Kathy Vance of 50 Alpine View spent several minutes describing repeated dog-barking incidents near her home and asked the Gadsden City Council to change the city’s noise ordinance to better protect people who sleep during the day.

Vance said neighbors' dogs have barked for days and weekends at a time and described health effects she attributes to chronic noise, adding that she had collected and provided copies of the relevant city-code language to the clerk. "Please take the 10 at night to 8 in the morning out of the Unicode," she said, urging the council to remove daytime limitations that she argued leave day sleepers, shift workers and caregivers unprotected.

Council members expressed sympathy and told Vance the matter belongs before the Public Safety Committee. Councilman Wilson said he would call a committee meeting to "roll our sleeves up" and invited the resident to attend; President Beck said staff would consult the city attorney about ordinance changes and ensure the meeting is publicly advertised. Council members noted enforcement capacity and boilerplate language in the uniform code as points the committee will examine.

The council did not propose immediate ordinance changes on the floor Nov. 25; instead, members said they would convene the Public Safety Committee to review enforcement options, code language and practical remedies and then report back to the full council.