Directors discuss animal rules, board security

story by Luke Hobbs
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During Tuesday’s (June 28) study session, two Fort Smith city directors asked for an animal control task force. The board can approve in its next regular meeting an ordinance creating the task force.

The study session presented a clash of ideas on animal control. Police Chief Kevin Lindsey began the meeting by describing the City of North Little Rock’s animal control policy, as the Board had requested last month.

North Little Rock’s law, which became effective in 1999, requires all dog and cat owners to license their pets. As an incentive for owners to spay and neuter their animals, the license costs $5 for sterilized pets and $30 for unsterilized pets. The city also provides sterilization vouchers for dog and cat owners, ranging from $65 to $115. North Little Rock’s policy has resulted in a higher animal adoption rate and lower euthanasia rate than those of Fort Smith.

City Director Pam Weber, who supports adopting the North Little Rock plan, said the Humane Society now euthanizes about 100 animals a week.

“It’s our responsibility to do something to protect our animals,” she said.

But other directors were lukewarm on the idea. Director Phillip Merry said Fort Smith citizens would not accept a mandatory pet license, and he proposed an alternative to the North Little Rock model.

Under Merry’s plan, the city would not require registration, but instead enforce its present leash policy and “highly encourage” owners to tag their pets. For any loose pet captured by city animal control officers, the owner would be fined $35 and given a voucher in that amount to help pay for sterilizing the pet. Sterilization would, however, not be required for this first violation. If the pet escaped and was caught a second time, the owner would be charged $70 and the animal taken to the Humane Society to be spayed and neutered.

Director Kevin Settle said he thought the city’s ordinances on pet leashing, vicious dogs, and tethering were sufficient and should be enforced. But Settle added that he thought citizens should have more input into the process, a point that Director Andre Good disagreed with. Good said he had heard enough from citizens and would support Merry’s proposal.

Director Steve Tyler said while he liked Merry’s proposal, he wanted it to be given further study. He asked that a task force of ordinary citizens and veterinarians be appointed to study animal control. The task force would be appointed by the Board of Directors and would be given 30 days to recommend that the city either keep its current policy or adopt a new one.

Merry seconded Tyler’s task force proposal. It will be placed on the agenda for next Tuesday’s (July 5) regular meeting.

SECURITY DISCUSSION
The Board also discussed a set of proposals from City Administrator Ray Gosack on increasing security at regular board meetings. Gosack said the behavior of some citizens at recent meetings, both during the citizens’ forum and after the meetings, has caused some directors to feel threatened.

Gosack’s proposals for heightening security included installing metal detectors, searching citizens’ hand-held bags, and posting more police officers at meetings. Gosack has already begun doing the latter on a temporary basis.

Gosack added that the Fort Smith Public Schools Service Center, the current meeting site, cannot accommodate all of the security measures. If the board chose to adopt them, it would also have to consider switching to a different venue for meetings.

Mayor Sandy Sanders said he felt citizens’ behavior was better at the June 21 meeting than it had been in previous meetings. He said he was trying to encourage attendees to act like adults and that he believed they would continue to respond well.

Merry and Good agreed with Sanders’ assessment. Good said the inappropriate behavior by some citizens has only been going on for a few months.

“I don’t want us to start screening or wanding people,” he said.

Weber asked what the rules were if a citizen was “out of line” during the citizens’ forum. Sanders clarified that no citizen is allowed to speak for more than two minutes during the forum; no one can yield their time to another speaker. When citizens continue to talk after the two minutes have expired, Sanders asks them to finish and leave the podium.

“If somebody was particularly stubborn,” he said, “we could recess or have an officer take them off, but I don’t want to do that.”

The board concluded the meeting without recommending any changes to security policy.