Agenda - 10-03-2006-9e - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

4 Animal Services Advisory Board-Tethering Committee Meeting Wednesday, September 6`J`, 2006, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Draft Meeting Summary Location: Southern Human Services Center Meeting Room A1B, Homestead Road in Chapel Hill ASAB Members and Staff Present: Kristine Bergstrand, DVM, Jean-Connerat Levine, Animal Services Director Bob Marotto, Animal Control Manager Irene Paul and Administrative Assistant Paula Ragan Members of the Public Present: Pat Sanford, Elliott Kramer, Judith Reitman, Caroline Green, and Susan Roy Bob Marotto, Animal Services Director, presented a Proposed Agenda, which was adopted. He also gave an overview of a discussion between him and County Attorney Jeff Gledhill regarding the legal requirements for the meetings of public bodies in North Carolina. It was suggested by Mr. Gledhill that a minimum of 48-hour notice be given to the public and that reasonable efforts be taken to contact members of the public included on a "sunshine list," that is, a list of people we know that maybe interested in any meeting. It was mentioned that this meeting was posted in several newspapers 10 days prior to the meeting date, but it was concluded after speaking to Mr. Gledhill that the 10-day rule is a legal requirement for Board of Commissioners but not of other public bodies. Next there was a review of the charge of the Tethering Committee. The Animal Services Advisory Board assigned three specific responsibilities to the Committee: 1. Create itself on a broader basis involving other community members in such a way to ensure that there is across section of community and cross section of community sentiment. 2. Pull together materials bearing on the issues of tethering. 3. Identify suitable mechanisms for obtaining public feedback or input from the community more broadly than those serving on the committee. More generally, the expectation that the committee will facilitate. some kind of closure for the issue of tethering that has been raised as an issue of policy within our community. In this regard, it was suggested that arriving at such closure may entail a set of or menu of recommendations that go back to the Animal Services Advisory Board for review and deliberation, and that on that basis a similar set of recommendations maybe made to the Board of County Commissioners for their deliberation. Animal Control Manager Irene Paul presented two working documents from Animal Control. One documented the number of tethering complaints and the number of animal cruelty complaints for the period from January 1St, 2006, through July 31St, 2006. The second document is an Animal Control Tethering Inspection Form that is being developed for use by Animal Control Officers in their fieldwork under the existing Orange County Animal Ordinances. Throughout there was a discussion among committee members proper and members of the public of the nature of the policy issue and the sources of information that were required to obtain perspective on that issue. With regard to the policy issue, comments were made about whether tethering was an issue of animal care (or