By Sara Oppenheimer
For HDMedia
Charleston City Council is set to vote July 20 on a bill to raise fines on owners who do not clean up after their pets as part of a broader amendment of the city’s animal excrement ordinance.
The amendment focuses on Section 10-7 of the Charleston Municipal Code, which covers pet owners’ duty to remove their animals’ waste from public property and other people’s yards. Council members Frank Annie, Chad Robinson and Harper Gardener introduced the bill to City Council June 15. It was then referred to the Rules and Ordinance Committee.
The bill amends the penalty structure and adds qualifications for exemptions to the ordinance. The ordinance’s underlying rules, which state that anyone who brings an animal into a public space must dispose of any waste caused by the animal, will remain unchanged.
What the bill changes
The bill adds a new exemption for owners who are physically disabled or visually impaired who use trained service animals, on the condition that the owner provides proper documentation on request to a police officer or humane officer that the service animal was properly trained.
The bill also replaces the current flat fine of $10 to $25 with a tiered penalty system based on repeat offenses in a 12-month period:
- First offense: A fine of $50 to 100, plus court costs, up from the current $10 to $25
- Second offense (within 12 months of the first offense): A fine of $100 to $150, plus court costs
- Third or subsequent offense (within 12 months of the last offense): A fine of at least $250, plus court costs; a judge may also order at least four hours of community service on neighborhood or park cleanup
Under current law, the bill bars municipal court judges from suspending any part of the fine. Offenses are caught in the act or reported with photographic evidence to humane officers, who often provide education for first offenses and escalate to citation for repeat offenders, Sergeant Travis Bailes of the Charleston Police Department explained.
“This has become a more persistent issue recently,” Bailes said. “I’m absolutely in favor of the amendment.”
What they said
“The genesis of this bill is repeat offenders,” City Council Member Frank Annie said after Monday’s meeting. “It’s been a persistent issue for a while. While I think the text will be amended within the coming Rules and Ordinance meeting, it’s something that is really affecting the area and needs to be solved.”
Kyle Snyder — who walks his 7-year-old sheepadoodle, Murphy, daily around their Kanawha City neighborhood — is in full support of the fee increases.
“It’s the responsibility of the pet owner,” Snyder said Monday. “It falls to us and it’s up to us to answer, so I’m all for it.”
What’s next
The bill will be up for a vote by City Council at 7 p.m. July 20. If adopted, the city will apply the new fine structure and service-dog exemption to the Municipal Code.
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