Stafford discusses animal control
Animal control in the city limits is a hot topic especially when an unwanted animal enters your yard or spooks you on your daily walk. Navasota City Manager Brad Stafford discusses animal control and how infractions are handled by law enforcement.
Hear the user-submitted questions asked by Navasota Examiner Managing Editor Matthew Ybarra and Willy 98.7 FM Radio Personality Kenny Graves.
Highlights from Grilling Stafford – episode 73
Where does city water come from? A lake, a river, the ocean? “None of those three. It comes from the ground. Groundwater is where we get all our city water from, from wells around town.”
Animal Control: Is there a certain time when animals are checked or are vets called only when needed? “If we pick up an animal that is injured or showing symptoms of some type of illness, we do take them straight to a veterinarian. Also, if something happens we check them out, but we don’t take each one of them.”
What vets or veterinary clinics are used? “We use all the local veterinarians in town. We try to spread it around and make sure everybody gets a piece of that pie, I guess.”
How many warnings and tickets are given for loose dogs? “That all depends. It is officer discretion. It depends on what is happening with the animal – whether it is aggressive or just got away from somebody. There are all kinds of things that happen, so the officers will have a discussion and decide. Officers also educate the public on what they can and can’t do with their animals. You need to keep those animals restrained and under control. Our officers do a really good job of trying to take that and working with the citizen. But if it is a dangerous animal or if it has happened multiple times, they are probably going to be cited.”
Will any lighting in new projects be solar powered? “I can’t say yes or no to that, but right now we don’t have any plans for that. We have tried solar lighting in the past and have had to replace it. It is rather expensive and is not reliable. We had a lot of maintenance issues with the solar lights that we had. It was costing us more money than the power was costing.”
What is the process for increasing the number of city council members? “The only way we would increase that number is through a charter amendment. City council would have to approve it to place it on a ballot – increasing the number of council members.”
Is there a law that will force an increase of city council members as Navasota’s population grows? “No, there is not any requirement that we would have to add council members. Because we are a home-rule city, we have a charter and our charter is what actually lays that out. I think it was 10-years ago, we did a charter election. We made a few changes for some amendments that were made. There is talk that may be coming up again in the near future, but that would be the only way you would change the number of council members.”
City Council approved purchasing a new fire truck. When will that happen? “We budgeted for the new fire truck which will start in the upcoming year (Oct. 1). Fire Chief Jason Katkoski is specking-out that truck and working with a company to get it ordered. You know it takes a long time to get a new fire truck built, especially now with the supply chains the way they are. It is very frustrating, so it will take us a while to get that in.”
To view the full video of Grilling Stafford – Episode 73, or to watch archived episodes, visit The Examiner website, www.navasotaexaminer.com. If you would like to submit a question for Grilling Stafford, email news@navasotaexaminer.com. New episodes of Grilling Stafford are released every Thursday.