If Chattanooga city human resources officials do their jobs, removing questions about criminal record from the job application form won't make a difference.
The Chattanooga City Council voted 7-1 earlier this week to do just that.
However, the measure - which does not apply to private businesses - does not keep human resources personnel from asking an applicant about a possible criminal record during a personal interview or during the process of a background check, which is required of all city workers.
The city charter also requires city employees to be registered to vote in Tennessee, and that status won't necessarily be a given for applicants who have been convicted of a felony. People convicted of a felony lose their right to vote, but most are allowed to ask that it be reinstated after they have served their time in prison.
However, a separate measure that will be considered in several weeks would change the city charter's requirements that employees be registered to vote to a requirement that they only be residents of Tennessee. A person who registers to vote must be a United States citizen. Without the voter registration requirement, a city government applicant's status as a U.S. citizen would be of no consequence.
That measure at least deserves more scrutiny and debate.
But city leaders are correct about applicants who have been convicted of a felony. In some cases, the felony was a figurative - and in some cases a literal - lifetime ago. If they want to work and their background check comes back clean, they deserve the same opportunity as other qualified applicants.