The clock is ticking for stray kitties on the prowl in the City
of Bradford.

At Tuesday’s meeting of Bradford City Council, residents of the
Rockland Avenue area asked council again what the plan is to
address feral felines being fed by three area residents.

“Our solicitor is still reviewing both options,” said Mayor
Michele Corignani, explaining council is considering citing people
under an existing nuisance ordinance or approving a separate
ordinance dealing with animals.

She explained the state Game Commission has a person in this
area who is licensed to remove nuisance wildlife. “A feral cat is
not a domestic animal,” she said, “it falls under his
licensing.”

The man traps the animals and disposes of them in a manner
approved by the Game Commission. “All he needs is permission of the
property owner to set a trap,” Corignani said.

“If he catches these feral cats and no one claims them, the city
is going to have to pay,” said Councilman Dan Costello. He referred
to a proposed ordinance from 2003 where council suggested including
wording that anyone who feeds or harbors the animals is responsible
for them, and therefore, the cost of disposing of them.

His comments got a round of applause from the standing-room-only
audience.

The city’s legal advisors, Mark Hollenbeck and Greg Henry,
advised council that both of the options for dealing with the
problem can be enacted.

“You don’t have to restrict this to one thing,” suggested Henry,
special counsel for the city’s Board of Health. He said the city’s
health codes already allow for people to be cited for creating a
public health hazard for an immediate remedy, and the city can
still move forward with an animal ordinance for more specific
needs.

He added that the Board of Health can issue a citation to a
person in possibly as little as a week’s time.

“If the Board can articulate why a condition is injurious to the
public, you can pass one of these orders giving (the person
responsible) a certain amount of time to correct the issue,” Henry
said. If the responsible party fails to comply, there are already
fines in place under the health code for penalties.

The residents urged council to come to a solution quickly.

“I’m tired of having my front yard be a bathroom for these
cats,” said Nancy Gleason of Rockland Avenue. “I hope you do this
fast.”

“The problem here is a matter of care, consideration and
control,” Corignani said, agreeing with the residents that there is
some urgency to the matter. “It’s an irresponsible neighbor. It’s
an irresponsible pet owner.”

She added that council may be able to address the issue as soon
as next week. A Board of Health meeting would have to be held to
approve pursuing the nuisance ordinance in this manner, and those
meetings can be held each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Henry asked the Rockland Avenue area residents for permission to
visit them to see the damage caused by the cats for himself.

“If you’ll help me and show me what the problems are, I’ll be
better prepared to help you,” he said.

Many residents in attendance told Henry to come by to see their
ruined lawn furniture, flower beds, yards and porches.

“The problem is escalating,” said Leo Carney of Rockland Avenue,
asking council to solve it quickly. “It’s getting dangerous.”

“We will do all we can to get you some relief,” Corignani said.
“A public nuisance is just that – disrupting your normal, natural
lives.”

“Right now, we don’t even go in our backyard. It’s not safe,”
said Barb Carney of Rockland Avenue.

“Mrs. Carney, we’ll take care of it,” Costello said.

In other matters, council also heard from High Street resident
Chuck Charnisky about his concerns with debris left on the road by
truck traffic from Goodman Services Inc.

He described a near accident when another vehicle slid in mud on
the road and almost hit his car. He said he talked to councilmen
Tom Riel and Bob Onuffer, who have been working on the problem, but
has not heard a solution.

“They are going to keep violating that ordinance until you stop
them,” Charnisky said. “Sending the street cleaner every day
doesn’t solve the problem.”

Riel said he had spoken to Goodmans earlier on Tuesday, and
learned the company is doing extensive work to alleviate the mud
problems on their lot.

“They are spending a lot of money and are trying to fix it,”
Riel assured him. “They do have a long-term plan to have the whole
yard in concrete.”

Onuffer, however, had harsher words for Charnisky.

“I go up there every day. I have never found anything on the
road up there. You are the only one complaining,” he said,
beginning to yell. “I don’t want to hear about this anymore. They
are going to take care of it. It’s going to get done.”

He told Charnisky he could not give him a time line of when it
would be completed, but said that it would be done.

Also at the meeting, council approved changes to the city’s
three pension plans – fire, police and non-uniformed. The changes,
which add an option to withdraw the amount in a lump sum, were
mandated by the Internal Revenue Service.