Those wanting to raise chickens in the city of Mexico can now do so legally.

The council voted in favor 4-1 to allow residents the opportunity to raise chickens at home with some restrictions. The only vote against the change came from Council Member Chris Williams who sees a problem with enforcing the city’s code when chickens run afoul.

Council Member Larry Weber spoke first and said generally speaking he’s not in favor of passing ordinances the city cannot enforce but didn’t see that as a reason to not allow chickens. He later added that he would like city staff to comment on how an ordinance will be enforced when first presented.

“We’ve got several we can’t enforce so what the heck, add one more to it,” Weber said.

Williams said that’s exactly why he was not going to support the ordinance. He said in addition to speaking to several residents he also spoke with the city’s municipal court judge. Williams said the city’s courts are already burdened with a stack of papers it cannot get to promptly.

“I don’t know how much of that is we don’t want to make people mad or how much of that is we just don’t have the resources,” Williams said. “I watch stuff and sometimes I see things wrong and people will drive by and let it go.”

City Manager Bruce Slagle backed up Williams’s concerns and said under state regulations the city cannot house chickens with dogs and cats.

“We don’t have facilities for it,” Slagle said. “Our current level of staffing and facilities are just not adequate at this time. If they’re running at large or crawling around I’m not sure what we’ll do if anything.”

Council Member Steve Haag, who voted in favor of the change, said if the city needs to address things through the budget process then it should.

“If we can’t enforce and there’s a problem within the numbers we have and things like that do we need to look at the budget and get another person?” Haag said. “Do we need stuff like that? If there’s a stack of papers and something needs to be done then there might be something we need to look at seriously within the budget of adding somebody else so we cannot only enforce this code but other codes as we go down the road.”

Mayor Vicki Briggs said she was tired of talking about the issue and apologized to the city staff if she ever seemed impatient and thanked everyone for the hard work.

“I am going to hope that (residents) stick to those guidelines,” Briggs said. “As long as they are doing what they should be doing we’ll have no problems. It’s when people don’t follow the guidelines we’re going to have a problem again and we may see this come back. It’s time to get this issue off the table and move along with it.”

Most city residents will be allowed to have up to 10 chickens (no roosters) within an approved coup. A person wanting chickens must apply through the city for a $10 one-time fee and allow city staff a one-time inspection of the chicken coup. The coup must be at least 20 feet from a property line and can only be located in backyards.