By Charlie McKee
The Town Council voted to approve the “Chicken Ordinance”, Ordinance No. 1188, on Tuesday evening, Nov. 8, with new amendments to address the public's concerns. Councilors Cynthia Bettison and Michael Morones once again stressed that they had attempted to achieve a balance in this ordinance. While ensuring resolution of the pressing issue of citizens being cited without warning for keeping chickens within the town limits, they also weighed local public input received by phone and email; their own polling of local opinion; and research into other municipalities' experiences and similar laws, as well as reviewing health reports from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other sources.
Town citizens again testified that the individual right of citizens to keep chickens helps fill the critical need for food security in the community, while others protested the new ordinance as approaching a “nanny state” in its restrictions. The Council tried very hard to reach a compromise and balance in the law by amending its own ordinance prior to its vote for approval. Highlights of the changes to the existing Chapter 6 of the Town of Silver City Municipal Code are as follows:
· Each household is allowed up to 6 (amended upward from 4) female chickens by permit;
· Outdoor chicken enclosures must be in the backyard with adequate space defined in the ordinance;
· Chickens must be treated humanely and fed dry food, kitchen scraps (amended to allow the ecological and economical use of scraps), and clean water;
· Chickens may be killed within the corporate Town limits (amended to alleviate the economic hardship of taking chickens elsewhere for butchering); and
· In instances of violations to the ordinance, citizens will be afforded time to achieve compliance with the law via an “Order To Take Corrective Action” prior to citation.
During the public input session, several citizens applauded the Council for its consideration in providing the opportunity in the Ordinance for violators to take corrective action for example, getting rid of more than 6 chickens prior to being cited. This is a significant improvement over the existing Code, which requires immediate citation of violators.
In Tuesday's meeting, the Council also approved Ordinance No. 1186 (also known as Plan A-1) to re-district the Town as a result of the 2010 Census. While the Councilors and Mayor agreed that both Plan A-1 and Plan B (Ordinance No. 1187) achieved the appropriate population redistributions required by law, Plan A-1 did more to prevent dilution of the minority Hispanic vote. Councilor Jamie Thomson's was the single vote against Ordinance No. 1186, and the Ordinance was approved. There was no motion to approve Ordinance No. 1187, and it was therefore declared dead.
In other Town business, the Town Council approved the following items:
A. Ordinance No. 1189 amending the Planning and Zoning Commission to have 7 members;
B. Notice of Intent (NOI) to Adopt Ordinance No. 1190 to authorize the sale of Town property on Chihuahua Hill, San Vicente subdivision, to a private citizen; and
C. Destruction of 152 boxes of archived records from the Executive, Finance-Accounts Payable, Finance-Utility Billing, Municipal Court, Police, Recreation Center, and Public Works Departments, as approved by the NM State Records department.
In addition, Town Manager Alex Brown reported that $6.3 million had been received and banked by the Town as a result of the municipal bond issuance of Oct. 25, 2011. This allows immediate debt restructuring and reduction of the Town's interest payments, as well as providing $5 million for Town projects.
Lastly, during the meeting, Mayor Marshall and Councilors Morones and Ray announced their intent to run for re-election to their respective positions in the upcoming March 2012 election.