Wheaton delays adopting coyote policy
Wheaton officials on Monday delayed adopting a policy to handle coyotes until next week's regular city council meeting, but all members seem to be on board.
Assistant City Manager Mike Dzugan presented the 17-page policy at a planning meeting and said the city's efforts should focus on public education that deters residents from feeding the wild animals.
Dzugan said the city's abundance of open spaces attracts the animals; the new policy will include placing warning signs prohibiting feeding at many open spaces, as well as at locations that are known to have coyotes.
The main issue council members had with the program was hiring a community service officer, who Dzugan estimated would spend about 50 percent of their time dealing with coyote issues. Dzugan said the officer's ratio of coyote-related work eventually would be reduced.
On top of that expense, Dzugan estimated the 15 items listed as part of the policy initially would cost between $10,000 and $15,000 to institute, with an annual expense of about $5,000 to $10,000 to maintain. The money will pay for brochures, signs and education efforts.
Dzugan said three things factored into the new policy's education aspect: the rich habitat Wheaton offers, habituation caused by residents feeding the animals either directly or indirectly through trash and mange-infested coyotes.
“By creating the wonderful spaces we take advantage of, we have invited and encouraged wildlife to live in close proximity to us,” Dzugan said.
Other parts of the policy include an aggressive campaign to fine those who violate the city's anti-feeding ordinance and programs to teach people how to properly and aggressively haze the animals.
“They have been here longer than we have been here,” said council member Tom Mouhelis, who echoed Dzugan's call for coexistence with the animals. “(And) it's really being good-hearted, but do not leave food out for them.”
Mayor Michael Gresk said the new policy helps the city take a proactive approach to the problem.
“This puts us at the forefront of education,” he said. “It gives a grid, a chain of action that can occur which hopefully facilitates education. There have been a lot of misguided people on both extremes.
As city officials decide how to allocate staff to handle the action items, they are trying to get past a year that saw some pretty volatile meetings related to coyotes.
Earlier this year, officials ended a trapping program that resulted in a firestorm of criticism when some complained about the killing of the animals.
City Council Member Todd Scalzo said the new policy will help the city avoid those situations.
“The primary focus is really a public awareness plan,” he said. “We got some negative reaction. The problem was we didn't have a policy in place and decided there were some incidents that warranted going to the last resort. People thought that was a first instinct. Had this been in place, people would have been more informed.”