Peachtree City

pet owners, get your plastic shovels and plastic baggies ready.

At least if

you want to walk Fido in a city park or athletic field. Cleaning up after

pets' deposits is now mandatory, thanks to an ordinance passed by the

City Council at its meeting last week.

Violators can

be ticketed if necessary, and brought to municipal court where the fine

could reach a maximum of $1,000.

Randy Gaddo,

the city's director of leisure services, said he would approach City Court

Judge A. Mitchell Powell to get a special set of fines for the pooper

scooper violations, likely with increasing fines for multiple citations.

Council agreed

to have the city's new parks monitor sworn in so he may write the pooper

scooper citations, much like code enforcement officers are sworn in to

enforce city codes.

The recreation

department will also alter its park signage to notify users of the ordinance

requirements, Gaddo said.

Recreation

employees have tried to work with pet owners on cleaning up after their

pets, but complaints from citizens about youths running into "evidence"

of the pets on athletic fields have escalated recently, Gaddo told council.

The ordinance

also bans animals from all tennis and outdoor basketball courts unless

special permission is granted by the recreation department.

Several citizens

have approached council about applying the pooper scooper ordinance to

the city's cart paths also. Council agreed to look into that possibility

in the coming weeks.