Vicious animal prosecutions were discussed at the Hopkins City Council Meeting Monday, December 9th. The old animal ordinance was noted as needing more enforceability. The aldermen requested additional language be added to say either people or animals that were attacked would be cause for the section to be enforced.
City Attorney Taryn Henry reported she was working on one such case currently. She has filed six charges in that case; two for each dog’s attack on the first dog, two for each dog’s attack on the second dog, and one count for each dog at large.
The city is also looking into a fencing ordinance to keep dogs penned in.
Property liens were discussed by Henry and the council. The amount owed, cost of placing the lien, and any cost of capping the sewer would be added to the lien. It would then be attached to their taxes. The lien would need to be paid before the property was sold.
Councilman Allen Thompson asked about how long old ordinances needed to be kept. Henry responded that the city only needs to keep current ordinances. A system to do that was discussed. There are companies that come in and codify the ordinances for a city; Grant City has done that in the past. Council members also discussed the process to condemn structures.
At the December 2nd meeting, the council learned that the city had received a letter from the Department of Revenue fining the city for not getting the state audit back to the State Auditor’s office in a timely manner. State law provides for fines for cities and political subdivisions for not turning in their financial reports timely. The council directed the mayor to write a letter requesting the fine be waived because of the circumstances surrounding the city audit this year.
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