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Salem council holds first reading on revised animal ordinance

SALEM — City council gave a first reading to revisions to the city’s animal ordinance in its meeting Tuesday.

The city’s animal ordinance had previously been discussed at length by the rules and ordinance committee in October, December and most recently on Jan. 7, with concerns raised that the ordinance’s current language, which specifically disallows certain species of animal from being kept in the city rather than categories of animals, and with a lack of any mechanism to grant variances for specific cases in the wake of a request by a city resident to keep goats as part of a 4-H project.

The proposed update would eliminate section 505.15 from the ordinance which prohibits the keeping of bees within the city limits “which cause annoyance to other person or property damage,” instead adding regulation of bees to section 505.08 (a) which outlines prohibitions against conditions which cause a nuisance or property damage generally; and removes the word “domestic” from sections of the ordinance which cover injuring, killing, abandoning, or poisoning animals.

Section 505.13 (b), which has drawn the bulk of the criticism of the ordinance’s current language would be updated from reading “no person shall keep any swine, sheep or goats in the City of Salem except those living inside a residence inhabited by the owner. Horse, cattle and chickens may not be kept within 150 feet of any residence, other than the residence of the person keeping such animal or fowl anywhere in the city” to instead read “no person shall keep any swine in the city of Salem except those living inside a residence inhabited by the owner.” The section would also have a new subsequent paragraph added which specifies that “no person shall keep or harbor any animal that is not universally recognized as a domesticated animal on any property within the city of Salem” and defines a domesticated animal as “those animals universally recognized as pets or companion animals, farm and livestock animals, and those used for security.”

The updated ordinance would also specify that “all other animals not universally recognized as a pet or companion animal must have a permit to be kept or harbored in the city of Salem.” These permits would be obtained through the health department and could be revoked for violations of the ordinance “or for any other such reason that [the board of health] believe is contrary to the public health, safety and welfare.” It would also follow recent legislative trends to have the fee for these permits be established annually as part of a city-wide fee schedule and make violations of the code a minor misdemeanor for the first offense and a fourth-degree misdemeanor for subsequent offenses.

Council also gave an ordinance authorizing the Salem Police Department to charge fees for the processing and redaction of video footage from body camera, dashboard cameras and jail surveillance camera systems as permitted by Ohio House Bill 315. House Bill 315 permits Ohio law enforcement agencies to charge a processing fee of up to $75 per hour for video processing with a maximum total fee of $750 for each request. Councilman Jeff Stockman, who chairs the rules and ordinances committee, has previously explained that Police Chief J.T. Panezott requested the city adopt the ordinance as the volume of editing required for these video requests takes officers multiple hours to complete.

Other items receiving a first reading included an ordinance implementing regulations and a permitting process for excavations “performed in a street, alley, or other public right of way in the city.”

During his report Stockman announced that the rules and ordinances committee would meet prior to city council’s next meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 3.

City Council will meet next at 7 p.m. Feb. 4.

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