It seems right here. It's okay. I'm good. All right, ready? Yeah. I'd like to call to order the public hearing for the Lafayette Common Council. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation of one God not indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we'll start the meeting and the meeting will end by six o'clock. Each person will have three minutes to talk. If you already spoke at the first public hearing, please wait and let other people speak before you come up. But I think we're gonna have plenty of time that if you wanna speak second time. When you come up, please state your name and address. Okay, and then we have. I will go over, I will go over some of the details of the ordinance as it's currently drafted. It does provide that a person can have no more than five hands. Roosters are prohibited. Chickens must be housed in a coop that has at least one square foot of space per chicken. However, we are looking at whether or not that potentially should be increased based on some feedback from the last meeting. It also must have a pin with at least two square feet per chicken with some type of wire avi or avi netting or solid roofing for containment purposes. The proposed ordinance also has setback requirements from neighboring properties and houses in an effort to have harmonious relations between neighbors. And then finally, it does require that the chicken flock cannot create a public nuisance. So we did build in if a right of a reason a flock was creating a nuisance, then animal control in the city would address that. So those are the highlights of the currently drafted ordinance. Okay, so we'll start the public hearing. Remember, say your name and address, you have three minutes and please be respectful and civil to everyone in this room. Okay, who'd like to go first? Christine Polkett, 2301 Bennett Road. Good evening members of the City Council. My name is Christine Polkett. Thank you again for your time and consideration for the proposed modification of the ordinance on Hens in our community. Last month when I spoke here, I shared with you how intelligent, quiet, docile, and useful Hens are, and how they make an excellent pet for people from all backgrounds and incomes. I spoke of how they're a unique pet. Not only do they recognize and have the ability to connect with people, but they provide us with nature's multivitamin, with 13 essential vitamins and minerals. The full potential of the incredible edible egg is through hands receiving fresh air, sunshine, and a varied diet from our own backyards. I shared with you 10 Indiana cities, including those with an ordinance in place, with zero to minimal issues or complaints according to the officers, animal control directors, law enforcement employees who work or have worked in Carmel, Indianapolis, Bloomington, South Bend, and West Lafayette for years. Not only do cities big and small in Indiana have ordinances but also 93% of the largest cities in America including Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Miami, Cleveland, and Boston. With all this said and done, at the end of the day, this is about fresh, affordable eggs. This is about kids off screens and raising their food source. This is about giving hands of far better life than factory farming. This is about fertilizer for our yards and gardens. This is about minimizing ticks and mosquitoes in our yards. And this is backyard hens. A majority of cities in the country are doing this successfully. Let's please join them. Thank you. Thank you for your coming. Okay, next. Hello, my name is Lynn Nelson. I live at 1308 South 24th Street. And my son and daughter-in-law had chickens when they were in Indianapolis. They were both doing schooling. Or in college, while they're three, while having three young children. And the chickens helped them to provide a very healthful source of protein that was very affordable for them. And I think with the economy and how society is right now, affordable sources of good, healthy food is something to be seriously considered. And as you look at this ordinance. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Another person would like to make a public comment? My name is Sarah Goins. I am the chief animal control officer for Lafayette. while I'm not a resident of Lafayette. I am myself and my department are in support of this. We think that it it's good on many different levels, but I don't see it causing any added workload or stress to myself or my officers. Several of us have experienced with chicken, so we're going to have a look at the results. or stress to myself or my officers. Several of us have experience with chicken, so we'll be able to help educate people as well if we get to that point. But I just thought it would be important that someone who will be dealing with this and interacting with this just wanted to let the community know that we're in support of it. So. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. I'm Audi Porter and I grew up in West Africa and went to CC and now I live on the Southside near my kitchen. So we have hence because we are outside. We're in the county. We have five kids in a dog and 11 chickens. Mostly it's just, and the eggs are amazing. I mean, my husband eats four eggs every day. I eat three, my kids all eat eggs. So it's already within less than a year, like recouped the cost of building the coop and running stuff. So it's very beneficial cost wise. It's a really fun and funny learning experience for my kids, even my little one-year-old takes the basket and goes get the eggs. Yeah, they're very quiet. They're very funny. They are, yeah, the kids want to come home after school every day and go check the coop. And it's about a 10 minute job to take care of them every day. Just food and water and getting the eggs. My husband scoops the coop every week or two. And it's really not too much of a dirty job if you're just taking care of them nicely. Definitely reduces our grocery costs. And it creates a nice little ecosystem in our yard. We feed the chickens our food scraps, they eat the pests and bugs, we use their eggs, we crush them and feed them back and they have calcium and we use that in our garden to protect against slugs. We compost the manure and the bedding for our garden and overall I'm just very excited and happy that we have the chickens and hens and I believe that it would be wonderful for all the people in Lafayette to do as well. Thank you. Madam President, do they run free also? You don't have an all-cage? We have like a four-by-coup where they sleep. We have like a 16 by 8, 16 by 8 or 10 run with it's enclosed on all sides. And then we have like a little soft fence that's bigger and we kind of like change it. Right, so they're not like just not like just all over the yard but they are they have like grass area and then a specific like closed area and then also their coups. Thank you. Well, Ma'am, I have a question also. Do you have since you have an operation there? Do you have issues with predation? We don't. We always close the coup at night. I've never seen any like raccoons or rats. No. And yeah we I haven't seen coyotes or anything ever in our neighborhood. Hawks would be like the most you know a couple of our neighbors have, like we make sure hawks don't get them, but I know no one in our neighborhood has had their chickens killed. But yeah, so far just keeping track of them and we're outside a lot, so I think at night would be the biggest problem, but yeah. How long have you had chicken? Just over a year. OK. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Very next. Hi. My name is Elizabeth Perez. and we live at 1,600 Laramy Drive in Lafayette. My other little chicken over there won't come up, he's nervous. But these are my little chickens. And in the summertime we spend in Mexico with my husband's family and they have their own chickens, they have goats, they have all sorts of animals. And because of that, my kids would absolutely love to have their own chickens. We eat a lot of eggs, and with four kids, I spend a lot on eggs. I bake and use eggs for everything. And we have a fenced-in backyard, and I think it would be a great addition to our family. So do you have anything to say? Do you want to say anything? No? All right, thank you. Hey, thank you. I thought you were going to talk. Yeah. All right. You got to say your name. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Aila. Her name is Aila. We live at 2713 Sleepy Hollow Drive. Go ahead and tell them why. Remember? Okay. She said because she's homeschooled, she would like to have chickens because it would help us learn about farming and agriculture without having a farm because we don't want a farm. We don't want a farm. We just want to learn about agriculture and the life cycle and all of that. Okay, well, do you want to say anything yourself okay she was all about it thank you hello my name is Austin Applegate I live at 1305 Audubon Road in Lafayette I'm a mom of three I have a nine-year-old and two-eight- year old boys. They eat more than anybody I've ever met in my life. I'm like, eggs used to be so cheap, and I could just pop a couple in, make some scrambled eggs, and they would eat. Perfectly fine, they'd go off, do their own thing. Now it's become to the point that not only am I barely able to afford eggs, I'm barely able to afford chicken meat as well. And I was hoping that getting a chicken coop with them would also get them outside off screens, having fun that way I could teach them things outside of their bedrooms, instead of their legos and their toys and what's on a YouTube channel. I would like to be able to interact with my children outside, have fun with them, teach them some things that my grandparents would have known. Things that they learned growing up on the farms that they grew up on. And I was hoping that you guys would consider that this would be a wonderful impact to the children in this community as well. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to add one clarification that I forgot to add during the introduction just because I do hear a lot of people talking about neighborhoods. One thing to be aware of if the city does adopt this ordinance, it does not trump local homeowner association rules and regulations. So if you do live in a homeowner association that prohibits livestock or chickens or anything like that even if the city adopts this ordinance it will not trump that particular provision so I want to make sure that that was clarified. Thank you. Hey other comments? Hi. I'm Heather Spearing, I live at 658 Perron Avenue. We've wanted chickens for a long time. Kind of the, I'm kind of peridating what other people have said. It would help with the cost of eggs, obviously. We've also got some very close friends that live in a different city, where chickens are permitted in city limits, and they had neighbors across the street that had chickens, and not only did it not cause any difficulties, their kids went over with all their like food scrap things, and they just had a lot less waste with that. And so I think that that's just a kind of secondary benefit to it. It would be really nice. I also homeschooled and so I think it'd be really great for my kids to get to do that because as of the previous lady, I don't want to own a farm. I don't plan on owning a farm. It's just like a little connection to that. So that'd be really great for all of us. And I guess then would really like baby chicks. Yes. That's it. Would you agree? Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, I'm going to go. OK. My name's Megan Jove. I live at 508 Croc at Court. And I have a lot of experience with different animals. I worked on animal shelter in southern Indiana for several years, at least four. And all that time we had one chicken come in. I also used to raise chickens. I don't know if this has come up in the last couple meetings that you guys have had, but you can trim chickens wings so that they can't fly. So that would eliminate the need for all the high fences and things too. When I kept chickens, they had an area that was their own, but they were able, like it wasn't like totally cordoned off entirely. It was obviously predator proof that something that's going to happen, whether you guys in force that are not it, they don't predator proof. You know, they're gonna have to. They'll find that out. It did not increase the amount of animals or predators that I saw in my yard ever. They are so much quieter than dogs, and there's really something magical about being able to go in your backyard and get food, whether that's a vegetable or whether that's an egg. In addition to that, I don't know if you guys have ever had farm fresh eggs, but the quality difference between what you can get the store is wild. Now that I have raised chickens in my past, when I go and see store-bought eggs, like I'm kind of a little grossed out because I know how old they are or how stressed the chickens are. And they're just really wonderful pets. They can learn all of the names that you call of their flock. My chickens were trained to come when I called them. So even if anyone did get out for whatever reason, if I just went, my chickens were right there, like coming to me as fast as they could. And I really hope you guys will consider this because I think it's really important that we reconnect with our food systems. And it's an amazing thing for gardeners, which I'm also an avid gardener. So chicken, fertilizer is something that farmers in the areas are using and it would be really great for the local gardeners here too. Thank you. I have a question for our city attorney. Are they allowed to ever let them out of the cage or can they put them under our ordinance? Can they let them free run or can they let them, they do have chicken runs. I've invested just pretty good. So they do make so chicken runs, but they would have to be in that enclosed chicken run area if they let them out of their cage there. That is the way that it is written right now because it is in town. We thought that was an important element. I've not heard a lot of public comment indicating that that wouldn't be. So yes, I think that right now it's written as is. It would be you have to have them in a pen if for whatever reason there was comments or, that's how it's written right now. So they're either in the cage, they're manufactured in some type of containment system. All right, thank you. May I ask a couple of questions as well? I know we have other ordinances against butchering animals in the backyard, but my concern is do we tie it to this one as well? So we're not butchering chickens in the backyard when they're no more, they're not laying anymore. When they're not laying anymore. I can certainly look at our other ordinances that we have to see if that is already covered and take a look at that. Okay. And my second question is, you know, now when people get a cat or a dog and they realize they don't want to do the work of raising it, they ticket to the Humane Society. What happens when it's a chicken? Because some people, you know, they see it and they're always as great and then they realize why I don't want to do all this work. Does the Humane Society take the chickens? Are they prepared for that? I serve on the Humane Society board and we have a chicken in there right now. Oh, okay. Do you guys need a chicken? After we do. Yeah, yeah, but they're prepared to intercept that. They are. Okay, they are. I had we've had conversation. OK, thank you. And now, question on top of that, you brought it up. So as a farmer, I understand chickens laying curries is about three years. So then, again, how are they going to dispose of it? My biggest fear is, how are they going to dispose of them a newer? Because it has got so much ammonia. I mean, I know I hear him say they're using it on gardens and stuff. I would never did, but that's everybody's own thing. But chicken, it's very high in ammonia. And it's just so they can just throw it into garbage. that what we're saying now or you know. You can compliment. Jerry, if you're going to be using chicken manure on your garden you're going to have the compost that you can't put it directly. I understand that. I understand that. I mean I believe me I grip on a farm you can't put chicken manure on any plant or it'll kill it immediately. Yeah. I understand that. Or your yard either. So, so you're saying that, so back to my question, so they dispose all of their chicken manure into the garbage. I would have to look into whether or not that would be an issue for the sanitation department. And would throw their dead chickens in the garbage? Are they going to throw their dead chickens? Because once they stop laying, another factor that comes in, I have not heard mentioned, is that chickens and the lady that has them free run is a good idea because their license, the chicken license, it just comes with the checker. It's not contactable to the human, it won't affect the human. But the idea of letting them run free on the ground is because they can then get the dirt and the dust and their feathers and so on. That's what maintains the license and in the chicken. And also is about the vaccination ratio of about who is properly going to take care. Are they going to have, are they going to have their shots? I mean, they have to be like any other farm animal or dog and can't. They have to be maintained medically. They can't, it's not like a SWAT machine. You put food in and a egg comes out the back and don't work that way. You know, there's a lot of work in it. I mean, we raised everything from ravaged chickens, hogs, milk cattle, 40 milk and 40 cattle a day. So I have a little bit of experience with them. My grandmother and mother had 125 of them. I hated gathering eggs, you know. But I really hated cleaning the chicken halves. And they talk about chickens being quiet. Hens, every time they lay eggs, clock. You know, you're talking about getting rather rooster. He usually wants her twice a day. But all the time they're in there, there is going to be a clocking chance from chickens, you know. And my concern is, is the dispose of the check-in. And I was out of, so we used to just, you know, and there were a couple of years old, it was in the summer, it was time to call all the grandkids out and we'd go to check-ins and take the feathers and grandma fro them or mom fro them. But, you know, what are they gonna do with them now? So that was one of the concerns that I had because after we talked about using the chickens both for eggs and for meat What do we do with what's inside of the chicken? Right? Do we drop it? Do we throw it into the sewer system and throw it in the garbage or what? We need I think we need to To look into that. Hi. I was actually talking. So a few of the things people, do you state your name please? Sorry, I'm Magdalene Jackson. I live at 1807 Kiverdale, 47909. Got it. So there's a very, very robust both Indiana, local Indiana, and nationwide community of chicken owners. My friend recently, in fact today, had a Drake, a male duck that she needed to rehome. She's in Romney and she just posted in one of the local groups and someone was like, I would love a Drake and they're driving 48 minutes to pick up a Drake. So there are people who will take older chickens that are no longer laying. They will say like, hey, I'll take it, I'll deal with it. People aren't going to be generally willing, nilly, just like, okay,, I'm going to ring your neck and throw you in the trash. Also as far as internal organs and stuff like that go, people buy store-bought chickens. They will take the gizzard, the heart, the liver, and they will throw that away. I mean, I'm not saying that's a good idea. Those are all very nutritious, but there is some element already of chicken waste. Responsible chicken owners will kind of have a better idea how to deal with that. But as far as dealing with older chickens or if you have a chicken, you're like, I stepped in it. I have no idea what I'm doing. This is more work than I have. I have want or need people say, okay, I have a chicken. I have a chicken, I don't want chickens anymore. I got my friend 13 chickens by that method because someone gave away 13 laying hens. My friend wanted hens, so we went and got them and they're now living on her property in Romney. So with other animals, yeah, there's an aspect of rehoming with dogs and cats too. But with chickens, because of the intrinsic value, a lot of people place on them being a food source, whether it's for the chicken itself or for the eggs, There's a very large community of people who know how to deal with that and do regularly as well, both in the area and in the surrounding counties. So that's just kind of what I wanted to share. Thank you very much. Thank you. Hi, my name is Rebecca Travis. I live at 509 South First Street. I am so in favor of having chickens, not just like everyone's been saying saying for the eggs, but again for the meat. And we are so close to Butler's meat. You're wondering about, what do we go to do that? Well, maybe Butler's meat, or you've got R&D market, they do butchering. They could probably take your chicken, your older chickens that you don't want anymore. If you want to be food sources, take them there, they can probably butcher them for you. There is that aspect of it, instead of, you know, you're wondering what that is. We go there for all kinds of things that we can't get, that we can't grow ourselves, as far as pigs, because we're in the city. Someday we are looking at getting a couple of acres considered part of Lafayette but not in Lafayette. You know, like the outer skirts slacking battleground or whatever that's considered agriculture sections. Someday we'll hopefully do that, but that's what we're looking at is hopefully to have both for meat and as far as the compost, the we're planning on composting. There's ways to do it if you look into how to compost. It's very easy to find out. You can use your eggshells, you can break them down and grind them up and put them in with coffee grinds and put them in your gardens. I mean, this is a big deal for us. To not have to spend so much money three times the amount at the grocery store just for a half a dozen eggs or 18 eggs. It's nearly $8 at croggers. Y'all call it Payless up here. It used to be for an 18 count, $34. Now it's twice as much, two to three times as much. And it's ridiculous. Yeah, we need the stores to stop gouging us. To me, that's what it is, they're gouging us. But in the meantime, having our own chickens to be able to use their byproducts to grow our own gardens and cut down on the money we're spending at the grocery store. It's very important to us. Also, as far as, like one lady said, helping teacher a child about taking care of the animals. How do we take care of it? You're looking at the, you know, my boyfriend's sister and her wife. They are growing chickens. They've been doing it for several years now down in Clark's hill. But they can get you in touch with vets that will help take care of them, you know, as far as all that goes. So that way we can get our kid to learn how to do it and not have to worry about him spending so much time in front of his games of, you know, Roblox is what he's big on. I understand what you're saying, but you know you're talking about cost factors. I spent quite a bit of time real king and, and, uh, factor supply. And if you look at the cages, uh, you know, they ran a row from three hundred and fifty to five, you know, eight hundred dollars on most plus the chicken rounds plus the feed plus the watering. I'll be equipping to goes along with it. Well, if you're up up to that $500 stage, how many does an egg's can you buy from $500? Plus you got the work. Now, I understand that, but the offset, and if you only have five chickens, you know, if it figures upright, you know, your costs are going to be out of chickens. And then I also found out that we don't have ordinance. So when you go to route, some of these places you go in, you go in and pick up five chickens. They're not gender identified, okay? If you want gender identified, you have to order them and they're more money. And there are sometimes anywhere from seven to $8 a piece on a gender chicken. And of course it depends what kind you want to lay the best egg. That's, you know, what you want when a rock or whatever it is. But I'm just saying is what does this cost factor in the seven chickens override what it costs to invest in? I think over a year you'd probably save more. Oh no. If they were $10 a dozen, you can't recoup $500, ma'am. I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying is that I figured it all up. And it would take to recover that would be about three years. Okay. That depends on the edge. On that many chickens five check and five now you had 25. Oh yeah, if you had more than that, but yeah, go ahead. I'll just have a question. It's public hearing so we want to make sure. Yeah, I think, you know, in the long run, you'd save more than going to the grocery store and cover over all those costs. Okay. Awesome. I have a quick question about bird flu and reporting and who's like, is it mandatory that they eliminate their birds when there's bird flu and who do they report to and all those questions are those all in an ordinance yet? No, they're not in the ordinance and I am, I don't know if Sarah happens to know off the top of her head any reporting requirements for that type of stuff. It's generally more on a massive scale, like a larger scale obviously in breeder houses and things like that. Truthfully in this area right now, bird flu is a bigger concern with the Canadian geese So in the DNR handles that in that case and then in domestic animals it would be boa the board van will help that handles those things but It's the numbers are coming down with workflow. I just talked to the guy. Deharn about it Two days ago because I'm so concerned with these My name is Ernesto Vallet and I live on 1905 east 430 south I'm on the county now the city limits But it's still on a residential zoning There is restriction of the northern ends on chickens. Here in a half moved into that place, we have over five and a half acres. And I find it ironic not being able to have chickens on that extension of land. And I have experience with birds and chickens, guineas and and things like that. Well, the nature because I lived on the other country and I had all sorts of things, or animals. Of course, I forgot my notes, but I was rushing out to make it last time I was late. So, about the importance of having chickens for me and my family is not about saving money because if you do the math correctly, yes, you're not saving money. But I got three kids and on the experience that I have is that we didn't save money because they didn't need as many chicks as if I were going to be eating chicks. I mean, X. So the way I was looking at it is I have them to learn the empathy for animals, the chores and things like that. It's not so much about, yeah, it is a benefit to have in... the empathy for animals, the chores and things like that. It's not so much about, yeah, it is a benefit to have been a fresh egg and you know where it's coming from. But it's more about teaching my kids that is a living animal and have empathy that they feel they do certain things that they don't speak, but they still have a feeling in a sense. So another question is, I try to look up and get more information about these ordinance and stuff about the butcher and yes I run into a chicken's nalain eggs no more. Oh, hands. Yeah, I ate them. It's a lot of work. I don't like it, but I like the chicken. Somebody has to do it and that was me. So in a sense, yeah, it's a hard work. It's like I said, I'm not saving money, but I'm teaching my kids something, and I love doing it, gardening, and doing all kinds of things. So yeah, if I'm gonna be able to have chickens on my property, on that of land and I'm willing to put the work into it and expense. So be it. So on butchering that's that would be like concern. And then. The finish up now is three minutes. So the last question, where or who do I need to talk to to go more deeply into the ordinance on my property? Because I would like to have five and a half acres who do I need to talk to and see if there is something that I can do beyond just chickens. You're in a can. Yeah. But it's a residential zoning. So I went to Lyric because I wanted to have goats. And they told me that it was not allowed on residential. So in the county? Yeah. But it depends what the zoning is, because whether it be A or double A or some who lie you and so if his is a W or a then you know if it falls into their cultural yes and they do build houses and subdivisions on that property but if it was one of the others like if it's R1 then it's out okay and mine is R1 okay so that pretty much takes him out of it. The independence are part of an neighborhood. Independent. Yeah. Would it be APC? Yeah, it's APC. He would have to go down to the APC and talk about changing the zoning that's there. I said on your Applank Commission, so that would be the people you would need to talk to you. But the County Office Building, it's there in the basement. It's the Area Planned Commission. And then you would have to change your R1 to probably an A or maybe AW. I'm not sure where. They will look on the map and tell you what, if it anything you can change. Okay, but then we'll fall into the neighbors complaining about me having farm animals and then there's a hearing and They're hearing on your zoning Yes, and then the neighbors would then either say their border against Okay, so you'd have a hearing on changing your zoning. Yeah, that's what you got to do See impossible, but I want chicken. So the bottom line is what I want. That's what you need to do, though. Okay, thank you. We'll have more comments. I just want to say something. Sorry, I was late to this. A temple cat. Same address as my wife over there. I just looked up chicken coop 89 bucks. All right so I've got a picture of everything they had there and the cheapest one they have a roking. This is on Amazon. It's like 349. Okay Amazon 89 dollars I can show you if you want. So I don't think we want to use that as a reason to not let people have fresh eggs. So, we're even naming a dress please. Yeah, yeah, Tim Pokette, 2301 Ben Road. Oh, okay. Yeah. Hi. Hi, good. I'm a provider at Riggs Community Clinic and I just, I see families all the day that are all the time, every day, that are struggling and they have to decide between, you know, healthy food and non-healthy food. So just for me, I just love the idea of there being more eggs in the community and not fewer. And I know you can parcel that out and split hairs over who's responsible enough to have them and who's not, who has money for them and who doesn't. But ultimately, I believe in the people of this community. That's why I work for them and with them and I believe that they can just like they handle any other animal Responsible people can handle chickens and they can benefit from Teaching their children about chickens and from heaven the food. I'm telling you they pick Chips and these carbs and things and it's like, they could just go home to a few fresh eggs. That would make such a difference in their overall health. So I'm really hoping that you guys take this, obviously, seriously, and that you vote yes to allow this for the people of Lafayette. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. We have large eyes. Hi, my name is Colleen Duffy and this is my daughter. What's your name? Man. Yeah, we live at 2309 Bennett Road. Those are my neighbors. I used to live over in West Lafayette where we were allowed to have chickens. And I can attest to the fact that I've had neighbors that had chickens. And I didn't know they even existed until I was visiting them. They're very quiet. And they really are more like pets. But pets that you don't have to, like we've had a dog, but we aren't able to have dogs anymore or cats because we discovered allergies. And so when she heard that we might be able to have chicken, she was so excited because we could have a pet. She has a, who do you have here? Hey, Lee. Yeah. And I do know that dogs and cats are pretty expensive and their waste is not recyclable. And we do like gardening. So the idea of having a chicken where we can have, you know, that added to our compost as a natural fertilizer is very appealing. I'm not gonna argue about the cost effective. Depends on whether you want a high end one or a low end or whatever. For us, it would be a lot more than just the cost of eggs. Although organic eggs are pretty expensive, getting free range ones over time. but the nutritional benefits of them or you can't even argue it, it's so great. But we really, really hope that you guys will, yeah, you're... getting free range ones over time. But the nutritional benefits of them or you can't even argue it, it's so great. But we really, really hope that you guys will, you know, you're being encouraged and consider this and pass this ordinance. It would be a great benefit. I think to everyone in the community, I have eight children. She is the youngest of eight and we go through a lot of eggs in our house. So with only five hands, now may not be enough to supply all of our stuff, but I think the more eggs we have in the community, it might do something for the pricing for the others. If it's supply and demand and more people are supplying, maybe that could do something. So thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Did you have anything you wanted to say? Be sure. Okay, thank you. You can talk to us, we don't find. Good afternoon. Can you all hear me okay? That's wonderful. So my name is Vanessa Pacheco. I live in the Colombian Park neighborhood, 20th South, 26th. And I'm actually I'm speaking in support, support along with the mothers as a neighbor with no intention of ever raising chickens, right? So like I think being here was really because of like my really rooted understanding living here for 11 years that increasing her biodiversity makes so much possible civically. I do want to garden as a neighbor and I represent so many people, so many other neighbors that I live around that really are excited about the possibilities that emerge here and almost none of whom have intentions of raising chickens. But what they do recognize is that this opens up deep collaboration in terms of shared composting number one and shared understanding around how we can urge each other towards compliance in really gentle ways. And so like I see so many assets here not just composting, not just sharing eggs. I know so many people in West Lafayette who sometimes get overwhelmed with their amount. They love raising chickens, but they're excited to be able to share them. I currently collect cartons while I can still afford eggs to share with those people so that they can distribute more easily. And so we have a system that works with a small amount of people in our community in West Lafayette who are able to share, right? And I also recognize that there's so many neighbors who are worried about what could happen if they don't have an intention of raising a chicken, but they know that their neighbors might, they're worried about compliance, they're worried about all the things that can happen. But I think because I've had so many examples and I'll just give one. So for a really long time, I ran a food pantry in this community and that meant that I was working with food frequently that was at the very end of its life cycle. So that means like so many people didn't want it at the grocery store, so many people didn't want it in another place Maybe they bought it. They didn't want it in their home But I was the step before the trash For years for a very long time And the amount of food waste that we could have committed if I didn't intentionally try to work with interns who Raise chickens themselves We would be creating another problem on our way to solving the deep and real problem, I'm sure you're aware, that exists with poverty in this community, right? So trying to get access, people access to food, I didn't also want to be the line between being like the dumping ground for people's food. And ultimately I didn't have to be because I worked with people who raised chickens. Unfortunately, over time, you know, because I would frequently praise how amazing it is to live in Lafayette. A lot of those people would move to Lafayette. And then what happens? I then lose my source. And so the last thing I'll say is that y'all talked about, or some folks talked about like chickens are not slot machines, right? And what I think is really critical is that this is an opportunity for people as a civic educator. This is an opportunity for people to really have a tangible experience because that is how people learn. But it's also a way that we encourage deep connections. So not letting this ordinance be the last time we talk about chickens, clearly people brought their kids here to have a deep civic experience. And this won't be the last time if we really lean into this opportunity as a way for people to learn how to be self-sufficient in the ways they want to be. Thank you for your comments. Yeah. Hello, my name is Anthony. I have had 29 79 Cajun Court. I was at the first meeting and listen to this one. I think there's one court tenant that has not been brought up. In order for us to be free people and free nation, we have to be able to control things like where we get our food. We can't rely on others for our sustenance. And then I honestly, that's pretty much all I gotta say, goes well beyond. Although it's a good idea, teach the kids and all that, but this is about personal freedom, self-reliance. This is what made our country great and will continue to make it great. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else would like to make a comment? Going once. Okay, here we go. Sarah is working up the courage to come up here. I'm not used to talking in front of people. My name is Mary Romero. I live on 2432, Euclid, Avenue. I had a plan to come to this town hall meeting since I saw it pop up in PsychBasepok, New and this post popped up about what one chicken can do. It can debug your word yard. It can break pest cycles and fruit tree and in hour it can help turn compost. It can help tell your soil. I mean, the list goes on, right? But also we talked about, you know, how do people, how are we gonna dispose of chickens? What are we gonna do about vaccinating them? How do we raise chickens? There are resources in our community already that can help us with those questions. Everything is a learning curve. I'm starting a garden for the second year and I didn't know how to plant a garden. Like, it's everything takes time to learn. But we have an amazing resource in the community called Purdue Extension. Youth or H, they know how to dispose of chickens and they can teach our community. They know what their vaccination looks like. They know how to properly raise chicken and other livestock. So I understand there are concerns, but there are also resources in our community. And that encourages you to be involved as well. Finally, I'm just going to say there's been some conversations about the benefits to children in our community. Mental health has been a topic of concern in youth. In there are just, there's so much research that backs up the benefits of being outside, just being outside, but also of engaging with animals. And if your children maybe don't wanna go outside, maybe if you have a chicken or two, then they will. And that will just do so much for the youth and our community. So thank you. Thank you. Hey, anyone else wanna a comment? You want to talk you really nervous? Okay. Uh oh. Here we go. I'm Alexander Perez. I live at 160. I learn me drive. I think having chickens will be a good idea for kids to learn about like taking care of them, like responsibility. Because as my mom mentioned before, we spend like a month in Mexico and my grandma has chickens. They could taught me a lot like how to take care of them, like feed them and stuff. That's all I really have to say. Good job. Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Hey. Anyone else for public comment? Anybody going once? I just want to say. Thank you all for coming out and not being afraid to stand up and say what you feel As I said the last meeting this is what your government is all about getting involved in something that you feel strongly about Getting the message out getting public discourse Pro and Khan on the issue and then letting the chips fall or they may. But that's what we're here for. We don't want anybody any of our citizens to ever feel like they cannot come to us and ask for something. Within a reasonable amount of time and I want to thank Christine because when she asked me to meet with them, I told her exactly what she would have to do in order to get things on an orderly system and get it before the public. She did a lot of the work. And I really appreciate everything that she did. I want to thank Jackie from the work that she and her assistant city attorney did in writing this ordinance and we've had wonderful public input and I thank you all for coming forward and taking your time to do that because that's what it's all about and we will see what happens going forward. Do you have any idea when we may know that just mother? How the city council is going to go? I, can you give us any idea of timeline? Well, this is the second public hearing that we have conducted. It is a matter of whether or not a city council member wants to come forward and officially sponsor the ordinance and when they file that with the clerk's office to get that going It would require two city council meetings for approval And those are once a month. Yes, they're once a month. We already took May is already taken place So the next city council meeting is in June So we're looking probably at August at the earliest at the absolute earliest yes Is there's got to be some tweaking that's going to have to go to this proposed ordinance anyway, which you know is going to take a little back and forth. But real quick, I do sorry. I know this is not going to go. But I do want to thank all the parents who have brought their children here today. Like I absolutely love seeing young it is so heartwarming to see that there are people and the ones that came up and spoke even if it was just a few words that's absolutely amazing I encourage you to continue with your civic engagement or your entire life we need more people engaged us civically and so thank you for for bringing your children and your families out here today. It is meaningful. I would just like to apologize if I maybe heard somebody's feelings or something, but I just have a lot of questions because being a farm boy animals were first. That was our living. That's how we made our living. And so if I was offensive, I'm sorry, but I do look out for the animals, I'm sorry. This is an opportunity for us to figure this out because I grew up in Chicago. I don't think I know about chicken, but I'm going to play. So we need to find out exactly what we're looking into looking into here so that we can come up with So we can take this citizen input and turn it into an effective public policy on this issue Yes, that's how that's our job. That's how we do it I think the most difficult thing too is obviously we're going here tonight is passionate about it and you would be responsible owners We have to also consider just as many who would not be so trying to find that that's why we're questioning we've got to make sure we find a balance in an ordinance that covers both people who will be responsible and people who will not be just like with cats or dogs or any other law well and if people do not house chickens properly they will not have chickens for a long time. Because we have hogs, we have turkey bultures, we have raccoons. I've seen deer on South 24th Street. So I talk about vermin being in, yeah. Right, they're here eating our bird seed, a bird seed person too, you know Right just can't see that chickens are gonna But I think that's why it was important to hear all those perspectives tonight. Yeah, I have a question I know West Lafayette obviously has been doing this a long time and I know that these are all valid questions But how much have you guys communicated with them on like how they deal with because I never thought about I mean we compost and we want chickens but I never thought about like the rest of the chicken food and all that like what what is you know like if you talk to say something about that. Sure. Like which one? People put their dog poop in the trash. People put their cat litter in the trash. That is what the trash service is for is to take these things away. Organic material goes in the trash every single day. That's what chicken poop is. Obviously you're going to fill a bigger bag in the 13 gallon kitchen trash bag when you go to clean out your poop. But there's a lot of things that go into the trash. And I don't think that that's something that should derail this ordinance. I don't think it's going to. I think it's just something that maybe people don't think about because they haven't had animals outside of dogs and cats. But every animal, every human produces waste. And it all goes in the trash and our lovely trash men and the guys and women that work for our trash service, take care of that every single day. So I don't think that should be a point of contention in my opinion. And it's no different than people having to pick up their dogs poop when they go for a walk. It goes right in the trash bin. So I think it kind of breaks down in the cool. Well, thank you. It turns into not soil, but it turns into another material very quickly and it is often in nitrogen and it is very hot. So it happens very quickly. If I may, there was a comment earlier about what we would do with the innards of a chicken. I have a dog. He is pretty much a garbage disposal. I give him chicken geyser, chicken liver, things like that. I even give him the turkey neck at Thanksgiving. So it wouldn't necessarily, if you have dogs or cats, organic meat for them is fantastic. So that might actually help reduce the possible waste. And the bones on top of that, my cousin lives the next county over. She has chickens. We purchase chicken meat from Gordon Food Service for my three large dogs and we boil it off the bone. Well, what do with the bones? Chicken bones go right out to my cousin and she feeds them right back to her chickens. There is a lot less waste. You can imagine their bees. Well thank you all very much for taking your time to come and speak about this ordinance. We really appreciate it. I've learned a lot. I have never seen so many children in this place. No, it's not. I've been here.