By Jim Bloch
The Port Huron City Council has decided not to authorize City Manager James Freed to mail a survey to all residents about keeping chickens in backyards.
The issue had been tabled at the council’s regular meeting June 9. At the council’s meeting June 23, no one moved to bring the issue to a vote.
“There’s no motion on it, so it dies,” said Mayor Anita Ashford, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on YouTube.
The decision essentially puts the onus back on residents to draft a legally binding ordinance and collect enough names to put the issue on the ballot. Once the proposed ordinance has been deemed legal by the city attorney, residents must collect signatures amounting to five percent of registered voters.
“As of today (July 7), the city has 23,227 registered voters,” said City Clerk Cyndee Jonseck via email. “They would need 5% of this number, so roughly around 1,161.”
“If the (residents) are going to put the issue on the ballot, we don’t need to be bothered to do this,” said Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Archibald, who had originally proposed sending out a survey.
The easiest route to allowing chickens to be raised in the city would be to resurrect the fowl ordinance drafted by City Attorney Todd Shoudy, which died in a tie vote 3-3 on April 28. Council members Bob Mozurak, Mayor Ashford and Archibald voted against the ordinance; members Barb Payton, Conrad Haremza and Jeff Pemberton voted for the ordinance. Member Teri Lamb was absent, creating the tie that meant the ordinance failed.
In the four subsequent regular meetings of the council, no one has made a motion for a revote.
Residents have spoken consistently in support of raising chickens locally during the public comment portions of the meetings beginning in February.
Rachel Farquhar has been the most steadfast resident in support of the issue, addressing council during public comment at every regular meeting since March 10, when five people spoke in favor of chickens. Farquhar criticized sending out a survey as a waste of taxpayers’ money. Instead, she advocated allowing the raising of chickens on a 12-month trial basis. As in the defeated ordinance, no roosters would be allowed. Flocks would be small, and coops standardized.
Backyard chickens offer a simple solution to rising food costs in the form of fresh eggs, Farquhar argued. Grocery bills would dip. Food security and self-reliance would increase.
Four other people spoke in favor of the ordinance during public comment June 23.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
