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2020 07 23 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN July 23, 2020 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, July 23, 2020, at 5:35 P.M., in the Council Chamber, Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Robert Hoskins Council Member Charles Johnson Mayor Pro Tem Charles Presley Council Member Heather Betancourth Council Member David Himsel Council Member Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Karen Horner Interim City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the July 23, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:35 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Presley who arrived at 6:01 P.M. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss proposed amendments to the Baytown Animal Control Ordinance. Health Director Tony Gray presented the item and stated that the staff had worked closely with the Animal Control Advisory Committee (the "Committee") to review and propose changes to the existing Animal Control Ordinances. He noted that the last time the Council reviewed said ordinance was March of 2019 and noted that from the last version, the staff had five (5) main proposed amendments for the Council's review. Mr. Gray stated that if the Council is comfortable with the amendments, staff will bring the ordinance with the changes back to the August 13`h City Council meeting for their consideration. Change No. 1: Mr. Gray noted that this first change is significant, in that the Committee and staff removed the animal points calculation section or the acreage calculation in the existing ordinance to what is termed the "lack of proper care" provision, which provides the staff with more clarity and options on how to deal with animal complaints within the city limits, rather than trying to just count animals. Mr. Gray further noted that the proposed change also defines "lack of proper City Council Regular Work Session Minutes July 23, 2020 Page 2 of 4 care" to require that animal owners provide adequate shelter and care for their animals, and expands sanitary living conditions to help eliminate nuisances. Change No. 2: Mr. Gray noted that this proposed amendment is in response to Council's March 2019 meeting to a response to dogs barking at cats. The change would allow for these types of complaints to be investigated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with evening complaints being investigated the next day. Mr. Gray noted that the challenge with barking dogs is if the dog is barking outside, it really could be barking at anything and not just a cat, so the person responsible for the barking dog is in fact the dog owner, and a resolution could be as simple as bringing the dog inside and the barking stops. Mr. Gray noted that under the City's resolution, cats are not required to be confined to the inside of the home and can roam freely, so there is no law being broken by the cat owner. Change No. 3: Mr. Gray stated that this change relates to the micro -chipping of animals and is in response to previous comments about its enforcement, the burden on citizens, lessening the number of un- collected lost animals. Changes Nos. 4 and 5: Mr. Gray stated that the 4th and 5th change are new additions to the March 2019 ordinance. He stated that the changes included the definitions for terms with the most important one being that of "designated caretaker", which allow City staff to vaccinate animals upon intake and thus help reduce diseases in the shelter. The other added change relates to the reduction in the stray hold time from 5 to 3 days, in order to allow for animals to move into prospective homes as soon as possible while also reducing the City's cost of care, it saves cages and preserves resources for those animals that are in most need. Mr. Gray concluded his presentation and noted that he was open to questions or comments from the Council. Council Member Himsel stated that he believed that the acreage provision currently in the ordinance was much more delineated and that the idea of "lack of proper care" seems too subjective and felt that the recommended change was opening up a can of worms. Mr. Gray stated in response that he did not believe that it would because the nuisances that were being dealt with were mosquitos, smells, and sanitary issues, among other things, that would now fall under the new "care of animals" provision. He further noted that the Animal Services Division would be responsible for making, responding to the complaint, investigating the concerns and then make the decision if proper care is being done. They would document the situations and take it through the animal cruelty route in the Municipal Court. City Manager Rick Davis stated that this process is very similar to the substandard process that would be documented, and go through the court. Council Member Hoskins agreed with Council Member Himsel and noted he too felt that this new provision could be subjective and wanted to know how it would help deal with the property on Marvin Road that has goats, which are well cared for, but the property has no grass, the stench is terrible, and they had a dead horse out there for a day and a half. Mr. Gray responded City Council Regular Work Session Minutes July 23, 2020 Page 3 of 4 that staff would take in the complaint, investigate it, and take action as necessary. He noted that the new provision would give staff the capacity to bring in and use the nuisance ordinance to abate and take care of the nuisance. Council Member Hoskins stated that he did not agree with this amendment and felt it would not fix anything. Council Member Betancourth stated that she would like for staff to provide the Council with a copy of the ordinance with the proposed changes noted in red -line prior to the next Council meeting, in order for them to review and familiarize themselves with it again. Mr. Gray stated that he would snake sure that they receive that red -lined ordinance as soon as it is ready. Council Member Johnson stated that he did not believe that the proposed changes were being fair to dog owners and did not agree with the requirement that they would have to bring in their pets in response to a noise complaint. Animal Control Manager April Moore stated that this new ordinance allowed the staff to work with citizens to get to the root of the problem, in order to fix the problem long-term. She noted that barking dogs can be a problem because there is not one fix, and that can be very frustrating for everyone involved. She noted that this type of issue requires a lot of work and contact between the dog owner, the complainant, and the staff. She further noted that the intent of the ordinance is to help staff to help others become stronger pet owners and connect them with the appropriate resources to help them be better pet owners. Ms. Moore noted that connecting people to things that they are capable of doing within their particular circumstances; the ordinance is just another tool for staff to help force change/compliance without going through a punitive process. She noted that bringing the dog inside is not in the ordinance, and was noted as an example and not as a requirement. Ms. Moore noted that the staff has not yet worked on a cat abatement plan, but would be working on it in the future. Council Member Johnson stated that he would prefer that the cat plan be rolled out at the same time as this new ordinance. Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller stated that the cat plan will take a significant amount of time to put together and recommended that approval of the animal ordinance as submitted to give staff more tools to work with to abate the existing issues, while thy continued to work on a cat plan. Council Member Alvarado stated that she wanted to keep the acreage provision in the ordinance, in order for it to be used in conjunction with the proposed ordinance. The Council discussed the need for a cat plan, the dog barking nuisances, and the subjective-ness of some of the proposed changes. Mayor Capetillo welcomed comments from the Committee members. Dr. Cynthia Lipps stated that the "designated caretaker" definition was very important as it made the City the designated caretaker, which would then allow staff to care for the animals upon intake, it will cut back on putting animals to sleep and reducing illnesses in the shelter. Mr. Richard Park stated that he felt that the proposed ordinance is a good starting point to making the animal control ordinance better; he thanked the Council for funding the hiring of a qualified and capable Animal Control Director. Mr. Park noted that Ms. Moore deserved something to work from; particularly as they are on the verge of having a new facility. Mr. Jay Garrett reminded the Council that this ordinance has been in the works since 2015, and it is by far time for the staff to have new playbook and this is a good place to start. Police Chief Keith Dougherty stated that no ordinance City Council Regular Work Session Minutes July 23, 2020 Page 4 of 4 is perfect, but this new animal ordinance will help staff respond to some of the animal concerns within the community. The Council thanked the Committee and staff for their hard work on this ordinance. b. Discuss the City of Baytown Fiscal Year 2020-21 Proposed Budget. The City Council had no comments related to this item. C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for July 23, 2020, which is attached below. This item was not taken. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the July 23, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:17 P.M. Leticia , City Clerk City of Baytown Y �Qn,NMOlA`ds�