Altoona City Council to let dogs, cats into parks
Friday, April 14, 2017
Eric Lindquist | Leader-Telegram
Pets prohibited from certain areas and must be on 6-foot leashes
ALTOONA - Who let the dogs in?
The Altoona City Council did, in fact, vote 4-1 Thursday evening to allow dogs in the city's parks as long as the canines are kept on a leash no longer than 6 feet.
The new ordinance also prohibits dogs from being in playground areas, athletic fields, splash pads and man-made river features, such as the one being built in the northwest quadrant of the River Prairie development.
Councilman Dave Rowe, fearing discrimination against cats, offered an amendment permitting cats in city parks as well, as long as their owners followed all the same restrictions. That amendment also was approved.
The lone dissenting vote on the ordinance came from Councilman Red Hanks, who said he was "against pets in parks, period."
Recalling regularly "dodging doodoo" in parks in cities that allowed pets in those public spaces, Hanks warned, "People will not pick up after their pets."
The pet ordinance, previously recommended by the city's Parks and Recreation Committee, is intended to increase the usability of parks and allow people to share time in a place they enjoy with something they are passionate about - their pets, city Administrator Mike Golat said.
Golat also noted that the current pet ban in parks is difficult to enforce and can be a serious inconvenience for people from out of town who bring pets to Altoona for sports tournaments and then are forced to keep the animals in their vehicles.
The city plans to install pet waste bag dispensers in its parks, he added.
Fire chief
The council unanimously approved the hiring of Mark Renderman as the city's first full-time fire chief.
The Altoona Police and Fire Commission this week offered the job to Renderman, chief of the Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire District, who accepted the offer.
Two previous candidates have turned down offers for the job since the city began searching for a fire chief late last year.
"While the process did take some time, I think we have an excellent candidate that everyone's happy with and we look forward to him getting on board," Golat said.
At this point, Jesse James directs Altoona's police, fire and emergency services operations, but a full-time fire chief position was added to the city's 2017 budget because of Altoona's recent expansion and a rise in fire and rescue calls.
Renderman, 43, who has been a firefighter for nearly 20 years, said he is excited to be coming to Altoona and hopes to get started in the new position as soon as possible.
"This looks like a very strong department," he said.
It will be a new challenge, he said, because Altoona is significantly larger in population than the cities he serves now but is much smaller in geographic area than his current fire district, which covers about 160 square miles.
Parking concerns
In other action, the council briefly discussed a proposal to expand the parking lot in Cinder City Park to alleviate what Councilman Ray Henning described as a chronic parking shortage.
The city is considering two possible solutions to a parking shortage at the popular park. One would add 29 parking spaces by expanding the existing parking lot to the west.
The other would involve logging many of the trees in a 2½-acre area beyond the outfield fences of the two ball fields on the east end of the park and replacing them with 245 additional parking stalls.
Cost estimates for the two options were not yet available.
The council voted to refer the matter to the Parks and Recreation Committee for more discussion.
Contact: 715-833-9209, eric.lindquist@ecpc.com, @ealscoop on Twitter Read more about this article »
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