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Agenda - 09-05-2013 - 5a
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Agenda - 09-05-2013 - 5a
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BOCC
Date
9/5/2013
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Regular Meeting
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Agenda
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5a
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Minutes 09-05-2013
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22 <br /> 1 The "Unified Ordinance" does away with both of these provisions, though the narrative <br /> 2 accompanying this agenda item fails to mention to you either of these very major changes. <br /> 3 He urged the County not to adopt this Ordinance tonight but to allow the opportunity for citizens to <br /> 4 give public comment and suggestions for changes to make it better. <br /> 5 Time expired. More written comments are included in the statement attached to this abstract item. <br /> 6 Don O'Leary said he also lives in a rural area and he has a large black lab who is friendly, but a <br /> 7 good watchdog. He said that if his dog were to bite someone, it would be in defense. He referenced a Dr. <br /> 8 Albright, and the RFID chipping practice. He said this chip causes cancer and he would like the Board to <br /> 9 do research on this issue before moving forward. <br /> 10 Susan Elmore, Chair of ASAB, said the board did meet on occasion and did review this potential <br /> 11 ordinance very carefully before giving input. She said the board did consider inviting Professor Wall, but <br /> 12 did not, because it did not seem necessary. She said the board does have an attorney who facilitated a <br /> 13 discussion and review of the ordinance and the vicious dog issue among others. The board gave feedback <br /> 14 to staff and unanimously approved the ordinance. She said the board did consider potential exemption for <br /> 15 livestock that were loose, but the board felt that these animals are a potential human health hazard, <br /> 16 especially near the road where there may be contact with a car. She said that the ASAB understood that if <br /> 17 it is the case of an act of God, it would be up to the discretion of the Animal Control Officer whether to issue <br /> 18 a citation. <br /> 19 Patrick Mulkay is a resident of Bingham Township. He referenced the definition of a trespasser and <br /> 20 said that in the rural part of the county you can take lethal action against a trespasser if you are in fear of <br /> 21 your life. He said that this is not so in the towns, where the trespasser has to be in your house. He <br /> 22 wonders how this affects the lay enforcement community. He said he has two watchdogs that help protect <br /> 23 his family. He said that he hears people talking about farm animals and he remembers helping his family <br /> 24 gather cows when they escaped the fence. He said this is discussion of city folks making a determination <br /> 25 of what farm animals are thinking. He feels the Board needs to put this ordinance off and seek more input <br /> 26 in to this ordinance. <br /> 27 Michelle Walker is the vice chair of the ASAB. She said the board did hold a specific meeting that <br /> 28 deals with vicious and dangerous dogs' and there was ample opportunity for public participation. She said <br /> 29 that there was no clear definition or standard for what is a watchdog, and the proposed ordinance does <br /> 30 maintain an exemption for sentry dogs that have been trained and registered with the county. She said that <br /> 31 she is also a licensed attorney in North Carolina and she knows that the word trespass is fraught with legal <br /> 32 issues. She said that there are concerns with the kind of civil litigation that the County could be involved in, <br /> 33 and the new ordinance seeks to address that. She said that the designation between dangerous and <br /> 34 vicious dogs is done to give the Animal Control more ability to impound certain animals in the county than <br /> 35 the state allows. <br /> 36 Commissioner McKee said it was his understanding that it was a compilation of ordinances only and <br /> 37 not an expansion, but he sees an expansion of the scope. He referenced the changes made, against the <br /> 38 objections of many citizens, to county tethering laws in the past and asked if tethering still applies to Chapel <br /> 39 Hill and Carrboro. He asked how a unified document could not be unified across the County. <br /> 40 Annette Moore said there are certain parts of the ordinance that could be controversial in certain <br /> 41 jurisdictions, and thus those areas were exempted out of this process. She said the same is true of issues <br /> 42 like chicken coops in Carrboro. <br /> 43 Bob Marotto said Chapel Hill and Carrboro both have a tethering ordinance that is more prohibitive <br /> 44 than Orange County's ordinance. He said there are some significant gaps in the ordinance and these gaps <br /> 45 can be filled in by Animal Control with consultation from the advisory board and colleagues. He said there <br /> 46 are efforts being made to identify those gaps. <br /> 47 Commissioner McKee said that rather than fight a difficult fight on tethering again, it seems that this <br /> 48 unified document has picked soft targets like the vicious dog issue. He said he has a real problem with <br /> 49 making regulatory changes while creating a unified document. He said he is seeing many things that have <br /> 50 been taken out and others that have been added in. He is concerned with the decision not to take advice <br /> 51 from the School of Government. He said that he realizes that the farm animals can be destructive, but they <br /> 52 are not the only animals that can damage a car on the road. <br /> 53 Bob Marotto said that the farm animals issue was brought to the ASAB several years ago, and it <br /> 54 was carefully studied. This was followed by the development of a set of recommendations for the Board of <br />
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