Recent changes made in Sumter City Council meetings impact chickens, military memorabilia, business licenses

Each month, Sumter City Council has at least two public meetings.

And items on these agendas and the decisions made during these meetings affect City of Sumter residents.

Here are a few of the most notable decisions made during those meetings recently.

Chickens

Before October, City of Sumter residents were not limited on how many fowl they could own. As long as the birds were not disturbing the peace, city residents were allowed as many chickens or roosters as they wanted.

After city council passed changes to its code of ordinances, city residents living in single-family lot residential zoning districts or agricultural zoning districts can keep up to 12 female chickens and no other types of fowl, such as roosters. The city also set standards for how the female chickens are to be housed.

The public seemed relatively split down the middle in terms of being supportive of or against changes to the fowl ordinance. Some said roosters are too loud to live in city limits, while others said they moved to Sumter specifically because of the once-loose rules surrounding chickens and roosters that allowed them to feed their family fresh eggs and make more chickens when one would stop laying.

Sumter Military Museum

Late last year, Sumter City Council also approved a request that will expand Sumter County Museum, making room for Sumter Military Museum.

The museum will be a result of the largest state appropriation that the city received during the 2022-23 fiscal year - an $8 million grant.

The museum is coming to North Washington Street and West Hampton Avenue, and it will be the new home of what is currently housed at Sammy Way's Sumter Military Museum at 129 S. Harvin St.

Way's museum is filled with all things military history, including 400 uniforms, more than 9,000 samples of original war memorabilia and more than 10,000 images.

Business licenses

Additionally, the city made the grounds under which a business license could be denied, revoked or suspended more strict.

Before the city passed the amendment in September, the ordinance stated the city could deny, suspend or revoke a business license if the applicant or licensee had been convicted of a business-related crime within the past 10 years, but now, after the amendment, crimes unrelated to the business could also bar someone from keeping or applying for a business license in the City of Sumter.