Caledonia Argus

Council recommends removal of dangerous dog from city

Posted: 5/4/04

by Jane Palen
Managing Editor

The Caledonia City Council has directed that a dog that recently bit a pedestrian be moved to a rural location or destroyed.

At its meeting of April 26, the council heard from animal control office Mike Gavin, and the owner of the dog, Jodi Dahlberg.

According to the report given to the council, on April 13, the dog ìboltedî out of the garage at 326 North Marshall and bit Terry Galstad of Burlington, Wisconsin, on the hand and leg. The animal was quarantined later that day.

The council was also told that dog had been reported for aggressive behavior in the past, and had, bitten a mail carrier in June of 2003. After that incident, the dog was to have been kept in a kennel and when not in the kennel, was to be muzzled.

The council agreed to have the dog classified as ìdangerous,î which means that it must either be removed from town or destroyed. The dogís owner told the council that she would try to find a home for the dog in the country. The dog was to have been out of the city by Monday, May 3 at 5 p.m.

In a related matter, the council also learned that a dog that bit a child has also been impounded. According to Gavin, a child was bitten on the face and throat by a large, mixed breed dog in the East Side Mobile Home Park. The dog was not registered and had no records of shots. Gavin said the dog had bitten children before but those incidents were not reported.

Th council has been dealing with ìdangerousî and ìpotentially dangerousî definitions in its last several meetings. A dog owned by Brandon Ranzenberger that the council recently classified as ìpotentially dangerousî has been destroyed by her owner.

Twin homes, duplexes coming

The council had no objections to a proposed subdivision at the Jack Edwards Mobile Home Court near the middle/high school.

Don Robley told the council that he has an agreement with Jack Edwards to purchase the land and plans to build four-plexes and twin homes there. There are several mobile homes there now which will be phased out over the next 5-7 years. Robley said he will begin the development on the side closest to the school. He said he plans to build 40 units and expects them to be in the $90,000-$100,000 range.

Members of the council reacted favorably to the proposal. A public hearing will be needed in the future to re-plat the area, but rezoning will not be required.

Values to increase

The council learned that home values in the city will increase six percent. The increase is based on a sales study conducted by the Houston County Assessorís Office and is based on the prices of homes sold between October 1, 2002 and September 30, 2003.

In Caledonia, there were 38 sales in that time period with a median sales ratio of 89.6 percent. That means that the estimated market value was 89.6 percent of the selling price. More than half the sales had sales ratios of 90 percent, and only seven were 100 percent or more. Houston County Assessor Tom Dybing explained that when so many homes are undervalued, the state requires all properties be assessed at a higher value.

ìWe like to have it around 95 percent,î said Dybing.

Dybing also noted that Caledonia has the second lowest taxes in the county.

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