A push to give more flexibility to New Iberia’s animal committee is currently being considered by city officials and was to be voted on at Tuesday’s New Iberia City Council meeting.

An ordinance up for adoption would provide an amendment to the New Iberia Code of Ordinances to allow the animal committee to determine whether a dog is dangerous and standards for controlling the dog.

Legal counsel Jeff Simon said at last month’s New Iberia City Council meeting that the ordinance change would essentially give more discretion to the committee.

“The purpose of this was to give discretion to the committee,” Simon said. “We decided that if an animal was considered dangerous you would have to do a long list of stuff, a lot of people would just abandon the dog.

“We’re just trying to give more flexibility to the committee.”

The decision comes as Iberia Parish Government is also striving to streamline its ordinances for Iberia Parish Animal Control.

Last month, the Iberia Parish Council not only voted on an ordinance to put an end to the mandatory five-day euthanization policy at the animal shelter.

A new director of IPAC was also hired. Parish President Larry Richard announced Erica Capak as the new shelter manager in late 2021, and Capak said she has already been making a concerted effort to partner the shelter with local organizations and national rescues.

The problem of stray dogs and other animals has been a persistent one in New Iberia and Iberia Parish. Police Chief Todd D’Albor said at the last City Council meeting that the department is the first in the process to determine if a dog is dangerous, but the committee is the final authority in deeming it so.

“If it has attacked more than once, we send it up to the board,” D’Albor said. “We determine it through past records.”

The ordinance adoption for the amendment change will presumably give the committee more leeway in determining which dogs are dangerous and what the process should be for each individual case.

Further reforms are likely coming, especially on the parish government side. Interim director Herff Jones has stayed on to assist Capak at the animal shelter to streamline further ordinances at the shelter, and Mayor Freddie DeCourt said the city government is also putting in more to aid the shelter’s day-to-day operations.