City council debates horse dung cleanup

MARENGO — Horse riders in parades in Marengo won’t violate the city’s animal ordinance by not cleaning up after their animals if a proposed ordinance passes the city council.

The council debated the issue last week after receiving complaints that horse manure wasn’t cleaned up after the July 3 parade. They’ve also heard from horse owners who are reluctant to take part in Marengo events if they are going to cited for not cleaning up when their animals defecate in the streets.

Ordinance 55.23 says that no owner of a dog, cat or other animals shall allow the animal to defecate on public property or fail to pick up and dispose of the feces deposited by such animal on public property.

Councilman John Hinshaw said that animals in parades should be exempted.

“I did call about six other cities,” said Hinshaw. None seemed think it was a big deal, he said.

Kalona uses a street sweeper for large cleanups and shovels and buckets for smaller complaints. “[They] have a lot of horses down there,” said Hinshaw.

Williamsburg lets nature take its course, said Hinshaw. Brooklyn, which doesn’t have much horse traffic, lets the feces wash away, he said.

Tiffin hasn’t had parades since COVID, Hinshaw said, but the city administrator told him that some towns use street sweepers to clean up after horses and some require that the horses wear bags.

Marengo City Attorney Gage Kenseler said he’d contacted several towns himself and got the same results.

Hinshaw said Marengo is making a mountain out of a molehill. Most small towns don’t worry about the mess left by horses during parades, he said.

Marengo police have to enforce the law, however, so the council has to change the law if it doesn’t want owners cited for not cleaning up after their animals during parades, Hinshaw said.

“We have people that are hesitant to come here because of this,” Hinshaw said.

Councilman Travis Schlabach suggested the council change the ordinance to exempt July 3. Jingle on the Square is not an issue, he said, because the owners are paid to provide the service and are required to clean up.

Make the ordinance specific to July 3 so that horses going to and from the staging area for the parade are also exempt from citation, Schlabach said. If the city has other parades, it can change the ordinance to include them at that time.

Hinshaw said the ordinance should be broad enough to include all parades approved by the city on whatever date.

Kenseler said a magistrate would distinguish between a horse that is traveling between the parade route and the staging area and a horse meandering around town hours before or after the parade.

A magistrate would rule based on the spirit of the law, Kenseler said. Exempting a parade route would be the easiest way to write an amendment to the ordinance, the attorney said.

The city could designate the Jingle on the Square route as a parade route to give it the same exemption, said Police Chief Ben Gray.

The ordinance needs to be pliable in case the parade date changes, said City Administrator Karla Marck. Organizers have discussed having the Independence Day parade on a Saturday, she said.

Marck said people have contacted her and offered to clean up after the horses, some at no cost.

“If you have to clean up after your dog, you should clean up after all your animals,” said Councilwoman Sue Peterson. She did, however, vote with Bill Kreis, Hinshaw and Travis Schlabach to approve drafting an amendment to the ordinance to exempt animals in approved parades.

“Do we really have a lot of complaints about it?” Peterson asked.

Marck and Gray both said they had fielded complaints about feces in the streets after the parade.

“It’s Marengo, Iowa,” said Iowa County Supervisor Abby Maas who attended the city council meeting as a private citizen and horse owner. “It’s not a big deal. It should be exempted.”

Larger towns, such as Coralville, may take issue with it, said Maas, but most smaller towns don’t worry about it.

“It’s not about cleanup,” said Hinshaw. “It’s about not citing the owner of the animals.”

The council will have to approve three readings of the amended ordinance during subsequent meetings before it becomes law.