Some may say this is eggs-actly what the community needs; others may say the town council ran a fowl. But regardless, the Crothersville Town Council last Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance to allow chickens to be raised inside the town limits.
Up until now, raising domestic livestock was prohibited.
But with the price of eggs ($2 a dozen as of this writing) and the insect eating prowess of Gallus Domesticus, several local residents quietly pushed the council to allow chickens to be raised.
But before the anti-chicken movement starts to raise a stink about the smell, the council limited chickens to 4 per household. And they must be contained not allowed to free-range through the neighborhood. The town even specifies how, in what manner, and the size of chicken confinement complexes.
Lest residents be concerned about noise, in a move which some could consider sexual discrimination, no roosters are allowed in town.
But before residents obtain their chickens, they must apply to the town for an Urban Chicken Permit at a cost of $20 per year. Potential chicken raisers must provide a photo of their chicken confinement system for the town’s approval.
The new ordinance (found on page 6 in this week’s Times) even spells out quality of life matters for the feathered fowl.
Residents found in violation of the town’s newest ordinance can be fined $100 a day and up to $2,500 daily until the violation is remedied.
The ordinance passed 3-0 with council members Terry Richey and Aaron Mays not in attendance. (They had other obligations, they didn’t chicken out.)
The Crothersville Police Department will be getting a new home. The council reached an agreement to purchase the present Methodist Church Annex on North Armstrong Street for $124,900.
After bids came in at newly twice that amount to construct a pole-frame building at the site of the current police station on Moore Street, the council began looking at alternative existing building locations in town.
In addition to learning they would be getting a new police station, police spending requests (up to $2,425 for new stop sticks and up to $4,761.25 for two tasers) were also approved by the council last Tuesday.
The council is still looking for a member of the public to serve on a Planning & Zoning Ordinance Committee. Councilmen Jamey Greathouse and Chad Wilson, Redevelopment Committee members Lenvel ‘Butch’ Robinson and Alisa Sweazy, and local resident Belinda Maxie have been appointed to the ordinance formation committee.
“We just annexed in a lot of property which has doubled the size of the town of Crothersville. We need to institute planning and zoning to make sure future development is done in a proper way,” said council member Jamey Greathouse.
In other business, the council:
•Approved a 3.2% salary increase for employees and approved increasing the office second deputy’s pay to $18.50 per hour.
•Approved spending up to $2,800 for seal coating street maintenance.
•Set the official town trick or treat night for Monday, Oct. 31, from 6-9 p.m.