The Noel City Council granted Tawnie Beavers a special permit to keep her poultry service animals.
Beavers, who spoke at the Feb. 13 meeting, said she's had turkeys on her property for five years.
A neighbor's recent complaint launched a look into the housing of her turkeys.
Her neighbor spoke on her behalf.
"She takes very good care of her animals," the neighbor told city council members on Thursday night. "The turkeys did flog me pretty good, so I had to file an insurance claim," she said, "but ask that she has the permit."
Beavers produced a letter from her psychiatrist who said she needs the service animals. Beavers lives at the very end of some property near the edge of town. She said she's on disability and cares for her turkeys daily.
Based on the information presented, the council voted to grant her a special permit.
"These birds mean the world to me," Beavers said. "They are pets. The turkeys are very much like feathered dogs."
During departmental reports, Marshal Randy Wilson told the council that 22 arrests were made in January, with 216 cases reported overall so far this year.
He asked to apply for a "Cops Grant," which, if approved, would pay up to $125,000 for an officer to be on staff for three years. Stipulations include keeping the position on staff for a year and including that position into the budget. It also includes hiring someone else and paying for benefits, should that position become open. The council voted to have Wilson apply for the grant.
According to cops.usdoj.gov/chp, approximately $400 million in federal funding is available this year in the COPS Hiring Program. CHP provides funding to hire and re-hire entry-level career law enforcement officers in order to preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities and support crime prevention efforts, according to information provided on the website.
If approved, the grant provides 75 percent of the entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of each newly hired and/or rehired full-time officer, the website said.
The funding enables departments to hire new officers, rehire officers who were laid off as a result of budget reductions, and rehire officers who, at the time of application, are currently scheduled to be laid off as a result of budget reductions, the website said.
In other business, the council:
• Read on its first reading and discussed amending the budget to incorporate the recent reduction of council salaries that was approved last month. Council members voted in January to reduce the monthly alderperson's salary from $200 to $150. The change is being conducted in stages. Those immediately affected are the two aldermen who are up for re-election in April. Next year, the other three council positions will be affected. When all the reductions take place, the savings will be $3,600 a year.
• Heard from street superintendent Chris Craig who said a new staff employee is working out well. Staff members will begin to tackle cleanup of the city park and have it operational by springtime, he said.
• Re-appointed Evelyn White and Joyce Short to serve three-year terms on the Noel Housing Board.
General News on 02/20/2020