Libby City Council reconsidering pit bull ban

A Libby City Council ordinance committee meeting on Aug. 3 was intended to discuss an overhaul of the cemetery ordinance, but its focus turned instead to the city’s breed specific ordinance, an agenda item intended for discussion at a later date.

“We ended up taking comment from the public on the breed specific ordinance,” committee chair Kristen Smith said via email. The discussion “provided us with some information to move forward in concert with the Lincoln County Animal Control division and the City Police Department for making some thoughtful changes to that law.”

Committee member Peggy Williams said about 14 people showed up to discuss the breed specific ordinance. She said the committee listened and made no promises, but suggested that the breed specific ordinance likely will be abolished.

“The main concerns I heard from those present at the meeting were housing related,” Williams said. “People are very passionate about their dogs and don’t want their housing options to be limited because of that.”

Abolishing the breed specific ordinance would most likely be accompanied by a strengthening of the current vicious dog ordinance, Williams said, adding that the committee plans to discuss those possible changes with health department director Kathi Hooper.

Libby’s animal control officer, Corey Cromer, was also present at the meeting. “It’s no secret that we are reexamining the breed specific ordinance to make it more breed neutral,” he said in an Aug. 10 interview.

However, Cromer said that the current vicious dog ordinance is “toothless” and does not give animal control authority to manage potentially dangerous animals.

“At this stage, Wendy (Anderson) and Kathi (Hooper) and I are thinking if we abolish breed specific and vicious dog, we would replace those ordinances with a dangerous dog ordinance which would strengthen some aspects of the abolished ordinances,” Cromer said, although he acknowledged that the decision rests ultimately with Police Chief Scott Kessel and the City Council.

“The city will need some time to deliberate,” Cromer said. “Because if they abolish this ordinance and someone is attacked by a pit bull next year in city limits, they may be liable.”

Williams and Smith agreed that time will tell, and that any ordinance changes tend to take months.

“The council doesn’t do anything in a hurry,” Williams said. “We have to identify any problems, look at our resources and finally put it together.”

“As with the work on the Medical Marijuana ordinance, all changes to ordinances will take some time, particularly if they are complete overhauls and not just simple language changes,” Smith wrote.