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Operations Committee Minutes

VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
MAY 6, 2019

CALL TO ORDER
Trustee Guethle called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL
In attendance: Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Laura Curtis, Mayor Dale Berman, Trustee Mark Carroll, Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth, Deputy Chief Joe DeLeo.

AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of the Operations Committee Minutes dated April 1, 2019
Motion for approval made by Trustee Carroll and seconded by Trustee Curtis. All in favor. Motion approved.

NEW BUSINESS
1. Animal Control Provisions
Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth stated that Chapter 6 of the municipal code regulates conduct of animals within the village. There was a recent article in the Beacon regarding the number of dogs or cats that can be kept on a property. Code Enforcement has been dealing with a situation in the Village in which a resident has emotional support ducks on their property. The current code refers to dogs and cats and allows no more than three of one species and the number cannot exceed 4 animals.

There are two violations in this current case. The first violation is that the Village does not allow ducks since they are farm animals. The second violation is that the resident has 6 ducks which exceeds the limit of allowable animals. The resident received a violation notice and petitioned the Village. They are requesting the Board review this. The Village Board has the right to allow exemptions.

The amendment to the animal control ordinance allows for people to petition the board in order to have certain animals in their homes.

The Village attorney stated that under the Fair Housing Act, there are provisions for people to have the ability to have an emotional support animal but it is still under the jurisdiction of the local authority.

Trustee Carroll suggested an annual license fee per animal be required for these emotional support animals. Village Administrator Steve Bosco stated that staff would have to check with the village attorney due to the fact that North Aurora is a non-home rule community.

Trustee Curtis suggested limiting each household to one support animal.

Carroll said he does not want the Village to get into the business of saying what kind of animal a person can have as a support animal, especially when the person has a doctor’s note. Carroll said he would like an Ordinance that gives the chief of police or someone who can review the doctor note. Carroll was also in favor of charging an annual fee per support animal. Mike Toth cautioned the requirement of fees since the Village would be getting in between the doctor and the patient and it also makes it difficult to obtain the reason why they are prescribing the animal to the client.

Trustee Guethle said that anyone needing a service animal would need to have it prescribed by a licensed physician and the Village Board would vote on it.

It was suggested that if an animal is not permitted by code and exceeds the number of allowable animals, this would trigger Board approval. Bosco said that Staff would review this with Attorney Drendel.

Carroll said he would like to see a limit on emotional support animals, such as no more than 4 emotional support animals for one person or 4 animals but no more than 3 of any one species.

Toth asked the committee if they would be able to grant an exception to the property owner with the 6 ducks with understanding that they could not have more than 4 in the future. The committee was in agreement.

Carroll suggested emotional support animals be registered with the Village. Toth said that staff could keep this information on file.

Toth said that in reference to animals disturbing the peace (4th bullet point on the first page), if an animal is barking more than 10 minutes during the day time or more than 5 minutes at night, it would be considered disturbing the peace.

OLD BUSINESS – None
OTHER INFORMATION – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None

ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Carroll and seconded by Trustee Curtis. All in favor. Motion approved.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk

 

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