During Tuesday night’s Junction City City Commission meeting the commissioners discussed proposed changes to the city’s Animal Control Codes.

Over the past year an advisory committee has gone through the codes and did a near re-write.

Cheryl Beatty, Interim City Manager, said that the changes are more user friendly,” We tried to make this user friendly and easy to understand. The concern was that animals across the city were not being taken care of properly.” Beatty said that one indication that animals were not being taken care of was that the city saw an increase in the use of the pound. “We’re trying to help people understand that they must be responsible for the ownership of their animals.”

A proposed change would deal with where dog, cat and ferret owners can get their pets licensed. “Currently you can register at city hall, the vet or the animal shelter. In the future were going to only license animals at city hall,” Beatty said. ” Because we needed a better tracking system, a better way to know what animals are where and how many.”

The proposed new animal control codes will be placed on the city’s website so the public can view the changes. A finalized copy will be presented to the commission at their next meeting.