By Allison Flores

Yorktown News-View

Yorktown City Council met for the first time in 2020 last Monday, and were faced with public comments from Yorktown FFA members regarding aggressive stray dogs near their livestock projects on the school campus. Shelby Vanderberg, a YHS Agricultural Science teacher, took to the podium to address City Council on the matter. Vanderberg stated that two separate stray dog attacks on a lamb and goat resulted in both animals having to be put down.

“This [was a] financial loss amounting to $3,400 to my students,” said Vanderberg, “and it left them without a project to show this year.” “We need to help solve this problem before it gets worse.”

Vanderberg was accompanied by three FFA members who took the time to speak to Council. Brooklyn Corpus, a YHS student and FFA member read a letter addressed to Council explaining how worried she is every day about the safety of herself and her show animals. “If these dogs have enough courage to attack a large animal like a donkey or a cow, what is stopping them from attacking a human next? How many lives are these dogs going to take before it’s finally stopped,” said Corpus.

Up next, Karissa Gonzales, a YHS sophomore, gave an emotional speech to Council regarding the animal she lost to a dog attack.

“This is the first year I was going to show my animal for FFA,” said Gonzales, “I got my goat five months ago, and named him Ramsey. I worked with him every day, and I got real close to him.”

“I was really looking forward to showing him in February,” stated Gonzales. “I lost him to the cruelty of the dogs. My goal was cut instantly and unnecessarily. It was a nightmare to see my goat hurt by those dogs. I know other animals have been killed by those dogs, and nothing has been done about it.”

Mayor Baker addressed the comments made by the FFA members, noting that the City had made donations to SNYPD (Spay Neuter Your Pet DeWitt County), a local non-profit dedicated to fixing animals. The mayor noted that the solution was long-term, and results would not be noticed immediately.

“Our local court is committed to doing what we can to make some kind of change,” said Baker. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

“I would encourage you–if you’ve got an animal that’s been hurt, if you’ve got a dog that’s not yours that’s on your property–I would encourage you to call the Sheriff’s Office and file a report. We need complaints. The way we can address it is if we have formal complaints in place. We’ve got to do that, and we need help with that,” said the mayor.

After the public comment section, council moved on to approving Alexander Franco as board member to the Yorktown Economic Development Corporation as presented by Tammy Bitterly, YEDC Executive Director.

Council then discussed the upcoming election scheduled for May 2; three City Council members are up for re-election: Lorene Migura, Roger Cowan, and Travis Peyton.

The first day to file for a position on the ballet is Jan. 15 until Feb. 14. Council also discussed potentially selling approximately eight different properties so that they could get back on the city’s tax roll and generate more profit.

Closing out Monday’s meeting, Council approved setting the Yorktown City Council meetings to once a month, on the fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m., noting that special meetings will be posted for the publics knowledge, as well.