The Owen Common Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 24. During Public Comment, Dan Hooks said he was against allowing the Woodland to light fireworks on the 4th of July. This had been approved at the prior meeting. Another resident said that her dogs were scared of fireworks. She is against people lighting them a week before and a week after July 4 and that is a bigger problem in her opinion. She said that last year Officer Haugstad had been called to deal with the problem. She felt bad for animals and veterans. Hooks said that last year fireworks had landed on the hood of his truck.
The proposed Chicken Ordinance was discussed by the council. There was a question about having chickens on a vacant lot if you owned it. Alderperson Ken Martine said that the people who already have chickens should be grandfathered in. Alderperson Pam Jaffke agreed that if they weren’t creating a problem for the neighbors, they should be grandfathered in. Martine wondered how many people would be affected. Community member Rick Nelson asked if four was the standard, could someone have more chickens if the neighbors approved it. Jaffke said they need to set a reasonable limit as it is in the city. DPW Chad Smith asked how many square feet were needed per chicken. The ordinance says four square feet. Mayor Scott Jalling said they would still have to meet the setbacks. Martine said that would mean a 6x8 foot space for the person with 12 chickens. Jalling pointed out that other communities also have a limit of four. Alderperson Jason Thornton said he was only aware of two people in town that currently have chickens. Clerk Tracy Rau said the issue came up because of the number of people asking for chickens. Martine felt they should start at a four chicken limit and that they could amend the ordinance later if needed. Jalling said he could see those who already have chickens being grandfathered in with the approval of neighbors, but they would still need to get a permit. There was a suggestion to send it to the city attorney with noted changes and to bring it back at the July 8 meeting. Thornton felt the penalty for violating the ordinance should be $10/day/chicken, rather than just $10 per day. Martine asked when the current chicken owners would have to get their permit. The answer was once the ordinance takes effect. Thornton also questioned whether they had to register them with DATCP. Jaffke said she could check. Any action on the ordinance was postponed until the next meeting.
The picnic license for the Horse Pull and Centennial events on July 19 was approved as were operator licenses for Phil Greschner and Rocky Lehr.
Clerk Rau said the auditors had asked about doing a TIF #4 audit at a cost of $8,000-$9,000. The TIF expires in 2037. The auditors said that some municipalities audit their TIFs when they are 30 percent complete, and definitely when they are 100 percent complete. Rau felt that Ehlers keeps track of TIF activity. She said that their regular audit is done for 2024, but they don’t have it yet. Martine felt the cost was too high if it is not something that is required. The council voted not to do an audit at this time.
The council approved proceeding with filing a conventional rate case for a water rate increase with the PSC. DPW Smith said they have started the paperwork. He also felt the PSC needs to take a look at what Withee is selling water to Owen for, which is a rate that the PSC had previously set.
The CMAR (Compliance Maintenance Annual Report) was approved. DPW Smith said they had three exceedances last year because of high flows. The hauler program has brought in 51,000 gallons of sewage. They rated well on plant performance, but he said it was nip and tuck in the winter when the bugs in the lagoons aren’t as active. The ponds had 131,000 gallons in leakage, but that could be from evaporation. Matt Bottlemy is now fully certified, so the city has two operators. They also rated well on finance management. Overall, they had a 4.0 GPA.
It was reported that the Fire District was meeting on Thursday to see if they plan to move forward with a new fire hall and to learn about grants. Smith said they need to bore without damaging the corn planted there.
Under the Mayor’s Report, Jalling said he had met with Rocky Lehr, Phil Greschner and the 4-H about the equipment in the 4-H trailer. They want to cut a hole in the wall of the storage area in the concession stand and put the fryer in that area. He asked if a Parks meeting was needed to approve this, if so, he felt it needed to be done in the near future. He said that Aaron Ruggles and Ross Kaz would do some of the work. He also suggested having the attorney present for a closed session on the police agreement at the next meeting. He, Smith and Ray Kilty met with some housing people and gave them a copy of the Countryside Estates covenants. They haven’t heard anything back from them.