Imagine a 1990 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy — similar to the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger rode in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Known as the model that made Harley cool again, it costs around $12,600 in excellent condition.
Now, imagine a feral cat “ripping up the seats of your Harley or urinating on your front porch,” Nikki Sassenus, Denton’s director of animal services, told City Council member Brian Beck during Tuesday’s work session.
Sassenus was addressing concerns that Beck had shared from community members and animal welfare organizations about applying the nuisance status to cats, as part of several updates currently being made to the animal code if the council approves them.
“They were a little nervous about the statement — providing that they are not creating a nuisance,” Beck said.
“Staff is recommending that we do not take that out and that’s because that cat could be causing an actual nuisance,” Sassenus replied.
Council members agreed with the city staff’s recommendation and directed animal services to continue with dozens of updates to the code, which will return to the council at a later date. Some of those updates would include requiring all pet owners within city limits to microchip their dogs and cats and implementing a $500 fine for violating the code.
Registering pets is “an outdated concept that is more of a time consumer than a revenue generator,” animal services staff wrote regarding updates to Chapter 6 of the code. “By changing the registration requirement to a microchip requirement, you take the data entry and tracking off of front line staff and put it with the microchip database registry. Microchips have become an industry standard method of animal identification and tracking.
“The City is able to offer microchipping (including registration of that microchip) to the public at a nominal fee.”
In a presentation to the council Tuesday, Sassesnus said Denton’s animal code hasn’t been updated since 2020, and the updates they’re wanting to implement will bring the code in line with industry standards and best practices to ensure community health and safety
One update they’re no longer making is prohibiting retail pet stores from selling dogs and cats due to Texas’ House Bill 2127 — which restricts cities’ abilities to do so, as council members pointed out in December when animal services staff first appeared with proposed updates to the code.
HB 2127, or the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act — which critics have labeled the “Death Star Law” — prevents cities from passing or enforcing ordinances that go beyond what’s allowed under state laws.
“I would ask [that recommendation] be amended because of the legal and state law concerns … and so the public is not misguided on options,” Mayor Gerard Hudspeth said in December at the work session. “I would ask that it not be carried on to public hearings and discussions because of legal implications or clarity.”
Hudspeth’s request didn’t stop people from discussing it at public meetings — two in-person and one virtual — that were held with the community in January and February.
“We did have a desire for some type of regulation in the future,” Sassenus told Hudspeth and other council members on Tuesday.
Beck, who attended the in-person meetings, reaffirmed what Sassenus had claimed.
“I’d honestly like to see [it] back in there,” Beck said.
The proposed ban on dog and cat sales at retail pet stores would have only allowed pet adoptions from rescue groups and animal shelters — not from commercial breeders.
Only 27 people attended the two in-person meetings while no one showed up for the virtual one, Sassenus said.
Another desire expressed at the meetings: mandatory spaying and neutering of dogs and cats, according to the March 19 presentation.
Sassenus told the City Council that it is an update staffers would like to revisit at a later date.