Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Juan Fernandez presses Mayor Singh-Allen on dog nuisances

During the September 25, 2024, Elk Grove City Council meeting, two east Elk Grove residents, one of whom is an Elk Grove Planning Commissioner, pressed Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and her city councilmen to address excessive dog barking.

The speakers included Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Juan Fernandez and Mr. Tony Stratton. The gentlemen told the mayor about excessive barking from a dwelling in their Waterman Meadows neighborhood.

Fernandez told Singh-Allen about German Shepherds at the Rancho Drive residence that have become a nuisance. The canines' behaviors included aggressiveness and almost nonstop barking.

In addition to citing this and other incidents, Fernandez asked why Elk Grove's Animal Control department could not address these and other concerns in their neighborhood.

"I ask if [city councilmembers] council had a dog outside their child's window, barking at 4 a.m. if even two minutes were too much," he asked the mayor and city council.

Fernandez requested that the city's noise ordinance be reexamined and that city funds be allocated for data-driven recording technology for animal services enforcement.

Stratton's commentary characterized the city's animal noise ordinance as toothless.

"That ordinance is a vacuous piece of paper," he said. "It's a lot of words that say nothing, there's no enforcement, there is nothing that says when animal control has to go, or what they are supposed to do," Stratton said.

Fernandez and Stratton's entire commentaries can be viewed in the videos below.

Although Singh-Allen could not directly address the comments because they are not on the agenda, she typically directs speakers to staff members in the audience who can assist. However, the mayor offered no assistance to her Planning Commissioner Fernandez or Mr. Stratton.