Council Divided By Chickens

The July 21, 2014 Council meeting was called to order by Council President and Ward IV Councilwoman Mary Louise Madigan at 7:33 pm.

The first order of business came from Mayor Summers who asked Council to pass a resolution recognizing the grand marshal and parade winners from the City’s Fourth of July parade. First the mayor recognized Jim Anderson and thanked him for serving as the parade's grand marshall. Mr. Anderson is the second of three generations of Lakewood firefighters, he served the Recreational Department as Commissioner of Athletic Events, and works as the Information Desk Manager at City Hall. The Mayor said, “Jim is also a custodian of knowledge of Lakewood’s past” and that “we could all benefit greatly from his long experience.”

Next the Mayor read off the winners from each category in the parade. For best color guard, the Lakewood Fire Department; for best float, the Goodwin Family; for most original entry, Beck Center for the Arts; for best bicycle, Cub Scout Pack 68; and for most spirit; H2O-- “Help to Others.

After handing out plaques to all the winners and taking a pictures, Council voted on the resolution recognizing Mr. Anderson, and passed it unanimously.

Councilwoman Madigan then introduced a resolution thanking the Cleveland Orchestra for their residency in Lakewood in May. She said the city was “honored to have the Orchestra participate in a week of powerful performances and engaging activities.” Adoption of the resolution shows the City’s “heartfelt appreciation to each member of the Orchestra, the staff who organized the events, and board members.” She ended by saying “every Lakewood Citizen thanks you, and please know that you always have a home, and a porch, in Lakewood.”

Councilwoman Cindy Marx (At-Large) said that bringing the Orchestra to Lakewood was something she had dreamed about happening for some time, and said that the city was honored to have had them come.

Council passed the resolution.

Councilman Sam O’Leary then introduced a resolution in support of the Movement to Amend the Constitution. A group of Lakewood citizens who are a local chapter of the group introduced an ordinance by petition for Council’s consideration. After deliberation it was agreed that some of Council’s members agreed with the premise of what the group was trying to accomplish but disagreed on how Council and the City should be a part of it. A compromise was reached in the form of this resolution. The resolution calls on state and federal lawmakers to support an amendment to the Constitution of the United States that would state that corporations are not people and therefore do not fall under the same campaign finance rules, in hopes of limiting their financial contributions.

Councilman O’Leary said he appreciated the efforts of the members of the citizen committee that brought the proposed ordinance forward, as well as the input from Council colleagues during deliberations.

Councilman Shawn Juris (Ward III) informed his Council colleagues that he would not be voting for the resolution. He said he thought it was well-written but he disagrees with a number of the points. He said that there are plenty of problems in federal campaign financing but he does not believe this would solve any of them.

Council passed the resolution with one nay vote.

Councilman Tom Bullock (At-Large) made some comments in support of the resolution after it had passed.

Next Councilman O’Leary introduced a resolution from Councilwoman Marx, Councilman Bullock and himself that would allow a pilot program for egg-laying hens in Lakewood. This is not the first time this topic has come before Council, however the strategy has changed. In the past the citizen group Hens in Lakewood tried to get a pilot program approved through the Mayor, but Council closed that loophole. Hens In Lakewood then brought an ordinance to Council which did not pass. This time they are trying a resolution which would approve a small pilot program.

Councilman O’Leary stated that “many communities have successfully permitted their residents to own a small number of hens for personal, non-commercial use.” He continued saying, “Lakewood’s citizens and leaders know that access to healthy, sustainable, and locally-sourced food is a major contributor to a quality of life, and can be a decisive factor when people choose where to live. Over the past several years, the City of Lakewood has continued to nurture endeavors that bring healthy, fresh, and local food to residents’ tables by supporting community gardens, organizations like L.E.A.F. (Lakewood Earth and Food Community), the Lakewood Farmers’ Market, and other great groups and programs that advocate for and provide our citizens with better food choices.” Additionally he said that this resolution is an important step toward “achieving the City’s broader goals of increased access to affordable, healthy and sustainably-produced food.” He closed by saying that the resolution would offer the City a “maximum amount of flexibility” in the implementation of the program and makes it easy for them to change it as they see fit. He motioned to have the resolution moved to the Housing Committee for discussion.

There were lots of people in the audience to show their support for this resolution, and several of them got up to speak. The first was an 11-year-old girl named Katherine Hillow. She has visited a house in Cleveland and her cousins in Arizona who raise chickens for eggs. She loved helping and getting involved so much that while visiting her cousin she made a video about keeping egg-laying hens, which she offered to share with Council.

April Stoltz, a member of Hens in Lakewood, told Council that she has wanted hens for a long time. She believes it will play a part in her being healthier and becoming more food independent. “Back yard eggs,” she says, “taste better and are more nutritious than those bought in the store.” In addition she sees it as an environmental and animal-friendly way to have eggs. Some advantages to having hens, besides the eggs, she mentioned, are being able to feed them your kitchen and table scraps, including things you cannot compost, creating less garbage. Also their manure makes a great fertilizer, unlike the waste of other household pets. Lastly, she said, having urban hens helps build community. She cites conversations with people from Cleveland Heights about keeping hens. Many have said one thing that really surprised them, something they did not expect about having hens, was how it had brought their neighborhood together. People come over and ask to see the hens, and it becomes a catalyst for getting to know your neighbors.

Another resident, Charese Simis, made the point that raising hens in cities really isn’t a new idea. “Only in recent history has our society moved to a factory model, [and passing this resolution] we would really just be moving back to what our grandparents did."

Tom Smith, who used to be an advisor to a high school poultry group, thinks it would be wonderful if the city would allow urban hens, and believes it would be a good learning experience for youth in the area.

Annie Stahlheber works at the board of health and has become familiar with the issues surrounding urban hen-keeping through her work. She said she knows the sanitarians that cover Lakewood and knows they would be more than happy to help the City in any way. Ms. Stahlheber is also a founding member of LEAF and said that the LEAF community supports the passage of the resolution as it helps support their mission of locally sourced food.

Jen Bouvier said that she has done a lot of research on communities around the country that have gone through the transition of passing urban hen legislation, and has written papers on the topic. She discovered that while there was often a lot of uproar before the passage of the law, afterwards it ended up being a non-issue, and no one discussed it. There was a complete lack of any noticeable complaints or issues.

Council then moved on to voting the resolution into a committee though there was not a consensus as to where to send it. Although Councilman O’Leary had moved to send the resolution to the Housing Committee it soon became apparent that Councilwoman Madigan had not intended for it to go to Housing, but rather to the Health and Human Services Committee. Since a motion to send the resolution to the Housing Committee had been made it would have to be voted on before any other motion could be entertained. Before any vote was to be taken the Council members explained their positions.

Councilman Bullock said he wanted to thank his colleagues Councilwoman Marx and Councilman O’Leary for putting together what he described as a well thought out and well-written resolution. He also thanked the Law Director for his input and help in clarifying it. He thanked all the people in the crowd for coming to show their support and said he went back to February of 2013 and looked at the petition that Hens in Lakewood submitted with over 200 signatures on it and said that anyone who has had any experience going door- to-door can truly appreciate that accomplishment. He then said he believes it will benefit neighborhoods and the city as a whole. Ultimately he believes it is about the choice of where one gets their food. He said more people are into gourmet, high scale, locally-sourced food, and want their kids to know more about nature and where their food comes from. Lakewood is a city that attracts artistic and and creative-minded people who are interested in these sorts of things, and this would help support that draw.

Next Councilman David Anderson (Ward I), Chair of the Housing Committee, said he is not convinced that hens in Lakewood can’t work, although he said he is not sure if this resolution is what will do it. He said that if Council decides to send the resolution to the Housing Committee, he vows to the citizens and the members on Council that they will have fair, lengthy and respectful discussion over every point, and that they will take their time to do it right.

Councilwoman Cindy Marx said that the sense of community she has felt with the members of Hens in Lakewood has been amazing and that it has already begun building community in Lakewood. She wanted to make a point to acknowledge them for all their hard work on bringing the issue forward and working together and with members of Council. She said it shows what dedicated citizens can accomplish. She also said she thinks hens in Lakewood could work and she is eager to see it pass.

Councilwoman Madigan then made her case for why she believed the resolution should go to the Health and Human Services Committee. She started with the point that of the eight people from the public who spoke, six of them mentioned health benefits to having backyard hens. Though she conceded that she didn’t have the votes to get it to Health and Human Services, she reached out to Councilman Shawn Juris (Ward III) to see where he stood on the matter.

Councilman Juris said that given the choice between the two committees, and looking at the issues that would send it to each; building regulations  housing, or health concerns to send it to Health and Human Services; he believes it should go to the Health and Human Services Committee. He said that odors and smells are another concern as well. Doing a quick, unscientific poll around his neighborhood he said though many said "no" to the idea outright, the ones that were on the fence about it were more concerned with the number of hens and possible health risks as opposed to coop-building standards.

Councilman Bullock jumped in, in an attempt to refute his points, however Juris finished his statement, and while Bullock continued to try to jump in, Councilwoman Madigan stated that she agreed with the points Juris made and thought that it was a topic that should got to Health and Human Services and that it would do well in the hands of Councilwoman Marx who Chairs the Committee.

Councilman Bullock then made the point that the city has a Human Services Committee but no longer has a Health Committee since the City transferred its health department to the County jurisdiction. He said what the City has in its control for public health issues is the Public Safety Department which includes Police, Animal Control, and the Building Department; the latter of which deals with the health and safety of buildings. Given that, Councilman Bullock said it is reasonable under both health and building concerns to place the issue in the Housing Committee.

Councilwoman Madigan retorted that the name of Councilwoman Marx’s Committee is indeed HEALTH and Human Services.

Councilwoman Marx then chimed in saying that she was indeed the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and that if she thought it belonged there she would have spoken up to recommend it be placed there. However, she said that when she and Councilman O’Leary met with Law Director Kevin Butler and Director of Housing and Building Dru Siley the topics they discussed were mostly administrative issues as to how to run this program, and no issues of health concerns or salmonella came up. Therefore, she said, she believes the bigger issues on this topic that still need to be discussed are the administrative ones, which is why she recommended it be moved to Housing. She also said that regardless of what committee the resolution is sent to that a vibrant, thorough, and respectful discussion is needed, like Councilman Anderson said he would provide. She then said that there was someone from the County Health Department there who had spoken and said that they would be willing to support the city with this, and could perhaps participate in the Committee meeting.

Councilwoman Madigan concurred with the statement about the Health Department, but then said that they did indeed say they would be willing to help, and inspect, which is why she saw it as more of a health issue than a Housing one.

After a lengthy, polarized discussion, which was notably absent of any input from Councilman Ryan Nowlin, the vote was called. With a vote of 4 to 3 the resolution was moved to the Housing Committee.

Next the Mayor read a communication from Chief Malley asking Council to pass a resolution which would allow the City to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force. This task force is comprised of members of law enforcement agencies of all levels from local to federal and its mission is to identify, target, investigate, prosecute, and ultimately dismantle drug trafficking organizations which impact the quality of life in Northern Ohio.

Lakewood’s participation in the task force would be to lend one of the City’s experienced detectives full time, to help them fight drug trafficking, which the Mayor emphasized is not constrained by municipal borders. He asked Council to pass the resolution on its first reading so that the officer can begin his good work as soon as possible without being delayed over the Council’s summer break.

Councilwoman Madigan asked how much of the detective's time would be spent on the Task Force. The Police Captain present told her that the detective would spend his whole 40-hour week with the Task Force, however he made a point to say that regardless of the Memorandum of Understanding, the City would not have any firm commitment to the program. If the city were to suddenly become shorthanded or need him back, they could pull him out of the Task Force. Furthermore it was explained that the position that would be left vacant by the detective working with the Task Force would be filled by a patrol officer. The only reason the City is participating in this Task Force is because our Police Force is at full strength and we have the wiggle room to stay fully staffed and help this important cause.

Council proceeded to pass the resolution.

Director of Human Resources, Jean Yousefi, then asked Council to approve an expenditure which would allow the City to buy FitBits in bulk, at a reduced price, as part of the City’s employee health program. The units are usually around $100 but the City will be able to buy them for $85 each if they buy 100. They will then sell them to employees at a further reduced price of $40. The money to purchase the units is already put aside and available in the City’s hospitalization account.

Council approved the purchase.

The last item on the agenda was a request from Planning and Development Director Dru Siley. He asked Council to consider a $100,000 economic development loan to Omni Lakewood. Omni is the company that bought what is commonly referred to as the Screw Factory in 2006 and has since then opened it up to several new businesses and artists for working space. In addition they have also held a number of special events including the Taste of Lakewood in years past and weddings. The loan would be used to help bring the old factory building into code compliance, specifically in terms of fire safety. The total cost of the improvements will be around $350,000.

Council referred the matter to the Committee of the Whole to be considered.

After a very long, tense meeting, Council President Madigan adjourned the meeting at 9:09 P.M.

Christopher Bindel

I have been a Lakewood resident my entire life and have been covering the Council meetings for the LO since March of 2009. I am a Mayoral appointee to the Citicens Advisory Committee, as well as a member of Pillars of Lakewood and president of Eaters of Lakewood.

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