RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Man’s best friend was the hot subject at the March 1 Rancho Cordova City Council Meeting.

More specifically, the council heard and discussed information provided by Craig Hall the city’s Senior Animal Services Officer. With the goal to increase safety for people and pets, Officer Hall spoke on improving what constitutes a Potentially Dangerous Animal (PDA) and Vicious Animal. He also talked about adjusting the licensee fees for owning animals designated as such.

While the codes apply to more than just dogs, dogs were almost solely the focus of discussion. As Vice President Donald Terry duly remarked it’s “rare to have a vicious cat.”

Currently the Rancho Cordova Municipal Code (RCMC) states, a Vicious Animal, in part, is any animal involved in organized animal fighting. Since this would even apply to puppies not yet trained for combat or older dogs used as “bait” in training who are in the same household as fighting dogs, Officer Hall stated it would be better to “evaluate each animal on its own merit and then place them accordingly.”

Conversely, a Potentially Dangerous Animal is only designated when it concerns defensive actions taken to prevent bodily injury by a person, but Officer Hall recommended expanding this definition to include other animals. He also felt the number of two “killings” of another animal in a three year period required to use the designation should be reduced from two to one.

Finally, Officer Hall spoke on the need for a special permit application process and conditions/safety measures for PDA and Vicious Animals. As it stands now, the owner of the animals only needs to pay a fee.

“There’s no review of an application and ability to deny it for public safety reasons,” said Officer Hall.

He also mentioned a similar lack of oversight in PDA and Vicious Animals who are brought into Rancho Cordova from other cities.

Stepping one foot out of the realm of PDA and Vicious Animals, Officer Hall reported the high cost of licensing fees for unaltered animals is resulting in owners of neutered or unspayed pets simply not licensing them. In Folsom, the fee is only $30 compared to Rancho Cordova’s $150. It is estimated only 2% of cats and 8% of dogs are even licensed in the city. By making the license more affordable, Officer Hall contended, more pets would be brought into city compliance.

Returning to the subject of PDA and Vicious Animals, he noted that fees for licensing dangerous animals need to be increased also to keep in line with other nearby communities and require up-front fees that would hopefully endear stronger commitment from owners in tending to their pets but also stem any future incidents and the time and money required for Officers to deal with them.

A woman who called into the meeting while praising the proposed licensing changes added the required time length to spay or neuter a pet be in line with veterinarian research showing some larger breeds not be altered too soon as it could harm their natural growth process.

Councilmember Linda Budge expressed she held off having her own pet neutered for the very same reasons. She also liked Officer Hall’s earlier statements about tying licensing with vaccination stating they were dependent on each other. Officer Hall acknowledged the reported science and said his department would work with pet owners.

Slightly less positive thoughts were offered by Vice Mayor Terry and Councilmember David Sander.

Vice Mayor Terry felt raising the licensing costs for PDA and Vicious Animals would only lessen owner interest in paying them as he saw it was solely the owners’ lack of responsibility that was at the heart of the matter.

Similarly, in regards to getting owners who bring their harmful designated pets to the city from another, Vice Mayor Terry pointed to “dead beat Dads not paying child support from one county to the next, how are we going to do this for dangerous dogs?”

Councilmember Sander reflected on the extremely low numbers of owners licensing their pets and stated disappointment in the program’s success.

Officer Hill accepted their comments and acknowledged the “failure” of past efforts but said that changes needed to be made for pet owners, pets and the public. Hill touched on initial efforts his department has begun in getting data from city vets on recent vaccinations and how this information could be used to bring more pets into compliance.

The matter ended with Officer Hill to continue to work on his proposals now with council feedback.

The other Regular Calendar item brought up was the renewal of the Rancho Cordova Tourism Business Improvement District (RCTBID). Established ten years ago, the RCTBID is a benefit assessment district designed to help fund marketing and sales promotions, destination development, and destination recovery and crisis response programs for lodging businesses. In the past decade, it’s doubled tourism in the city.

Calling the past year “the most difficult year in my lifetime and for many of us,” Executive Director at Rancho Cordova Travel & Tourism Mark Sapoznik said they were going to need a little “extra horsepower” this year citing an increase in the hotel assessment fee paid by visitors that fund the district.

However, he did note that no city hotels closed and felt there was a lot of opportunity ahead looking forward to the Summer season. Sapoznik also mentioned that support to restaurants, bars, entertainment, events and even dog park improvements stem from the district.

“With this new renewal (which would generate approximately $2,490,000 annually) we’re going to be in a really good position to promote Rancho Cordova and everything we have here,” He said.

After Sapoznik’s presentation, the city adopted a Resolution of Intention to discuss the renewal at the March 15 council meeting.

Other notable moments of the night included a woman who called in for Public Comment stating her disdain for the city’s “lack of participation in Black History Month (February)” as well as the cleanup after horse owners in her area.

While his thoughts on equine “poop” were not made, Mayor Garret Gatewood did strongly chime in afterward to say, “being the African American on council, I am perfectly happy with how my city has represented us and I think we’re doing everything we possibly can in an amazing way for Black History Month.” Later, during Council Reports, he mentioned 4% of the Rancho Cordova police were African American and a third were a minority and happily described the city as “an extremely diverse” community.

Also during the reports, Councilmembers unanimously lauded the recent February 25 Business Outlook event. Councilmember Sander who serves as the President of the Ranch Cordova Athletic Association shared the frustration he and other youth sports leaders are having in getting kids back out on the playing field. Councilmember Budge relayed from her Regional Transit meeting that free rides are available for those getting vaccinated. Vice Mayor Terry cautioned residents to check Air Quality levels as aside from wildfire season it is currently the worst air quality time of the year. He also hopefully discussed the timeline and transition of students from at home to in person learning.

A couple of meetings before, Councilmember Budge had asked if the sessions could close in the memory of recently departed friend Russ Knauer who had been responsible for the creation of the Nimbus Winery Complex. For the end of this meeting, she asked if it be closed in the memory of Knauer’s business partner on the shopping mall Marlon Ginney who poignantly died within three days of Knauer.