City Rules & Ordinances

Nuisances & Public Health

Ordinance B-1 · Passed July 12, 1971

It's against city rules to create or allow a "nuisance" in town, or within a half-mile of the city limits. Nuisances include:

• Foul, noxious, or unhealthy odors
• Animal carcasses left exposed more than an hour after death
• Green or salted hides left out in the open
• Businesses that give off offensive smells — soap or tallow works, packing houses, stables, or barns
• Dumping slop, filth, trash, dead animals, junk, or debris on any street, alley, sidewalk, park, or lot
• Signs projecting over a sidewalk or alley, or banners strung across a street
• Burning anything that creates a noxious or unwholesome smell in a public place
• Stables, hog pens, or privies kept in an offensive condition
• Goods or boxes left on a sidewalk (except while actively loading or unloading)
• Snow or ice left on your sidewalk deeper than one inch for more than ten hours after it falls
• Dilapidated, unoccupied buildings that harbor rats, mice, or other pests
• Dense smoke discharged into the open air (its own separate fine of $25–$100)

Kept for the record: the original 1971 list also named "bawdy houses of ill fame and disorderly houses," and a weeds-over-one-foot rule. The weed provision was later repealed and replaced by the 2010 Debris & Weed ordinance below.

Penalty: up to a $100 fine and/or up to 3 months, with each 24 hours counted as a separate offense. The city may abate the nuisance itself and bill the property owner — a cost that can become a lien on the property.

Misdemeanors & Public Conduct

Ordinance · Passed July 12, 1971

• No disturbing the peace — loud or unusual noise, offensive language, threats, quarreling, or fighting
• No assaulting, striking, or beating another person
• No profane, obscene, or violent language in public
• Don't disturb a religious service, school, or any lawful gathering
• No public drunkenness (or being drunk on private property to the point of disturbing others)
• No damaging cemetery property — defacing tombstones or walls, picking or destroying plants, or climbing trees or fences in a cemetery
• No loitering on street corners or near businesses after being asked to move along
• No discharging firearms, air guns, or even slingshots, crossbows, or bows in town — except peace officers on duty and military funerals
• No storing or selling fireworks of any kind
• No setting off fireworks — except permitted public displays by the American Legion, VFW, or similar groups with the Board of Aldermen's prior written consent
• Open excavations — wells, cisterns, cellar doors — must be covered or fenced so no one can fall in
• No trespassing on public or private property without the owner's consent
• No climbing telephone, telegraph, or electric poles unless authorized
• No setting poles or wires across a public street without written consent
• A junk yard or auto-wrecking yard within 25 feet of a street must be screened from view by a 10-foot board fence
• Abandoned refrigerators or freezers left where children can reach them must have their doors removed
• No dumping garbage, waste, or trash on any street or lot

Kept for the record: this ordinance also contains a period "vagrancy" section — targeting people "without any visible means of support," including, in the language of 1971, "every able-bodied married man who shall neglect or refuse to provide for the support of his family."

Penalty: up to a $100 fine and/or up to 3 months, plus the costs of prosecution.

Keeping Livestock

Ordinance B-74 · Passed November 1995

For this rule, "livestock" means cattle, hogs, goats, sheep, horses, and mules. Poultry used to be on that list; chickens and other fowl are now covered by Ordinance 160, below.

• You may keep up to three head of livestock per acre
• No part of the lot used for livestock may be within 200 feet of any home or business
• If you already kept livestock before the ordinance, you can continue — but you can't increase the number, and once you stop, the current rules apply

Penalty: a fine of up to $100 plus costs; each day is a separate offense.

🐔 Chickens & Other Fowl

Ordinance 160 · Adopted August 12, 2026

In residential areas, keeping chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, peafowl or any other fowl is not allowed — with one exception: hens, kept under these rules.

• Up to 20 hens, on lots with a single-family home only
• No roosters at all
• Hens must stay in a fully enclosed coop and run, built of sturdy material that keeps predators out and hens in, ventilated and protected from the weather
• Coops and runs must drain well and be cleaned regularly, with droppings disposed of so they don’t draw flies or pests
• The coop and run go behind the house — between the back of the home and the back lot line — and must be at least 15 feet from any property line and 50 feet from the nearest home or commercial building
• Offensive odors, unsanitary conditions or noise are violations even if you are under 20 hens
• Anyone already keeping chickens or fowl had 90 days after the ordinance passed to come into compliance

Penalty: a fine of up to $500; each day is a separate offense.

📄 Read Ordinance 160 (PDF)

Mobile, Manufactured & Modular Homes

Ordinance · Fire safety & public health placement standards

• You can't live in a recreational vehicle or park trailer inside the city more than 30 days in a calendar year
• Homes must be built to U.S. HUD standards and carry the proper seal
• Entryways and decks must be at least 4 ft × 6 ft with safety railings; homes need a pitched roof and approved roofing and siding materials
• The home must sit on a permanent foundation (anchors at least 3 feet long, no more than 10 feet apart)
• The lot must be at least 55 feet wide, and the home kept at least 15 feet from any other unattached structure
• The home must be inspected and approved by the Mayor before it can be hooked up to city utilities

Dangerous & Unsafe Buildings

Missouri Municipal League model ordinance · Adopted circa 2003

A building can be declared "dangerous" if it is structurally failing, badly damaged (roughly a third or more damage to supports), fire-damaged, unsanitary and unfit to live in, or lacking safe exits. Dangerous buildings are public nuisances and must be repaired, vacated, or demolished.

• A building inspector inspects; the owner gets written notice
• There's a hearing before the building commissioner, with a chance to be heard and represented by counsel
• If the owner doesn't act within 30 days, the city can do the work and charge the cost as a special tax bill and lien — payable in installments over up to 10 years
• Special rules apply to insurance proceeds after a fire or casualty
• Owners may appeal to the circuit court within 30 days

Penalty: up to $500, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense.

Debris & Weeds (current rule)

Ordinance B-132 · Adopted September 2010

This is the rule in force today for weeds and debris — it replaced the old weed provision in the 1971 nuisance ordinance. "Debris" is declared a public nuisance and includes:

• Weed cuttings, cut or fallen trees and shrubs, overgrown vegetation, and noxious weeds seven inches or taller
• Rubbish and trash
• Lumber not stacked at least 12 inches off the ground
• Rocks or bricks, derelict car or truck parts, broken furniture, and flammable material

How it works:

• The Mayor enforces it. The property owner gets notice (in person, by certified mail, or ordinary mail)
• You have seven days to clean it up
• You can contest it by requesting a written hearing before the Linneus City Council within those seven days
• If it isn't cleaned up, the city does it and adds the cost — plus a fee of up to $100 — to your real estate tax bill

Penalty: failing to abate is the offense of "failure to abate a nuisance" in municipal court.