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Fairfield council approves public-safety ordinance changes; rooster restriction passes 3-2
Summary
The Fairfield Town Council approved multiple amendments to the town's Public Safety Ordinance, including a contested change limiting male chickens that passed 3-2; debate continued over ATV speed limits with councilors delaying a decision until Police Chief Gould can attend.
The Fairfield Town Council on May 27 approved several amendments to the town’s Public Safety Ordinance related to event rules for the town’s 250th celebration and nuisance controls, and narrowly approved a change to limit male chickens after councilors debated whether the rule would unduly regulate small-scale or educational poultry keeping.
At a public hearing that opened at 6:35 p.m. and closed at 6:40 p.m., there were no comments from members of the public. Councilor Peter Lawrence said he was concerned that amended language in Article 6, Section 4 could needlessly regulate chickens kept for educational use by homeschools. Town Manager Flewelling said the amendment was prompted by multiple nuisance complaints about roosters and would not change where chickens are allowed but would allow the town to limit the number of male chickens or address excessive noise through enforcement.
On the motion to approve amendments to Article 6, Section 4 (limiting male chickens), Councilors approved the change on a 3-2 vote. Councilor Stephanie Thibodeau moved the motion and Councilor Matt Townsend seconded it; the minutes record a 3-2 outcome but do not assign individual yes/no votes to named members.
The council also approved a set of amendments to Article 8 (sections 1, 5, 7 and 8) and Article 10, Section 3, which Councilor Thibodeau said relate to the town’s 250th American Celebration scheduled for July 10–11; those motions carried 5-0. The council accepted and authorized expenditures of donations for the celebration and approved related ordinance adjustments to accommodate festival operations.
Separate from the ordinance votes, the council continued a workshop discussion on ATV speed limits. Flewelling flagged that a version of the proposed Article 13 posted for public review had shown a 45 MPH speed, but the amendment under consideration would establish a 25 MPH limit. Secretary Kevin Kitchin said there is currently no town ordinance specifying ATV speeds on public roads and said he drafted an ordinance; he reported the ATV club’s preference for a 40–45 MPH limit while the Police Chief’s memo recommended 25 MPH. Chair Timothy Martin asked to table the item until Chief Tom Gould can attend to discuss safety and enforcement; Councilor Matt Townsend suggested 35 MPH as a potential compromise. No ordinance vote on ATV speed was taken that evening.
Other business: the council authorized the Town Manager to meet with the two lowest bidders on the IT RFP and award the contract to the most qualified bidder (Flewelling said five proposals were submitted), and elected the Town Manager to serve on the MMA Legislative Policy Committee for 2026–2028. Several of these motions carried 5-0.
The council recessed to sign documents and adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
