The rooster starts his crowing every day around 4 a.m., from his cage in a driveway in the middle of Old Town.
His crows bother neighbors living in nearby houses and apartments, according to complaints Code Enforcement Officer David Russell has gotten.
“I’ve driven by during the day, and I can hear from out on the street,” Russell said.
The rooster and a few hens live at a High Street property near a neighbor’s window, Russell said. After nearly a year of telling the resident the rooster must go, Old Town filed a lawsuit asking a court to force the owner to remove the animals.
Property owner and resident Mona Dougherty is violating an Old Town ordinance that prohibits livestock and poultry in single-family and general residence zoned areas, the lawsuit filed Oct. 10 in Penobscot District Court said.
This is the second lawsuit Old Town filed against residents they say are violating city ordinances for issues involving animals. Joann and Alan Gilbert are being sued for allegedly keeping a nuisance property, by keeping a barrel of corn to feed the deer.
In the rooster case, Old Town is asking the court to rule that Dougherty violated the ordinance and order her to remove all poultry from the property. The city also wants Dougherty to pay a per-day fine for violating the ordinance. The lawsuit does not list the amount, but Maine law sets the maximum fine at $5,000 total. A hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Nov. 16.
Dougherty had no comment about the lawsuit when reached at her property Friday. She does not have a lawyer listed in court records.
Lawsuits are filed only as a last resort by the city, City Manager Bill Mayo said. If any resident facing a lawsuit takes care of the violation before a court date, the city would not go to court, he said.
“If we don’t have to go to court to do this, we don’t want to go to court,” Mayo said.
Hens are easier to hide than a rooster, but Mayo said he isn’t aware of any other poultry in city limits. The rooster was first discovered Nov. 3 when Russell heard a rooster while he was doing an inspection in the neighborhood. He sent a notice to Dougherty that day, the lawsuit said.
Over the last year, the city has received complaints about noise from the rooster happening at “all hours of the day and night,” the lawsuit said.
“We hear from all of the neighbors quite often about that rooster,” Mayo said.