BELLE — Belle aldermen voted 3-0 March 12 to change the scope of the dog catcher contract and are re-running an advertisement to fill the position.

Mayor Josh Seaver started the conversation.

“I changed some things on it (the contract),” Seaver said. “ Quite a bit of things actually.”

Alderman Ken Stanfield said he liked the changes and felt that it put less liability on the city.

The position had one applicant, who later withdrew.

“Do we want to run it again,” Seaver asked the board. The board said yes.

The contract includes accepting and responding to calls on a twenty-four seven basis regarding unrestrained dogs within the Belle city limits only; transporting dogs to the city kennel; maintaining the city dog kennel; and other related duties as assigned.

Applicants must have and maintain a valid driver’s license, an in-service telephone and a dependable vehicle.

Interested persons may pick-up an application at the Belle Administration Building Monday through Friday. The application deadline is 4 p.m. Friday, March 29.

Aldermen also voted to hire a website administrator for $150 a month, as Treasure Michelle Jones has been trying to maintain it, but is overworked.

“We sent out 120 letters to area businesses asking them to commit $25 (to the project),” Jones explained to the board.

Some businesses have responded positively to the city’s website that is meant to include the city and business calendars and include advertising for events.

“About half have come back,” Jones reported.

The scope of the job is to maintain links and update events as they come and go. Seaver said he had someone in mind for the position, but didn’t know if it would need to go out to bid.

“It would be about $1,800 a year,” Seaver said. “The person I have in mind has done this stuff before.”

Jones reminded the board that Deborah Turnbough had built for the city with her website program free of charge, then turned it loose to city employees. Turnbough recently had shoulder surgery and is unavailable to consult with when city employees have questions.

“I have not done the work on this,” Jones said. “If someone wants to use their own program, they can.”

Jones said she is not as technologically inclined as some and found the website program to be intricate. Seaver said he would like to see someone get the website going and get it out to the public.

“How would you guys feel about contracting someone to take care of that,” he asked aldermen.

Alderman Jeanette Struemph said the city gets what they pay for. Jones pointed out that the city did not pay Turnbough, she volunteered her services. Stanfield made a motion to hire a website administrator for $150 a month.

The motion passed with a 3-0 vote.