The City of Cold Lake is getting the full scoop on ways they can encourage residents to pick-up after their pets.
“I don’t know what the solution is, but man, I’m so tired of real ‘crappy’ pet owners in Cold Lake not looking after things properly,” said Coun. Chris Vining during the city’s committee meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17 where they delved deeper into the issue.
General manager of community services, Glenn Barnes, explained the three alternatives administration came up with for council’s consideration.
The first is bylaw enforcement, where city peace officers would be instructed to seek out dog walkers without bags.
“Option two would be to install some dispensers throughout our parks, allowing availability for those who don’t have any and leaving very few excuses around for them to not pick-up after their animals,” detailed Barnes.
The final suggestion was offering bags to pet owners when they register their dogs.
If the city were to install bag dispensers throughout community spaces, it would cost the municipality roughly $15,000. With a price tag of $150 each, dispensers would be set up throughout Cold Lake’s 35 parks.
The municipality is estimating restocking costs for the bags to be $80 per unit.
“I don’t mind budgeting this fall to see if we have the money to purchase a whole bunch of these and put them throughout the city. It would be nice if people brought their own bags, but I’m still concerned about these bags going down the sewer storm grate,” stated Mayor Craig Copeland.
“I would like to see us create a bylaw that if you catch someone putting bags down the grates, we can fine them,” he added.
Coun. Jurgen Grau suggested including waste dispensers with the units in order to encourage residents to not only pick-up after their pet, but to dispose of the bags properly.
That wasn’t his only recommendation.
“I like the dispenser and receptacles, but I would also like to increase the fine. If you’re caught, there’s no excuse for it, there hasn’t been… For me, if we’re going to spend the money on these and make them accessible to people, there’s no excuse and the fine should be double or tripled,” he noted.
According to Barnes, residents caught failing to pick-up after their pets are hit with a $100 fine. Council agreed to address the amount at a future meeting.
Vining said although the city is considering their options with good intentions, he believes the waste bag dispensers will have little impact on the issue.
“We will put these on our major arteries… but it does nothing for the neighbourhoods, where 90 per cent of the dogs are being walked,” expressed Vining. “It will make us look good, we’ll probably feel a little better about ourselves, but I’m not sure if overall we net-gain anything here.”
