Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Ystaas elected VP of new commission
New commissioners Jacob Dauenhauer and Zachary Fleming took their oath of office at the New Rockford City Commission meeting on Monday, July 1, as did returning members Stu Richter and Justin Ystaas.
Ystaas, who was elected to serve the 2-year unexpired term of Dillon Hewitt, was elected vice president of the commission. Former vice president Kelly McKnight was removed from all accounts, and Ystaas added.
In their first meeting, commissioners addressed city ordinances. First, the commission took a key step toward changing their regular meeting time. After a short discussion with the new commissioners, city attorney Travis Peterson held the first reading of an ordinance change that would establish the monthly meeting time at 9 a.m. on the first Monday of each month.
The meeting time has been set in ordinance as 7 a.m. for decades, and commissioners are ready for a change, citing that morning meetings work better for their schedules and that they prefer to hold meetings during staff work time rather than after hours.
As with all ordinance changes, a second reading is required before the ordinance can be officially changed. In the meantime, they took action to set the time of the next meeting for 9 a.m. on August 5.
Commissioner Jim Belquist requested that the commission review the city’s animal ordinance due to recent incidents with dogs at large on city streets. The ordinance was last changed in 2013, Belquist said, and with new faces on the commission, he’d like to see if there’s more the city can do to address resident concerns. He brought ordinances from four other small towns to review.
Dauenhauer said he had filed a formal complaint with the sheriff's office about a dog at large in the past month. The animal was reportedly dragging a young child down the street. Dauenhauer intervened and brought the child to safety. He later saw the same dog attack another dog.
“If a dog bites a kid and causes harm, it should be gone, no questions asked.” Dauenhauer said.
Peterson reviewed the provisions of the ordinance that relate to removal of "dangerous animals," noting that the ordinances are written to "provide opportunities to prove that it won’t happen again.”
Peterson also outlined the process for the removal of an animal. “I believe that a law officer would have to present a complaint to the judge based on the facts and then there would have to be a process for the owners (to contest), and the judge would have to issue an order" to surrender, remove, euthanize or other, he said.
Fleming asked if there was a way to simplify the process for removal of dangerous animals. Commissioners will review the ordinances, which are in Chapter 11, and discussion will continue at the next meeting.
In other business, portfolios were assigned to the new commissioners. Dauenhauer will represent the city on the economic development board, while Fleming will serve on the library board and assist Richter with streets. The current commissioners retained their portfolio assignments.
The commission also took time to orient the new members about city initiatives. They got their first look at the draft pay plan prepared by auditor Andrew Presnell, heard the library’s annual report from librarian Susie Sharp and briefly held a discussion about plans to remodel city hall.
