City crying foul over duck population 
by Brian Wilson
The Star News
November 19, 2009 —  The City of Medford is considering cracking down on fowl play in the city parks.
While aldermen came short of enacting an actual ban on feeding of waterfowl in the city limits, at the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night, the ball was set in motion to restrict feeding in the future.
Alderman Mike Riggle thinks there is a problem with the duck population in the city. Or rather, he thinks there is a problem with duck and geese manure in the parks and his solution is to make it illegal to feed waterfowl along the Riverwalk. Riggle has no illusions about how popular a city duck feeding ban will be. “We may as well ban eating apple pie or raising the flag,” he said.
According to Riggle, the issue of the duck feeding ban was proposed through a recommendation from the Smart Growth implementation committee that met last month. The city's comprehensive plan includes a concern about controlling the population of ducks and geese in the city, but leaves the decision on how that is done up to the council.
Aldermen Arlene Parent, noted that as a grandparent, she has enjoyed taking children to the park over the years and feeding the ducks with them and questioned what sort of penalty would be imposed to punish those who did feed under the proposed ban.
“There would have to be a fine for it,” Riggle replied, noting that when the city prohibits something it would set a fine. It would be up to city police to enforce any ordinance against feeding ducks just as they enforce the other city ordinances.
Alderman Pat DeChatelets questioned what would become of the ducks and geese that have grown to depend on the food provided by residents, wondering if they would die. Riggle noted they would fly away and go somewhere where there was food. “If you came to my house and I fed you every day I probably couldn't get you to leave either,” he said.
“It is a no win situation as far as the council is concerned,” said mayor Mike Wellner. He said many people enjoy feeding the ducks, but others are disgusted and appalled at the amount of duck and goose manure left on the Riverwalk. He explained that prior to the 4th of July this year the city had its summer help pressure washing the walk, but that it only looked good for about a day before being littered with duck and goose droppings. Likewise after it rains, he said it looks good for a short while. He suggested it is not so much a problem with the casual feeders but with those who day after day bring buckets of corn to feed the ducks and geese.
Alderman Clem Johnson told of putting food out near his home in attempts to get a wild turkey to visit his yard and ending up with 25 ducks who were visiting for weeks after he stopped putting food out.
“I would not vote for an ordinance to prohibit feeding,” Parent said. A compromise measure was proposed to post signs along the Riverwalk asking people to not feed the waterfowl.
Alderman Greg Knight was concerned that a sign with no penalty would not deter anyone from continuing to feed the ducks and geese. However, without enacting a formal ban as a handful of other communities have done, the city would not be able to enforce the signs other than to ask people to refrain from feeding the birds.
City coordinator John Fales questioned where the money for the signs would come from and how many signs they wanted to be installed. That question was left unanswered as aldermen voted to send the signing recommendation to council, which will take it up at the December 1 meeting.
In other business, aldermen:
´ Recommended assigning the name “Foundation Way” to the newly platted road in the Rodgers Subdivison located north of Allman Street and east of Impala Drive. The request came from the Medford Area Development Foundation which owns the property.
´ Approved a class A beer/liquor license for Waters Edge BP with Bipin S. Pagel as agent. The gas station and convenience store has been closed for several months and will be reopening under new ownership next week.
´ Recommended continuation of the existing lease agreement with the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce for the former Medford Public Library building until the end of the year. The chamber has leased the building from the city for the past 10 years and the lease came due on June 30 but that lapse was not discovered until this fall. According to Wellner, he is in negotiations with the chamber for a new rental agreement.

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