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Council delays vote on animal limits
Revisions to a city ordinance that would've allowed people to own more dogs and cats was put on hold after the city council voted against the proposed changes.
On a unanimous vote, a third reading of the ordinance failed to pass during Monday's city council meeting.
The decision followed nearly an hour of public testimony, all of which was opposed to the law. Following the vote, the council agreed to continue its discussion on the pet ordinance during a public meeting that begins at 6 p.m. today, March 26, at the city council chambers.
Revisions to city code follow a series of discussions before the city council in recent weeks to amend Mountain Home's animal control ordinance. The law would've allowed people to own a combination of up to six dogs or cats in their home within city limits.
However, that number was deemed far too many, according to people like Bill Houston, who was one of several people that testified against the law.
"It seems to me that this law is in search of a problem," Houston said.
He was concerned the ordinance would encourage people to go out and get more animals. This would only worsen an existing problem with people who don't care for their dogs or cats.
He added that those who live next door to someone who owns just two or three dogs have to deal with all the noise and smell from these animals, which would only worsen if the law passed.
Brad Seymour highlighted statistics released by the Mountain Home Police Department, which pointed to an ongoing problem with pet owners.
"Since 2010, the police and (animal) shelter have responded to 6,269 dog calls -- about twice as many calls than there are dogs in the city," Seymour said.
"These numbers are empirical evidence that the dog owners are not going to be responsible."
In 2013 alone, Mountain Home police responded to 330 calls dealing with dogs while the animal shelter responded to more than 1,350 similar calls, he added.
Those statistics are similar to figures released by the Nampa police chief during a recent television program. About 40 percent of calls made to the Nampa police each year deal with animals. Of those incidents, 90 percent of them dealt specifically with dogs.
Nampa allows just two dogs per household, Seymour added. Meanwhile, several other cities in the state limit owners to three or four dogs or cats.
"You guys are not in sync with the other cities," he told the council.
During his testimony, Seymour added that the city's pet licensing fees are too low with no stiff penalties in place to penalize those who don't register their animals each year.
He added that dogs also remain an ongoing issue at places like Legacy Park where owners ignore the leash laws and let their dogs run free, he added. Owners simply ignore the posted signs around the park telling them to keep their dogs on leashes.
Seymour told the council that the city police and animal shelter have done enough "education" to warn pet owners, and it was time to approve issue stronger laws and to start ticketing people. "The way to reduce the constant, daily dog problem is to issue more citations," Seymour said.
Gaylene Grace told the council that allowing people to own up to six animals was too many.
When people have that many dogs, other citizens can't enjoy being outdoors, she said. In fact, Grace said she can't walk even three blocks in town without having at least one dog rushing out at barking at her.
She was also puzzled why the city would allow the pet limit to go up. When she checked similar laws in other cities, Grace couldn't find any town that allowed people to own more than four animals.
Most cities impose a two-animal limit in their ordinance, she said.
While dogs topped the list of concerns aired at Monday's meeting, at least one person in the audience had a problem with cats, specifically feral cats roaming near West Elementary School. He told the council that an alleyway near the school has at least 30 stray cats, and when they breed, it only compounds the problem.
Addressing those in the audience, Mayor Tom Rist said Mountain Home went with a six-animal maximum because some cities were getting sued by pet owners who argued that these laws were illegal.
However, a study conducted by Michigan State University's College of Law contends that cities have the right to impose laws that limit people to the number of dogs and cats they can own. If a city states the reason for setting a maximum number of animals in its ordinance, the courts will uphold the law in nearly every instance, the mayor added.