Falls City council members expressed caution during their October 10 meeting when looking at the possibility of updating the city’s animal control ordinance.

Karnes County Animal Control Board Member Don Tymrak was on hand to answer questions along with county Animal Control Officer Karen Hale.

The new ordinance the animal control board has asked the city to adopt was met with caution and skepticism.

"I don’t want an ordinance I can’t enforce," Mayor Brent Houdmann said.

Houdmann went on to say he’s heard that other towns can’t enforce their animal control ordinances, either.

Tymrak told council members the city’s current ordinance is unenforceable as it is and was taken from an ordinance made for a much larger city.

Providing an example, he cited provisions in Falls City’s ordinance that deal with zoos and circuses.

"There’s no way you can enforce everything in your ordinance," Tymrak said.

One of the council’s major complaints has been with the number of dogs the new ordinance restricts property owners to having. The suggested ordinance states property owners will have to pay a licensing fee for each dog on their property if they have more than three dogs.

Tymrak and Hale assured council members the animal control officer’s job is not to patrol the streets looking for those kinds of violations, though, and said a resident will only be investigated if a complaint is filed.

Hale added that part of the reason for the restriction on the number of dogs has to do with public safety.

"There was a gentleman in Karnes City that told me he was going to get 42 pit bulls," Hale said, adding that Karnes City’s adoption of the ordinance stopped that individual from setting up his kennel.

Tymrak also said Falls City’s current animal control ordinance technically does not allow the city to contract with the county and instead insists upon a local animal control department funded solely by the city.

He called Falls City’s ordinance overkill, and said that county animal control officials are working on minimizing their ordinance to eliminate a lot of the overkill within their own department.

Falls City council members agreed to take a look at the Karnes County Animal Control’s revised ordinance once it has been finalized, but took no further action on the matter.

Council members also:

•Selected a street project proposal to negotiate on. Council members plan to have work on city streets under way as soon as the proposal from Garrett Construction is finalized.

•Changed the 2006-7 budget to include insurance for the Falls City Volunteer Fire Department.

•Nominated Falls City resident Patrick Pollok to serve on the Karnes County Appraisal District board of directors.