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During Ohio Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in December, delegates directed then-President Terry McClure to form a committee that would look at possible alternatives and adjustments to Ohio’s current line fence law.

Members of that committee have been appointed and held their first meeting March 18.

Appointed to serve of the OFBF Line Fence Policy Study Task Force are Tim Finney, Jefferson County; Dale Dietrich, Monroe County; Jerry Valdinger, Harrison County; Linda Neiss, Portage County; Kent Bauman, Adams County; Neall Weber, Franklin County; Kenny Weber, Clark County; Bob Gracely, Marion County; and Mike Schumm, Van Wert County.

The committee was made after delegates in December changed OFBF policy on line fences to shift the burden of proof from the neighbor who didn’t want the fence to the neighbor who does. The change was made to make OFBF’s policy in-line with how the law is currently being interpreted by Ohio courts.

The task force’s first meeting was "good. We heard lots of information," according to Larry Gearhardt, OFBF’s director of local affairs. He said two issues the task force discussed were changing the enforcement of the law from the township trustees to another entity and looking at the assignment of cost for the fence. The group meets again April 8 to develop its recommendations to OFBF’s board. Those recommendations will be reported in a future issue of Buckeye Farm News.

But the issue is so controversial that an entire session on line fence law was held at two agricultural law seminars held late last year. Well-known Ohio agricultural lawyer Paul Wright and an associate in his law firm, Kim Cutler, told those attending one seminar that line fence disputes can be neighbor breakers.

That’s why neighbor relations tops the list of how farmers can better connect with nonfarm neighbors. "Work on [that relationship] when problems are small," Wright said, so that when larger issues loom you already have the type of relationship that is conducive to negotiation.

Ohio’s current line fence law specifies that the cost and maintenance of a fence separating adjoining rural lands is supposed to be shared by those landowners. At the time the law was enacted, it was assumed that such a "partition" offered an inherent benefit to both landowners.

Once a fence is planned, Cutler said, two things can happen: 1) the neighbors agree to split the cost of the fence and proceed with the project, or 2) the landowners disagree and the issue is referred to the township trustees.

If landowners disagree and the township trustees are called in, the trustees are required to:

• give written notice to all adjoining landowners of a time when the trustees will view the location of the proposed fence.
• view the fence area
• assign in writing each person’s equal share of the fence to be built or repaired.

Once the trustees designate each landowner’s cost, the landowners can then build the fence and comply with the trustees’ orders or disagree with the judgment. If they disagree, the trustees determine the type of fence to be built, advertise for bids, award the contract to the lowest bidder and bill the landowners for the work. If the bill is not paid, a lien can be placed against the landowner’s property with the county auditor.

Once a fence is built, each landowner is responsible for maintaining half and to remove noxious weeds four feet along his entire side. When it comes to maintenance, Ohio’s law doesn’t specify which portion of a fence each landowner is responsible for. But, Culter said, common practice in Ohio is that each landowner is responsible for the right half of a fence when viewed from the landowner’s property.

Ohio State Extension Fact Sheet ALS-1001-2000 goes into more detail on Ohio’s line fence law. You can access the fact sheet by linking to Ohioline from the OFBF Web site at www.ofbf.org or call the Ohio State Agricultural and Rural Law Program at 614-247-7898.