The Franklin County Board of Supervisors has taken back their one-year ban on the construction of animal confinements inside the county. The decision comes after the county’s board of health has pointed out that their board should have first adopted the resolution then recommended action by the supervisors. Supervisors cited health concerns for the county’s citizens as one of the main reasons they adopted the ordinance back at their March 4th meeting, mentioning Iowa law that allows each county to home-rule matters of public health, safety and welfare. Franklin County attorney Brent Symens told the supervisors that those procedural problems would make the moratorium tough to defend in court, which is what the county is having to do after a lawsuit filed in Franklin County District Court last week by Dana Dorhmann, the manager of L-J-D-D Enterprises. That case was to be heard in a court hearing tomorrow, but has been pulled from the calendar. Cerro Gordo County supervisors passed a temporary moratorium back in February. Worth County passed a controversial animal control ordinance last year that is being challenged in the court system currently. Hancock County officials this week are also calling on the state attorney general’s office to issue an opinion on the legality of the Worth County ordinance before they move on any such moratorium.
