SHELBY, Ohio – After a year of discussing, writing and rewriting legislation, the Shelby livestock ordinances are dead. But the issue of livestock in the city remains in limbo.
Three ordinances regarding livestock within the city limits of Shelby were postponed indefinitely during the Dec. 7 meeting of Shelby City Council. Members of council unanimously agreed to shelve the measures.
However, the past year has done little to change the situation for Greg and Deanna Ratliff, neighbors of Brian and Samantha Wilson at 121 Broadway St. The Ratliffs’ complaints about the Wilsons’ unkempt livestock in January prompted council to investigate the impact of livestock kept within Shelby city limits.
“You want to know if things have changed with our neighbors? Hahaha!” said Greg Ratliff in an email. “They (the Wilsons), with their juvenile mentality, are taking this postponement as a personal victory and are just having a heyday with the verbal abuse and juvenile postings (on Facebook).”
Richland Source reached out to Brian and Samantha Wilson for comment on Dec. 8 and 9, but received no reply.
Ratliff said members of council have assured Shelby citizens that penalties would stiffen for livestock owners who violate the ordinances — and that landlords would receive the same penalties as the tenants that are creating the messes.
“What I didn’t like was the direction they were taking things,” Ratliff noted in his email. “They were talking about taking everyone’s animals away because my neighbors can’t take care of theirs.
“Especially when it was going to take the animal experience away from the 4-H and FFA children and these neighbors just plain didn’t understand, and still don’t, that they were the cause of it.”
Council member Pat Carlisle stated during the Dec. 7 meeting that council agreed to indefinitely postpone the ordinances after many amendments diluted the original purpose of the legislation.
“Because these ordinances have been talked about so many different ways and so many different times, we have actually made so many changes that it got to a point where it became necessary to consolidate and think back through,” said Carlisle. “I think in 2016 this issue will still be before council. It just needs some of the public recommendations accompanying the ordinances, especially upping the penalty so violators will find themselves in a much different situation than they currently do.
“I look forward to council getting back to that.”
With the new livestock ordinances indefinitely postponed, livestock owners in Shelby will continue to adhere to the 2009 ordinances. That legislation states no person shall keep any hoofed animals, Lagomorphs or fowl inside city limits unless the animals are located on one acre of land or more. Recognized agricultural education programs such as FFA and 4-H are exempt from the one-acre requirement.
The three latest livestock ordinances were first introduced during Shelby Council’s Sept. 21 meeting. The initial challenge with the legislation was to find a way for the city to control the locations and numbers of livestock inside the city while also writing legislation that could be enforced.
Shelby Police Chief Lance Combs stated during a Sept. 10 meeting of the Safety Committee that the proposed ordinances would assist police officers in enforcing animal complaints.
“No one here is opposed to anybody necessarily having animals, but we can’t let things get so out of control that we say you can have whatever you want because that’s where we’re at right now,” Combs said on Sept. 10.
The first reading of the proposed legislation on Sept. 21 originally put in place a permitting process for any and all citizens wishing to keep livestock within city limits. It also created a livestock appeals board in the case of a denied permit. That language was immediately removed from the legislation after council members Nathan Martin, Garland Gates and Steve McLaughlin voted for deletion; council members Carlisle and Derrin Roberts voted against.
The second reading on Oct. 5 removed language that would have exempted livestock kept for 4-H and FFA programs from ordinance requirements. Law Director Gordon Eyster advised council to delete the exemptions from the ordinance due to legal concerns.
“When we’re treating two different classes of citizens differently, I think it raises an equal protection concern,” Eyster said on Oct. 5.
The third reading was originally scheduled for the Oct. 19 meeting of Shelby City Council, but the decision was delayed after members admitted the amendments had become confusing. The ordinances were committed to the Committee of the Whole.
During a meeting of the Committee of the Whole on Oct. 30, Roberts, who co-authored the livestock ordinances with Carlisle, stated he believed council went too far with amendments.
“We tried to fix problems that we may not have had,” said Roberts on Oct. 30.
