Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

the council to review the record of the General Fund transfer. He predicted the City would incur legal bills defending it. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. Councilor Zelenka asked staff to respond to Mr. Prince’s remarks before June 27. Mayor Piercy closed the meeting of the URA and reconvened the meeting of the City Council. 5. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Amendment of Animal Regulations Regarding Service Animals and Amending Sections 4.330, 4.335, 4.340, 4.395, 4.410, 4.427, 4.435, and 4.440 of the Eugene Code, 1971 Assistant City Manager Medary reminded the council it held a work session on changes to the City Code recommended by the Human Rights Commission’s Accessibility Committee to provide stronger sanctions for attacks on service animals. She said at the council’s request, staff had also talked to Lane County Animal Services about the possibility of providing different tags to licensed service animals to make the distinction between service animals and pet animals clear. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. Heather Merlin , 77 Red Cedar Street, St. Helens, on behalf of the Willamette Valley Assistance Dog Club, said in her discussion with the owners of assistance animals, she learned they were concerned about interference with their service animal from a pet dog and believed that such incidents were not dealt with appropriately. They believed an attack on the service dog was an attack on the handler and should be viewed as such. Leash laws should be strictly enforced and injuries to a service animal should be addressed in the same way as a car accident. Ms. Merlin called for publicly funded dog ownership classes to be made available to the general public and required of any pet owner whose animal attacked a service animal. She said that assistance dog owners believed pet dog owners were not informed of appropriate methods of controlling their animals, which were readily available through dog training classes. She advocated for more education about service animals and stricter consequences for pet dog owners who allowed their dogs to interfere with or attack a service animal. There being no other requests to speak, Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 7:56 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 20, 2011 Page 4 Public Hearing