2022-02-08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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the next couple of weeks, with the CEO’s from both poultry plants in Batesville to address the odors coming from the plants. Peco, in a letter, said over the past 15 years they have spent upwards of 7.5 million dollars to help with the order problems. There are no laws, state or federal, regarding odor so it makes it difficult for cities to control the odor problem. Mayor Elumbaugh said our poultry industry is vital for our community but so is the quality of life. He said his meetings with the plant leaders have been positive and he hopes that a reasonable solution will happen. E) DISCUSSION OF AMENDMENTS TO NOISE ORDINANCE Mayor Elumbaugh asked Police Chief Alan Cockrill, City Engineer Damon Johnson and Code Enforcement Officer Chad McClure to come and address the council regarding the proposed ordinance to amend our current noise ordinance. Chief Cockrill said our current ordinance only addresses loud reverberation coming from vehicle sound systems and is almost impossible to enforce. The Chief said in order to charge someone with a misdemeanor for breaking a city ordinance, the officer has to see or hear the offence or a person who saw or heard the offence can swear in an affidavit to offence. Chief Cockrill said most people will call and complain but will refuse to file an official complaint. The Chief said the proposed ordinance would be very difficult to enforce. Code Enforcement Officer concurred with Chief Cockrill and added that sound is subjective which makes it even harder to enforce. City Engineer Damon Johnson said even though the proposed ordinance is not specific to construction, the complaint that started this process is about a specific construction site. Mr. Johnson said construction sites come and go and he feels like the ordinance is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. He also said if Batesville wants to be “pro-business”, then we don’t need to over mandate proposed