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Hamilton City updates decades-old animal ordinance, removes ‘hard labor’ penalty
Summary
Hamilton City Council approved an amendment to a long-standing animal ordinance that adds enclosure specifications and replaces an 1980-era penalty of "hard labor on the streets" with community service; council noted no permits have been issued under the ordinance and said the changes are unlikely to affect residents.
Hamilton City Council voted to amend a decades-old ordinance governing the keeping of livestock and similar animals within city limits, replacing an outdated penalty and adding specifications for enclosures.
The chair told the council the ordinance dates to 1980 and was amended in 1983 to add poultry. "In 1980, it said that you would be sentenced to hard labor on the streets of Hamilton. So, we have taken that out and community service has been placed in the ordinance now," the chair said. The chair also said the update includes specifications for enclosure types and adjusts fines for violations.
Council discussion in the transcript was procedural and brief; no public permit under the ordinance has been authorized to date, and the chair said the changes "really aren't going to affect anybody because nobody's in compliance right now." The transcript shows the item was moved and approved by voice vote with no opposition recorded.
The transcript contains an inconsistency in the ordinance number: the item was introduced as an amendment to "Ordinance 409" and later referenced as "4409." The council did not provide a clarifying statement on the record during the meeting; the transcript records the discrepancy. The article reports both numbers as they appear in the meeting record and notes the inconsistency.
What happens next: the council indicated the amended ordinance will be published online (the chair said it would be available on the city website "hopefully this week"). The transcript does not record subsequent steps such as an effective date or the process for issuing permits under the revised ordinance.
