April 9, 2019 – West Bend, WI – It was January 21, 2019 when West Bend Mayor Kraig Sadownikow cast the deciding vote to allow chickens in the City of West Bend.
For the third time in his tenure as Mayor of West Bend Kraig Sadownikow cast the deciding vote and this time it was on the issue of whether to allow chickens in West Bend.
“The property rights topic is important to me,” said Sadownikow. “We allow lots of other types of animals in the community that have less restrictions than chickens do. We have lots of other fowl in the city; most folks will recognize there’s a growing population of turkeys around West Bend and chickens give a great opportunity for education for kids, with the collection of eggs and the number of folks taking advantage of proposed legislation will probably be pretty limited.”
The vote that led to the mayor’s tiebreaker was 4 – 4; Aldermen voting in favor of allowing chickens included aldermen Mike Christian, Andrew Chevalier, Chris Jenkins and Justice Madl.
Alderman opposing chickens included John Butschlick, Rich Kasten, Steve Hoogester, and Roger Kist.
Following the vote Sadownikow said his kids may even venture into becoming a chicken family. “I have a couple of girls lobbying for a dog and I may be able to trade four chickens instead,” he said. .
On a history note: The other times the mayor cast a deciding vote were on the topics: 1) allowing deer hunting in West Bend parks to cut down the size of the herd and 2) January 2016 – approving the permit for the Downtown West Bend Farmers’ Market.
Since that vote, how many people have filed for a $50 license to raise chickens in West Bend?
The answer is zero. Nobody has taken out a permit.
By the way… baby chicks arrive at the West Bend Elevator on April 15.
Any chance you could do an update on this story. I’d be interested to know how many licenses have been issued and how many complaints have been received.