The Sheriff's Department handles many of the dog complaints in the county, but there is little uniformity.
"Every town does something a little different. Every town has a different ordinance, which the towns can do, but then they want us to come in and either do animal control or assist the animal control officer," Clark said. "There's 22 towns in the county and to ask the deputy to remember what 22 animal ordinances say doesn't make sense. Some are vastly different, some have small details. Some towns, for example, like Westminster has a leash ordinance, but some don't."
All 22 towns have been invited to a countywide meeting on May 19 at 4 p.m. to discuss the various issues and see what can be done.
"I'm hoping what the towns do when they meet is say we can use a model ordinance based on Vermont League of Cities and Towns," Clark said. "I really don't know until I get all the towns together, all in one room."
Westminster Town Manager Sonia Alexander said a uniform ordinance would be worth it to fix the situation.
"The town is willing to do that in order to have someone well-trained and qualified to handle dog complaints and other animal issues," she said. "I think it would be a wonderful benefit for us to have someone from the Sheriff's Department, someone we can rely on."
Brattleboro Town Manager Barbara Sondag said it would be worth discussing.
"There's a lot of similar concerns and issues. The main problems are problems for everybody," she said. "The idea of any ordinance is to address problems and concerns and if the problems and concerns are very similar, I think it would be fine to have a more regional approach."
Also, the meeting would help define what qualifies as a dog complaint.
"A dog barking at night is a 'noise in the night' issue, it's not in our contract. You'd have to go to your municipal or state police," Clark said.
The meeting is meant "to clarify what are our role is, what are they looking for us to do."
Either way, though, dog complaints are a problem that needs to be addressed. "What we're hearing it that this is a growing issue," Clark said.
Because of the complexity, Clark guesses the towns may need to meet more than once. "It seems at face value to be a very simple issue, but it is not," he said.
If the towns all agree to share an ordinance, Clark said he may create a full-time animal control position in the department.
This would have associated costs, though.
"Some of the smaller towns are not going to fund a full-time dog catcher," Clark said. "We would be willing to do that if it's going to be properly funded and I think we can do it if enough towns sign on, but until we meet with the towns, it's all hypothetical."
A full-time animal control deputy would need to be trained and would also need equipment, Clark said.
"Say we pick up a stray dog. Where do we store that? Now we're using the Humane Society and vets, but who pays for that? We don't have catch poles, we don't have secure cages to put animals in because there's a cost with that. Once we have input, we can get some associated costs."
Alexander said this would be a huge help to the town. "We are interested in having, if the Sheriff can, if it works for his department, having the Sheriff's department do our dog complaints so long as it fits within the town's budget."
Clark does not believe that this would step on anyone's toes. "If anything, it'd be more support."
Westminster has a constable who handles these issues, Alexander said, but, with roughly three complaints just this week, she can't do it all alone. "She handles what she can, but the Sheriff's department has helped with a number of dog complaints."
Not only is each complaint time consuming, Alexander said, "people get quite passionate about their animals, owners and complainants," and this makes a tricky situation that much more difficult.
Several of the towns have agreed that it is time to solve the problem, Clark said. "The towns I've talked to think it's a good idea at least to meet and discuss."
Sondag said she was unsure what the town wanted to do, but thought it was a great idea to talk. "It's always an opportunity to get together and talk with other people, see if there's a way to work together to solve our common problems."
Nicole Orne can be reached at norne@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.