During a virtual workshop, Tuesday, April 20, Baxter Police Chief Jim Exsted outlined a proposal to change the city’s dog ordinance, particularly provisions involving dangerous animals and where authority is delegated if a pet owner decides to contest the capture of their animal. As per city ordinances, residents are entitled to a hearing in the event they contest the capture. This hearing is presided over by the city’s attorney, per state statute, who then is empowered to arbitrate the issue with the dog owner and a third-party legal counsel if they so choose.
Exsted said it would best serve the city of Baxter if this provision — which empowers the city attorney, not the city council, to make that decision — was revised. While this arrangement hasn’t yet presented problems in terms of animal control, Exsted said, a similar case in liquor license enforcement proved problematic and costly for the city when attorneys, not elected officials, are empowered to make decisions that involve taxpayer dollars.
“Either way, it's either going to cost the city or the dog owner money if they request the hearing. Somebody is going to be on the hook for those fees,” Exsted said. “In all honesty, I trust the council that you'll make a good decision in the end, whereas if we send it to the city attorney and he decides to conflict … I don't know where it's going to go. I don't like that feeling of not knowing which direction it's going to end up.”
Exsted noted this measure would be precautionary, as it’s only been recently that a dangerous dog case escalated to the point of requests for a hearing in his 25 years of law enforcement. That case, Exsted said, as hopefully with all cases, was resolved between the city, the dog owner, and the city’s animal control firm in a non-formalized, cooperative manner.
“It’s an unnerving feeling ... because in that case the only thing that could have gone bad was if somebody ruled in favor of the dog and the dog would have stayed there. I think the owner recognized he didn’t want it there,” Exsted said. “It really limited our options. Within statute, the council couldn't rule. I feel we’d lose control a little bit if we send it to an attorney or an outside attorney.”
Answering a question from council member John Ward, Exsted said the standard procedure would be to hold a public open meeting — in this case, a workshop, or a special meeting prior to the workshop, that often takes place just before the biweekly council meeting — in which to convene the hearing. Outside of the dog owner, the public would not have input during this session, but could submit comments during the subsequent council meeting. Any formal votes or decisions would likely have to be made during the formal council meeting.
Mayor Darrel Olson noted these kinds of cases were relatively uncommon and said he was in favor of the change, if mainly to streamline the hearing process and incorporate more public input.
“In my time here, we've never had one (case that progressed to a hearing). So, it's not like this is going to be a monthly thing or a weekly thing and so I don't think it's going to be an overburden for the council,” Olson said. “It’s probably a good thing if they got a legitimate case, they bring it to the council and the council can make that decision. I think it's a win-win thing and I think it can also be expedited and ramped up faster probably by going that route.”
Council member Zach Tabatt also suggested that — should the city decide to revise the ordinance — it should incorporate provisions with clear distinctions on third-party witnesses, or whether or not some individuals may be allowed to speak during the hearing to provide context regarding an incident involving a problematic animal.
GABRIEL LAGARDE may be reached at gabe.lagarde@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5859. Follow at www.twitter.com/glbrddispatch.
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April 22, 2021 at 07:00PM
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Baxter Council members consider direct control of animal control hearings - Brainerd Dispatch
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