Osburn mayor breaks council tie allowing chickens

OSBURN — The city of Osburn chicken debate is over. Ordinance No. 302, permitting domestic chickens within Osburn, was passed at Tuesday's city hall meeting, joining other Silver Valley cities to allow chickens inside the city limits.

The small Osburn City Council room was filled to the brim, with some supporters sitting outside in the hallway, waiting to speak about why they felt they should have chickens on their property. Some citizens living in Osburn have already owned chickens, despite Osburn not previously having an ordinance.

After many impassioned pleas of support from the community, and some contention in the crowd, the Osburn City Council was split on the matter as Councilwoman Laurie Richardson and Councilman Charles “Spike” Angle voted against the ordinance. In contrast, Councilwoman Marcy Hayman and Councilman Kevin Kessler voted in favor of the ordinance. Then, after a tiebreaker, the deciding vote went to Osburn Mayor Kip McGillivray, who voted in favor of the ordinance.

A similar instance occurred in 2020 at the Pinehurst City Council meeting when the council came to a tie vote, and Mayor Bob Jutila broke the tie in favor.

Among those in opposition was John Specht, who had previously served on the Osburn City Council and was against the ordinance.

“I was on the council and this topic came up twice before and was discussed and broken down. I am against the chickens in Osburn, I don’t think we are a farming community. I believe that once you allow chickens, we will start allowing other farm animals,” Specht said. “A second reason is enforcement. I think our law enforcement officers have more important things than to count chickens.”

Among those who spoke in favor of the ordinance was Rachel Weaver who told the crowd, “I’m all for it. I think that we, especially in today’s day and age, see that we have food shortages, we see the cost of everything going up. I think we need to be more self-sufficient and more reliant. We need that opportunity to grow our own food, and chickens are a great opportunity for that with their eggs and meat.”

Many supporters echoed these sentiments citing food for their families, food shortages and rising prices were the main factors in wanting the ordinance passed. Among the supporters were also members of the community explaining that they would provide knowledge and support to anyone who wants to properly care for chickens.

The ordinance itself lists many limitations on the keeping of chickens, including a limit of no more than six chickens on one lot. A male rooster under four months of age is permissible within the city limits; however, upon passing four months of age, the roosters must be reallocated in a timely manner, providing a suitable coop, and disposing of any dead chickens in a timely and sanitary manner. Failure to comply with any of the ordinance's limitations can constitute a danger to public health, safety or welfare and is defined as a nuisance. Violations of the ordinance will result in a municipal citation as provided in the municipal city code, Title 9, Chapter 9.90 in the Osburn City code.

For the complete ordinance, and more information, contact the city of Osburn at 208-752-0001.