Dog owners looking to avoid a potential legal mess will have to clean up after their pets on San Juan Bautista public property or face a fine if a watered-down version of an updated animal control ordinance is approved next month.
The city council recently heard the first reading of the ordinance, which would make it a misdemeanor to allow a dog to defecate on public property without cleaning up after it.
“We didn’t want to make it an undue hardship for people that walk their dogs,” said San Juan City Manager Roger Grimsley, though complaints received by the city indicated that not cleaning up after dogs was an issue in local parks. “People should have the responsibility to collect their dogs’ excrement.”
After discussing the issue with the council in March, Grimsley indicated that the sheriff’s office and city maintenance workers could be given the right to issue citations to people who ignored the ordinance.
At the recent meeting, the citation aspect was clarified so that maintenance staff could report violations, but law enforcement personnel would be the ones to issue citations. The city attorney could then file a claim against a dog owner requiring them to pay an as-yet-undetermined fine.
The issue is scheduled to come back before the council at its June 15 meeting. If approved, the updated ordinance would go into effect 30 days later.
