VOORHEESVILLE — Signs will be posted in the village warning dog owners that pet waste transmits disease and instructing them to clean up after their pets. Dispensers with plastic bags will also be installed.

Stacey Curley, who lives on East Claremont Drive, said she and her neighbors had been subject to “an unusual amount” of feces not produced by neighborhood dogs.

“Some neighbors have resorted to making their own signs,” she told the village board on Tuesday, displaying a picture of a homemade sign. “That’s how bad it is.”

She also showed the board pictures of signs posted by the town in nearby Guilderland developments.

Curley said the problem was “very frustrating” and noted children play outside in her neighborhood. “I work,” she said. “I’m not going to chase people down the street in three-inch heels.”

“With the board’s approval, we’ll straighten this out,” said Brett Hotaling, superintendent of public works.

Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Karen Finnessey noted dog feces is also a problem on the rail trail, and Clerk-Treasurer Linda Pasquali said she gets similar complaints from Salem Hills.

Last year, the village updated its 1977 law on the responsibilities of dog owners. The law was amended in 1999 to prohibit pet owners leaving waste on any private or public property in the village.

“We constantly get complaints,” Pasquali told The Enterprise.

Many municipalities have adopted such laws in recent decades as awareness has grown about health problems caused by dog feces, which contains E. coli, coliform bacteria, and various parasites. The Centers for Disease Control lists more than a score of common diseases associated with dogs that can cause human illness. One example is toxocariasis, a parasitic infection caused by the larval form of dog roundworms, with eggs found in dog feces.

People can acquire toxocariasis if they are gardening or playing in dirt, don’t wash their hands well, and accidentally ingest bits of feces. “After someone accidentally ingests Toxocara eggs,” CDC literature says, “the larvae hatch and travel through the bloodstream into organs and other tissues. This often causes fever and coughing, and sometimes leads to severe illness, including inflammation of the liver or blindness.”

In 1991, the federal Environmental Protection Agency labeled dog waste as an environmental pollutant, in the same category as pesticides, toxic chemicals, and acid drainage from abandoned mines.

Contrary to popular belief, dog waste does not fertilize a lawn but, rather, can cause burns and discoloration.

The Voorheesville law states there is a fine up to $50 for a first offense and up to $100, plus prosecution fees, for each subsequent violation.

“I don’t think we’ve ever given a ticket,” said Pasquali. “Our policy has been, if we have a specific complaint, we send a warning before we issue a ticket.”

She also noted it is hard to identify the culprits. A plan was proposed by a citizens’ committee in Germany in 2005, according to a “Popular Science” article in 2006, that DNA samples be required when pets are licensed and sanitation workers be equipped with test kits so dogs could be matched to their waste, with hefty fines for the owner to follow.

Voorheesville’s law lists a half-dozen other prohibited dog behaviors, including damaging property, barking, harassing people, chasing cars, and being unleashed and unfenced.

The most frequent complaint, said Pasquali, is barking. The law limits “continuous barking, howling, or other animal noises” to 15 minutes.

The village currently has a sign, bag dispenser, and receptacle for dog feces in Nichols Park. Pasquali said that public-works employees empty it daily when they pick up park litter. The new initiative will involve posting signs and bag dispensers but not receptacles, which would be burdensome to village workers to regularly empty, said Pasquali.

The receptacle at Nichols Park often isn’t used. During the recent summer recreation program in the park, “The kids were stepping in dog poop,” said Pasquali. “It’s an issue.”

Other business

In other business at recent meetings, the village board:

—  Unanimously passed a law to regulate the keeping of chickens in the village. Residents must apply with drawings of the site, showing setbacks are observed, and of the coop, and must allow the code enforcement officer on the premises. No roosters are allowed and chickens are limited to five. There is a $25 annual fee;

— Conducted a hearing on changes to the zoning law to allow Shane Gonyea to run his auto sales business from the village’s industrial zone. The zoning law currently allows such a shop in the business district but not the industrial zone. Gonyea, of Celtic Cycles, is scheduled to appear before the village’s planning commission on Sept. 12;

— Agreed to extend for 10 years the village’s water interconnect agreement with the town of Guilderland with the amount of water allowed determined by the village superintendent of public works in consultation with the mayor and village engineers;

— Scheduled the continuation of a public hearing on a proposed Planned Unit Development district for Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Voorheesville firehouse;

— Heard from Hotaling that the new pavilion at the head of the rail trail will have a shingle and metal roof and seeding will take place in the next couple of weeks;

— Heard three suggestions from Bill Garvey of Menands who regularly visits local municipalities, appearing before the Voorheesville board a few times each year. Garvey advised being the lookout for “woolly white insects” that damage balsam fir; prohibiting texting by pedestrians on village streets; and repairing bridges and roads with waste gravel, cement, and oil. Garvey provided copious background notes and Mayor Robert Conway said he would reply to Garvey in a letter; and

— Met in executive session after the Aug. 23 meeting “to talk about potential legal issues,” said Mayor Conway. Finnessey told The Enterprise Wednesday that no action was taken after the closed session.