The Blue Earth City Council continued their discussion about chickens and bees at their council meeting on Tuesday.
City Attorney David Frundt brought the ordinance for a second reading. If passed, the ordinance would repeal the lawful keeping of urban chickens and honeybees by permit and declare chicken permits already issued valid until their date of expiration.
Council Member John Huisman told the council that he would like the council to consider voting it down and have Frundt draw up an ordinance that separates the bees from the chickens, so the bees could be denied and the chickens could go forward.
Mayor Rick Scholtes agreed, but urged the council to approve the ordinance first, with the reasoning that a complete repeal of the City Code’s chicken and honeybee subsections would make it easier to draft an entirely new ordinance governing urban chickens.
The council passed Ordinance 22-16 on a 5-1 vote, with Huisman opposed.
Huisman then motioned to direct Frundt to draw up a new definition of farm animals, removing chickens from the definition.
The motion passed on a 4-2 vote, with council members Russ Erichsrud and Ann Hanna opposed.