Mayor Marvin Junkin’s absence from Wednesday’s Pelham Town Council meeting created a tied vote on the contentious issue of whether to keep permitting dogs in local cemeteries. The item, part of a broader overhaul of the Town’s cemetery bylaws, split three votes apiece.
Council protocol dictates that a tied vote results in a lost motion, however interim Town Clerk William Tigert requested that both sides of the issue be presented as separate motions for clarity.
CAO David Cribbs said the deadlock was probably a positive development, with a deferral until the next meeting Jan. 24 — with all seven members present — to decide the question.
Cribbs said the issue has proven to be a polarizing one in many municipalities.
“You are an excellent embodiment of that division,” he said.
Deputy Mayor John Wink, Ward 1’s Wayne Olson and Ward 2’s Brian Eckhardt opposed dogs in cemeteries, while Ward 1’s Kevin Ker and Ward 3’s Bob Hildebrandt, and Shellee Niznik supported. Service dogs would be exempt from any legislation.
“This one is a little personal for me,” Wink said, citing his late wife’s burial in a local cemetery. “I don’t want a dog defecating on my wife’s grave, let’s be blunt...it irks me every time I go into the cemetery.”
Countering that position was Niznik, calling “dogs a good part of our community.”
Hildebrandt stressed that he wanted it made clear that all dogs in cemeteries and public parks be leashed, perhaps to the point of adding signage to that effect.
Cribbs said he wouldn’t be surprised if council received delegation requests on the matter ahead of the next meeting.
