On December 15, 2015 the City Council approved an Animal Control Ordinance.
Not all of the Council members had a copy of the ordinance to read ahead of the discussion. Alderman Karen Tanguma had to get a copy to read.
Early in the discussion, Mayor Micki Ball said about the ordinance “I read through it. It’s a lot of reading. It’s a lot. It really does, I think, address pretty much everything.”
Alderman Tanguma asked the other members of the Council if the ordinance included a special section for licensing pit bulls. Mayor Ball responded “We didn’t do anything in here about licensing animals at all.”
Tanguma also asked if the ordinance included a section for feral cat colonies and said there was a colony of 10-12 feral cats lived next door to her.
The ordinance didn’t address cat colonies, but the City Council amended it to allow for them.
Alderman BJ Gillespie brought up the issue of deeds of larger properties allowing for different animals than smaller property deeds. She pointed out that
Alderman David Tremblay said he believed a deed restriction would override a city ordinance, saying
The deed of covenant, I think, will override a city ordinance, I would think, because you entered into a contract with the seller of the property, being the developer. That will override any ordinances that we pass. So just as if we passed a city law, a state law would override it as will a federal law.
Gillespie said she hadn’t read the deeds of any of the larger properties and asked the Council if the deeds for the larger properties allowed livestock. No one knew.
The City Council passed the ordinance unanimously, adding in an allowance for feral cat colonies and allowing anything that a property deed would allow, even if it was against the ordinance.
City Attorney Cassandra Ortiz said the ordinance was based on other city’s ordinances.
The City Council passed the ordinance unanimously.
Inter Local Agreements With Elmendorf and Selma
At the same meeting, the City Council agreed to enter into 2 different Inner Local Agreements regarding animal control.
The first agreement is with the City of Elmendorf to transport animals from the City of Sandy Oaks to the City of Selma.
The second agreement is with Selma to hold an animal that Elmendorf delivers.
While discussing the alternatives, Alderman Tomasini said that Tiger Sanitation does collect dead animals and disposes of them. Mayor Ball suggested throwing away dead animals in a city dumpster, saying “Tiger said they’d provide [a dumpster] for no fee, so maybe that’s what we need to do.”
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