By Gary Lloyd
CLAY — The Clay City Council at its Monday, March 17 meeting will discuss a proposed citywide leash ordinance.
The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Clay City Hall.
The proposed leash ordinance first came up at the Jan. 21 city council meeting. City Manager Ronnie Dixon gave council members a proposed ordinance to review. He said it would work “in conjunction” with the city’s “vicious dog” ordinance, which was approved in June 2013.
“I think you’ll find it suitable,” City Attorney Alan Summers told council members in January.
The proposed ordinance states that the city has undertaken to establish the ordinance “to protect the public health and safety of its citizens and to promote the general welfare of the citizens and animals residing within the city.”
The ordinance, if approved, would allow the city to issue a fine to a pet owner if his or her dog is found running at large and another fine if the animal is not vaccinated. A second violation in one year would result in a fine. Anyone who releases an animal from “confinement or restraint” without the permission of the owner could also be fined , according to the proposed ordinance.
The proposed ordinance states that it shall be unlawful for “the owner or person in charge of an animal except cats and fowl to cause or permit such animal to run at large or be upon a street, sidewalk, thoroughfare, property other than that of the owner of the animal, or public place within the city or its police jurisdiction, unless such animal is attached to a leash in the hands of said owner or person in charge of said animal.”
The ordinance goes on to say that any animal found running at large in the city or its police jurisdiction may be impounded in the shelter designated as the animal control center and there confined in a humane manner for a period of not less than three days and thereafter be euthanized in a humane manner if not claimed by its owner.
Dixon said that a dog was killed by another dog in the Paradise Valley subdivision in January. He said in late July 2013 that 15 to 18 pit bulls had been registered with the city since the “vicious dog” ordinance took effect in June. He said that also since that time, two dogs in the city had been killed by pit bulls and three more injured by pit bulls. He said in one of those five cases, a dog climbed over a fence, and in another a dog was unleashed. He didn’t know the particulars of the other three instances. A small bird dog was killed by an American Bull Terrier in Clay in November.
City auditors will also discuss Clay’s finances over the past year at Monday’s meeting.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
