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ELKINS -- Elkins City Council approved penalties for the City Code chapter regarding vicious animals, tethering animals, the welfare of waterfowl and more.
During the most recent council meeting, the nine present council members voted in favor of Resolution 1966, which establishes penalties for City Code Chapter 90, which pertains to animals. Third Ward Council member Christopher Lowther was absent from the meeting.
According to Resolution 1966, the City Code Chapter 90’s penalty section, known as §90.99, states Elkins City Council “from time to time” shall establish a fine for conviction of violations of the subsections of Chapter 90. The Rules and Ordinances Committee recommended fines and penalties the Council could amend into the City Code §90.99 Penalty.
The following fines are established by Resolution 1966:
– Any owner or keeper of an animal who violates 90.11 (Procedure upon complaint that an animal is vicious, dangerous or infected with a potentially harmful communicable disease), and whose animal is not ordered destroyed, shall be fined an amount of $50.00 and ordered to pay court costs.
– Any person caught violating 90.09 (Tethering) in the first instance shall be given a warning, stating what section of the city code he or she is violating and how to comply with the violated section. The person shall be subject to a follow-up visit by the Enforcement Officer, at a later time that is adequate to allow the person to correct the violation, to determine if the person is in compliance with said city code section.
– Any person caught violating 90.09 after being given a warning as specified in division(C)(1) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined an amount of $50.00 or confined in jail not more than 30 days, or both, and ordered to pay court costs.
– The owner of any animal in violation of 90.10 (Barking Or Howling) shall, upon conviction of such violation, be fined an amount of $50.00 and court costs.
– Any person or persons violating any provision of 90.40 through 90.41 (regarding waterfowl) shall, upon conviction thereof, pay a fine of an amount of $10.00 per offense, together with the costs of said prosecution. Upon conviction of any subsequent offense under the provisions of §§90.40 through 90.41, the person or persons shall pay a fine of an amount of $25.00 per offense, together with the costs of said prosecution. Each day such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
Before the council voted on the resolution, Fourth Ward Council member Andrew Carroll explained there are several sections in the Elkins City Code that state, “from time to time,” the council can establish penalties for violating the code, but the fines and penalties had never been decided on.
“So we had an issue brought to us and we needed to figure out what the fine was, and initially we thought, ‘Okay this is simple. We’ll just say the fine is X number of dollars,’ but then we realized there were four or five other places where fines related to animals are mentioned in the code,” Carroll said. “So this hits all of those all at once, so we’re making a clean decision on all of the related fines.”
Fifth Ward Council member Burley Woods questioned how the City would track the first instance warnings to violators. Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco clarified the City had hired a “parking enforcement/animal enforcement individual” to handle such violations, however, he noted that every officer in the Elkins Police Department as the authority to write a ticket or fine a person for violations. Officers also have the discretion to give first-time violators a copy of the city ordinance so they know what they are violating.
“That’s typically what they do first, is to make people aware,” Marco said. “If it isn’t rectified at that time, they will probably go back and that’s when the fine will be implemented.”
City Clerk Sutton Stokes also explained why they would be implementing the penalties by resolution and not an ordinance. Stokes stated the City Code says penalties can be set by City Council “from time to time” because they did not want to put in a set dollar amount that could possibly be changed every few years. By leaving it open to change like that, the Code penalties can be amended by one resolution instead of needing the ordinance read through twice before passage. Elkins City Attorney Geraldine Roberts said this was not the first time the Elkins City Council had made such an amendment.
Elkins City Council will meet again on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.