NEW SCOTLAND — After a recent attack by unleashed dogs, town board members hashed out plans for changes in the leash law. The board discussed creating a dog park, banning dogs from town parks or sections of parks, and streamlining animal-control services.

The issue of how to deal with dogs in public spaces came up last month after unleashed dogs attacked town resident Melissa Merk, her guest, and a leashed dog at the Stephen P. Wallace Park at Swift Road.  

“You shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable in your own town park,” said Highway Superintendent Kenneth Guyer at the town board meeting.

In a letter to the Enterprise editor on April 16, Merk wrote, “We noticed people and two dogs unleashed, running around the softball field. We stopped and waited for them to leash them…We waited and waited and all of a sudden, their dogs saw us and charged.”

Merk’s guest and the dog were then “on the ground, with the two [unleashed] dogs on top, attacking them,” she wrote. After the dog owners removed their pets, Merk’s guest had a bloody hand and a sore shoulder, Merk wrote.

The town’s leash law requires pet owners to have their dogs leashed if the dogs are off the owners’ property, said Supervisor Thomas Dolin at the meeting. Town law also allows dogs with a responsible person to be unleashed if they are “under the full control of such owner or person.”

Dolin said that the town of Bethlehem does not allow dogs in any town parks, and that Guilderland requires all dogs to be leashed.

At the park on Swift Road, which is 30 acres, Dolin said that it may be possible to “accommodate all parties involved” by keeping dogs on leashes, or by prohibiting dogs near the athletic fields close to Swift Road.

Councilman William Hennessy said that a sign in the park near the Vita trail where the dog attack occurred states that dogs must be leashed.

“It’s actually on the trail,” Hennessy said.

“But it’s not actually law,” said several board members, together.

Town attorney J. Michael Naughton said that, if the town makes a rule, the town must enforce it.

“The dog officer has come before and suggested a law to leash dogs in parks,” Naughton said, referring to Kevin Schenmeyer.

Dolin said that Naughton should write a townwide leash law requiring dogs to be leashed off their owners’ properties. He wants a “mandatory leash law in the parks as soon as possible,” he said, and he asked Naughton to create “something for the board to see.”

“I think there’s probably strong feelings on both sides [of the issue],” said Councilwoman Patricia Snyder. She suggested that the town form a committee to discuss what to do about creating a dog park, and about town-wide leash laws for the Feura Bush and Swift Road parks.

Guyer said that dogs could be “leashed on town property, but not banned from the parks.”

Dog control

Guyer asked the board to pare down the animal-control services the town offers to only dog control. Guyer asked the board to consider paying $300 to change the animal control truck’s lettering from animal to dog control.

He said that state law requires the town to handle only dogs, but that the town currently handles calls for bat, skunk, and chipmunk problems.

“In my mind, it’s pest control,” he said. By law, Guyer said, “I don’t think we are allowed to transport and drop animals.”

“We’re misleading the public by calling it animal control,” Dolin said.

Snyder said that the offer of assistance from the town, when available, is nice for residents. Board members expressed concern about rabid animals and residents’ need for help with animals.

“It’s a lot of time…for what he gets paid,” Guyer said of Schenmeyer, who is paid $9,982 annually for his part-time work.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Appointed Theresa Balfe as a marriage officer for the town.

“I support this, Mr. Supervisor,” Councilman Hennessy told Dolin. “Her uncle is Father Peter Young. She has helped him with many ministries…She will be fabulous for this position.”

Dolin said that Balfe, who is a New York State Office of Medicaid inspector general, completed an online program to become an ordained minister. In addition to the one town marriage officer, Kathy Connors, who spends part of the year in Florida, Dolin said, town judges often perform marriages.

“They get overwhelmed,” Dolin said of judges during wedding season. “Typically, [weddings] are on Saturdays. You could fill up June and July.”

Dolin said that New Scotland marriage officers are especially busy because “people want to get married in Thacher Park.”

He said that town judges outside New York City can perform marriages throughout the state, and that they can charge a negotiated fee. Dolin, a former town judge, said that judges are limited to charging no more than $125. Ministers and priests can also marry couples, in addition to the town’s marriage officers and judges, he said.

“She’s not paid by the town,” Dolin said of Balfe. The town receives $10 for each marriage license it issues, he said, but couples may obtain licenses in any town.

Balfe did not attend the meeting;

— Agreed to allow the purchase of water meters and related hardware at a cost not greater than $32,000 for almost 140 meters needed in the town’s water districts;

— Read a proclamation honoring former town employee George Klopfer, who retired in April after working with the highway department since 1982. Guyer said that Klopfer was “an outstanding citizen, and employee”;

— Agreed to renew a lease with Sendtek Inc., of Burnt Hills, for automated mailing equipment that does functions like sealing envelopes. Town Clerk Diane Deschenes said that all repairs are covered, and that the town previously used the equipment on a three-year lease. The new lease, extended to five years, lowered the cost from $120 per month to $77;

— Hired former Deputy Town Clerk Carol Cootware as a Clerk 1, at $16 per hour for up to 20 hours per week, for bookkeeping and accounting; and

— Hired college sophomore Dan Morrell as a seasonal laborer at $12.50 per hour for 40 hours per week for 12 weeks.