Agenda - 09-04-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 1 Chair Jacobs said he wanted to follow up on Commissioner Dorosin's recommendation 2 by suggesting that appeals could go from the ASAB to the Manager, who would make a 3 recommendation on whether the case should go before the Board of County Commissioners as 4 a last resort. 5 Commissioner Dorosin said his suggestion was regarding the appeals for citations. He 6 said the vicious dog citation is the one that goes through a quasi-judicial hearing. 7 Michelle Walker pointed out that the state statute does require the County authority for 8 animal control to designate a person or a board to be responsible for determining when a dog is 9 potentially dangerous, and to designate a separate board to hear any appeal. 10 Commissioner McKee referred to the top of page 9, which states that there were no 11 strong concerns about the process being quasi-judicial. He said he had no strong concerns, 12 but he did voice the opinion that it should be a different board. He questions the perception of 13 this. He said the appeal of a vicious dog can be very highly charged. He still feels that appeals 14 for a vicious dog declaration should be heard by a different board, separated from the ASAB, 15 who issued the declaration. He said this would be a better public relations move. 16 Chair Jacobs questioned who would board would be. 17 Susan Elmore said currently it is three members of the ASAB. She said there was 18 previous discussion of not having Animal Services staff involved except in more of an 19 administrative role. She said they would not be involved in the hearing. She said the hearing 20 would remain as it is now, with the 3 members of the subcommittee of the ASAB. She said it 21 can be a very charged process, but so far the process has worked well in reference to vicious 22 dog declarations. She said there have been times when the declaration has been overturned, 23 and the process is very fair. 24 Bob Marotto said it is very important that staff is removed from the process, with the 25 exception of administration. He said he feels the issue is to have a fair, impartial process. He 26 said there does need to be work and training on the procedure for the ASAB. 27 Commissioner McKee said he does not question the fairness. His only concern is that 28 the greater amount of separation the ASAB can have from the appeals process, the better the 29 public perception will be. 30 He said for him, a vicious declaration sounds more dangerous that a dangerous dog 31 declaration. He wonders if there is a way to indicate in the wording that this is one level below 32 the state definition. 33 Commissioner Pelissier said she liked the clarification of the appeals process. She said 34 she would like to know how many citations are served per year, as this information is important 35 in considering the workload and the appeals process for discussions in the future. 36 Commissioner Price asked about the timing and process for an appeal. She asked if 37 the dog would be impounded. 38 Bob Marotto said if a dog bites someone and the dog is declared a potentially 39 dangerous dog, this declaration would be made as soon as possible in order to place 40 restrictions on the dog. He said if there is a second bite from the same dog in violation of the 41 restrictions on keeping that dog, the standard practice is to initially impound the dog and 42 negotiate a written agreement with the owner. He said the agreement would stipulate the 43 conditions under which the dog will be kept, as well as a stipulation that if these conditions are 44 not met the dog will be surrendered to animal services. He said there are many variations that 45 can happen in reality, but this is the process. 46 Commissioner Price asked if there is a statute of limitations as to when you appeal. 47 Bob Marotto said under the state statute there is a 10 day time period for the appeal, 48 from the time of notice. He said the ordinance had suggested 10 days, but this was going to be 49 designated "working days" to allow more time.