Local officials have responded to inquiries regarding concerns that Cullman County Commissioner Garry Marchman may not have been living within the district he was elected to represent.
Alabama law requires county commissioners to maintain residency within their respective district for the entirety of their term. Marchman was most recently elected to a four-year term as Cullman’s District 2 — defined as the Northwest portion of the county North of U.S. 278 and West of AL Hwy. 31 — representative in November 2022. However, property records indicate Marchman has not owned property within the district since 2021.
Marchman previously told The Times that he has signed a lease agreement with his son, Nathan, for a property located on Alabama Hwy. 157, but admitted he “hasn’t been staying there.” He declined to provide an exact timeline of the events, but said he discovered the house had accrued significant termite damage at some point after he sold the property to Nathan in 2021 which required a total renovation. Marchman said he has been residing at the property he owns, located on County Road 998, while the Hwy. 157 property has remained uninhabitable.
Cullman County Commission Chairman, Jeff Clemmons, said several people had come forward over the past year to voice concerns regarding Marchman’s residency. He said the idea that Marchman may not be living within his mandated district was “concerning,” but believed that enforcing the requirement did not fall on the commission’s shoulders. When reached by phone Monday, July 29, commission attorney, Emily Johnson, said she had recently consulted with counsel at the state level and believed the commission had not been legally obligated to report resident concerns and suggested complaints be filed with an agency with investigative authority.
“The person that has the actual information is the one who needs to report it to another agency, but from this office, there’s nothing really for us to do on this particular issue,” Johnson said.
The Alabama Ethics Commission said it was only able to investigate and enforce the Alabama Ethics Act. The Alabama statute requiring commissioners to live within their district — Section 11-3-1 of the Code of Alabama — is included in different sections of the law.
The Alabama Secretary of State Election Division said it was unauthorized to weigh in on the issue in an email, but suggested concerns be reported through its online portal, to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office or the Cullman County District Attorney.
Multiple messages left with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office have not been responded to as of press time.
District Attorney Champ Crocker provided the following statement to The Times.
“This office has not received, nor are we in possession of any facts or evidence pertaining to Mr. Marchman’s residency nor are we actively participating in any such investigation.”
Lieutenant Chad Whaley with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office said in an email that he had consulted with sheriff Matt Gentry on the issue and that he was told “this did not fall under the scope of the sheriff’s office.”
Gentry instead directed concerns be redirected to the head of the Cullman County Republican Party, Alex Chaney. Chaney said he did not lead the party at the time when Marchman was most recently elected in 2022, but said candidates in each election are vetted by a local committee and said there didn’t appear to be an issue with Marchman’s residence at that time.
“I wasn’t on that committee, but at that time there obviously wasn’t an issue when Marchman qualified. At this point qualifying is done,” Chaney said.
Chaney said he was confident Marchman was questioned in line with the party’s standard qualifying procedures and Marchman confirmed current District 3 Commissioner Kelly Duke — then chairman of the local GOP — asked about his residency ahead of the 2022 primary election.
Duke said he did not recall that specific conversation, but did not dispute that it may have taken place.
“If we did have that conversation, then I would have asked Garry where he was living and just left it at that [when he said the house on Hwy. 157],” Duke said.
After speaking with The Times, Marchman reached out the following day to say he would be placing a Winnebago RV on the Hwy. 157 property. He said the Cullman County Electric Cooperative planned to have power turned on and he would begin staying there throughout the week beginning Wednesday, July 24.
“Did I stay away from that property for a little while? I sure did and I had a good reason to why, but that doesn’t mean it was right. So I’m just going to move back over there [to Hwy. 157] because the state legislation says I have to reside at that address, so that’s what I’m gonna do,” Marchman said.