The City of Manteca does not  have a lawn mower that can cut the grass at the animal shelter.

As a result, a volunteer has been using his personal mower to do the job so weeds and such that have taken over much of the yard don’t create problems with thorns getting stick on the paws of dogs being exercised.

“As a community of 90,000 we should be able to afford a lawn mower,” Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu said Tuesday during the council meeting.

He added “a city of 90,000 should not have to depend on volunteers to maintain city property.”

His comments were made after several citizens spoke that are part of a group of community volunteers helping  at the shelter. They are trying to shine light on its shortcomings in a bid to the city to take corrective measures.

The lack of a lawn mower — that the council was made aware of several months ago when others spoke about animal shelter needs that prompted a formal presentation of the condition of the facility and shelter policies at a council meeting last month — came up again when a citizen asked about the progress being made to get turf in place that is more weeds than grass.

They also noted the area has several gopher holes as well, posing a safety issue for dogs and humans.
Staff indicated specifications are being made and a contractor will be secured to do the turf work.

As for the lawn mower,  it was indicated the division that maintains landscaping at city facilities hasn’t had a small mower to do such a job for a number of years.

The fire department has a residential style -lawn mower such as the one the animal shelter needs to cut grass at the Powers Avenue station.

The station, however, currently doesn’t have grass to cut as the city let it die to comply with its drought rules not to water ornamental grass.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com