TOWER— The city council here gave final approval late last week to a new ordinance allowing the keeping of up to five hens within the city limits. Acting Mayor Joe Morin presided over the early special meeting, held Aug. 11, with both Mayor Dave Setterberg and council member Bob Anderson absent.
The city held the special meeting to avoid missing a 60-day deadline for action on the question, after city residents used the rarely invoked initiative and referendum provision of the city charter to force the city to act or put the question up for a public vote. Residents have urged the city periodically to allow chickens in the city, but city officials had previously managed to avoid a change to the city’s longstanding prohibition on chickens along with a wide variety of other domestic livestock.
Residents, using the petition cited in the charter, managed to gather a sufficient number of signatures to force the council’s hand and the result was an amendment to Ordinance 20A, which removed chickens from the list of prohibited livestock. Then, the council gave a second reading and formal adoption to Ordinance 90, which includes a laundry list of requirements for the keeping of chickens in the city.
The adopted version of the new ordinance included some changes from the first reading. Under the final version, residents will be allowed to butcher chickens in the city as long as it is done indoors. The new version also eliminates an earlier requirement to bury dead chickens at least two feet deep, now advising simply that dead chickens must be disposed of properly. The new version also strikes a previous prohibition on the handling of chicks by children under five and adults over 65. The council noted that the age recommendations come from the Centers for Disease Control and they opted to refer to those guidelines on the city’s chicken application, rather than include it as an ordinance provison.
The new version also adds a $75 weekly fine for failure to correct identified infractions. Any new chicken coops will also need to pass city inspection before homeowners will be allowed to order chickens.
The council did receive some critical feedback on the ordinance changes from residents Pam Abrahamson and Heidi Raj, who expressed concern that the keeping of chickens could attract more predators to town. Abrahamson also questioned how the city planned to enforce the new ordinance. “Will we have a chicken cop?” she asked, eliciting laughs from the council and others in attendance.
Morin said enforcement will likely be handled the same as other provisions of the ordinance, based on complaints made by residents about potential violations. “We don’t have anyone who looks for violations, but if they’re made known to us, we can take action,” he said.
Clerk-treasurer Michael Schultz noted that the ordinance change isn’t necessarily permanent. “There is a process for amending,” he said. “If find that there are too many chickens in six months, we can make changes,” he said.