NORTH LOGAN – Passage of an ordinance to change regulations for feral animal euthanization and a committee report concerning traffic safety issues were both discussed at the City Council meeting Wednesday.

With the ordinance’s passing, Animal Control Officer Alan Krebs now has the authority to euthanize a feral or unwanted animal if he deems it to be in poor health and beyond revival.

The city code originally stated: “Any animal deemed by a competent licensed veterinarian to be feral and dangerous, sick, injured, suffering, or hazardous to public health may be euthanized immediately.” Now Krebs is free to make his own choices about the lives of stray animals without seeking a professional opinion.

“I would like to be able to decide if a cat or dog needs to be put down immediately,” Krebs told the council. “I think in doing so it would save the city quite a bit of money because we have picked up a lot of feral cats over the years and each one of those has to be tested by a veterinarian, which the city has to pay for.”

The council then discussed feedback from Lyman Stevens, head of a volunteer committee established to review traffic safety issues at the intersection of 800 East and 2500 North.

“We have sought and received extensive citizen input from residents living along 800 East, with each household receiving an invitation to make comment,” said Stevens. “Other selected individuals throughout the community were also invited to make comment.”

The committee detirmined the following issues:

• Difficulty for vehicles and pedestrians in safely crossing 800 East anywhere, especially during peak traffic flow times.
• Difficulty for vehicles making left-hand turns onto or from 800 East.
• Difficulty for 800 East residents entering or exiting traffic lanes using their driveways.

The council voted to revisit the issue at their next meeting, after City Administrator Jeff Jorgensen offered to evaluate a number of solutions to increase safety standards at the intersection.

The council’s next meeting is Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m.

Published in cooperation with the Hard News Cafe. Original story is here.