Police foresee need for animal-control help

For Liberty Lake’s police force, the dogs and cats are getting to be more than they can handle.

Police Chief Brian Asmus told the City Council Tuesday evening that the city should consider hiring at least a part-time animal control officer. Since the city’s inception, police officers have been charged with animal control duties.

“It’s escalating at a great rate, and it’s getting to the point where it’s more and more difficult to respond as we once did,” Asmus said. “We’re still handling it, we’re still OK, but if this trend continues, we’re going to need some type of help.”

City finance administrator Arlene Fisher said she is looking to write an animal control position into next year’s city budget.

“He’s absolutely right,” Fisher said. “We are there now, we will be there in 2007, and I would like to propose this to the council. Let’s get a person employed and ready to go so we can handle these issues.”

Also during Tuesday’s council meeting, members heard city attorney Stanley Schwartz’s concerns about an impact fee ordinance, which received its first reading Tuesday.

The city may adopt impact fees on new development in order to help fund the construction of new schools in Central Valley School District.

Schwartz said the city needs to seek clarification from the district on the types of development that can be assessed the fee. Current wording in documents says that the fee can only be imposed on newly platted lots for development and not lots that have already been platted, Schwartz said.

The district also needs to explain the methodology behind charging the fee, Schwartz said, and the city should ask the district where the funds will be spent.

“These are not antagonistic issues; they’re things that must be addressed so you can have a clearly defined ordinance,” Schwartz said.

The city and district will likely work out the details by the next council meeting in two weeks, at which time the city will likely vote to accept the impact fees.

Celebrations were high on the agenda during Tuesday’s meeting, also.

TransCanada presented the city with a large, plastic $10,000 check that will be used in the construction of the city’s new arboretum.

Several city employees received five-year service awards, and this year’s municipal library interns were given summer service awards.

Mayor Steve Peterson also signed a proclamation designating Hispanic Heritage Month in Liberty Lake from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.