By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

Stray dogs and rascally raccoons beware — the village of North Syracuse has locked down contracts for dog control and nuisance wildlife management.

The Village Board of Trustees voted July 13 to contract with the CNY SPCA for dog control at $4,000 per year. The SPCA has agreed to prorate the contract to $2,000 because half the year has passed.

The village board also voted to rescind its dog control contact with the town of Clay, which Mayor Gary Butterfield said they are able to do at any time.

As for nuisance animal control, Walker’s Wildlife Solutions has returned. The village has renegotiated its agreement with Mike Walker, who broke off the contract last month. Walker said village residents were refusing to pay the $20 removal fee and were tampering with traps.

“This new, modified agreement shadows the same dollars and procedures that are used in the town of Salina,” Butterfield said.

The village will pay Walker $85 for the initial removal of an animal at a village residence. If a resident reports a second animal, Walker will take care of it, but the resident must pay a removal fee of $20 directly to the village.

“What I do with town of Salina [is] they pay everything for the first call,” Walker said. “After that, the residents pay $20.”

Walker said “everything’s working beautiful” in Salina, adding that Salina Supervisor Mark Nicotra has asked him to expand his duties in the town to include education of residents.

Also on the agenda

In addition to approving the animal control agreements, the village board addressed the following issues at the July 13 meeting:

• AARP grant: The village has applied for a $50,000 grant from AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) to open the 100 block of Church Street and add a right turn out of the street to relieve traffic bottlenecks and allow tractor-trailers to turn more easily. The project must be done by Nov. 1 to be reimbursed, but AARP will let the village know whether it has been awarded the grant in early August.

• Code enforcement: The village has hired Brian Johnstone as code enforcement officer at an annual salary of $43,000. In June, David Banhart abruptly resigned from the position, leaving many of his duties to Mayor Butterfield. “I can’t wait to get that off my back,” Butterfield said after welcoming Johnstone.