City chicken decision may come back to roost

By: 
Jason Ferguson

A familiar debate pecked back up at the Dec. 19 meeting of the Custer City Council, as a city resident, Chuck Ferraro, was on the agenda to discuss the possibility of the city allowing residents to keep chickens in their yards.
“I think a lot of other cities have navigated that process,” Ferraro said. “Cities as big as New York City all the way down to Keystone and Sturgis. I would just love to see us look at that as an option.”
Alderwoman Jeannie Fischer, who was on the city council the last time the issue arose in 2019, asked Ferraro if he was aware how the previous attempt to allow chickens in town ended, to which he said yes. At that time, the council passed a first reading of an ordinance that would have allowed chickens in town, but the vote failed 3-2 when the second reading came around, with alderwoman Dixie Whittaker changing her vote to a no vote. Fischer voted in favor of chickens both times at that time. Nina Nielsen is the other remaining member of the council from that time, and cast a vote against allowing the chickens both times.
However, the council and city Mayor Bob Brown made it clear they don’t want to be the ones who decide whether the chickens should be allowed. Instead, Brown told the audience, he encouraged Ferraro to take out a petition and see that the issue makes the city’s ballot in June, leaving the town’s population to have the final say on the issue.
“I would like to have broader voices heard from,” Fischer said, indicating she was also in favor of it being put to a vote of city residents. “In the past we’ve heard from vocal groups for and against..there is no way to equate that to how many people feel that way. That’s why the ballot initiative really seems the fair way to decide that. It gives us as a council the most guidance as to how we respond to what people really want.”
Ferraro was informed as to how he could initiate the ballot process, and that an attorney would write an explanation on the ballot as to what people would be voting for or not voting for when the time came. Ferraro made it clear both in his form to speak to the council and during the council meeting he was not in favor of roosters being a part of the chickens allowed instead writing he would like people to be able to have up to eight laying hens, which could provide people a couple dozen eggs in a week.
“It isn’t like, ‘let’s bring in 200 chickens per family and compete with businesses,’” he said. “I can definitely see why it would be a good idea to have more information to the public and possibly figure out a way to put it on the ballot so everyone has a say and what they are saying yes to, or what they are saying no to. Being able to have solid information about what it is we are trying to accomplish is a good idea.”
When the issue was raised in 2019, among the arguments made against the chickens were the attraction of predators such as skunks, foxes, etc., the bad smell of chicken waste, the impression having chickens in town would give to visitors, the feathers flying from chickens moulting, or for some, an overwhelming fear of the animals.
One woman in the audience raised some of those concerns again at the Dec. 19 meeting, wondering how the pens would look, and if they would be cleaned the way they are supposed to be cleaned.
“I can see the pros for it and the pros against it. Eggs are expensive in the store,” she said. “I also have neighbors who don’t take care of their places now. Am I going to have to look at this stuff?”
Fischer said those are the issues people have to weigh when they went to vote on the issue, and alderwoman Peg Ryan said all of those types of issues, as well as who would enforce the ordinance, would have to be spelled out in an ordinance if city residents were to vote to allow the chickens. The city finance officer told Ferraro the ordinance that was to be put in place in 2019 is still available at city hall if he wanted to view it or use it as a basis for a proposed new ordinance.
“I know there are definitely reasons why people have been against it,” Ferraro said. “Other cities have navigated that process, rather than just saying, ‘well, there’s going to be a problem so let’s not do that. Everybody has dogs in town. Dogs are sometimes a problem. We have learned to navigate that.”
In other news from the Dec. 19 meeting, the council:
• Heard from Ferraro on another matter, as he suggested the city office use a cost manual when it comes to building permits.
“That way it takes it out of the hands of people who haven’t sat down and figured out ‘what am I supposed to be paying myself hourly to build my house,’ for example,” he said. “It would help streamline that process. Cost manuals are very easy to use.”
The council said it would look into the possibility.
• Approved giving $2,500 to the Custer Area Economic Development Corp. (CAEDC) so that it can fund an updated housing needs study. Custer County has agreed to pay $2,500 as well, with the state matching the funds from the government. Tanya Olson of the CAEDC was on hand at the meeting and said the last housing study was published in 2018 and needs updating due to all that has changed in the past four years.
“To me, it’s a no-brainer. It’s critical,” alderman Todd Pechota said.
• Listened to the 2023 marketing campaign presentation for the Custer Business Improvement District (BID) board, which will use its funds and matching funds from the state to once again market Custer for tourism. This year the company enlisted the help of Love Communications to develop the program, which involves a multitude of tactics that were discussed by Love representatives. The BID board will spend $110,000 on the program, which the state will match.

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