Lafayette Square will remain lit year round after LaGrange City Council decided Tuesday to spend about $12,000 on new lights.
“If you want to do this, let’s do it right,” said City Manager Tom Hall.
City crews left up the white lights on the crepe myrtle trees around LaFayette Square after the holiday season. The city has since received many compliments, not only for the aesthetics, but the safety of more lights on the square.
The Christmas lights aren’t meant for year-round use, however, and would need to be replaced several times a year if the city kept them up. Hall said that would wind up costing more than the $12,000 on LED lights that can stand to be up all year. The lights are energy efficient but do not burn blue. They would look like the lights that are presently on the square.
“If it’s safer, I’d like to see it done,” said Councilman Bobby Traylor.
Council also on Tuesday took its final vote on a change to its pit bull ordinance that would allow adoption of non-aggressive dogs not claimed by their owners.
Until the change, if a pit bull was captured by animal control running at large – and doesn’t display signs of aggression – and its owner doesn’t reclaim it in 10 days, the dogs were put down. Only the owner could reclaim the dog and it couldn’t be put up for adoption with the shelter’s general population.
The city would like to see non-aggressive dogs be adopted when possible, when not claimed by their owners. Aggressive dogs still would be put down.
“It’s great when someone is willing to take in one of these animals,” Mayor Jeff Lukken said last month.
There currently is a pit bull dog at the shelter, called Red, who hasn’t been claimed by its original owner and doesn’t show signs of aggression. A LaGrange woman would like to adopt it and is willing to comply with the city’s rules of having insurance on the animal along with a proper enclosure.
The dog in question was issued “a stay of execution,” Hall said, until after the ordinance is changed.
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