OILTON — A section of city code titled “Animal Houses” is set to be enforced starting on April 15, according to a recent Oilton Police Department announcement. A previously passed ordinance named the Oilton police department as code enforcement resulting in the department’s recent initiative of informing residents of upcoming city codes to be enforced moving forward.
Department leadership informed the public that enforcement of a city ordinance concerning hoofed animals within city limits will begin in the coming weeks. The announcement noted that once the commencement date has passed red tags will be issued allowing 30-days for those notified to remedy the problem. If the issue is not resolved within the “grace period” those residents will receive a citation.
City Code Title IV, Chapter 4, Section 6-4-8, regulates the keeping of animals and animal housing within the city. Under the ordinance, cattle, goats, sheep, horses and swine are not permitted to be housed inside city limits. The ordinance includes one exemption for livestock kept by the school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program at the agricultural barn.
The ordinance clarified that individuals who already had livestock within city limits prior to May 10 of 2016 when the rule was first adopted are considered “grandfathered in”.
In addition to the restriction on livestock, the code outlines requirements for animal housing which includes the requirement that facilities where animals are kept must remain clean and sanitary “devoid of rodents and vermin and free from objectionable odors”. Structures housing livestock located within 200 feet of residences, businesses, or other public buildings “shall be provided with a watertight and flytight receptacle for manure, of such size as to hold all accumulations of manure” and be “emptied sufficiently often” to prevent it from becoming a nuisance.
Under the code, the city’s health officer — police department members — may inspect properties where animals are kept following a complaint or on their own initiative. If conditions violate the ordinance, the officer may order corrective measures such as the red tag notification and citation or file a complaint with the municipal judge.