Deputy
sheriff explains recent Providence dog drama to council
By Megan
Wiseman
March 26, 2009 | PROVIDENCE -- Animal control policies
that were recently used on residents with unregistered
dogs were explained to citizens and the City Council
Tuesday night.
Mayor Randy Simmons invited Lt. Chad Jensen from the
Cache County Sheriff's Office to come speak to the council
after a concerned citizen wrote a letter to the Herald
Journal editor about animal control policies and the
recent events that entailed.
Providence city sent out personalized letters, news
letters and made phone calls to residents who had yet
to register their dogs and gave a deadline of Feb. 1.
If residents missed the deadline, deputies then went
to the homes of these residents and issued citations.
"I didn't think that this was a bad avenue to
go about it," said Jensen about making sure residents
registered their dogs. Jensen said that other cities
had given only a couple of days notice before residents
had to register their dogs and he felt that Providence
had gone to great lengths to ease the residents into
the process.
Simmons said the city wasn't trying to make money
off of residents by having them pay for registration,
but it was a matter of public safety and making sure
that the dogs are current on vaccinations.
Jensen also explained that the time that was used
by the officers to go to the resident's homes was taken
out of the animal control contract that the city has
with the CCSO. Jensen said Providence contracts with
the county for animal control and also for regular patrol,
but they are two separate contracts and there was no
time taken away from the patrol through the city.
NW
MS |