Macon-Bibb officials to discuss change for animal welfare cases

A change in the Macon-Bibb County charter could provide more bite when it comes to an animal welfare officer being able to be on private property.

A resolution is scheduled to go before a Macon-Bibb committee Tuesday that would give officers the ability to go onto someone's property without the owner's permission or a warrant under certain circumstances. The change is needed because the current code is too broad, said Animal Welfare Director Sonja Adams.

The code now says an officer can go onto a property if an animal is being treated inhumanely, she said.

"We want it to be better spelled out so it not only protects us, but it also protects the privacy of individuals," Adams said.

The proposed resolution says an animal welfare officer could go onto private property under certain circumstances such as when there is belief that an animal is sick, abandoned, rabid or mistreated; when a property owner has requested a stray animal to be picked up; or when animal welfare officers are in pursuit of an animal running on public property.

"If we're chasing an aggressive dog that's been terrorizing people, if it's jumping fences and going into random yards, instead of getting permission, this would allow us to (go into the yard) without going to the owner," Adams said.

In more extreme cases, the animal welfare officers would continue to get a warrant in order to preserve the legality of collecting evidence, she said.

RECREATION CENTER NEEDS REPAIRS

The commission's Operations and Finance Committee likely will vote on a resolution to approve a contract for repairs to the Frank Johnson Community Center.

The agreement with Cook General Contracting would pay the construction company $939,000. That money would come from the special purpose local option sales tax fund. Macon-Bibb has about $20 million of SPLOST money set aside for various recreation projects in the county.

SOME COMMISSIONERS WANT SAY IN FIRINGS OF DEPARTMENT HEADS

Macon-Bibb County department leaders could see a change in how they can be fired.

The current charter says that department heads, clerk of commission, county attorney, fire chief, municipal county judge, county manager, and the finance officer can be fired by the mayor at-will.

A resolution scheduled to go before a committee Tuesday is seeking to allow the County Commission to vote on a removal made by the mayor.

Sponsored by Commissioners Larry Schlesinger and Elaine Lucas, the resolution asks for local legislators to introduce legislation allowing the county to make the change. The resolution also would set parameters such as gross misconduct as a reason for an employee to be fired.

The county manager could still be fired by the mayor without cause, the resolution said.

"Under the old (Macon) City Charter, at least department heads had some appeal rights," Lucas said last week. "I think for the future we need to start looking at that area of our charter with the idea of putting in place an appeals process."

To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb officials to discuss change for animal welfare cases ."