City Council Deals With Chicken Issue

Wolf Point Mayor Chris Dschaak said complaints from residents led to the chicken ordinance being a topic during the most recent Wolf Point City Council meeting.

“We had some complaints,” Dschaak said. “The city wasn’t aware that people had chickens in the yards.”

Dschaak noted that the city has an ordinance in place that states that no poultry, chickens or ducks are allowed within city limits.

“No farm livestock is allowed in the city,” the mayor added.

He said the initial complaint led to the determination that a few people have chickens.

Dschaak said he hasn’t talked to any Wolf Point residents who have chickens, but he knows there is a petition on social media wishing to allow chickens in city limits.

“As always, I encourage active participation within the City of Wolf Point,” Dschaak said.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21.

Dschaak points out that changing an ordinance legally takes a few months to accomplish. There needs to be a first reading and a second reading performed, before action can be taken on it by the council.

“Best case scenario for an ordinance is a 60-day window for it to take effect,” Dschaak said.

He feels that the Oct. 1, deadline for local police to start enforcing the chicken ordinance is ample time.

The mayor noted that the keeping of live chickens has been a hot topic in communities such as Glasgow, Scobey and Froid during the past few years.

“There’s been a lot of towns dealing with it,” he said.

On a related topic, Dschaak said that law enforcement will be stressing another ordinance in the upcoming months. All non-movable vehicles that can’t be operated will be towed after five days.