Jan. 7, 2019 – West Bend, WI – 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.
Per statute the ordinance must come before the council one more time for a second reading and vote.
The issue will be addressed at the Common Council’s next meeting, Monday, Jan. 21.
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.
This reminds me why I didn’t for vote for our current mayor. Chickens are a noisy, smelly nuisance. If you want your kids to learn about FARM animals, take them to a FARM.
I’ve lived in urban residential areas with chickens and have had neighbors who have had chickens. They’re not noisy or smelly. There simply is no legitimate reason to not allow someone to own chickens, especially those kept within a run. Barking dogs and stray cats are far more of a public nuisance (and that’s coming from a dog lover and former dog and cat owner).