At the Apple Valley City Council meeting on Oct. 23, 2025, resident Carm Tenhoff asked the council to amend city rules to permit therapy animals, emotional-support animals and other mild-natured animals to access city facilities, specifically naming the Apple Valley Senior Center.

Tenhoff said she founded a local “pets discussion group” and described situations where members and visiting animals have been kept outdoors due to the city’s current policy on animals inside city buildings. “I’d like to propose a change or addition to [city] code for the city of Apple Valley… to include… therapy animals and emotional support animals and other animals that are very mild natured, like kittens,” Tenhoff said during the council’s audience participation period.

City leaders declined to take action at the meeting. The mayor said the council did not have the city code text or the staff present needed to decide the issue that evening and asked staff to take the request under advisement. “We’re not prepared to have that discussion tonight. This isn’t the forum for that,” the mayor said. The mayor added that the city will review the request and consider any health-code limits that apply to specific facilities such as the senior center.

Tenhoff told the council she had already contacted senior-center staff, including Sharon Lemke, the senior-center director, and “Nate,” and said the group previously had permission to use an uncarpeted room when weather forced meetings indoors. She said volunteers sometimes bring dogs and cats to meetings and that some attendees rely on therapy animals. “One woman who’s come a couple times… she has a therapy dog. And she has to take time off work to come to our volunteer organization,” Tenhoff said, noting that allowing animals inside would help her and others attend events.

A second audience member spoke briefly about allergy concerns and cautioned the council to consider those issues before changing rules.

No formal motion or direction to draft specific code language was recorded at the meeting. City staff said they would consult internally — including with parks and recreation and senior-center staff — about potential changes and any relevant health-code constraints before bringing a proposal back to the council.

For now, the city’s written policy remains limited to service animals inside city facilities; Tenhoff’s request to extend access to therapy and emotional-support animals remains under consideration.