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Councilor Zelenka asked staff to respond to Mr. Prince's remarks before June 27. <br />Mayor Piercy closed the meeting of the URA and reconvened the meeting of the City Council. <br />5. PUBLIC HEARING: <br />An Ordinance Concerning Amendment of Animal Regulations Regarding Service Animals <br />and Amending Sections 4.330, 4.335, 4.340, 4.395, 4.410, 4.427, 4.435, and 4.440 of the <br />Eugene Code, 1971 <br />Assistant City Manager Medary reminded the council it held a work session on changes to the City Code <br />recommended by the Human Rights Commission's Accessibility Committee to provide stronger sanctions <br />for attacks on service animals. She said at the council's request, staff had also talked to Lane County <br />Animal Services about the possibility of providing different tags to licensed service animals to make the <br />distinction between service animals and pet animals clear. <br />Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. <br />Heather Merlin, 77 Red Cedar Street, St. Helens, on behalf of the Willamette Valley Assistance Dog <br />Club, said in her discussion with the owners of assistance animals, she learned they were concerned about <br />interference with their service animal from a pet dog and believed that such incidents were not dealt with <br />appropriately. They believed an attack on the service dog was an attack on the handler and should be <br />viewed as such. Leash laws should be strictly enforced and injuries to a service animal should be <br />addressed in the same way as a car accident. <br />Ms. Merlin called for publicly funded dog ownership classes to be made available to the general public <br />and required of any pet owner whose animal attacked a service animal. She said that assistance dog <br />owners believed pet dog owners were not informed of appropriate methods of controlling their animals, <br />which were readily available through dog training classes. She advocated for more education about <br />service animals and stricter consequences for pet dog owners who allowed their dogs to interfere with or <br />attack a service animal. <br />There being no other requests to speak, Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. <br />Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 7:56 p.m. <br />Respectfully submitted, <br />/6lt� ;AILA <br />Beth Forrest <br />City Recorder <br />(Recorded by Kimberly Young) <br />MINUTES — Eugene City Council June 20, 2011 Page 4 <br />Public Hearing <br />