Williamsburg City Council discusses altering ordinances, upcoming events

Robert Halcomb, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
·2 min read

May 16—WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg City Council discussed possible changes to city ordinances at Monday's city council meeting.

To start the meeting, Mayor Roddy Harrison explained May's light agenda.

According to Harrison, preparations are being made for Williamsburg's next budget, which will necessitate three meetings in total for the month of June.

Despite the light agenda, the council discussed possible ordinance changes addressing various issues.

The first possible change would be to the city's policy about chickens in the city limits. According to Mayor Harrison and other council members, there have been a growing number of complaints regarding the presence of chickens in residential areas.

The current policy reads that no livestock is allowed in city limits, but a recent trend of owning chickens seems to have made some city residents forget the ordinance.

However, despite there being a rule against livestock in the area, there is no "teeth" to the policy — meaning that it is difficult to enforce.

The city will be looking to enforce the policy in the future, with plans coming to codify the new procedure.

In the same vein as the issue of livestock, the council also discussed adding enforcement procedures to their scooping policy for dog waste.

This issue has been mentioned previously at other city council meetings, but will now be examined again with the hopes of taking measures to enforce the policy.

According to Mayor Harrison, the issue of dog waste in the city's parks has long vexed him and others in the community — citing the effect it has on others capacity to enjoy the community's parks.

The council will look to raise the fine associated with not cleaning up the waste and take measures to more effectively enforce the policy.

No formal action was taken in regard to either policy change at the meeting.

Mayor Harrison also noted that a report is being generated to demonstrate the city's energy savings after the recent installation of LED lights around the city. However, the report was not complete at the time of May's meeting.