Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Altoona Common Council met on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 5:00 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting included citizen comments on backyard hens and business signage, the swearing-in of a new police officer, a report on a federal earmark for a fire facility, approval of an All-Hazard Mitigation Plan, a detailed review of the 2024 Annual Development Report, and a closed session to discuss a development proposal for an 80-acre city-owned property.
Yes. Okay. Let's go ahead and call the regular council meeting of Thursday, June 12th, 2025 to order by the Pledge Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flags of America. Underground individual liberty and justice for all roll call for councilpersons roll call for departments. Mayor Brendan Pratt. Councilperson Dale Stuber. Councilperson Timothy Lima. Here. Councilperson Bruce Thielen. Yes. Councilperson Matthew Beeran. Here. Councilperson Caitlin Leopold. Councilperson Susan Row. Here. We also have President City Administrator Michael Golot, Police Chief Kelly Bachen, Planning Director Taylor Greenwell, Grant and Housing Program Manager Julian Emerson, and Cindy Bauer, City Clerk. We have a quorum. All right. So there's some uh participation period. No more than 20 minutes unless extended by two-thirds vote. So if there's anybody that'd like to speak, that's something that's not on the agenda. This is your time. Please. Good evening. My name is Amy Baumgarten, and I live at 1212 Garfield Avenue. Um good evening, members of the Altoona City Council. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. I'm here to respectfully request that the city consider amending its ordinance to allow residents to keep a small flock of four to six backyard hens within city limits. Across the country, cities like Madison, Minneapolis, and Des Moines have adopted similar ordinances, and for good reason. Backyard hens provide fresh, healthy eggs and purpose promote sustainable living. They offer families the opportunity to be more self-reliant and teach children valuable lessons about responsibility, food sources, and animal care. Hens are quiet, clean, and far less disruptive than other permitted animals. With proper guidelines in place, such as no roosters, coop regulations, and sanitation rules, backyard chickens can be kept in a way that respects neighbors and the community. This amendment would support local food initiatives, encourage responsible stewardship, and give El Tuna families a small but meaningful way to live more sustainably. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. Anyone else? For local businesses like restaurant, landscaping companies, uh, liquor store, gas stations. For us, like small businesses, we uh we the temporary yard signs are very important to food traffic for the for the for us to survive. And uh in a couple of days ago, I heard that uh some corporations or somebody complain about having a PISA sign outside of our gas station, which I feel like is something to stop these small businesses like that. And uh like we are not talking about the billboards or something. Big corporations like Walmart, they can survive without them. But small businesses like us, which for us, like yard signs, like we have Hunt Brothers Pizza, we have like six flags in our yard. And which we are doing good on PISA right now, uh since last year. And that really uh impact on our businesses having that signs over there. But if we remove those sign, it might not impact that much, but I urged uh city council to look into this and see if we can carry those temporary yard signs.