Sundre's new dog bylaw will help improve public safety by ensuring dog owners have control over their animals at all times, says Mayor Annette Clews.
Passed at last week's council meeting, the new dog bylaw is the first major upgrade of the town's dog control legislation in many years.
The changes in the bylaw are good for residents and dog owners alike, she said.
“That's why we've put these changes in,” said Clews. “We've had quite a few concerns about dogs at large. It will give our bylaw officer the authority to ensure that the dogs are kept secure.
“We had a few incidents this past summer where dogs were in the back of pickup trucks and that caused a few issues. We need to have the owners be responsible to ensure that the dogs and the public are safe.”
The Dog Control Bylaw 08.11 covers such things as licensing, animal care and handling, foster dogs, guide dogs, nuisance dogs, off leash areas, dog impounding, dogs running at large, service dogs, and vicious dogs.
Penalties under the new bylaw include $1,000 for attack or biting a person or animal, $500 for chasing or threatening a person, $400 for chasing another animal, bicycle or vehicle, $1,000 for engaging an activity that injuries a person or animal, $220 for entering a playground area, $400 for excessive barking or howling, $250 for allowing the excessive accumulation of feces.
Penalties under the vicious dog section include $1,000 for failure to license as a vicious dog within 10 days, $1,000 for failing to inform a new owner that a dog has been declared vicious, and mandatory court appearances (formerly fines) for allowing a vicious dog to bite or attack a person or animal or to cause injury to a person or animal.
The licensing section of the new bylaw states that owners must purchase a dog licence within 10 days of the animal attaining three months of age or after acquiring the dog; guide and service dogs must be licensed, although there is no fee for those licences.
Another section reads: “The owner of a dog shall provide the dog with a secure collar which shall be securely attached to the dog tag and ensure that both the dog collar and dog tag are worn by the dog at all times when the dog is not on the owner's property.
“The maximum number of dogs a single-family dwelling or household will be restricted to is two dogs over the age of three months.”
The responsibilities of dog owners section states: “No person shall leave a dog unsecured in the open box area of a truck or open trailer while the truck or trailer is in motion.”
The unattended dog section states “the owner of a dog shall ensure that such dog is not left unattended while tethered or tied up on premises where the public has access, whether the right of access is expressed or implied.
“The owner of the dog shall ensure that such dog is not left tethered or tied up in a residential yard when no one at that residence is home” and “the owner of the dog shall not allow the dog when tethered or tied up in a residential yard to get closer than 1.5 metres of the property line.”
Under the vicious dog section, a new provision requires that the owner of a vicious dog (as determined by the animal control officer) “shall within five days of the date of the order declaring the dog to be vicious, display a sign on his premises (town-provided), warning of the presence of the dog.”
A new animal health section states that the owner of a dog suffering from an infectious physical condition “shall not permit such dog to be in any public place whether or not the dog is then running at large” and “shall not keep or maintain such dog in contact with or in proximity to any other animal.”
As well, owners are required to “keep the (infected) dog at all times locked in a secure place, but no contravention of this section occurs by reason only of the fact that a person transports a dog suffering from an infectious physical condition to be placed where the dog may obtain veterinary treatment, and the provisions of this section do not apply to any person duly qualified and licensed to practice veterinary medicine within the town.”
Town should set aside cash to examine arena, says mayor
Mayor Clews hopes council will be able to budget money this year to allow for an engineering study to look at the Sundre arena and its future.
“I'm hoping that we will have (money) in the budget this year to get some hard recommendations, whether it's a complete overhaul to the existing facility or a new facility or a combination thereof. We need to make that decision,” she said.
Asked if the town plans to budget for a new arena, she said, “We don't have those kinds of funds, but we need to set aside funds to get some engineering done on our existing arena. Although we haven't discussed it yet, I would like to see some money set aside for some engineering.”
She said possibilities she would like to see examined include the possibility of a year-round facility in town.
“As council we have not made those kind of decisions. We are hoping to discuss those during budget deliberations,” she said.
Those budget deliberations got underway last week.
Clews said it is too early in the process to say what tax increases, if any, residents may be facing in 2012.
“I really can't say what kind of increases we are looking at until we get more into it. We've only looked at two departments so far, so I can't really say what the projected increase could be,” she said.
Council allocates community grants
As expected, councillors have OK'd the allocation of community recreation and culture grant applications totalling $20,829 to five community groups.
During the recent governance committee meeting, councillors passed a motion recommending the approval of the funding to the Sundre and District Historical Society, the Sundre and District Allied Arts Society, the Sundre West Country Senior Centre, the Sundre Rodeo and Race Association, and the Sundre Curling Club.
Under a motion passed at last week's council meeting each group will receive $4,165.80.
Special Olympics bid won't be made
The Town of Sundre will not be making a bid to host the 2013 Special Olympics Alberta event, says Mayor Clews.
“We won't be going forward with a proposal,” she said. “We didn't have enough community interest come forward to warrant a proposal. I'm hoping that in four years time it would be nice to see how the community feels then.”
In October the town asked interested residents to contact the town office if they were in support of the town putting in a bid to host the 2013 games.
At the time Clews said she believed the town could do the job hosting the event.
“I really think our community could participate in hosting it,” said Clews. “It would need to be supported by the community before we move forward with an application. It would be a big job.”
“There would be all kinds of host benefits, including economic development and the community engagement benefits when we would have a lot of interaction of our age groups within our community. We will have cross-section of interaction and that would be a huge benefit.”
Clews said she would like to see Sundre involved if another area community does put in a bid for the 2013 games.
Sports in the Special Olympics Alberta Games include bowling, aquatics, bocce, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, soccer and softball.
Town appoints acting CAO
As the town seeks applications for a new permanent chief executive officer, the town has appointed a new acting CAO.
David Dubauskas has been appointed as CAO, in charge of the overall operation of the municipality, until next spring.
“It is a contract position until March 1,” said Mayor Clews, noting the town hopes to have a new CAO in place by that time.
Interim CAO Ryan Leuzinger was not offered a permanent position and has now left the municipality.
