Ontario council gives residents the right to feed deer
ONTARIO ― Ontario Council Wednesday voted 5 to 1 against an amended ordinance that would have prohibited residents from feeding deer.
An alleged "safety issue" came to light over a onetime incident between neighbors on Oakstone Drive after a wild deer named Bubba, who had been tamed, caught the attention of a neighbor's unleashed dog who ran barking into a yard while the deer was there. Bubba also was reported to have caused that resident to fear for her children's safety when playing outdoors.
"We got duped in believing this was a big issue in the neighborhood," said Councilman Dave Rehfeldt. He said Bubba, who was bottle-fed in a garage, started to walk the neighborhood.
No record of a resident getting hurt by deer
"If this is a true safety issue, until this happened I never heard of one person talk about a person getting hurt ... in the 20 years I've lived in the neighborhood. This is an unfortunate situation where a wild animal was made tame and went to see the people in the neighborhood," Rehfeldt said.
Before the vote, several residents took to the podium speaking for and against the ordinance being amended.
Adrienne Ruhe of Oakstone Drive told council in April that she was concerned with how sociable some deer were by her house and near her children.
“This was not a one-time incident, I called the game warden over a year ago talking to them about how to deter deer from my property,” Ruhe said. “They’ll stand 10 feet from my playset and stomp and snort at my kids.”
Rehfeldt said this was not an issue of people's safety.
"This is an issue of a resident who is mad at people feeding the deer," he added.
He said Bubba has not been seen for a couple weeks.
"I wonder if he's even around," Rehfeldt said.
He added he's going to go outside his property line and place 50 pounds of corn and let them (the deer) have it.
Rehfeldt said if there was safety issue for residents he would be the first person to stop it.
"I don't know of anyone in my neighborhood who got hurt by a deer in 20 years," he said.
Council also addressed myriad topics
In other business, council member Troy Sapp said members discussed in executive session before the council meeting personnel matters including having the law director draft legislation to appoint a recreation director.
Council member Sherry Branham said during the personnel committee's executive session council members told police Chief Tommy Hill to investigate if there were any violations of policy by city employees surrounding actions by Safety Service Director Kris Knapp on May 11.
Knapp had responded to a resident's call for assistance with a disabled vehicle after a tire fell off their vehicle instead of calling police around 10 p.m. Knapp was placed on paid administrative leave for two weeks until being cleared of any wrongdoing in an internal investigation by Ontario police.
"If any violations are found, the appropriate discipline will be administered up to and including termination," Branham said.
Also, council set a public hearing for 7 p.m. Aug. 16 before council meets to discuss a rezoning request for 12 parcels on Park Avenue West from office service to business for properties on the south side from 1943 PAW to 2103 PAW. Ontario Planning Commission has already voted in favor of this rezoning.
A rezone was requested by an attorney for resident Dan Niss who purchased the half-finished church property catty-cornered from Discount Drug Mart.
Council also voted to pass a resolution authorizing the mayor or his designee, the safety service director, to enter into an agreement with Reveille to prepare a comprehensive plan for the city.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario council: Feeding Bubba the deer does not pose a 'safety issue'
