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Roosters may be silenced, banned in city

By ZOË HAGGARD - zhaggard@t-g.com
Posted 8/5/21

Shelbyville City Council met for its first August study session Tuesday night to prepare the agenda for the next council meeting, which is 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at Shelbyville Recreation Center. One of the items discussed was the proposed animal control ordinance that would prohibit fowl, like roosters, from being in the City limits...

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Roosters may be silenced, banned in city

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Shelbyville City Council met for its first August study session Tuesday night to prepare the agenda for the next council meeting, which is 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at Shelbyville Recreation Center.

One of the items discussed was the proposed animal control ordinance that would prohibit fowl, like roosters, from being in the City limits.

Council will also consider the TNR (trap, neuter, and release) program for feral cats. “Over the last year, we’re receiving a growing number of complaints on chickens and cats...We’re looking at noise ordinance issues—typically reverting back to roosters. And on cats, it’s an opportunity to try and control the feline population,”said City Manager Joshua Ray.

Mayor Wallace Cartwright asked if this would include residents raising prize roosters for the 4-H Club. As the proposal stands, there would be absolutely no fowl allowed in City limits, according to Ray.

Interestingly enough, the ducks at the Fairfield Pike pond are considered fowl, so the question was raised—and no definite answer provided—whether these ducks would be prohibited from City limits. However, according to the proposed ordinance document, fowl cannot be kept in high density residential, mobile home park, or any other town home, multi-family or similar units.

**Tax freeze

Council will also discuss enacting a property tax freeze at the next meeting that would “freeze” the assessment of the property and effectively freeze the property tax bill for homeowners in the following categories: elderly, disabled, disabled veteran, and widow(er) of disabled veteran.

The City currently is part of Tennessee’s 2020 tax relief program that allows for a 12 percent reduction for those qualifying homeowners. “Anything that Council would do now would create a challenge for us to implement for the next tax bill because those are getting ready to go out now. But we would like to have a workshop opportunity and then be able to invite citizens in for the workshop to hear that discussion,” said Ray. Other items

Coinciding with Shelbyville-native Keon Johnson’s recent NBA draft, the City also proposed a “Keon Johnson Day” which would take place Aug. 21 to celebrate his achievements.

Also, Shelbyville Police Department may be getting a new cloud-based body cam and in-car video system through a National Cooperative contract lease agreement, costing $95,000 for the proposed contract.

Council will also consider the real property purchase of the 33 acres off Highway 231 North for the 231 Business Park—an area that will soon house the new Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Shelbyville facility.

This venture cost is being split between The City of Shelbyville and Bedford County Government at an estimated $2.1 million. The land will be annexed into Shelbyville City limits, Ray said.