Barking dog ordinance main topic of City Council meeting
In a short meeting last Tuesday evening, the Brownton City Council heard an update from Police Chief Ken Bauer about the city’s pet ordinance regarding barking dogs.
Bauer said he talked with the city attorney about the recurring nuisance of a barking dog and found that in Minnesota, “barking dog offenses” can be charged as misdemeanors and offenders can be fined up to $900, “which is something for a couple of our frequent flyers,” he told the City Council.
Bauer added that the barking dog charges begin as petty misdemeanors, “but because this is a recurring incident, the charge can be moved up to a misdemeanor, which is a higher fine and can even include jail time.”
“Is that in our ordinance?” Mayor Jay Werner asked.
“Yes, it is,” Bauer said, but he added the woman with the barking dog feels like “why are they always picking on me?”
“But this has been going on for years. The ordinance has been there. We should do what we can do,” Werner said.
For more from the Council meeting, see the July 9 print edition of The McLeod County Chronicle.