Selectmen: Dog is a Nuisance

The Board of Selectmen agreed that Drexel, perpetually loose dog from Memorial Drive, is a nuisance in town.

They also upheld Animal Control Officer Leona Pease's recommendations to:

• require Kimberly Collins, Drexel's owner, to have a fence installed on her property that encloses the entrance to the stairway coming down from her apartment and as much of her yard.
• require that the fenced area has a catchment area with self-closing gates so that anyone entering and exiting the fenced area must pass through one gate and close it behind them before they open the next gate.
• make sure Collins never allows Drexel or Zora (another dog on her property) to be outside the enclosure except when attached to a leash.
• that Collins board both dogs at her expense until she has the fenced installed so the neighbors at Adams Farm Development do not have experience any additional nuisance by her dogs being in violation of the town's bylaws.

The selectmen gave Collins 30 days to install the fence. If she does not comply with the order, the selectmen asked how they could pursue this further with a complaint at Westborough District Court.

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"I don't think we should open the hearing because we advertised the public hearing and they were given notice," said Selectman Moira Miller. "And while Ms. Collins wasn't there, but the neighbors who filed the complaint are not hear tonight to testify, so I don't think we should open the hearing."

After the decision, Collins declined to comment about the complaint.

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