On Monday, the Blue Earth City Council conducted a first reading of an ordinance allowing residents to keep chickens if they comply with various restrictions.
The ordinance redefines chickens as separate from the city’s definition of farm animals, which are otherwise not permitted to be kept on city property.
The ordinance also specifies restrictions for urban chicken keeping, including the necessary location and size for the chicken coop, the number of chickens one household may keep and the conditions under which the chickens’ coop must be maintained.
The council voted unanimously to approve the draft of the ordinance as written and scheduled its second reading for the next council meeting on Monday, October 3rd.
The council also received an update regarding the replacement of three Blue Earth Fire Department Officers who resigned their positions following a disagreement with Blue Earth’s Fire Chief.
There are applicants for all three positions and interviews for the vacant positions will be conducted by a personnel committee over the next few weeks.
The committee will recommend candidates to the City Council on October 17th.
In other business, the council set the preliminary budget for 2023 at $2,064,288. The amount represents a 15% increase over last year’s levy. The council will be working to get the final budget down to around a 3.5% increase as in year’s past.
The council will conduct its budgetary meeting and public hearing on December 5th at 6pm.