Niles Township Supervisor Jim Kidwell faced plenty of opposition to his proposed dangerous animal ordinance at Monday’s township board meeting. The board decided to table the issue, but that doesn’t mean Kidwell is giving up.
And he points to a similar ordinance right next door in the city of Niles for justification.
“The city’s ordinance seems to be working well,” Kidwell said in an interview Wednesday. “We detailed ours after the city’s ordinance.”
City Administrator Terry Eull said Niles has had a dangerous animal ordinance on the books for more than six years and it has been “working good.”
The city’s ordinance reads that upon written complaint of a dangerous animal, the city police department will investigate the matter. If it is determined the animal is dangerous, the owner will be served written notice to have the animal removed from the city within five days.
Eull said Niles, as a south county municipality, often gets overlooked by Berrien County Animal Control — a main reason for the city ordinance.
“If we have an incident, it often doesn’t even get to Berrien County Animal Control,” Eull said. “We needed something in place to handle situations we are dealing with.”
The township board asked Kidwell to talk with township attorney Mary Spiegel about her concerns with the ordinance before voting on the issue.
Kidwell said since then, he has asked for Spiegel to make revisions to the ordinance and return it to him before the next board meeting Sept. 6.
“She doesn’t per se have anything against the ordinance itself. Some of the wording she had a problem with,” Kidwell said.
Copies of the proposed ordinance are available at the Niles Township office.