Manti committed to keeping vicious dogs off the streets
Matt Harris
Staff writer
10-13-2016
MANTI— As stray dogs continue to range freely in Manti City, city leaders are seeking new ways to put a stop to it.
Mayor Korry Soper and the Manti City council, in response to an outcry at a meeting in September, is actively pursuing changes in city ordinance pertaining to the treatment and handling of stray dogs in the city, particularly those with vicious temperaments. “There is no place in Manti for a vicious dog,” Soper says.
Some possible changes that the council will be looking into in the near future are steepening the fee for pickup of a vicious dog and holding the dog in custody until the end of court proceedings.
Currently, Manti’s policy on fees for dog pickup starts at $35 on the first offense, and then doubles to $70 on the second offense, doubling to $140 on the third and any following offenses. Due to the continuing presence of the problem, members of the council are interpreting that the fees are not doing enough to deter the offenders and should be raised, an idea somewhat supported by the higher fees in surrounding cities.
Manti’s policy also states that a dog that has been picked up on account of viciousness is to be held until the end of court proceedings. City leaders are now looking to stick to that policy, which has slipped through the seams in times past.
“It’s really about sticking with the policies we have,” councilmember Gary Chidester says. “We want to make changes, however, we don’t want our policies to stick out so much in comparison to other cities that people may feel like they can’t own a dog in Manti.”
The Manti City council meets on the first and third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. and will continue discussing the situation until changes have been made.
