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Council adopts ordinance tightening animal code; staff to phase in enforcement
Summary
The council unanimously adopted Ordinance 2025-4 amending Chapter 97 (Animals) of the city code; staff said the rules technically take effect on passage but enforcement will be phased with public outreach and leniency at first.
The Mount Pleasant City Council voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance 2025-4, which amends Chapter 97 (Animals) of the city’s Code of Ordinances by adding sections 97.11, 97.13 and 97.16 and amending section 97.49.
The ordinance presented at this meeting matched the language the council reviewed at its prior meeting, and staff told council there were no substantive changes since that presentation. Council member Veil moved to adopt the ordinance; Council member Redford seconded the motion; the secretary recorded the vote as unanimous.
Council members debated the ordinance’s effective date. The city secretary said making the ordinance effective May 1 would allow the city to publish the required notices in the newspaper on two separate occasions. The city attorney noted that, by law, an ordinance is technically effective upon adoption unless a later effective date is set; however, she said staff planned “to take our time and pace ourselves” and to use a “common sense approach” to enforcement so that the public would have time to learn the new rules and to avoid heavy-handed enforcement at the outset.
Members of the public and some council members raised concerns about a shopping-center site south of town where animals and itinerant vendors have gathered. Council asked staff to monitor the site and to coordinate with property owners where appropriate. One resident asked the city to set a firm enforcement timetable; council members said they intended to allow a transitional period but did not adopt a formal phased-enforcement schedule at the meeting.
The ordinance will be published according to statutory notice requirements; the city secretary instructed council that an effective date of May 1 would allow the notices to run on two occasions in the newspaper before enforcement intensified.
