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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Thanks to a new resolution approved by the Alabaster City Council, animal control officers in the city will more easily be able to utilize authority in an encounter with an abused animal and the legal process will be expedited.

During a City Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, the council approved a resolution appointing Hoyet Hodgens and Natasha Clark as agents of the city of Alabaster.

“I would like to say, ‘Thank you’ to our city attorney for bringing (this issue) to our attention at our work session Thursday night,” Councilperson Jamie Cole said. “It definitely invoked an emotional response from the council, and we immediately recognized that this was something that we needed to approve.”

The resolution grants appointed animal control officers the ability—upon reasonable belief, evidence of or findings of animal neglect or cruelty—to take action. The listed actions include, but are not limited to, removing a neglected or cruelly treated dog or cat from its present location or ordering the owner to provide specific care to the animal at the owner’s expense without removal.

“This is actually empowering and giving those officers more legal flexibility as far as if an animal is facing endangerment, if they are being mistreated, if they’re sick and they do need attention,” Alabaster City Council President Sophie Martin said. “This will allow the animal control officers to actually go onto the property to see about the animal that is in danger.”

According to City Attorney Jeff Brumlow, any Alabama Peace Officers Standards & Training Commission-certified officer can enter a property if they see a crime taking place but in the event an animal control officer doesn’t have that certification, this new change grants them that authority. Brumlow also shared that this new change expedites the legal process during any cases involving potential animal abuse.

“We’re going under a new statute or a statute of the book,” Brumlow said. “Previously, when we took a dog, we would take it into custody, and we’d have to wait till the outcome of (the owner’s) criminal trial to determine what’s going to happen with the dog. This now speeds up that procedure where those animal control officers will bring a complaint in municipal court and it will be heard within 20 days of them actually picking up the dog, and then the judge can make a determination within 30 days of that, of what’s going to happen with the dog. So, what this is allowing us to do is use our municipal court system to help speed that process along, to get these dogs help, or if they need to be put down, get them put down so we’re not waiting long periods of time.”

During the previous budget year, the city of Alabaster increased its animal control staff from a single officer to two. Mayor Scott Brakefield said that the city will continue to monitor the amount of complaints that come in regarding animals in the city and the council may consider increasing the amount of staffing in the future.

Brakefield shared that citizens who need to report an animal abuse situation may do so through Seeclickfix.com/alabaster. At the website, residents may report their concerns by selecting the “Animal Control” option, selecting the location in the city and sending a photo.

“It’s an opportunity for you to take a picture and report a concern that you may have that will (be routed) directly to these two officers now with our animal control division and that will allow us to investigate concerns that our residents may have about animals being neglected, being abused and those types of things.”