Visitors discuss dangerous dogs, future of summer ball with City Council

    They’ve heard it all before, but Holyoke City Council members were reminded of the ongoing dog problem at their July 16 meeting, when visitor Kerri Gardner shared that her dog had been attacked by another dog on a July 7 walk. Scrapes on her own body were still healing at the time of the meeting, and though her dog was on the mend, she initially thought he was dead because he wasn’t moving after the attack.
    The person in possession of the dog, she said, was not its owner. The dog had been in his yard on July 4, and he chained it up and fed it while trying to find the owner with Facebook posts. Since a 10-day quarantine is required after such an attack, the individual in possession of the dog offered to keep it for that period, saving the City the expense of having it quarantined elsewhere.
    Gardner commended Officer Jorge Salas of Holyoke Police Department for his response to this incident but made it clear that she’s concerned that there is no place to take stray dogs to get them off the streets.
    “It’s a safety concern,” she said, “and I worry that if this dog gets out or any other dog that’s just roaming the neighborhood goes after a child, that they might not fare as well as my dog.”
    “It is a concern; we all realize it,” Mayor Orville Tonsing acknowledged.
    Council member John Schneider wondered whether Gardner sees many stray dogs. Averaging two walks a day with her own dog, she said she’s sees strays often and has called them in before.
    At this point in time, the City’s main effort is to have as many dogs registered as possible. It’s a proactive measure that ensures dogs are up to date on rabies shots and can help HPD identify the owner if a dog gets loose.
    Registering a dog is as simple as presenting a vet’s certification or invoice for its rabies shot at the City office and paying a $10 fee. Registration is then good for two years. For owners of dogs that aren’t registered, getting a citation — and the accompanying fee — is becoming an increasingly likely possibility.
    Sgt. Mark Werts, who attended the meeting in Police Chief Doug Berg strom’s absence, pointed out that HPD tends to prioritize education over giving tickets for every violation, but the department is cracking down on unregistered dogs.
    Registering dogs, however, is only part of the solution. Sometimes strays or loose dogs attack. When such a call comes in, Werts said, it’s responded to as a priority call. In the last six months, he’s had to pepper spray aggressive dogs on three occasions. When attacks happen, the owner, if there is one, can receive a citation for ownership of a dangerous dog.
    Of course, no number of citations does anything to address the stray dogs roaming the streets, and at this point in time, HPD doesn’t have an option available to do so.
    The cost of opening a pound locally would be enormous and ongoing. City Superintendent Mark Brown estimates $200,000, at least, just to get one started. There aren’t nearby pounds willing to take in Holyoke’s dogs at large either. If there were, it would require a designated vehicle for transporting dogs, as patrol cars cannot be used to do so.
    Gardner suggested collaboration with other small communities in the area, but Brown said a countywide attempt to do so in the past was seen as too costly.
    Clearly the dog situation won’t be an easy fix. Schneider suggested that it be kept on the agenda and said that he and council member Steve Moore will meet with Bergstrom in the meantime to discuss some options.
    
Rec department receives offer of volunteer coaching
    Another visitor at the July 16 meeting was Eric Luedke, a community member, father of three young kids and volunteer soccer coach. He attended the meeting to learn about the process of joining the recreation advisory committee, check on the status of the practice baseball field and volunteer as a coach for summer baseball.
    The RAC is made up of three community members — Trisha Herman, Luke Goldenstein and Tom Bennett — and two city council members — Moore and Kevin Scott. The next time a position on the committee will be open is December, if Herman chooses to step down. At that point, the council appoints another member.
    Brown told Luedke that the practice baseball field project, which began in 2017, will hopefully be finished for next summer’s season.
    Looking ahead to that next season, Luedke said that he and other parents would be willing to volunteer as coaches if evening practices were an option. This year, several families with T-ball aged kids couldn’t commit to the City program because of the parents’ work schedules. To still give their kids a chance to play, they developed their own T-ball group that is practicing and scrimmaging Sunday evenings through July.
    “Morning practice times, when both parents work, are not conducive to getting kids to sign up,” he said.
    Luedke suggested a second evening team might be an option for the City’s program next year and pointed out that Haxtun, a smaller community, has managed to field two sets of teams across multiple age groups.
    In past years, Holyoke has had two teams on the peewee, Little League and Babe Ruth levels, but this year there were only enough kids for one each. Another noticeable recent change is that there are no longer City softball teams.
    As Luedke pointed out to the council, the Holyoke High School boys barely had enough players this year to even have a team. “I just think some things could be done to get our numbers up in the youth leagues,” he said.
    Pointing toward the City’s soccer program, which had over 130 kids on 12 teams coached entirely by volunteers this year, Luedke is optimistic that City baseball could see growth as well and potentially be coached by volunteers, saving taxpayer dollars. This year, baseball, machine-pitch and T-ball coaches were contracted for a combined $5,000.
    During her report to the council, recreation director Victoria Dunker noted that the recent golf clinic went well and she’s looking forward to Phillips County Fair and National Night Out. The next sports season coming up is flag football, which will begin when school starts.
    This year, Dunker is working on getting teams from Sterling and Haxtun to travel to Holyoke for games. That would give the athletes, who played only against each other last year, more opportunity for competition. It would also contribute to the department’s goal to bring more out-of-town visitors to Holyoke.
    
Officials report
    City Superintendent Mark Brown reported that the electric department responded to two power outages and finished trimming trees in preparation for seal coating. Work has begun making clearance for the trash truck in alleys.
    Water and sewer department has been working on manholes and water valves for seal coating as well as on the alfalfa sprinkler system. Timberline was contacted to troubleshoot the SCADA system which has had some recent glitches. Brown hopes to see the problems resolved soon. Street crew has been patching streets to get ready for seal coating, which began July 17.
    Brown also reported that airport engineer Mike Matz of the Federal Aviation Administration was scheduled to do an inspection July 22.
    Werts reported that Holyoke Police Department, including code enforcement, handled or generated 173 calls for service July 2-9. HPD wrote 19 citations and one report and gave out 20 warnings. Code enforcement handled one animal complaint, three dogs at large and four ordinance violations.
    Addressing the dog concern, Werts pointed out that there were multiple citations written for dogs at large during that period.
    Attorney Al Wall explained the necessary procedure for adopting the new municipal code.
    
Other business
    In other business at the July 16 meeting, Holyoke City Council:
    — Approved on first reading Ordinance No. 2-2019 to adopt the new municipal code.
    — Set public hearings Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m. for Ordinance No. 2-2019 and for a liquor license application submitted by First Dragon.
    — Decided to proceed with an effort to change the City’s April election to be included in the November coordinated election with Phillips County.
    — Approved the purchase of three intoximeters at $439 each for HPD.
    — Waived building permit fees for Phillips County’s fence and sign at the fairgrounds.
    — Approved a $4,202 purchase of surveillance equipment from Scholl Oil & Transportation for the airport.
    — Proclaimed Tuesday, Aug. 6, National Night Out.
    — Approved hiring Elby Kropp, Haley Van Overbeke, Kristin Vieselmeyer and Elise Krogmeier as lifeguards at $11.10 per hour.