The Owen Ordinance Committee met on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 to discuss three items.

The first item was requested by Clerk Tracy Rau. She was asking for a change to Section 2-1-5 of the Owen Ordinances in regard to the number of election inspectors required for an election. State statute requires seven, but the Common Council may reduce that number to three. Rau wanted the number of election inspectors for each election to be at her discretion. She said they wouldn’t have needed seven for the April 7 election. After looking at the wording of the ordinance and state statute, it was felt that the city clerk could decide how many inspectors she needs at an election and report it to the council at the meeting before the election. No changes were made to the ordinance.

The second item on the agenda was to discuss Section 2-2-10 Meetings of the Common Council. Mayor Scott Jalling had asked for this to be put on the agenda. His question was does the council have to vote to cancel a meeting or can the mayor just cancel it. The Organizational Meeting on the third Tuesday is for the purpose of establishing rules for the year and the council could change the number of meetings per month and when they are held. Current city ordinance says they have the organizational meeting on the third Tuesday in April. It also says that regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. Meetings are currently held at 6 p.m. After looking at State Statute 62.11, it was decided that Committee Chair Police Chief Patrick Fehlman should prepare something for the next council meeting that copies state statute. State statute says that meetings shall be held once per month on the first Tuesday unless a different day is fixed by the Council. More frequent regular meetings can be established by the council. The mayor has the authority to call special meetings. It was felt by the committee that if the city ordinance were changed and the time and date of meetings set at the organizational meeting that the council could hold one meeting per month on the second Tuesday at 6 p.m. and that the mayor could call a second meeting for the fourth Tuesday, if needed.

The final item on the agenda was in regard to Section 7-1-22 limiting the number of dogs and cats allowed in the city. There was a conflict in the ordinance that will be corrected along with a few other changes. In section 7-1-22 (b)(1) wording will be changed to say “a total of three (3) dogs or three (3) cats, or a combined total of four. Item (c) will be eliminated and the items following re-lettered. Section (e)(2) of the ordinance will say, “Once a cat is trapped, be it feral or domestic, it will be impounded within the city for a minimum of 24 hours. After 24 hours, if the cat is not claimed, it will be up to the Police Chief to determine whether it is returned to the owner, removed to a new location, destroyed or transported to the humane society.” These changes will be recommended to the council along with them looking into a possible ordinance to license cats.

The committee is planning to meet again on Monday, April 20.