MAHANOY CITY - The borough council plans to put into place an ordinance that will define what a "dangerous" or "vicious" dog is and regulate such animals for the protection of the public.
During Tuesday's meeting, the council gave solicitor Michael A. O'Pake approval to advertise the ordinance to formally adopt it at the February meeting.
Prior to O'Pake speaking of the proposed ordinance, resident Sarah Devine spoke of a problem dog near her Centre Street property that has her worried for her safety and that of her own pet.
"My concern is that I feel threatened that even though I have a fenced-in yard and take my dog out, I have to put my dog on a leash because of that one pit bull who has gotten its paws and head over the fence three times," Devine said. "Since its feet are wet and it's an old wood fence, the back paws keep sliding down."
Borough code enforcement officer William Killian III said that the situation is being investigated.
"I know that the state dog warden is investigating it," Killian said. "He was there and I do believe that she (dog owner) has received fines from him."
O'Pake told Devine that Shenandoah has a dangerous dog ordinance in place as of December. O'Pake is also Shenandoah's solicitor.
"I'm going to talk to council in executive session about passing it (ordinance) here in the borough as well, so that may alleviate some of your concerns about a dangerous dog if that dog would fit the definition of a dangerous or vicious animal," O'Pake said.
After the executive session, O'Pake summarized the proposed ordinance.
"The ordinance would define a dangerous or vicious dog as any dog which bites, inflicts injury, assaults or otherwise attacks a human being or a domestic animal without provocation," O'Pake said. "It would also include any dog which, without provocation, approaches in a threatening or terrorizing manner, any person or domestic animal. It also includes any dog which is trained to attack or cause injury or to otherwise endanger the safety of human beings or domestic animals or any dog which has a history of attacking or propensity to attack people or domestic animals without provocation."
O'Pake said if a dog is considered a dangerous animal, the owner must register the dog with the borough, which requires a $250 fee and other stipulations.
The council vote to advertise the ordinance was unanimous.
In another animal issue, Mayor Nancy Petritsch reminded residents who walk their dogs that they are required to clean up any feces from their pets. She added there are parks and other areas where dogs are not allowed, such as East End Park. Police Chief Mark Wiekrykas said anyone who sees someone violating the ordinance should call police, and if the person is found, he or she can be cited.
O'Pake also spoke of moving forward with vacant dilapidated properties at 416-418 W. Centre St. Residents have described the properties at previous council meetings as being in deplorable condition to the point they are posing a danger to other area properties. The owner, Cristy Sacks, will be contacted by letter with an offer from the borough to purchase the properties for $1.
"We'll be asking her to turn the property over to the borough of Mahanoy City for the nominal consideration of $1 so that the borough can look into alternatives for funding to have that property razed and have the blight issue resolved," O'Pake said.
In other business, the council:
- Appointed Robert King as the borough streets foreman.
- Authorized a tax anticipation loan of $125,000 from M&T Bank at a 2.65 percent interest rate. Tax anticipations loans are secured by municipalities to pay expenses for the first three or four months of the year until taxes begin to be received, usually in March or April.