What you must understand
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Independence Councilmember Carol Franzen brought the issue to council after resident complaints
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There were 733 calls to Animal Services from Independence last year
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Mayor Chris Reinersman said any solution would need to be enforceable
The Independence City Council is looking into possible operational adjustments to the city’s approach to handling stray dogs in response to an increase in homeowner complaints and worries about police resources.
Longtime Councilmember Carol Franzen started the conversation by stating that she had been receiving complaints from Pembroke Drive neighbors regarding a pet dog that kept running loose, despite Franzen’s assurances that the dog was not aggressive.
In past sessions, Franzen, a volunteer with Kenton County Animal Services, has urged locals to become involved with the shelter.
The problem, according to Franzen, is that Animal Services only responds to allegations of a vicious dog on the loose on the weekends and in the evenings, which are outside of their regular business hours. Otherwise, the police respond to calls for misbehaving dogs, which Franzen felt was a waste of their time.
The police aren t really equipped to handle that
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Franzen said. They shouldn t handle it. They ve got other things to do, but unfortunately, they have to respond to it.
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In 2020, Independence and other communities enacted a unified leash rule that makes violators a misdemeanor, while Kenton County took steps to harmonize animal management ordinances across its several jurisdictions. At first, Franzen believed that the city’s ordinance needed to be modified, but City Attorney Jack Gatlin questioned whether this was really required.
Gatlin stated, “I don’t think the ordinance needs as much tweaking as dealing with animal control operationally.”
When contacted, Kenton County verified some of this situation. In reality, Animal Services facilities are open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and staff members are on hand to answer phones during that time.
According to the county, Animal Services used to have a Saturday officer but moved to an on-call schedule outside of those hours a few months ago. In order to have someone accessible to work regularly, at least one weekend day, they are now training a new animal control officer.
Twelve of the 733 calls to Independence that Kenton County Animal Services received in 2024 were for bite or attack-related incidents. In response to 474 of the complaints, an animal control officer was dispatched to a designated area within the city. According to the Kenton County Emergency Communications Center, there were 6,444 calls relating to animal control in the entire county in 2024, with Covington accounting for the most (2,391).
At the conference, Police Chief Brian Ferayorni stated that for a while, we were dropping off canines at an animal intake and taking them to the Kenton County Animal Shelter after hours. Once more, depending on their location and the situation, that will require an officer to be off the road for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.
The conversation continued for a little while. Speaking at the meeting, one local, Ben Bach, who is on his neighborhood’s HOA board, acknowledged that it was frequently difficult to know what to do when a dog had gotten off its leash. Eventually, Franzen stated that instead of shunting everything to the police, it could be worthwhile to check if anyone in the community would be willing to volunteer with Animal Services to see if they might provide transport for loose dogs during off-peak hours.
Although there was no formal action taken during the meeting, Mayor Chris Reinersman stated that it was crucial that Franzen and the council come up with a solution that would be practically implemented regardless of what ultimately transpired.
If we can do something operationally, obviously, we won t have to do anything with the ordinance, but I just want to point out there that it is becoming a problem, Franzen said.
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