The Crookston City Council and Ways & Means Committee met on Monday night at City Hall. The night opened with a request from Elizabeth Boucher, a resident on S. Ash St that the City of Crookston put “more teeth” into its dangerous dog ordinance.
According to Boucher, both she and her son have been attacked by the same dog in the last three months but the Crookston Police Department, while doing everything they could was limited according to Boucher by the City Ordinance. “On December 7, my youngest son was walking our dog on the sidewalk on Ash St.,” said Boucher. “He was attacked unprovoked by a dog that lives in the neighborhood. The police were called, they were wonderful, forthcoming, helpful and cooperative, but they are hamstrung by an ordinance that has too much leeway. The Crookston City Ordinance closely follows the Minnesota State Ordinance which says a dog is not deemed dangerous until it attacks a second person and I think that is wrong. I think if a dog attacks one person it is dangerous from that moment on. You can never trust that dog again.”
Boucher said the second attack occurred Saturday afternoon and that with the second attack the ordinance allowed the dog to be impounded and put down. “The same dog attacked me on my front steps on Saturday afternoon,” said Boucher. “The only reason it stopped coming after me is we were told to call an officer if we ever saw that dog out again. Officer Tate pulled up and the dog immediately turned its attention on Officer Tate and went after him. This is a dangerous dog and should’ve been deemed dangerous the first time it attacked somebody. It maybe should’ve been considered potentially dangerous the first time it chased somebody down the street, the first time it got out and made a beeline for kids in their front yard.”
Boucher also said she believes in restrictions for owners who’ve had more than one dangerous dog. “I think if you have two dangerous dogs that are confiscated and put down you shouldn’t be allowed to own dogs within the city limits either for a certain period of time or ever again,” said Boucher. “I think at that point you’ve produced the bad dog. That’s what we’re going for, not to take peoples dog, but to free up the police to actually do something.”
The council asked City Attorney Corky Reynolds to look into the ordinance to determine in what ways the City of Crookston could potentially strengthen their ordinance. Police Chief Paul Biermaier said his department has identified several areas within the ordinance they’d like to have looked at given their experience executing the ordinance and that he would be in touch with Reynolds to discuss those. The Ways & Means Committee will review Reynolds findings at their April 8 meeting.
Moving into the regular agenda, the council passed the consent agenda unanimous approving the March 11 meeting minutes and resolutions to; approve bills and disbursements in the amount of $139,000.04; approve plans, specifications and call for bids on 2019 street improvements; approve representative for participation in Complete Count Committee; approve water service line for North Country Food Bank.
The only item on the main agenda was a resolution to approving a development agreement and authorizing its execution for TIF District 3-11, the Fournet Building. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten asked if the developer had turned in all of the required documentation and City Administrator Shannon Stassen said he still had not, and that staff would recommend tabling the agreement. The Council voted unanimously to table the agreement until all the required steps have been completed by the developer. “We’re waiting for the few things he needs to get done and once he does that we’ll take another look at it,” said Vedbraaten. “I’m not really sure why it came back tonight when the stuff wasn’t here, that’s why I made the motion not to bring it back until it was done.”
The Ways & Means Committee approved updates to the City of Crookston purchasing policy required to be federally compliant in order to receive federal grant dollars. The final approval of the purchasing policy will be on the April 8 City Council agenda.
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