Colleyville, Keller and Southlake will rework their ordinances so they are consistent when the cities merge into a Regional Animal Control Services program, Colleyville police chief Michael Holder said.
Animal control officers from the three cities would become Keller employees under the proposed agreement, but they will answer calls from Colleyville and Southlake, too, so they want the laws to be the same, Holder said.That won't be finished by Oct. 1 when the merger is expected to occur but Holder said he expects this to be a "seamless transition.""The main change that we will see Oct. 1 is our animal control office will become an employee of the city of Keller but will be dispatched in Colleyville and still be stationed in Collyeville but will help the other cities if need be," Holder told the Colleyville City Council.Parts of the ordinance that will be changed include registration requirements, holding periods before adoption, leash requirements and animals allowed per household, said Mark Hafner, Keller's police chief."We will come up with consistencies that will be accepted by all three communities," Hafner said. "We are working on the ordinances and hope to have it done by the end of the year."The City Councils in Colleyville, Southlake and Keller approved the merger. Keller's City Council also approved an agreement to house stray or lost animals from the city of Roanoke. Roanoke will not join the Regional Animal Control Services program.The merger will save money and increase services with an officer on call 24 hours a day. By 2014, Keller will have a new animal shelter and adoption facility, Holder said.Since 2007, Colleyville has contracted with Hurst for its animal control services at a cost of $8,100 a year. But Hurst proposed increasing the annual cost to $16,200 in the 2013 fiscal year and to more than $20,000 in 2014. Colleyville would have also had to help pay for Hurst's new animal control facility at a cost of up to $100,000. And the city would have had to buy a new animal control vehicle.The new regional animal control services would mimic the joint jail and emergency dispatch model Southlake, Colleyville and Keller currently use. Also, Keller and Colleyville have agreed to combine municipal courts on Oct. 1.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
