Two separate lawsuits against Old Town residents accused of keeping a loud rooster and, in the other case, having a nuisance property that allegedly provided food for rats.
In early October, the city of Old Town sued Joann and Alan Gilbert because they were violating a city ordinance related to nuisance properties, in part by keeping a barrel of corn to feed deer.
The city also sued Mona Dougherty because she was keeping a rooster and hens, violating an ordinance that prohibits livestock and poultry in single-family and general residence zoned areas.
Both property owners took care of the issues, so Code Enforcement Office Dave Russell requested the lawsuits be dismissed, he said. A judge dismissed the lawsuits Wednesday.
“In the end of all of this, that’s all we wanted, to gain their compliance,” Russell said.
The rooster would start crowing daily around 4 a.m., bothering neighbors, Russell said previously. He had told Dougherty to remove the chickens for nearly a year before the lawsuit was filed.
The rooster and hens went to a property where ordinances allowed them to live, he said.
Joann Gilbert had received violations for keeping the barrel of corn but didn’t want to remove it because it feeds deer, she previously told the Bangor Daily News. The city argued she was providing food for rats, which is a years-long issue within the city.
The planter full of corn was surrounded by smaller planters, mostly filled with rosemary plants. She also had two straw bales against the front of her house, with a pumpkin sitting atop each in early October. The straw bales provide a sheltered area for her two outdoor cats in the winter, she said previously.
“It’s the best thing that could have happened for everybody,” City Manager Bill Mayo said of the resolution in both cases.
