SALEM–The board of health discussed the city’s updated animal ordinance Thursday.

City council voted to approve sweeping updates to the city’s animal ordinance on July 1. Among those updates were formal guidelines for an official volunteer run trap neuter return (TNR) program, and a permitting process to keep any animal within the city other than a dog which the ordinance already explicitly required be licensed. The ordinance states that the new permitting process will either be administered by the health department or city hall, with primary enforcement duties assigned to the newly-created Animal Control Officers position.

Health Commissioner Kayla Crowl said that at present the administration of the licenses is set to be overseen by City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello, and that the health department has been asked to manage long-term record keeping for the TNR program and the Animal Control Officer. In exchange, the health department will receive 20% of the revenue generated by permits, with the rest to be used to cover the costs of the Animal Control Officer’s salary.

Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey asked who has written the proposed fee schedule for permitting. Crowl said that she had written an initial draft which was added to by Councilman Jeff Stockman, who chair the rules and ordinances committee. Dickey raised concerns that having separate fees for laying and feeder chickens would present an enforcement issue as it would be difficult to prove the difference and that there should instead be a single uniform fee. The board also echoed previous concerns that enforcement of the permits would be difficult with Board President Pro-Tempore Judy Sicilia noting that she was concerned the ordinance assumed that people would self-report their animals which was unrealistic, ultimately agreeing the system would likely be primarily report driven as a result.

The board ultimately updated the proposed fee schedule to a single fee for all chickens, and to specify that the permitting cost for any animal not specifically outlined by the schedule will be determined by the Animal Control Officers in accordance with the volume of resources required for the ethical keeping of the animal and approved by the safety director. The fee schedule will still need to be voted upon by the city council for final approval as the overall city fee schedule must be updated by ordinance.

Crowl also told the board that the department’s case against Mark Courtney would be heard in federal court beginning in September. Courtney, who owns multiple rentals in the city, filed a lawsuit against the city on April 15 challenging the city’s requirement for rental properties to be inspected prior to occupancy and for property owners to purchase an occupancy license for each unit, which the suit alleges are unconstitutional. On May 14, the attorney representing the city, Gregory Beck of Baker Dublikar of North Canton, filed a motion requesting the case be transferred from the Columbiana County Court of Common Pleas to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division.

Dickey said that last week that herself, the officials from the Housing Department, Fire Chief Scott Mason, and City Law Director Brooke Zellers had met and discussed the case, and that they would be holding monthly meetings moving forward to ensure clear communication.

“We’re going to start doing a monthly meeting with them and [Assistant Law Director Tammie Jones] to make sure they were aware that we are serious about pursuing these things. We don’t want them settled and if they are going to settle, we want to be consulted first,” said Dickey. “A couple of things happened in the past that weren’t the way it should be, and it caused a lot of extra work for our guys in housing who had to start all over again and that’s not what we want. We’re going to be having those meetings with the goal of moving these things forward in a better manner.”

During her report Director of Nursing Chelsea Clark said that this year’s Health Fair had more than 150 people attend to take advantage of the 15 resource tables doing free screenings and distributing resources. The department has also started conducting voluntary healthcare screenings during Banquet in Salem distributions in partnership with the Memorial Building and conducted nine screenings and gave three referrals during the July 3 distribution. Clark also said that the city had its first confirmed case of Lyme disease of the year in June with several more so far in July, and that the confirmed cases had a range of ages with both young children and elderly people.

The meeting concluded with three consecutive executive sessions for the discussion of personnel matters, with action following the first and second sessions. Following the first executive session, the board voted unanimously to deny a request for another city to utilize one of Salem’s housing inspectors part-time with Sicilia noting that the department could not sustain the personnel need of the other city, which the board declined to identify, at this time. Following the second executive session, the board voted unanimously to “initiate an investigation into employee activity, and should the outcome support failure to comply or unethical behavior” to move forward with terminating the employee. No action followed the third and final executive session.

The board of health will meet next 2 p.m. on Aug. 20.