PARIS — Signs will be posted on a popular walking route on Paris Hill, reminding dog owners of a town ordinance that requires them to pick up after their pets.
Selectmen, in a 3-0 vote Monday, authorized the measure. Following the meeting, board Chairman Robert Kirchherr said Town Manager Amy Bernard would survey the area and determine how many signs are needed and where they should be placed. He estimated two to five signs would be needed.
The town’s Dog Control Ordinance, enacted by voters in 2009, includes a provision that requires owners to clean up their animal’s feces from public areas like streets, sidewalks and parks.
Dog owners who fail to comply with the rules risk a $50 fine. Repeat offenders can face a penalty as high as $500.
The threat of fines does not appear to dissuade some owners from leaving their dog’s business where it lies, apparently. Paris Hill resident Anne Stanley, who brought the issue to selectmen’s attention in February, said it remained a problem in the neighborhood.
“I didn’t bring it up because I suddenly thought it was a naughty thing to do,” she told selectmen Monday. “It exists as a problem where we walk our dogs, and other people have complained as well. It seemed like a good thing just to remind people that it is an ordinance in town.”
Bernard said the dog poop problem appeared to be largely confined to Paris Hill. The town received no responses to its website and Facebook postings asking residents to report other neighborhoods that also have an issue, and there does not appear to be a problem in Moore Park next to Route 26, she told selectmen.
There are, however, a few “land mines” in Billings Dam Park, Bernard said, but the board did not authorize signs for that area.
pmcguire@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
