Councilors discussed whether to include animal welfare in the city’s strategic priorities and asked staff to propose concise language that could be added to an existing health‑and‑safety objective.

Some councilors argued animal welfare, including wildlife management (prairie dogs, coyotes) and pet welfare, is part of the city’s responsibility and should be reflected in the plan. Planning and parks staff noted a wildlife‑management planning need—prairie‑dog policy has not been overhauled since 2004—and that staff are preparing tangible policy options (for example, a wildlife management plan and targeted ordinance updates).

Other councilors said animal issues are already covered under existing health, safety and environmental objectives and expressed concern about expanding the strategic plan’s list of priorities too broadly. After discussion, four council members indicated support for adding animal welfare language in a way that can be nested under an existing priority (protect health, safety and environment) rather than as a standalone, high‑resource item.

What’s next: staff will prepare proposed language and options for where and how to include animal‑welfare objectives in the plan and will return to council with draft text and any policy options (for example a wildlife management plan) for study-session consideration.