Lind Town Council votes for exemptions on large animal permits for youth exhibitors

The March 22 Lind Town Council meeting began with discussion about the claims approval as the amounts listed did not balance. Town Clerk/Treasurer Denise Snead looked into the issue and stated she would be unable to fix this until the next day when she could access the file to balance the funds.

The council agreed to sign an adjusted copy the following day at each council member’s convenience.

Mayor Jamie Schmunk then took the floor to discuss the True Colors training the council expressed interest in participating at the previous meeting.

Schmunk advised the trainer is available on weekends, which worked best for the council members. They collectively decided on April 23 at 9 a.m. This training will help each council member identify his or her specific personality type, while also learning how different personalities work best together.

Schmunk also updated the council on projects the town employees have been working on. She advised the six new stop signs the Town purchased have been installed to replace those which were old and fading.

The Mayor also advised the crews have been working to prepare the Town Park and the airport for the Easter festivities, which took place on March 26.

With the Mayor’s update being the only discussion item on the agenda, the meeting then turned to polling the council for discussion items beginning with Councilperson Kathy White.

White expressed an issue brought to her attention by a resident in regards to the permit fee for large animals.

This has been an issue discussed in the past and at this time the council voted to consider the FFA barn exempt of the $25 fee for large animals. This was decided so any student who wanted to participate in FFA would have the ability to house their animals on school grounds for no cost.

They additionally waived fees for FFA students who were housing their own animals as long as they lived in the ag-suburban zone.

If the resident lives within the ag-suburban zone but their children are raising livestock for 4-H and not FFA, the Livestock Ordinance does not have any sections exempting 4-H from the $25 fee.

White stated if the livestock are being raised in the ag-suburban zone and is for 4-H or FFA they should not have to pay the permit fee. She sees this fee as hurting the children who want to participate in these programs.

The entire council unanimously agreed and Schmunk advised they would need to create a resolution.

Snead asked how they would enforce this resolution to ensure people were not simply saying there is one animal on the property for 4-H but they have more than one.

The council countered by saying this is how the animal ordinance is for dogs currently. They simply trust residents to keep the appropriate number of animals and if complaints were received it would be addressed at that time.

The council also made the specification the animal has to be in the ag-suburban area with a letter from the project leader.

They additionally discussed breeding programs and whether these would be under the same guidelines.

The council unanimously decided to create a resolution under the guidelines discussed for certain parties to be exempt from Ordinance 11-02.

The Town received three permits to be approved for large animals. They discussed the first permit at length as the council thought the number of animals was too large for the size of the property, they tabled this to have a further discussion with the resident who submitted the permit.

They approved the second and third with no objections.

Councilperson Craig Cooper then asked if the Mayor was able to ascertain why the Town received a letter from Adams County in regards to bridge inspections when the Town’s inspections had already been completed.

Schmunk advised she spoke with the County in regards to the letter and discovered there is a new mandated load testing requirement and the letter outlined the offer for Lind’s three bridges to be included when the County does their testing.

She advised the cost would be about $700 per bridge and they would have to build this fee into their budget for future years.

Councilperson Paula Bell asked the Mayor if the form for disconnecting from the water and sewer lines had been completed. The Mayor advised they are researching forms from other towns and are still working with the lawyer.

Councilperson Karissa Labes asked about the possibility of adding stop signs to the intersection at Sixth Street and L Street as she has seen a need for it. Labes stated there are numerous children in the area and cars tend to speed through the area without stopping.

Schmunk advised they had looked into this in the past and the town crew has discovered there is too much rock to install a pole for the stop sign and there are gas lines near where they would need to be placed. She stated she would have the site revisited.

When the Council meets again on April 12 they will discuss further the resolution for the permit fees as well as any additional applications the Town receives.