The One About Dangerous Dogs: Sudbury's Town Meeting Articles

SUDBURY, MA—When a dog bites, it's a town matter.

Sudbury voters decide on a number of issues at town meeting on Monday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School auditorium.

Among the 45 articles on the warrant are FY2018 budget adjustments, approving the FY2019 budgets, updating smoking regulations, the bylaw that deals with investigations of dangerous dogs, Stearns Mill Pond Dam design, acquiring Broadacres Farm, getting rid of invasive plants at the Wayside Inn and transparency in political donations.

Today, tearing a post from Sudbury's Facebook page,which highlights an article on Town Meeting each day, we're focusing on Article 19, which is to amend the dog regulation bylaw. As it stands, the Board of Selectmen conduct the investigation when there is a complaint involving a nuisance or dangerous dog.

If it passes at Town Meeting, the bylaw would let the board delegate that responsibility over to the police department, or another Sudbury employee. Then, following the investigation, the board would get a report and hold a hearing.

"Currently, if we have a dangerous dog complaint, the entire investigation is completed by the Board of Selectmen," said Town Manager Melissa Murphy-Rodrigues. "This creates a rather lengthy process and can result in some delay. We are suggesting that the Board of Selectmen would/could delegate their authority of investigation only to a town employee, likely in the police department. This would allow the investigations to be completed quickly and the board could deliberate and have their hearings more expeditiously."

The article was proposed by the board, and Murphy-Rodrigues said the town does not field a lot of complaints, in general.

"We have had two hearings in the last few years," she said.

The most recent dog issue brought to the board concerned Boomer the dog.

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