DALTON — At the Dalton Borough Council meeting, October 11, Dalton resident Mary Sujkowski, who complained about feral cats in her neighborhood during the council meeting in August, asked council members if anything is being done about this matter.
“We have another litter and winter’s coming,” she said.
Council President Gus Vlassis replied that members of council are looking into passing a resolution forbidding people to feed feral cats. She complained that her neighbor is still feeding them without putting the plate away afterward and the odor is attracting skunks.
Mary’s husband, Mark Sujkowski, said that Mary gave Solicitor Frank Bolock a sample ordinance from a town in New Jersey about not feeding feral cats. He also said that he passed a billboard around Jim Thorpe, PA reading that the Pennsylvania Game Commission says, ‘Do Not Feed Wildlife.’ He said that he doesn’t know if there’s a state law to back it up. He said that the feral cat matter has been going on since he was a member of Dalton Council.
“It’s gotten terrible,” he said. “And it’s only going to get worse.”
Mark said that his neighbor who feeds the cats said she would spay and neuter the cats, which she plans to keep, but she never did.
“When I pulled in today, got home from work, I had to dodge six or eight of them (cats) in the street and three (cats) in my driveway,” he said. “It’s out of hand and just going to worse and worse and worse.”
In other business, Bill Montgomery, in his Law and Legislative report, said as a reminder that Council has a burning ordinance which forbids people to burn leaves in their backyard.
In other business, Eric Johnson, in his Zoning/Planning report, announced that Lackawanna County, in conjunction with the PA Municipal Planning Education Institute, is hosting a course in community planning.
“I recommended it to all of our planning commission members, council members, (or) if anyone’s interested,” he said.
Johnson said that it’s a three-night workshop starting on October 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. in Jessup.
Also, Johnson announced that during the SAPA Committee meeting on October 9, Lackawanna County sent a request for proposals from two organizations that would look to draft new ordinances and maps, and complete the updates of all of the municipal zoning ordinances across the nine communities involved in it.
Johnson said the committee will hold interviews in November, so that the committee will give something to Lackawanna County to approve at the Commissioners’ meeting in December.
In other business:
• The board voted to approve Barry Issett & Associates to replace BIU (Building Inspection Underwriter) for inspections.
