HOISINGTON — The Hoisington City Council voted by a vote of 5-3 to draft ordinances changing the policies related to dogs at its regular meeting on Monday.
The proposed policies would be:
•Increase rates for non-altered/intact animals and increase the penalty for late registration, which has been done through the fee schedule.
•Consider requiring repeat offenders to be altered after the second offense in a twelve month period.
•Request that owners notify the city within an hour of becoming aware that their animal has escaped or is missing.
•Eliminate the voice command as an acceptable means of restraint outside of the owner’s property.
The council did not approve breed specific bans, which had been under discussion due to the recent attack of a young boy by a neighbor’s pit bull.
In other business, the council approved the Standard Traffic Ordinance and the uniform Public Offense Code, which are routine ordinances passed each year.
City Clerk Donita Crutcher and City Manager Jonathan Mitchell were named as the voting delegates to the League of Municipalities, and Nancy Farmer and Chris Smith will attend as alternates.
Mitchell informed the council the city had received a certified letter from the Environmental Protection Agency. On the list of improvements needed were: take all steps to make sure effluent discharge is within approved limits; make sure samples are analyzed within six hours of discharge; disposal of the sludge buildup; and take care of the section of the concrete berms that are failing.
In final business, the council:
•Approved a license for Pizza Hut to sell Cereal Malt Beverages.
•Will refinance bonds for a lower interest rate.
•Is considering clean up week the last week of September, but the timing has to be approved with Stutzman.
•Heard that the state of Kansas is requiring registration of all roofers at a cost of $250 per year.