Mecosta County Board of Commissioners approve 'no pets allowed' sign

BIG RAPIDS — During their Thursday meeting, the Mecosta County Board of Commissioners approved the Mecosta County Commission on Aging posting a sign at their center stating no pets are allowed.

COA Director Cynthia Mallory said how, as of late, people are terming their pets as "service animals" and are bringing them into the center during their visits.

"We're just trying to be proactive on some of the things that are coming into the center," Mallory said. "We realize service dogs are required if you have a disability, and we support and are perfectly understanding of that. We want to accommodate that, but we're also having people coming in with their pets, and they're terming them as 'service animals.'"

A service animal, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), "are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks, include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder during an anxiety attack or performing other duties."

To aid the COA on this issue, Mallory requested the board allow the COA to post a "No pets allowed in building" sign, with the sign also stating, "Please note: Emotional support animals do not qualify as service dogs under the ADA."

While the COA still will allow ADA service dogs in the center, because there are no certifications required for verification a dog is a service animal, Mallory is limited in what she can ask guests who bring their animals into the center, without being discriminatory.

To limit the risk of discrimination, the ADA limits the inquiries allowed by staff to: "Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability," and "What work or task has the dog been trained to perform."

Staff is not allowed to ask about the individual's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Though service animals are allowed to be at the COA, the ADA says the animals only need to be allowed in the common areas open to the general public. The animals will not be in the kitchens.

After discussion, the board unanimously voted in support of Mallory's request.

Mallory will be in charge of asking the two questions to COA guests until other employees are trained.

Also approved at the meeting was: