WILTON — A tidier version of a proposed dog ordinance was placed on the town warrant by the Board of Selectmen last week.

A few things were taken out and some redundant wording deleted. bring the proposed 10-page document down to six-and-a-half pages, Town Manager Rhonda Irish told the board.

A section dealing with intermittent barking of dogs was deleted from the proposed ordinance. Voters will decide whether to adopt it at the June 16 annual town meeting.

Some towns deal with intermittent barking in their ordinances, some don’t, she said. It comes down to interpretation.

A section dealing with waiver fees was also deleted. The section would have allowed a violating dog owner to pay a waiver fee as an alternative to the town proceeding with prosecution.

“This board doesn’t need to say when a dog can swim,” Selectman Terry Brann said. Brann wanted to delete a section giving the board authority to decide when and where dogs can swim in Wilson Lake.

The proposed ordinance includes eight articles. The first deals with the purpose and definitions such as “at large” or “nuisance” as used in the ordinance. 

The second article provides for such dog actions as disturbing the peace, running at large and the need to dispose of feces.

Dog barking rules are covered in the third article and dangerous dogs in the fourth article.

So much of the town’s dog ordinance, adopted in 1972 and amended in 1998, was changed that the town is required to vote on a new ordinance rather than amend the old one, Irish said. 

To adopt the new ordinance, voters will have to repeal the current dog ordinance and then vote in the new one, she added.

Copies of the proposed ordinance are available at the Town Office.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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