Animal Services ordinance decision set

A smorgasbord of issues and items go to Carson City’s Board of Supervisors at Thursday’s regular meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Center’s Sierra Room.

Included are fine-tuning of the Animal Services ordinance and possible selection of an interim city manager.

At the initial stage of discussion will be a proposal to nail down language in the Animal Services ordinance regarding when the city assumes ownership of an animal picked up as a stray.

“After five days, the stray animal will become the property of Animal Services,” additional language says, in part. Final action on the ordinance changes won’t come until next month.

This year, a dog was euthanized after an owner appeared, but before she could pay required fees to retrieve it, causing controversy. City government authorized a $41,500 settlement to avoid court action.

As reported previously, another agenda item will deal with the board possibly hiring an interim city manager while a search is under way to replace Larry Werner, city manager for nearly six years, who is retiring Dec. 19. Letters from people interested in handling the temporary post may be sent to the human resources department.

At noon Tuesday, the board has a special meeting to review and choose a national search firm to help in the quest for a new permanent city manager. That search may take months.

The board on Thursday also will take up staff pay and salary provisions for upcoming years. Additional cost under the plans, not involving firefighters, will be about $3 million, said Finance Director Nick Providenti. That is less than was built into the budget earlier and should be covered by expected revenue growth, he said.

Firefighters are already under contract, Providenti said, and are seeking only extensions for the 2018-20 period.