After spending months working with the Hall County Animal Shelter and the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia, Hall County government is ready to make unsupervised tethering of dogs against the law.
Assistant Hall County Administrator Lisa Johnsa said the Board of Commissioners will take public comment on the ordinance change next week and again in October.
Johnsa said the proposal that will go before the commission was designed after Hall County Animal Shelter officials reviewed policies from jurisdictions similar to Hall County. Also, the Hall County Humane Society conducted online surveys and hosted focus groups to solicit community input as its part of the collaboration.
"After reviewing the public input and the data from other jurisdictions, staff is recommending that the board consider changing the ordinance to make it unlawful to tether a canine to any stationary object for any amount of time unless that canine is attended by a competent individual," said Johnsa in a press statement.
Johnsa said there will be two public hearings before the commission - the first on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. and the second on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. A vote on the ordinance change is also set for Oct. 25. If the change is approved by commissioners, the revised ordinance would become effective Nov. 1, 2018.
Johnsa explained that should the ordinance be revised, there will be a grace period for dog owners who currently use outdoor tethers to restrain their pets. In addition, the county would provide resources to help owners find methods other than tethering for safely restraining dogs.
