By M. Scott Carter
Just minutes after they voted to accept more than $50,000 in state grant funds to plant hundreds of trees in the city, Moore City councilmembers voted to develop an ordinance which prevents the city's canine (and feline) population from using those trees for anything more than, er, shade.
Yes, public pooping by puppies (and cats) soon could be outlawed.
Voting 6 to 0, councilmembers Robert Krows, Janie Milum, Shelia Hayworth, Dave Roberts and Kathy McMillan joined mayor Glenn Lewis in endorsing a proposal to "discuss an ordinance amendment creating a violation for permitting animals or fowls to defecate on public property or on certain private property."
The idea, City Manager Steve Eddy said, was spawned by complaints from residents.
"I'll take the blame or credit for this," Eddy quipped Monday evening. "I've received a few complaints personally, but our animal control are receiving more complaints about this particular issue."
Eddy said the issue "boils down to one property owner will have a dog or cat, most of the time a cat, that does its business on a next door neighbor's yard and they're not able to do anything about it. They're upset about it."
And, because the city doesn't have such an ordinance on its books, the citizens become angry and contact city officials.
"We don't have any enforcement vehicle," Eddy said. "So we've looked around a little bit and saw that Edmond has a proposal. This is pretty much verbatim what Edmond has."
He said the proposal would address unauthorized poop on both public and private property and would require owners to clean up after their animals and allow citations to be issued when an animal takes advantage of a neighbor's land.
"There are two issues here," he said. "One is private and one is public."
And while Eddy acknowledged a poop prevention ordinance could "cause problems neighbor to neighbor," he said the issue is one residents are beginning to discuss.
"It's already out there. So we're throwing it out here for discussion to see what you all think."
Roberts said the ordinance would encourage residents to act like "good neighbors."
"Most people who walk their dogs and who are aware of the ordinance would take materials to clean up after their dog," he said. "It's just being a good neighbor."
Should the council develop an ordinance, city staffers said it would be similar to other codes which cover barking dogs or animals at large.
"They would require the property owner to clean up after their dog or cat and would be enforced by an animal control officer," Eddy said. "Citations could be issued based on one person's complaint against the other."
Fines could be as much as $500.
While Monday's action didn't place a new ordinance on the books, Eddy said he expected "to bring something back" at the council's next meeting.
"I think we'll see this again it two weeks," he said.
In other action the council approved spending more than $1.7 million in claims and expenditures and endorsed adding $362,200 to the city's Special Reserve Fund to cover "increasing" health care costs.
M. Scott Carter 366-3545 scarter@normantranscript.com
