Dog-at-large control discussion escalates
As a result of the Aug. 2 shooting of a dog by a Holyoke Police Department officer, discussion escalated on the already hot topic of dog-at-large control, as addressed at the Tuesday, Aug. 6, meeting of Holyoke City Council.
“We have a definite problem that needs to be addressed somehow,” Mayor Orville Tonsing said about the need for control of dogs at large.
“We need to do something — build something or contract with an outside entity or something,” council member Steve Moore added.
That reiterated the message given at the previous council meeting on July 16 when Kerri Gardner shared her story about her dog being attacked by another dog.
Concern that there’s no place to take stray dogs, as well as the enormous costs for opening a pound, were mentioned at the July meeting.
Holyoke residents Richard and Tarra Redding attended last week’s council meeting, offering to assist in taking in at-large dogs and attempting to adopt them out to families.
Tarra was passionate about their offer, noting that she did rescue and rehabilitation work with animals in Wheatland, Wyoming, for years.
She said they have a 6-foot privacy fence in their backyard in Holyoke and are willing to hold at-large dogs for three to five days and to make arrangements for transporting them if they’re not claimed. She added that their neighbor also has a fenced-in yard and is willing to put dogs on their property as well.
City Attorney Al Wall said the City will need to talk with the state vet pertaining to minimum requirements for this.
City Superintendent Mark Brown said he will research the regulations for picking up stray dogs, as he wouldn’t want to get the Reddings in trouble either.
Moore pointed out last week that writing a citation for a dog at large is just not working. “We have to put some teeth in it,” he said. Writing a citation for the owner of a registered dog is one thing but does no good if the owner doesn’t show up for court. Additionally, stray dogs present an entirely different problem.
“The Colorado Legislature has taken a lot of the teeth out of everything,” said Wall, with regard to the City’s options.
Clark requests conduct investigation in dog situation
Still on the topic of dog control, Josh Clark addressed the council about the shooting of the dog belonging to his daughter and granddaughter by a police officer on Aug. 2.
He said he read the report of the incident from Police Chief Doug Bergstrom on Facebook and appreciates that the report is being sent for review from outside agencies.
However, he said there are a lot of conflicting reports on the details of the incident that day from others who say they witnessed it.
As a result, Clark requested that an independent investigation (not a review) be conducted on Sgt. Mark Werts’ handling of the situation.
Wall said that Bergstrom needs to finish the ongoing investigation before this would be appropriate. He added that normally an investigation such as that requested by Clark is not done when it’s animals that are involved.
City to require mandatory body cam usage by police officers
In another police topic, Moore was emphatic about the need to implement a policy to require every police officer to use body cameras for every incident.
“I don’t know how you decide when to turn them on — while in the car or when called out — but any time there’s a service call, the body camera needs to be turned on. Period,” Moore said.
While it was suggested that the body cameras could be turned on the minute an officer goes on duty, Bergstrom said they don’t have storage for that much camera usage.
Council members agreed that usage of body cameras for all incidents needs to be enforced. The council voted in favor of such a policy, and Wall will have policy wording ready for approval at the Aug. 20 meeting.
Plans forthcoming for new fire station
Plans are progressing for removal of a trailer and one other standing building on the City’s new fire station site, which is PC Telcom’s former cable TV headquarters on West Denver Street.
Once the trailer is removed from the property, the City crew will be able to clear the standing building in preparation for the new fire station.
Council representatives Moore and Gene Bittner serve on the fire station building committee. Moore said they will schedule a meeting in October. They will confer with Brown with regard to what will be adequate and to follow code, then will present building information to the council.
Moore said they hope to have a plan ready before December. City Clerk/Treasurer Kathy Olofson reminded the council that information will be needed by the end of November in order to get good numbers in the 2020 budget.
Officials report
Brown reported that during meter reading, the electric department found the cutout at CHS was shattered and barely hanging on, which would have been a major problem during harvest if the power had gone out. The crew also repaired several places where secondary lines had been rubbed by branches.
In his water/sewer report, Brown said Timberline has been in town to work on major problems with the SCADA system that controls the water wells and water levels. He noted that the system is 20 years old and they really need to look at replacing the unit next year.
Street department action found the crew removing lightweight rock from sealcoated streets and preparing to paint crosswalks before school starts.
The only problem found in the FAA inspection at the airport was that the markings on the runway need to be repainted, Brown reported, adding that this has been addressed. Additionally, the security cameras that the council approved for the airport have arrived and will hopefully be operational soon.
Bergstrom officially reported to the board that an officer shot a dog Friday, Aug. 2, and the incident is still under investigation. He noted that it has been turned over to two outside agencies for review.
He added that HPD, including code enforcement, handled or generated 436 calls for service July 10-31. The department made two arrests, wrote 21 citations and two reports, and gave out 65 warnings. Code enforcement handled two animal complaints, three dogs at large and 22 ordinance violations.
Wall requested assistance to help draft the ballot question for the November ballot to change the regular city election from April to November in even-numbered years. Council member Brian Akey volunteered to assist with the ballot wording.
Other business
In other business at the Aug. 6 meeting, Holyoke City Council:
— Heard from Holyoke High School Family, Career and Community Leaders of America students Lauren Bergner and Tayler Hale. They offered the local FCCLA organization’s help with City projects, events or activities.
—Gave approval for Brown to hire one additional person for assistance on trash and street departments.