By Nicole M. Wells, Special Writer
CRANBURY — It was curiously quiet in the meeting room Monday night, when Mayor Jay Taylor asked members of the Township Committee for a motion to adopt the ordinance that would increase the township’s dog and cat licensing fees.
“I’ll entertain a motion here,” he said.
Not a word was spoken.
After a second or two of waiting for someone to speak, Mayor Taylor closed the ordinance adoption proceeding.
“This ordinance dies for lack of (a) motion,” Township Clerk Kathleen Cunningham said, recording the outcome.
At its Feb. 9 meeting, the township Board of Health passed a resolution, recommending an increase in the standard dog/cat license fees from $7 for spayed/neutered animals to $10 and from $10 for non-spayed/neutered animals to $13.
The board also recommended that the late registration fee be increased from $2 to $5 per license for each animal registered between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28/29 and from $2 to $10 per license for each animal registered between March 1 and Dec. 31.
The defeated ordinance unanimously passed its first reading on Feb. 23.
The board’s recommendations come on the heels of a state-mandated dog and cat census last August, which found that only approximately one-third of township dogs and about 10 percent of cats were licensed.
“Of course, the purpose of licensing dogs is to make sure they are inoculated against rabies,” Committeeman Glenn Johnson said, in his report to the committee. “In order to get the license, you’ve got to bring proof that the dog has been inoculated.”
Prior to the census being conducted, an un-vaccinated township dog had to be euthanized last summer after it was attacked by a rabid raccoon in his family’s backyard on South Main Street.
The census results were cross-referenced against the township list of licensed animals and pet owners found to be non-compliant were mailed letters, which stated that a summons would be issued if the license were not obtained by Jan. 31, Mr. Johnson said.
Middlesex County Health Officer Lee Lloyd sent the first 12 summonses out on Feb. 13 and wrote another 12 on Feb. 20, according to Deputy Township Clerk Jean Golisano.
While he believes it is important for residents to vaccinate and license their pets, Mayor Taylor said he also thinks that cluttering the municipal court’s docket with license compliance cases is not the answer and that there should be an administrative solution.
“If traffic tickets can be dealt with by paying the ticket, why can’t the same process be applied in dog/cat license cases?” he asked.
Speaking as the liaison to the board, Mr. Johnson specifically addressed Mayor Taylor’s point about an administrative fix.
“At present, the way our ordinances are written, there was no way for us to have this handled comparable to a traffic citation, where you would plead guilty, write the check and mail it in,” he said. “In this case, this year, everybody is going to have to go down to the municipal court.”
To prevent a mandatory court appearance in a license compliance case from happening again, Mr. Johnson suggested having an amendment to the applicable ordinances drawn up.
“It’s a fairly simple change,” he said.
According to Township Administrator Denise Marabello, the board is working on the framework of an ordinance amendment, which would need to be sent to the committee for adoption.
Upon being passed by the committee, the ordinance would then need to be signed off on by a Plainsboro court judge and then by the assigned judge at the county level, she said.
“We’re going to do everything all at one time,” Mayor Taylor said, when asked about the lack of motion regarding the ordinance. “The ordinance, the summons, just take care of everything at once, instead of doing everything piecemeal, because I don’t want to have to come back and then modify something we just did.”
Ms. Marabello said that the committee should carefully consider the financial penalty for missing the licensing deadline, if it adopts an ordinance amendment.
“What do we want the fine to be?” she said. “You need to make sure that the fine is going to entice people to get a license before they get to the point of a summons. Don’t make it $5.”
All of the residents who were issued summonses for lack of a 2015 dog/cat license are due to appear in Plainsboro Municipal Court on March 25, according to Mr. Johnson.
“I think that what we’re going through is worthwhile, it is a public health issue,” he said.