YOUNGSTOWN Dog warden deputy to be hired

The new deputy dog warden would likely work evenings and weekends.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's goal is to hire a new full-time deputy dog warden within two weeks, Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock told city officials Thursday.
Sherlock said the new hire, who would earn about $23,000 a year, would likely regularly work weekends and several evenings a week, dedicated to the stray dog problem in Youngstown.
Currently the dog warden's department is staffed from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and has four deputy wardens on the road for the entire county, said Dog Warden Carol Markovich. Deputy wardens are now called out during evenings and weekends for emergencies only.
Sherlock made the announcement at the end of a city council safety committee meeting she attended, during which Councilman Michael Rapovy, D-5th, said the major problem he has in his ward is getting dog warden service on weekends. Many of the packs of stray dogs run into Mill Creek Park, he observed.
"We sense that you need something happening fast. Let's jump start it now," said county Administrator Gary Kubic, who also attended.
Sherlock had announced at a March 15 news conference that the county dog warden's office had picked up 64 dogs running loose in the county, 53 of them in the city, since March 1.
Council involvement: Councilman John R. Swierz, D-7th, safety committee chairman, said he expects a resolution will be before council for passage early next month, adding the city will pay half of the approximately $31,000 combined pay and benefit cost of the new employee. The other half will come from the county's general fund, Sherlock said.
"We want this to be a meaningful program where we're not just spending taxpayers' dollars out there to catch dogs. We want to catch the irresponsible owners," Kubic said.
Swierz said city officials now need to consider revising the city dog-control and vicious-dog ordinances to increase penalties, especially for repeat offenders.
City Prosecutor Dionne Almasy said many of the laws carry small fines because they are classified only as minor misdemeanors. Even in the recent dog attack that seriously injured a 75-year-old man, the owner can be prosecuted only on a low-level misdemeanor charge, she lamented. "That's outrageous. This man almost lost his life," she said.
Asbestos concerns: On another matter, committee members heard Cynthia McWilson of Woodford Avenue complain about the lack of a high and sturdy fence, warning signs or tarp covering the asbestos-contaminated remains of the Idora Park ballroom, recently destroyed by fire.
McWilson, a respiratory therapist who lives half a block from the site, said the rubble poses a significant threat of lung ailments, including lung cancer, among those in or near it. "Anybody can walk up to it. It's just an unsafe area. The weather is changing. The wind is blowing," she said, adding that the site is bounded now by only a flimsy orange mesh fence.
Councilmen said they'd speak to Carmen Conglose, deputy director of public works, about more secure fencing around the site.