WOODLAND, Maine — After hearing complaints from a handful of residents about roadway horse waste during a Sept. 4 meeting, Woodland officials agreed to contact officials from other towns to see if they had established any ordinances to deal with the issue.
During their Oct. 16 meeting, selectmen learned that no other towns were able to adopt such an ordinance.
The complaints in September highlighted Amish members of the community who travel by horse and buggy, with residents claiming that the animal droppings are unsanitary and unsightly.
Administrative Assistant and Tax Collector Amber Moutinho told the board members on Oct. 16 that she had contacted several towns in the area, only to find that none was able to enact an ordinance regarding horse droppings.
“They’re basically saying that they wanted to put something in place,” she said, “but there is no way to enforce it because you literally have to catch them in the act or hire someone to enforce it.”
She added that after contacting Smyrna, Whitefield, Easton, Presque Isle, and Freeport, she has “yet to find a town that actually has an ordinance.”
Selectman Tom Drew said that only one citizen had contacted him about the issue in a manner that indicated the person would like to see an official town ordinance.
Selectman Will Barnum said he traveled along an Amish property on the Thibodeau Road, down through the Woodland Center Road and up to the Perham town line, only to find seven “plops” over the course of the journey.
“And they weren’t fresh,” he said. “They’d all been run over about 800 times and were at various stages of decomposition.”
Drew said the Amish families only travel about one day per week, and Barnum added that he does “not see it being a major point of concern,” especially when considering that the Woodland Center Road, which many complaints focused on, is a state road and “not in our jurisdiction.”
Chairman Carl Grant said he assumed the town would come to this conclusion, and that he is fine with tabling the issue, which the board agreed to do.
