ASAB Meeting Summary 2.16.22_meeting minutes approved

Browse Search

Letter to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners We, the Orange County Animal Services Advisory Board, respectfully request the OC Board of County Commissioners forward to the Orange County Legislative Caucus a proposed Local Bill to serve as a pilot initiative. During the 2022 Short Session, only certain types of legislative proposals are acceptable, of which a Local Bill is one. Our proposal is to bring NC GS 67-4.2. into conformity with Orange County's Dangerous Dog Law, Section 4-42(k). In November 2018, the Board of County Commissioners agreed to allow dog owners whose dogs have been declared dangerous to appeal to the Orange County Animal Services Director after 18 months to review the lifetime muzzle requirement. The Director has authority to investigate whether under the totality of the circumstances a relaxation of the muzzle requirement is warranted. See Application for Review of Declaration.pdf However, if a dog has been found dangerous under GS 47-4.1., the lifetime muzzle requirement remains in effect thus negating the ability of the OC Animal Services Director to provide relief, where warranted, after an 18-month period. We believe bringing the state statute into conformity with OC's ordinance will work to enhance the OC Director's ability to alleviate untoward hardships on dog owners where efforts have been made to ensure no recurrence of the original offense is likely or where the owners have made substantial improvements in restraining their dog. A local bill works to have effect in a limited jurisdiction, usually one county and allows in effect a pilot study to be made. We believe a local bill is warranted here because the county ordinance and the state statute are currently at odds and work to negate each other. We respectfully ask the OC BoCC to make this request of our Legislative Caucus during the 2022 short session.