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From YouTube: Committee on Government Operations on May 30, 2019
Description
Docket #0663, an ordinance amending the City of Boston Code, Ordinances, Chapters VI, VII, XVI, and XVIII, concerning the registration and licensing of dogs, transfer of the Animal Care and Control unit from the Inspectional Services Department to the Parks and Recreation Department
A
Lake
city,
councillor
Edie
Flynn-
and
we
are
here
today
to
discuss
dark
it's
zero,
six,
six,
three
and
ordinance
amending
the
city
of
Boston
code
ordinances,
chapter
multiple
chapters:
here
we
at
six
seven,
sixteen
eighteen
concerning
registration
of
licensing
of
dogs,
transferring
of
Animal
Care
and
Control
uniformed
inspectional
Services
Department
to
the
parks
and
recreation
department.
This
matter
was
sponsored
by
our
mayor
mayor,
Martin,
J,
Walsh
and
referred
to
the
Committee
on
government
operations
on
April
24th
of
2019.
This
is
not
the
first
time
that
Animal,
Care
and
Control
urine
has
been
moved
in
2014.
A
The
animal
care
and
control
unit
was
moved
from
property
management
over
to
inspectional
services
with
us
here
today.
On
behalf
of
the
administration,
we
have
the
chief
of
environment,
energy
and
open
space,
Commissioner
Parks
and
Rec
Chris
cook,
and
also
Nicole
Duhamel,
director
of
Finance
at
the
parks
and
recs
department.
A
And
if
my
colleague
has
any
opening
comments
at
this
time
about
animal
control,
good
work
and
right
into
it,
so
I'll
throw
it
right
over
to
the
administration
to
give
us
your
thoughts
on
why
it
makes
the
most
sense
to
go
from
now
from
inspectional
services
over
to
parks
and
recs
and
as
I
mention.
Initially,
it
went
from
property
management
to
inspectional
services.
That
made
perfect
sense.
So
I'm
sure
this
makes
perfect
sense
as
well.
So
I'll
defer
to
the
chief
to
give
us
his
explanation
as
to
why
this
ordinance
is
important.
B
That's
right:
Thank
You
mr.
chair
and
Thank
You,
councillor,
Flynn
and
I
promised
this
time.
We
think
we're
gonna,
get
it
right,
so
Animal,
Care
and
Control,
and
the
important
word
in
there
is
animal
care.
That's
what
was
added.
We
do
see
a
lot
of
the
wildlife
interactions
actually
taking
place
on
our
public
lands.
So
we
do
think
that
we
are
the
right
agency
to
actually
absorb
this
city
entity
for
a
lot
of
regulatory
reasons,
a
lot
of
the
conflicts,
whether
it's
off
leash
dogs
or
if
it's
a
wildlife
such
as
as
geese
and
coyotes.
B
So
we
think
that
not
only
makes
sense
from
a
regulatory
perspective,
but
we
really
think
it
makes
sense
from
an
educational
perspective
to
absorb
it
into
the
Parks
and
Recreation
Department.
We
already
enjoy
a
great
relationship
with
the
inspectional
Services
Department,
specifically
the
Animal
Care
and
Control
Division.
We
work
with
them
on
almost
a
daily
basis
and
the
majority
of
their
time
has
actually
spent
typically
on
our
properties
or
on
public
works
department
city
streets.
B
That
being
said,
we
do
see
the
issue
before
you
today,
as
sort
of
a
formality,
as
we
approach
amending
the
the
ordinance
of
the
City
Council.
A
lot
of
the
language
you'll
see
just
strikes
the
term
inspectional
services,
parks
of
recreation
and
then
I
just
do
want
to
flag
that
with
the
transfer
of
animal
care
and
control,
the
revolving
fund
associated
with
Animal,
Care
and
Control
would
also
be
transferred
over
to
the
Parks
and
Recreation
Department.
B
And,
of
course,
that
would
go
through
all
the
auspices
and
oversight
of
the
City
Council
that
all
revolving
funds
in
the
city
go
through.
So
we
appreciate
your
consideration:
I'm
joined
by
our
Director
of
Finance,
a
Nicole
Duhamel,
and
if
there's
any
questions
at
all,
we'll
be
happy
to
answer
those.
A
B
I'll
just
read
that
if
it's
all
ready
to
reach
the
specific
language
to
you,
so
you
want
to
highlight
that
this
additional
language
clarifies
section
4
of
the
organ
making
clear
that
all
currently
existing
positions
in
the
animal
care
and
control
unit
in
inspectional,
Services
Department
are
being
transferred
to
the
same
positions
in
the
unit
in
the
parks
department.
As
currently
written.
The
ordinance
only
transfers
those
positions
explicitly
referenced
in
the
code,
which
does
not
reflect
the
entire
makeup
of
the
animal
care
and
control
unit
and
Nicola.
B
B
Oh
yeah
sticks,
or
so
so,
and
I'm
not
playing
favorites,
because
there's
to
South
Boston
residents
in
front
of
me,
but
an
example
would
be
Medal
of
Honor
Park.
There's
increasing
frustration
among
constituents
that
they
have
to
reach
out
to
two
different
departments
to
have
a
community
meeting
about
off-leash
dogs
in
the
park,
and
then
they
would
have
to
have
coordination
between
the
parks,
department
and
ISD
and
then
have
Animal,
Care
and
Control.
B
B
We
have
so
many
more
resources
as
far
as
outreach
of
getting
educational
materials
into
the
hands
of
our
residents,
whether
it's
our
coffee
hours
or
a
three
or
four
hundred
different
free
programs
that
we
run
through
our
arts
and
cultural
programs.
It's
very
easy
for
us
to
just
also
have
Animal
Care
and
Control
officers
on
hand
at
some
of
those
events
to
start
educating
the
public
about
things
that
they
can
do
about
engaging
with
wildlife.
I
want
to
be
really
clear
that
this
is
very
different
from
you
know:
pest
control
and
and
rat
control.
A
Of
moves
in
the
direction
of
my
next
question:
those
are
the
complaints
I
get
regularly
across
it's
the
dogs
off
leash
and
then
folks
are
told
to
call
3-1-1
and
they
do.
Obviously
we
get
a
significant
number
of
3-1-1
calls,
but
by
the
time
you
know
someone
were
dispatched,
dog
has
already
gone,
the
bathroom
person
is
already
100%
home,
and
so
so
we
kind
of
miss
it
so
I'm
I'm,
hoping
maybe
that
the
transfer
to
Animal,
Care
and
Control
two
parks
would
maybe
help
improve
the
response
time.
B
Think
so
I
mean
what
one
of
the
aspects
that
we
have
through
our
community
meeting
process
and
just
our
engaging
with
the
friends
groups
that
these
different
parks
is
they
actually
start
to
recognize
the
behavior.
So
I'll
give
you
an
example
of
Fallon,
Field
and
rosin
Dale,
where
we
did
have
an
issue
with
off
leash
drugs,
and
we
still
continue
to
have
an
issue
with
off
leash
dogs
on
the
baseball
field.
We
were
at
that
time
able
to
coordinate
with
Animal,
Care
and
Control,
because
you're
absolutely
right
by
the
time
here.
B
Animal
Care
and
Control
theoretically
responds
to
a
3-1-1
call.
They
may
be
responding
at
one
o'clock
in
the
afternoon:
no
one's
walking
the
dogs
if
we
work
closely
with
community
members
and
the
Friends
group
of
those
parks,
dog
walkers,
tend
to
be
habitual
and
they
tend
to
come
and
walk
their
dogs
or
not.
You
know,
or
often
have
their
dogs
off
leash.
At
certain
times.
We
do
think
there's
an
opportunity
to
coordinate
between
those
community
members
and
Animal
Care
and
Control.
So
it's
a
more
proactive
and
approach.
A
Great
and
then
to
nicole,
obviously
on
the
finance
side,
will
the
transfer
will
we
recognize
any
cost
savings
at
all?
As
chief
had
just
mentioned,
we
may
have
some
new
initiatives.
We
may
have
some
new
programming
partnerships
with
the
friends
groups
in
order
to
try
to
rein
in
the
the
issue
around
dogs
off
the
leash
in
parks,
but
the
18
being
transferred
from
ISD
Tupac's
any
cost
savings.
It
jumps
to
mind,
I
mean
other
than
maybe
just
the
initial
may
be
more
efficient
and
some
time
savings,
but.
C
One
thing
we're
hoping
one
potential
might
be
actually
not
savings
with
animal
control,
but
savings
with
the
Ranger
horses.
We're
hoping
that
by
bundling
our
orders
of
animal
supplies.
That
now
we'll
have
the
animal
control
supplies
as
well
as
the
horse
supplies,
so
we're
hoping
to
see
a
savings
there,
but
we're
not
sure
yet.
A
B
A
future
efficiency
counselor,
which
is
the
the
building
itself,
the
animal
shelter
in
Rosendale,
is
probably
nearing
the
end
of
its
lifecycle
and
so
I.
Think,
as
we
are
looking
at
the
Franklin
Park
master
plan,
is
there
a
way
to
incorporate
that
so
that,
if
we're
taking
care
of
horses
already,
is
there
an
opportunity
to
build
out
a
shelter
as
part
of
the
facility,
or
is
it
better
to
renovate
it
in
its
existing
location?
But
right
now
it's
it
is
in
a
fairly
awkward
place
for
people
to
access
got
you
cheering.
D
Of
course,
I
was
working
on
for
the
last
year
and
a
half
working
with
Chris
Osgood
on
an
issue
as
it
relates
to
dogs,
but
it
was
straight
voltage
issues
that
several
dogs
have
been
electrocuted
over
the
last
10
15
years
or
so,
mostly
during
the
wintertime.
Often
stepping
on
like
manhole
covers
and
electricity
building
up
from
the
ground,
so
I.
We,
we
probably
will
have
another
meeting
over
the
next
couple
of
months
as
we
as
we
head
towards
the
summer
and
prepare
for
the
winter.
D
B
I
think
it
would
be
really
important.
There's
those
two
things
that
I'm
sure
chief
Osgood
explained
this
to
you
ad
nauseam
that,
unfortunately,
some
of
our
levers
or
control
are
really
controlled
by
the
Department
of
Public
Utilities.
That
being
said,
eversource
does
seem
very
committed
to
public
engagement
on
very
specific
issues.
B
I
think
the
most
important
part
of
that,
though,
is
to
see
what
levers
of
control
we
could
possibly
have
in
some
of
the
conversations,
and
we
do
have
some
pretty
complicated
contractual
conversations
upcoming
with
every
source,
especially
around
community
choice,
energy
and
other
items.
So
we
would
be
happy
to
work
with
your
office
and
also
talk
about
those
issues.
D
No,
thank
you.
That's
I
appreciate
that
we
have
I
think
we
have
made
significant
progress
over
the
last
year
and
a
half
on
this
issue,
so
I
hope
that
we
can
continue
to
make
progress
and
just
one
final
question:
Chris,
do
you
have
a
plan
where
you
can
help
low-income
families
that
own
a
dog
with
the
opportunity
to
get
I
know
the
city
does
have
a
vaccination
plan
where
dogs,
where
an
owner
can
bring
their
dog
to
get
various
shots.
B
It
will
we've
been
very
fortunate,
I
have
to
say
the
director
of
animal
care
and
control.
Amanda
Kennedy
is
one
of
the
most
progressive
public
servants
I've
ever
met,
and
she
has
been
very,
very
aggressive
about
removing
barriers
to
licensing
and
also
vaccinations,
and
so
she's
been
traveling
mostly
to
DCYF
community
centers,
to
offer
these
rabies
clinics,
and
these
licensing
clinics
and
I've
just
been
so
impressed
with
the
way
that
she's
doing
this
in
a
very
dynamic
urban
environment.
B
B
But
when
you
look
at
the
balance
of
the
problem,
if
we
didn't
offer
those
free
clinics,
as
opposed
to
the
revenue
we
would
receive,
if
everyone
who
is
showing
up
was
actually
paying
a
full
fee,
I
think
the
public
health
benefits
far
outweigh
the
relatively
small
money
we
would
have
coming
into
the
revolving
fund,
so
we're
committed
to
it
because
I
actually
think
it
saves
us
money.
On
the
other
end,
yeah.
D
I
agree:
I
I
saw
I
was
at
one
of
the
clinics
at
the
Condon
Condon's
school
last
year,
and
there
was
a
great
great
turnout
for
it,
and
it
worked
well
was
well
organized
well,
planned,
so
went
over
well
is
very
helpful,
especially
to
low-income
families.
So
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
to
the
group
that
organized
at
the
animal
control
I
believe
it
was
Amanda
yeah.
B
D
B
D
A
B
So
it
won't
impact
it
at
all
right
away.
What
I
will
say
is
that
we
would
be
remiss
if
we
didn't
look
at
the
transfer
as
an
opportunity
to
say
are
we
actually
achieving
best
practices?
And
you
know
again,
one
of
the
items
that
I
would
flag
is
just
the
availability
of
the
public
to
get
to
the
Mahler
Road
animal
shelter
itself.
It's
a
it's
a
fairly
complicated
site
to
get
to
it's.
You
know
it's
a
it's
a
bit
of
a
walk
from
Forest
Hills,
there's,
not
a
lot
of
public
parking
around
the
shelter.
B
B
Maybe
engage
with
another
population
that
is
actually
interested
in
federal
ship,
but
then,
as
far
as
the
actual
process
and
costs
associated
with
it,
we'll
be
working
very
closely
with
director
Kennedy
to
try
to
implement
any
reforms.
I
know
she.
She
is
very
committed
to
having
the
most
progressive
animal
care
control
unit
in
the
country,
and
so
we
look
forward
to
receiving
her
recommendations
and.
A
B
We
do
have
a
good
story
to
tell
there.
Unfortunately,
the
good
story
that
we
tell
still
demonstrates
that
we
are
way
behind
the
national
average
in
dog
parks.
We
had
some
lost
years
with
a
very
well
intentioned
ordinance
in
the
city
of
Boston,
that
required
a
friends
group
to
help
pay
for
the
off
leash
dog
park
and
help
maintain
it.
It
was
very
well
intentioned
because
at
the
time
the
Boston
Parks
and
Recreation
Department
was
unclear
how
they
were
gonna
fund
dog
parks
in
the
city.
B
What
we've
been
able
to
do,
though,
is
we've
been
able
to
incorporate
that
into
our
additional
operating
budget,
and
so
we
do
have
new
dog
parks
happening
at
Garvey
park
in
Dorchester
down
around
in
Dorchester,
and
we
were
very
excited
about
the
recently
open,
D
filippo
off
leash
dog
park
in
the
North
End.
What
I
would
say
is
that
in
general
for
a
certain
acreage,
if
there's
a
large
neighborhood
park,
we
should
at
least
have
an
off-leash
dog
area
in
that
in
that
neighborhood
park,
and
that
just
needs
to
be
part
of
our
comprehensive
redesigns.
A
B
A
With
respect
to
dark,
it's
zero,
six,
six:
three:
it's
an
ordinance
amending
the
city
of
Boston
code,
specifically
ordinance
ordinances
in
Chapter,
six,
seven,
sixteen
and
eighteen
concerning
a
register,
registration
and
licensing
of
dogs
and
the
transfer
of
animal
care
and
control
unit
from
inspectional
services
to
the
parks
and
recs
department.
The
Committee
on
government
operations
is
adjourned.