Fort Mitchell’s proposed revision to their animal offense penalties would raise fines and change reporting requirements.
Fort Mitchell City Attorney Olivia Amlung conducted the first reading of proposed Ordinance 2023-04 at the Feb. 6 city council meeting.
This proposed revision is in response to a citizen concern brought forward at the Nov. 14 city council meeting. At that meeting, Debbie Blair stated that she and her daughters were walking their family dog along Beechwood Road on Oct. 16 when her dog was attacked by two “unrestrained” pitbulls in front of the Beechwood School crosswalk.
The dog’s owner resided in that neighborhood. Concerned for neighborhood dogs and nearby Beechwood School students’ safety, Blair contacted city police. When Blair learned that the dog owner was fined $60 as a result of this incident, she was dismayed.
“I was upset to learn how little the fines were for dog violations. I felt that there needed to be more deterrents put in place to hold dog owners, homeowners, and landlords more responsible,” Blair told LINK nky.
Blair explained the situation to the city council in November and asked if the animal control ordinance in Fort Mitchell could be updated to discourage repeat offenders. Fort Mitchell agreed that the ordinance should be updated and planned to do so within the next couple of months which lead to the current proposed ordinance.
Currently, Fort Mitchell’s animal-related offenses are fined based on a graded system with the first offense being a civil fine of $50, the second offense being $90, and the third offense being $210. For violations contested by the charged party, the Code Enforcement Board imposes a fine of $20 to $200 for the first offense, $60 to $600 for the second, and $180 to $1800 for the third.
Fort Mitchell is proposing a $150 increase to the uncontested first offense, making the civil fine for the first animal-related offense $200. According to City Administrator Edwin King, the intent of raising the fine is to discourage repeat offenses.
Additionally, the civil fine for a contested first offense would be raised to $400. Amlung stated that the intent of this $200 increase is to give an incentive not to contest an animal violation. However, councilmember Jeff Dietrich voiced a concern that $200 may not be a high enough fine for a first uncontested offense to truly discourage repeat offenders.
In response, Amlung explained why Fort Mitchell believed $200 was the best number for their purposes. “The cities around us have mostly adopted a $60 penalty for the first offense and the city of Fort Mitchell’s penalties [would be] pretty high above what other cities and [Kenton County Animal Control] recommend as is. Mr. King and I discussed this at length and $200 was, legally speaking, kind of the maximum of what I felt comfortable saying was okay.”
There is a considerable difference between Fort Mitchell’s proposed fine and the fines of surrounding cities. Erlanger currently imposes a $100 fine for a first violation. Covington and Fort Wright have graded penalty systems that provide a range for each offense, including $50-$100 for the first offense. Kenton County’s own general regulations (which cities such as Park Hills have adopted as their own) detail a graded system with a first-offense fine ranging from $25 to $100.
Fort Mitchell is also proposing a new notification provision. Mayor Jude Hehman said that in the case of a citizen reporting an animal-related offense, “you will notify the police and the police will notify the owner [of the animal] and the [owner of the] property.” This would be especially relevant in cases where a pet owner is residing on a rental property.
The second reading of the proposed ordinance will likely occur at the March 20 city council meeting.