OLDS – Town council has passed its animal bylaw.
The standalone bylaw, pulled out of the town’s massive community standards bylaw, received the green light during council's May 27 meeting
It received first, then second reading during two council meetings in February.
Several changes were requested by council each time it came up for consideration.
It was then thoroughly discussed during committee-of-the-whole on May 6, during which again, changes were called for.
The bylaw came up for third and final reading during council’s May 13 meeting.
However, it was decided to table third reading after it was noticed that a couple of limits council had called for were not in the bylaw.
One of those was that council wanted the number of dogs allowed off-leash or in care of residents to be three – not six, as previously proposed. That change is now in the newly approved bylaw.
During the May 13 meeting, protective services director Justin Andrew thanked councillors Darren Wilson and Wanda Blatz for pointing out that mistake.
“Once we review it 10 or 12 times, it all starts to look the same, so that’s why there’s extra eyes, so we appreciate it,” he said.
Council had also discussed providing an exception to the three-dog limit if a person or family fosters a stray dog or two. That’s now in the bylaw.
Administration also recommended sticking with the current annual licence rather than the lifetime licence initially proposed because it was felt a lifetime licence could be difficult to administer.
Andrew said there’s still a desire to promote the licensing of cats.
He said administration is also interested in setting up incentive programs for responsible pet owners. That too is now in the bylaw.
“Thank you CAO Williams and your staff for the time you spent with council on this bylaw,” Mayor Judy Dahl said after the bylaw received final approval.
Brent Williams is the town’s CAO (chief administrative officer).
