Public commenter urges Pataskala City Council to allow handler purchase of K9 Rico; council approves consent agenda, advances two ordinances

Pataskala City Council — At the Pataskala City Council meeting, a public commentator read a statement from Mike Penney, owner of Storm Dog Tactical, urging the city to allow a K9 handler to buy K9 Rico rather than reassign the dog to a new handler.

Penney’s letter said police dogs are not “inanimate equipment such as firearms and vehicles” and argued that “police dogs are living beings with emotions, instincts, and strong bonds with their handlers.” He warned reassigning a bonded K9 could cause “significant mental stress to the animal, posing risks to both the dog and its new handler,” and said some departments choose to retire a bonded dog instead of reissuing it. The letter recommended that if the department reassigns a canine, the dog’s current handler should be offered the opportunity to purchase the animal at a fair price; Penney suggested $7,500 as a sale price that could be used to procure and train a replacement dog.

The remarks were offered during the public comment portion of the meeting and did not result in a council motion or decision. No council member framed or moved a policy change on the record at the meeting; the statement was received as public input.

Why it matters: The letter raised welfare and safety concerns about reassigning a bonded police dog, and proposed a concrete remedy — offering the handler the option to purchase the dog at a stated price. That remedy, if adopted, would affect departmental policy for handling retired or reassigned K9s and could involve departmental procedures for disposing of seized property or departmental equipment.

What the council did: Later in the meeting the council approved its consent agenda and held second readings of two ordinances. The council moved to amend Ordinance 2025-4489 (a supplemental appropriation for the 2025 fiscal year) by substitution; the motion to amend passed on roll call. Ordinance 2024-4486 (an ordinance declaring certain real property improvements to be a public purpose and invoking provisions of the Ohio Revised Code sections listed in the text) was read for a second time; no final adoption vote was recorded at the meeting.

Direct quotes from the submitted statement were attributed to the statement’s author, Mike Penney, owner of Storm Dog Tactical, as read into the record by a member of the public.

Ending: The council did not take formal action on K9 policy during the meeting. Any change to how Pataskala handles bonded police dogs would require a future staff report or a council motion to adopt policy or direct staff to draft an ordinance or administrative rule.