By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Ortonville- The chickens are here to stay.
At Monday’s meeting the board of trustees voted 3-2 to not enforce the current ordinance banning chickens and to look into options for a future ordinance.
Council members Tonja Brice and Karan Sleva and President Wayne Wills voted yes while Pro tempor Dan Eschmann and council member Mark Butzo voted no. Absent from the meeting were council members Keith Dylus and Coleen Skornicka.
“I’m very glad that our community came together. I’m very proud of them,” said Brice. “I’m glad we were able to reach a happy medium.”

The meeting included presentations on the myths surrounding chickens and plenty of public comment on why chickens should be allowed in the village.
The presentation, “raising chickens is no crime,” was requested by councilwoman Brice. It highlighted the common myths about chickens, such as they carry avian flu and attract predators, and debunked them. The presenters were Susan Hagen, who is involved with 4-H and will be teaching a class on chickens at the Brandon Township library on Feb. 24, and Courtney McClerren, who has been a vocal advocate for the chickens.
“Suspending the enforcement of the ordinance was the right decision,” said McClerren. The residents want this desperately and are willing to fight for it. I was hoping to have had a little more direction and resolve in an ordinance after the meeting, but I still consider this to be a win and a step in the right direction.”
Following the meeting many of the ‘Save the Chickens’ signs we changed to ‘Saved the Chickens’ thanks to local chicken owner Brenda Timmermans.
“Feeling confident that we were going to change the council’s mind, I had stickers made with the letter ‘d’ that would change the signs to ‘Saved the chickens,’” said Timmermans “I felt that we had such a strong case. We addressed all their concerns by giving them a presentation by a chicken-expert, followed by a Q&A session where we responded with valid fact-based answers from dependable sources, we had almost 20 percent of the registered voters sign our petition, the whole room was filled with supporters, at least 10 people got up to address the council and there were kids expressing their emotions about having to ‘get rid of’ their chickens.”
The council will be looking into options for an ordinance that allows chickens, though the number and other specifics are not yet decided on.