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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-16 PACKET 01.B.o 1. B Cottage Grove PUBLIC SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE COMMISSION MINUTES OF MEETING May 14, 2013 Pursuant to due notice, a meeting of the Public Safety , Health and Welfare Commission was held at the City Hall. 01.A. Call to Order: The May 14. 2013, meeting of the Cottage Grave Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission was called to order at 7:00 pm. Members Present: Lori Hedican, Nick Macie`ikWSki. AJ Janssen, Dave Barkow, Jodi Lewis, Kell* Eigenheer, Kent Griffith d$ _ Staff Presets: Deputy Director of Publk °4afety Peter Koerner. Council Liaison Derrick Lehrke, Senior Planner J p McCool 01B. Approval of Minutes , Commission Chair AJ Janssen predishera ;March 19, 2013 minutes of the Public Safety, Health and Weli Commissi 9 and the April 30, 2013 Joint Public Works Commission and Puplie Sa(@ty, Health iqd Welfare Commission meeting minutes for review. On a motion by Commission me Nick Me wski, seconded by Lon Hedican the MarcOTO, 2013 mil and April 30, 3 minutes were accepted and approved by the GOlpinissipp'. ,Motion ciaAes. x 01C. Approvalvf Agentla T, Commission Chair AJ Janssen; presented the May 14, 2013 agenda of the Public Safety; Health and Welfare Commission for review. On a motion by Commission member Doe Harkow, seconded by NFck Maciejewski, the May 14, 2013 agenda was accepted and approved by the Motion carries. 2. OPEN F ORUM Commission Chair AJ Janssen invited citizens present to address the Commission regarding any matters tha,$.Were not on the approved agenda. There being no items, Commission Chair AJ Janssen closed the Open Forum segment of the meeting. 3. Community Development 03A Poultry/Fowl Review and Recommendation— Captain Pete Koerner, Senior Planner John MoCcol and Mary Britton Clouse from the Chicken Run Rescue organization Page 2 PSHWC Minutes May 14, 2013 Captain Koerner made a short presentation to the Commission on Poultry and Fowl in Urban Residential Neighborhoods. As a result of the April 20, 2013 All City Commission meeting with City Council, the City Council has requested that the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission review this matter. The Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission has been asked to address or comment on the following: Enforcement • Disease /Health Implications • Predatoranimals • Vannints/Rodentissues When the Commission met in January 2013, the Commission recommended not making any amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Animal G;pntrol Ordinance to allow poultry and fowl in the backyard. Captain Koerner then highlighted someof the comments from that meeting made by the Commission, such as who was going to enforce some of these issues, who does the Inspections vs the enforcement, also some concerns about the coop standards where the health implications were brought up, what would be the lot sizes and then neighborhood permissions. Captain Koerner then invited Community Development Department Senior Planneryohn McCool to make his presentation. John McCool provided the Commission with research information that was collected over the pastsgveal months regarding chickens in backyards. There were 52 cities contacted. 35 cities did not allow chickens in the backyard urban lot. 17 cities allowed chickens with coop, pen minimum lot, licensing etc. requirements. Also received resource material from Chicken Run Rescue both for the pros and cons about raising chickens. Last Decemberthe city di "Survey Monkey° with 237 responses. The majority of responses were there war oncerns with having chickens in urban lots. He then introduced Mary Britton Clouse from the Chicken Run Rescue organization. Mary Britton Clouse provided! the Commission her observations and her expenence operating Chicken Run Rescue. Most of the chickens that she has in her care are either abandoned /strays, owner surrendered or picked up by the Minneapolis Animal Control off ca. She stated she has been working with Minneapolis Animal Control since 2001 and the Animal Humane Society since 2007 and on how this lad" has expladed. Last year, the city of Minneapolis issued 200 permits. She contacted them last weak and they advised her that they are receiving 25 permit applications per week, which means 1,200 applications per year There was some discussion regarding the care of and lack thereof, by people having chickens as well as veterinarians that are experienced avian care, only about 20, 3 which are avian experts. Page 3 PSHWC Minutes May 14, 2013 The floor was opened for public comment Mr Robert Burman, 9476 Harkness Ct . approached the Commission. He advised that he does not have Chickens, however, he does have four ducks. He talked about possibly allowing 4 — 6 ducks/chickens per household, coop size, lot size, and acreage. He mentioned the discussion about neighbors being a big factor and having 100% approval, he said that ff someone moves in next to him or adjacent to his property, he does not have .a say on whether they can have a cat or dog. He also mentioned the health issue of dogs and cats leaving feces in yams. He would like to have the Commission Consider his Comments and having his ducks allowed in the city . John McCool advised the Commission that in contacting other communities, they are attempting to get quantitative data or information', how much time is used for Code enforcement, how many calls do you respond to because of a crowing rooster. Cottage Grove does not provide that kind of detail of what those complaints have been or much staff time it takes to montor tho things No city has that kind of detail in their records. They reply that they respondeddlow long did itUne to resolve the issue /problem, they don't keep those records There were many other Concerns ie: Noise reports of rodents, diseases — transmitted from bird to humans and hindi bird were also disbeSyed. B Ricky Morison approached thegCommission on behalf of his daughter who fives next door to Mr. Burtman (duck owner) and expressed concerns regarding the noise issue made by the ducks. This happenswhenever there is movement in the yard next to the ducks, is on the deck, in the yard and have to talk above the ducks noise. He stated that now that spring as arrived9the windows are open and his grandson has developed a respiratory ailment (allergies) which he never had before. He added that the kitchen window is 40 feet from the kennel where the ducks are kept and it's not cleaned- He worries that because duck droppings seep into the ground and when dry, became airborne and enter through the open amdows. After a lengthy tliscosslon on 3 motion by Commission member Jodi Lewis, seconded by Commission membe(4u7F Hedicen, recommending to Council not to amend the ordinance language. Six ages, one nay by Commission Chair Janssen. Motion caries. Councilman Lehrke asked the Commission to discuss the topic brought up by Councilman Theide that is In their packets, regarding amending the ordinance definition language referencing dogs and cats Wools ". The Commission did believe that by doing so, than this would mean allowing other animals, is chickens, ducks, pygmy horses, goats, etc., to live inside the house as do dogs and Cats. On a motion by Commission member Jodi Lewis, seconded! by Commission Chair Janssen, recommending not amending the language of pets in the ordinance . Motion caries. Page 4 PSHWC Minutes May 14, 2013 4. Old business None at this time 5. New Business Nona at this time 6. RESPONSE TO PREVIOUSLY RAISED COMME1IIT AND REQUESTS None at this time 7. COMMISSION COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Commission member Jodi Lewis advised the Commission that the Cottage Grove Lions have partnered with Collage Grove Middle School and Oltman Middle School and are doing a campaign on anti - bullying at the middle schools and on Saturday, May 18, 2013, there will be a 5K runAwalk called "Stani{IF9 Strong" and all proceeds go to the Standing Strong Foundation which will send each 8 grader in the city to a. Courage Retreat through Youth Frontiers next year The mission of the Courage Retreat is anti - bullying. Invites anybody to come; registration is same day staling at 7:30 and the race starts at 9:00. Commission Chair AJ Janssen mounted the Commission that3here is a young child that lives in his neighborhood who%' and waq,requesfimg that a "Deaf Child" sign be placed in his neighborhood as he has worsens for the safety of this deaf child. He added that he was informed by the city that this type of signage is not part of the signage policy d are not pl in n@Ighborroods. He would like the city to review this arq.¢han 7q low the lacemedt the sign to help protect this child, before somehappens. 8. STAFF REPORTS 08.A Police - - Deputy Director Koerner informed the Commission ofthe following: Officer Pat Nickle retuhted on May 14, 2013 after of yearlong deployment The Police Department has received the much anticipated Speed Trailer that was funded by donations from the Crime Board. He added that officers am currently being trained on how it functions. He hopes to put it near the splash pad in the near future as weather gets warmer_ Looking at creating a request process so if citizens want it in their neighborhood, this will help. Construction season is here. Be aware of the construction zones. The day is placing construction updates on the city web page. Page 5 PSHWC Minutes May 14,2013 Police Hiring — Did interviews a couple of weeks ago and doing . the background one candidate. Within the next few weeks all vacant positions should be filled. Reserves —Two new CSO started, Andrew Lemay and William Hei both have experience here as Reserves and studying to become police officers, and are currently in training. O813 Fire —Fire Chief Redenius informed the Commission of the following: He informed that calls are at 866 total calls for EMS and Fire response. We are ahead of last year's pace by about 20 -some calls, Some weekends have been busy, about 40 calls, which include from 4:00 pm. Friday afternoon until Monday morning at 4:00 ri Our crews are staying busy. We will be hiring in June This weak we will be interviewing 6 people for one position and then the Interview committee will recommend the top 3 -4 candidates to interview with the Fire Chief, Director of Public Safety and Human Resources representative and get a strong candidate from that interview. He will also be budgeting for two more full time personnel for 2014 Getting more requests for appearances at d Yent events and trying to schedule with personnel and if available, will at least,si by st(d shake some hands and let the kids go on some lruG s and /or ambulances. On the Cddncil agenda to"row is a request to sell a fire engine on ahoy which is the one we repli with in Octt6r 2012. He will keep the Commission informed it sells. Coming the first pan of June6 part of our Shared Services agreement with Woodbury, there will be a training exercise and we will be sending over our training trailer and 4 trainers. Last fall Woodbury watched Cottage Grove train in an entanglement box and would like to train as they have never done it. We recently had Fire Fighter 1 & 2 and HazMat training with new recruits, which included Director Woolery . Some can start on the street and others need EMT training. 0i Council Recap- Council Liaison Lehrke advised the Commission that if they had any questions prior t0 the meeting regarding the meeting agenda items that they are Page 6 PSHWC Minutes May 14. 2013 welcome to contact him at anytime He offered to talk before or after the meetings as well. 09. ADJOURN 09A. Mohan by Commission member Jodi Lewis, seconded by Commission member Kent Griffith to adjourn the meeting at 9:16 p.m. Motion carried. Recpecffully submitted, Cyndee Engler Administative Secretary