Adams Board of Health Prohibits Dogs on Playing Fields
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Health has approved a regulation to prohibit dogs from the town's playing fields and to begin enforcement.
Decision came Wednesday afternoon during a joint public hearing with the Board of Selectmen at the request of both Code Enforcement Officer Mark Blaisdell and Steve Skrocki, who is in charge of maintaining the fields in Adams.
"All I'm asking for is to keep the dogs off the athletic part of the fields," said Skrocki, adding that he and his crew members have gotten dog feces on their clothes and legs while preparing the fields for games many times.
Blaisdell added that the regulation would allow players, spectators, and officials to focus on the games being played and not have to worry about potentially becoming sick because of dog waste or being attacked by a dog on the sidelines. The draft of the regulation that was debated Wednesday night seeks to prohibit dogs on athletic fields both during games and when no game is being played.
The regulation would ban dogs from the town's athletic fields between April 1 and Dec. 15, with the exception of services that would have to be muzzled. Fines for violators would range from $50 to $200.
That draft was the subject of over an hour's worth of deliberation from Board of Health Chair David Rhoades, Blaisdell, Skrocki, members of the Selectmen, and Town Counsel Edmund St. John III. St. John, for instance, noted that the regulation was too vague on the definition of "playing fields," and does not include the names of the parks in question.
Indeed, Blaisdell brought up a similar regulation to the Parks Commission earlier this year that was rejected on the grounds that it was too broad. At the time, Blaisdell had requested to ban dogs on all parks in the town, but subsequently revised his proposed regulation to include only athletic fields. Still, St. John noted, the definition of "playing field" was not sufficiently precise, and would thus render the regulation essentially unenforceable.
Selectmen Vice Chairwoman Christine Hoyt pointed out that "there are already signs that are posted [banning dogs from fields], there are already regulations in place," and pushed the Board of Health to determine when those signs were erected and under whose authority. She also wondered whether this regulation would render null and void any other bylaws that also banned dogs on non-athletic fields.
Blaisdell responded that he couldn't find any bylaws or other regulations that prohibited dogs on all fields in the town. St. John was also unaware of any such regulations.
Rhoades wondered if the Board of Health was "using a sledgehammer to push in a tack," noting that only a few dog owners are causing most of the issues. However, he estimated, the benefits of this regulation outweigh the costs.
The Board of Health voted unanimously to approve the regulation pending amendments made by the Selectmen and the town counsel to include a more robust definition of "playing fields," among other issues.
In other news:
- Both boards decided to table a discussion of a proposed Discover Books donation bin that would, according to Blaisdell, reduce the number of books that end up in landfills and the transfer station. Members of both boards questioned the effect this would have on the library and United Way book house that rely on used book donations. Discover Books is an organization that collects and resells or donates books.
- The Board of Health accepted a proposal to partner with the Berkshire Health Alliance for a public health nurse program. The total cost is $3,970 and would, among other things, provide tuberculosis screening for Adams residents.
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