Sub. Bill 17-14 Proposed Animal Rights

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City of South i? Common Council 441 County-City Building • 227 W. Jefferson Blvd (574) 235 -9321 South Bend, Indiana 46601 -1830 Fax (574) 235 -9173 http:/Iwww.southbendin.gov Oliver J. Davis President April 28, 2014 Derek D. Dieter South Bend City Council Vice - President County / City Building South Bend, IN 46601 Valerie Schey Chairperson, Committee Dear Council, of the Whole Attached for your consideration is Substitute Bill 17 -14. Tim Scott First District Since filing Bill 17 -14 (The Responsible Animal and Pet Ownership Care and Control Henry Davis, Regulations Bill) on February 19, 2014 there has been a tremendous amount of Second District t interest, support and discussion for this bill, Valerie Schey As a result of the discussions, there have been a number of valuable suggestions Third District provided that I believe will ultimately help to make this a piece of model legislation. Fred Ferlic The amendments made have been largely administrative. However, in an effort to Fourth District increase compliance rates with the City's pet licensing program, a substantive change is being proposed to how the City of South Bend licenses pets (Section 5 -52 David Varner of attached). Fifth District Currently, it is estimated that only 3 -5% of South Bend residents participate in the Oliver J. Davis licensing program. Some Council members have suggested that in its current form, Sixth District the City's licensing program places an unfair burden on responsible pet owners, offers little incentive for responsible pet owners and does not provide convenient Derek D. Dieter methods for compliance. At Large In an effort to address these issues, Council Attorney Cekanski and I have worked Gavin Ferlic closely to draft the proposed licensing program. This new program will provide At Large residents who have all of their pets (dogs /cats) spayed or neutered and are current on their rabies vaccines one, low flat fee to license all of their owned pets. For Karen L. White example, the family that owns 2 dogs and 1 cat that are all spayed /neutered and up At Large to date on their rabies vaccine would pay a fiat fee of $25 /year in contrast to the $45 owed under the City's current ordinance. Likewise, in an effort to ease compliance for pet owners, SBACC is working to implement an on -line licensing program as well as onsite licensing with our City's Animal Control Officers. The City's pet licensing program is important in many ways in that it helps to: reunite lost pets with their owners, may provide a free ride home to pets that are current on their license, manage our pet adoption program, provides funding for medical care for the injured cats and dogs received at SBACC, supports the