Sec. 8-5, relating to criminal background checks and credit history checks, has been advanced in the review process in order to bring current City practices for criminal background checks and credit checks of prospective and current employees in line with the needs of the City to maintain a safe environment for both employees and citizens. Currently, criminal background checks are only required for final candidates for certain positions of employment, including police, fire, department heads, and individuals who work with children. This practice leaves open the possibility that the City could hire someone with a violent felony, which then puts that employee into direct contact with the public or fellow employees and increases the risk of further violent action during the course of their employment. The recommended changes aim to close that loophole by ensuring the City is aware of the criminal backgrounds of all final candidates for employment, including current employees applying for internal positions or promotions. There continues to be an appeal process for applicants with misdemeanor and non-violent felony convictions who wish to provide evidence of mitigation on their behalf.
As to credit history checks, those will continue to be required for all final applicants for employment for all Council-appointed positions, all department directors, all positions that report directly to the City Manager, and all positions with the ability to create City financial records or to collect revenue in any form. The only change regarding credit history checks is that they will now also be required for any current employees applying for internal positions or promotions to these positions, just as all external candidates will be required to do.
The other primary change to this Code section involves adding random criminal history background checks for all current employees, similar to the random drug testing many employees already undergo. There is no provision in the current code that either allows or requires criminal background checks for individuals already employed by the City. Adding this provision reinforces the duty of employees to notify the City of any criminal convictions that occur during their employment with the City and provides the City with a basis to take disciplinary action against any employee who fails to do so. This new requirement for random criminal background checks does not extend to credit history checks. Those will only be done for any final employment applicant, both internal and external, for the positions required to receive those checks.
budget
BUDGET IMPACT:
N/A
recommendation
RECOMMENDATION / ACTION REQUESTED:
Passage of this ordinance is recommended.