WATERLOO -- The ink is barely dry on Waterloo's new ordinance governing dangerous dogs.

But City Council members voted unanimously Monday to add new language and close some loopholes in the ordinance initially adopted in early March following several publicized pit bull terrier attacks on other dogs.

"We're polishing it," said Mayor Tim Hurley.

The original ordinance allowed a dog to be deemed "potentially dangerous" if it causes injury to a person or domestic animal or is found running at large if its owner has been cited by Cedar Bend Animal Control three or more times within a 12-month period.

Its owner would have to register it as potentially dangerous with the city, pay a $50 registration fee, provide proof of at least $300,000 in liability insurance to cover injuries caused by the dog and be affixed with a permanent registration number. The ordinance also makes it easier to destroy those dogs or ban them from the city if they commit future offenses and are thereby determined dangerous.

"We've already had instances where a person has refused to register their dog," said Councilman Reggie Schmitt. "We've had a person bring their dog to Waterloo," after it was kicked out of another city, "because they thought they could register it here."

The changes approved Monday create new rules banning dogs deemed dangerous elsewhere from moving to Waterloo; doubles the registration fee for residents who fail to register potentially dangerous dogs in a timely manner; and allows animal control officers to seize unregistered potentially dangerous dogs, charging boarding fees to the owner.

In other business, council members unanimously approved:

An ordinance change adding a $100 administrative fee when the city is called out to write a citation for a violation of the weed or mowing ordinance to the same property more than once in a year. In the past, no administrative fee was charged if the city sent a code enforcement officer out and the property owner mowed the lot within 10 days.

But Schmitt said that costs the city taxpayers' money.

"We have the same people show up every year because they use the city to schedule their mowing," Schmitt said.

Councilwoman Carolyn Cole added, "If people won't be personally accountable, we can hold them financially accountable."

A spending plan for $1.38 million in Community Development Block Grant and $611,000 in HOME Program funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There were no comments on the proposed budget, which continues to put the focus on fixing up blighted homes and helping encourage home ownership opportunities in the city's low- to moderate-income census tracts.

Contact Tim Jamison

at (319) 291-1577

or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.