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Council advances rewritten animal‑control code with framework for TNR program, stopping short of city‑run program
Summary
On second reading the council advanced Ordinance 11‑59, which rewrites Chapter 55 to update animal control rules and adds administrative framework for a potential future Trap‑Neuter‑Return (TNR) program; the police chief said any TNR implementation would rely on an outside volunteer organization and fundraising.
Council moved Ordinance 11‑59 forward on second consideration after the Police Chief outlined that the rewrite updates chapter 55 for animal protection/control and creates administrative space for a possible future Trap‑Neuter‑Return (TNR) program for community cats.
The chief told council the changes are a framework only: the city currently lacks capacity to run a TNR program and any actual TNR effort would need an outside volunteer organization to fundraise and carry out operations. "If we move forward with the code as it's written currently, there will, if we decide at some point, there's an outside 3rd party that's going to come in, establish a program of volunteers, they will still have to work with the police department," the chief said.
Council members debated whether the city should include TNR language; one member said previous dialogue with animal shelters had motivated the change (shelters would not take feral adult cats without a TNR framework). Staff emphasized that the ordinance does not obligate the city to operate TNR or to fund neutering; rather it creates definitions and administrative pathways should a volunteer group step forward. Council voted to advance the ordinance to third reading.
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