Polson Commissioners finalize chicken rules, hear COVID-19 update
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Polson City Commissioners approved an ordinance regulating the keeping of chickens in city limits at its May 17 meeting, as well as hearing updates on personnel changes in the city public works department, planned workshops to help better serve the public and the expenditure of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Commissioners gave final approval for an ordinance permitting the keeping of chickens, within certain parameters.
Under the new rules, tenants can have up to six adult hens in a city-inspected coop.
No roosters are allowed, and the coops are required to keep the birds enclosed. The birds aren’t allowed to run free on public grounds, and the enclosure must have a predator-proof building with sufficient space to allow free movement for the hens. It also must be at least 30 feet from any structure on a neighboring property. The birds must be kept in the coop overnight, and all lighting must be powered by solar energy or batteries, not via extension cord. Slaughtering the birds within view of the public is prohibited.
While that was the only action item on the agenda, commissioners heard several other updates.
City Manager Ed Meece told the commissioners that longtime city employee Ashley Walker had been offered the position of public works director.
“I’m sure all of you know Ashley,” Meece said. “He has 24 years of experience with the city, primarily with the water and sewer departments, but he’s also been our interim street superintendent for the past six months ... and he’s done a tremendous job there as well.”
The commissioners expressed their support for the hire. “I think that he is a dedicated, hardworking, very nice young man. I really like the idea that you put him in there,” Commissioner Lou Marchello said.
Meece also detailed the city’s plan to spend $62,000 of the total $622,032 allocated to the city through federal COVID-19 relief funds. A city-wide street assessment report makes up the bulk of the planned spending, at $44,000. HDR Engineering will conduct the assessment.
“The plan here is that they would conduct a street-by-street assessment, starting with our primary routes, of all the streets in the community,” Meece said. “That would allow us then to prioritize which streets need what work first, based on their level of, again, priority within the street system, as well as the work that needs to be done. It will also produce a dollar amount estimate of that work, both on the project work and then in the aggregate, so we can start building that into our capital improvements plan.”
Two events will also be paid for with the COVID-19 relief funds. Polson Bounces Back was an event to promote the local business community. The city contributed $2,000. The city is also holding a ‘Service Summit’ event in which speaker Steve Curtin will hold a workshop with workers from the city and Mission Valley Power and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in order to give training on how to better serve the public. Funding for that event is set for $6,000.
Another $10,000 will be spent to purchase a wide-format printer that will help the Building Inspection and Community Development departments streamline the planning review process.
