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Council meeting news
(Clinton) -- Ordinances governing noise and animals were topics for discussion for the Clinton City Council
Some amendments for exemptions have been approved in an update of the city’s noise ordinance during the Clinton City Council’s committee of the whole session.
The review started after a complaint about church bells was received. The amendments updates the list of exemptions from the noise making provisions and that includes church bells, snow blower operation during certain hours, parades, sports activities and others.
City Administrator Jeffrey Horne said the committee worked hard to make the exemptions were reasonable.
The council approved sending the measure to the next council meeting for consideration. Council member John Rowland was the only ‘no’ vote on moving it ahead.
A limit of ten pets per household was one of the items that drew the most comments during a discussion about an amended and updated animal control ordinance. The effort to update the rules had started in 2008 but had stalled and a recently brought forward again.
The ordinance updates many of the provisions developed with input from the Humane Society, Police Department, local veterinarians and other input.
Police Chief Brian Guy says the ordinance contains a lot of information and compliance by pet owners will be the key. He said with fewer officers and public service personnel the compliance with owner responsibility will be more important then enforcement.
The ordinance contains a limit of ten pets per household. City Attorney Jeff Farwell said the number was chosen after a review of ordinances from other cities that have wide variances from 4 to none.
Police Chief Guy said a limit was inserted due to the rare instances the department has had to handle in the past. The Police Chief said there is currently no limit.
After failing to simply move the plan forward the council agreed to forward the proposal to the full council meeting with a formal public hearing for more input.
Police Chief Guy hoped the council would adopt the overall ordinance at once and not try to adopt it piece by piece. He said this is a whole suite of different controls and enforcement segements and it’s easier to fix everything instead of doing it piece by piece. Guy said the Police Department “would like to see this approved at some point.”
The police chief also suggested the entire 17 page ordinance be made available on the city’s website so citizens could read it.
During the business meeting the council did approved the amended long term control plan with only a couple of questions for clarifications on projects. In earlier discussions the amendment was described as the agreement that gave the city more time and flexibility in address combined sewer overflows into the river.
Written 7/25/2012 by Dave Vickers - KROS News
