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Saints!

Friday
March 29th, 2024

city of liberal logoELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

The Liberal City Commission will be keeping itself busy looking to approve some purchases and other maintenance during its next meeting this evening starting at 5:30 at City Hall. 

Up first for the commission will be discussion of an ordinance allowing Pit Bulls in the Liberal city limits. 

“Animal Control is requesting the city commission repeal Chapter 2, Animal Control and Regulations, Article 4, Pit Bull Ban,” the agenda information noted. “Municipalities across the state and country have started to realize breed-specific bans are not the answer to vicious animal attacks. Other municipalities have started repealing dog-specific bans and strengthened dog at large and vicious animal ordinances. The following is from an article from the ASPCA: ‘Breed-specific laws have a tendency to compromise rather than enhance public safety. When animal control resources are used to regulate or ban a certain breed, the focus is shifted away from effective enforcement of laws that have the best chances of making communities safer: dog license laws, leash laws, anti-animal fighting laws, anti-tethering laws, laws facilitating spaying and neutering and laws that require all owners to control their dogs, regardless of breed. Additionally, guardians of banned breeds may be deterred from seeking routine veterinary care, which can lead to outbreaks of rabies and other diseases that endanger communities. Breed-specific laws may also have the unintended consequence of encouraging irresponsible dog ownership. As certain breeds are regulated, individuals who exploit aggression in dogs are likely to turn to other, unregulated breeds. Conversely, ‘outlaws’ may be attracted to the ‘outlaw’ status of certain breeds. The rise of pit bull ownership among gang members in the late 1980s coincided with the first round of breed-specific legislation.’”

 

Discussion of this mavictorias furniture article new jantter had also come before the commission at a March 2019 from local citizen Gary Cherry. 

“I’d like to see a change in the ordinance,” Cherry said at that March 2019 meeting. “I do agree with parts of the ordinance and I definitely don’t want to be ‘all Pit Bulls are allowed’ if there’s no strict regulations on them because not everyone’s going to be a responsible owner, unfortunately. You’re always going to have people who get a dog and say he’s got to be the meanest dog on the block. Pit Bulls already have a bad rep as it is, and I agree a very strict ordinance is needed to make sure people take the proper steps and do everything they need to in order to have that animal. And for those who don’t follow the guidelines, make an example of them. It makes no sense to punish the breed instead of the owner. You can’t consider a dog vicious until it’s committed a vicious act. There definitely need to be some strong changes to the ordinance if we want to make this work.”

Up next for the commission will be discussion of Resolution No. 2349 regarding the 2021 fee schedule, and then the commission will hear a request for the purchase of a utility vehicle for the Public Grounds Department. 

“Staff is requesting approval to purchase a utility vehicle for the cemetery to use when we dig and backfill graves,” the agenda information noted. “The item is budgeted, but the quotes came in higher than the budgeted amount, so we are requesting to take the additional funds needed to purchase the vehicle from the Cemetery Perpetual Fund. Since this is a specialty vehicle, we obtained quotes from the only two distributors, Local vendors were given the opportunity to submit quotes, but declined because they don’t have access to the vehicle. Staff is recommending the purchase of the Truckster XD from Kansas Golf & Turf in the amount of $23,067.”

The commission will also hear a request from the Liberal Police Department for the purchase of two used Kansas Highway Patrol vehicles. 

“With the recent hiring of all police department open positions, the department needs to vehicles to fully maintain the effectiveness of the patrol staff,” the agenda information noted. “The police department is seeking permission to purchase two used vehicles, which will save money while meeting the needs of the department. During our search for patrol vehicles, we found the Kansas Highway Patrol are presently selling two of their used police 2019 Dodge Chargers. These cars have been well maintained, have low mileage and should be able to perform adequately for the next three to four years. These cars come equipped with interior emergency lights and sirens, which is an additional cost savings. The total cost for these two cars is $44,200.”

Also on the agenda for the commission will be discussion of updating the city’s chooseliberal.com Web site. 

“A reported 90 percent of site selectors go online for site research and community information before even contacting a city, so a good economic development Web site is a crucial piece of a city’s marketing strategy,” the agenda information noted. “Staff has tried to take the present site and update it, but it is still hard to navigate and find the required information because of the way it is laid out. To update our Web site, which will include moderinizing the page, making new maps, providing different headings and drop-down boxes, new pictures and rearrange everything, will be quite the undertaking.”

The commission will also be asked to reappoint Judy Chance to the Liberal Memorial Library Board and a request for the purchase of a new computer for the Water Department.